no longer pooping, hiding in den!

[Joan]

Hello,
I bought my daughter a Syrian hamster last week (now aged 7 weeks) at a very well regarded and humane pet shop. The shop owner recommended him over his brothers because he is active, curious, and would come right up to shop owner's hand. He even tolerated my daughter's hand in the shop. He spent the first few days running around his bin cage frantically checking everything out (for reference, he's in a huge 130L Samla bin, with a wheel, lots of over / under / through cardboard to play in, plenty of soft bedding, and a nice hidey-hole. I gave him a few days to settle in, sat by the cage a lot and talked to him, gave him tissues that smelled like me and my daughter etc. So then I put my hand in with a treat, he came right up to me, and he ate the treat, and THEN he bit right through my finger, like pouring with blood kind of bit. It still hurts a lot days later kind of bit. And yes, I washed my hands thoroughly, though I guess they then smelled like the treat I had just given him.I read I should persevere and tried again and this time he bit through my nail. It hurt so much that I instinctively shook my hand to get him to let go and he fell but only about 3 inches so I don't think he got hurt. The only other thing that has happened was I gave him a small piece of apple and he had a sick tummy for two days.

So, now I see no poop in his bin at all, and, he barely came out last night to run or play. He hoards up his food and heads back into his den.

Not sure what to do. He's clearly more scared now than he was before and I feel terrible that I shook my hand. And now I'm - frankly - pretty scared too. These were not cute little nips, these were blood-gushing CHOMPS.

So, first, do I worry about his health with the poop thing? Could he be pooping in his den too?

And second, how do you train a hamster that bites - hard - but doesn't seem to be biting out of fear? Should I glove up to protect my digits and then tray letting him run around my body?

HELP!

[cypher]

Don't feel bad about reacting to a bite like that, it's very hard not too! He's obviously had a bit of a scare but he should get over it & come round again soon enough given how friendly he's been before.
I would imagine he's just doing everything in his house right now, eating, sleeping, pee & poo if he's a bit scared, as long as he's eating & drinking ok it's unlikely you have any health issues going on to worry about.
I would just go back to the start with taming, don't put your hand in the cage again for a little while apart from doing the necessary feeding, bottles & any spot cleaning.
Keep up with the tissue trick & talk to him lots, even if he doesn't come out of his house he'll know you're there & begin to get more comfortable with your presence again.
What treat were you hand feeding? You might want to start with a glove on when you do try again & just offer a treat that can be taken easily & doesn't have a strong smell that can be transferred to your hand too much, something like a sunflower seed in the shell should be ok.
If you're brave enough to try again without gloves once he's settled back down it might be worth a go, I just feel that if you use gloves they don't really get the chance to get used to your hand but I totally understand if you prefer to use them!

[Bertiebobbins]

I'm sure he is still biting out of fear, he's young and scared and he's still very new. Having had two new, young hams in the last couple of months I've learned it's not uncommon for them to act really tame, outgoing etc in the first couple of days then disappear completely for a few days once they start really "Hamstering" for a few days. Think about it - this is his first time out n his own, away from other hams, with his own territory. Our first Breeder farm pet shop ham behaved much like yours, he bit my daughter really hard and nipped me once or twice, but had stopped doing that after a couple of weeks. He was much harder to tame than our second, who is much bigger and more laid back, but even he disappeared for a few days to do his hamster "thing" when he first arrived, he was so excited about his wheel and food and making a new nest, but after about 4 days he started coming out to say hi to us and gets treats, and now four or five weeks on he's still quite excitable as he's only young but tame and friendly.

My advice to you would be don't dismiss him as a biter or label him as such, he's so young and it's just his instincts kicking in. Leave him completely alone for a days or two, then start all over again just talking to him, offering him food through the bars, don't even think about getting him out and then be amazed when he decides one day soon he wants to!

[Joan]

Thanks for the advice. Good news! He has been out and about again, though not as much as before. His hidey-hole was starting to really smell and although I know maybe I shouldn't have, I spirited it away for a bit yesterday and cleaned it out and sure enough it was full of poop and pee and hamstered food and stuff. So you were right, he was just doing all his business in there. I kept the cleanest bedding and put it back in with some fresh. He was a bit freaked out, but went back to bed in there happily this morning.

Also, he is eating / drinking / pooping normally again. So that's good.

Was wondering though: should I try taking him out of his bin to tame? Like the letting him run on me in the dry bath tub thing? Maybe he's more aggressive inside his bin? Or do you think better to get him used to my hand before I take him out at all?

Thanks!

[cypher]

If you can get him out without stressing him out too much, see if he'll be happy to climb into something like a ball, tube or box or even a mug so you can transfer him easily to the bath or other safe play area it's really worth trying, some hams are a lot easier to tame out of the cage.