Is she for eats

[NiceCrocs]

XD yeah, I can't lie, hamster chomps hurt and take a long time to heal. And if getting bit makes you nervous and gun shy, then the hamster will get nervous and gun shy, leading to MORE bites...

Just one reason why proper taming is so very important

[starshme]

lol Velma... a bit of a gleam is perfect. This little guy is all 'peanut butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' but there's a little bit of 'just a little closer, my pretty'

haha Cypher, I'll try to resist the squeezy urges but when he sprawls out with his gigantic paws all over the place and his fat little body smooshed down onto the substrate...

[starshme]

Originally Posted by NiceCrocs

XD yeah, I can't lie, hamster chomps hurt and take a long time to heal. And if getting bit makes you nervous and gun shy, then the hamster will get nervous and gun shy, leading to MORE bites...

Just one reason why proper taming is so very important

So far it's going much better than I thought that it would. I think the owner held him a lot because other than the 'are you food' scrapes he's very friendly. And FAST. He was in the ball today and I was shocked by the speed he got up to.

[Shannonmcn]

Bite stories?

I have a scar from a Syrian bite from about almost 15 years ago now. My idiot little sister let poor Whiskers fall from quite a height and although she was fine and lived to a ripe old age afterwards she was obviously a bit sore when I lifted her the next day and sunk her teeth right into the top of my index finger. I didn't realise how bad it was and just very calmly set her back down in her cage... And then noticed the blood on the floor. And everywhere. I think her teeth were so sharp it didn't even hurt that much. If I shook my hand I could feel the flap of flesh moving for about a week after. It was so gross. And now I still have a little crescent scar on my finger tip to remember her by it was the only time she ever bit anyone as well.

[NiceCrocs]

That's good to hear! ^_^ I'm trying to tame my little robo, but it's very slow work. She'll come up to take seeds from my hand, but if I so much as twitch she's gone and hiding quick as a blink. And she refuses to come out if any lights are on in the room but she's hasn't bitten at all or shown any aggression. Though, I think I felt her lick a little of the salt off my fingers when I offered her a couple roasted sunflower kernels (I know they're bad! I can't find unsalted ones, so I'm very very sparing with the salted ones D: )

[velma]

Originally Posted by NiceCrocs

XD yeah, I can't lie, hamster chomps hurt and take a long time to heal. And if getting bit makes you nervous and gun shy, then the hamster will get nervous and gun shy, leading to MORE bites...

Just one reason why proper taming is so very important

I think that's where I've gone wrong in the past. In the good ol' pre internet days
I think part of what's also helped is the whole "robos aren't biters" thing. I think previously when i had Russians (which I now know were hybrids but years ago were just.. Russians!) I had it in my head that were biters so you're sort of expecting it, which leads to exactly what Nicecrocs just said.
I'm trying very hard with Hector not to be too jumpy. (Which is hard as he's a robo! ) And to go at his pace. And what's really helped is finding this forum/YouTube & having people tell you that slow is ok. I think previously, it was "well, I've had him a month, he's not tame so he never will be" as books are a bit vague about the whole process.

But slow & steady wins the race! Failing that the garden centre sells big thick gloves.....

[starshme]

Shannon... ouch. ouch. ouch.

I've been just sort of twitching my fingers too so he knows that this 'food' is still moving. It seems to be working, I just don't want to tense up and freak him out every time he does it. He's sitting in his glass again... now he's pulled substrate into it and his rolling around in it. You did want second to second updates on what he's doing, right.

[Skeever]

It's not so bad Starshme, if it's someone else's blood. I have quite a high tolerance for other people's pain

[Skeever]

Oh, by all means, every detail!!!!

[starshme]

He's sleeping now. in the cup. in case anyone was dying for an update.