We have just got a hamster. She is DDs Xmas present.
Having read book we picked a "lively one" but am worried she's a bit too lively. She's been up and about quite a lot since we got her (a day ago) and is very friendly - happy to come up to the bars and take bits of food from us.
She doesn't seem to mind us putting our hands in the cage - she'll happily approach them but then just bites our fingers. I think maybe she thinks they are food.
We did try getting her out of cage this evening and put her in a big plastic box so we could stroke her but she just rushed round like a loon rubbing herself all over the box and scrabbling up the sides.
Having googled various stuff I think we have been going a bit fast and should leave her alone for a few days and then try getting her used to our hand in the cage gently but I'm still wondering if she'll want to try out biting our fingers.
Have also read that we should wash our hands so they don't smell like food and stop feeding her food through the bars but was wondering if anyone else has any advice on convincing her that our hands aren't edible. The bites are really deep and bleed loads so not keen to let her have a few more goes to realise that they are fingers, not food
I had hamsters as a kid and can't remember ever having to tame them but am wondering if in those days pet shops were less like supermarkets and the hamsters were handled more before being sold.
Mumsnet does not check the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you're worried about the health of your pet, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
Small pets
Bitey hamster
agnesf · 15/12/2013 22:39
She will calm down, just keep persevering.
Our first one never took a bite whatsoever. You could kiss him forever and he would love it, he would put his little face up to me and rest his chin on my lips.
The one we have now was very nervous for ages, we always used to put our hand in the sawdust first. Now we don't have to bother. We can kiss him loads too, when he has had enough, he puts his paw on my lips 
I don't wish to contradict others, but one book we read said not to put your arm / hand into their cage, as that is invading their territory and can be really stressful for them.
With our hamsters, they come to us, to come out of the cage. To start off with, we left them alone for several days to get used to their new environment and do be stress free.
We did feed the hamsters tit bits from the cage to get used to us.
Then to get them out, we put a box into their cage, and lifted them out. We made an escape proof run and my DD sat in it. We allowed the hamster to run over her, get used to her smell, but she did not move or stroke it.
After doing this for a while, she then started stroking and handling the hamster inside the penned area.
We have done this with all our hamsters, and all have tamed nicely and do not bite. As I said previously, they are now in the routine, that when we open up the cage door, they will come over and come out, but it is always on their terms... They still do not like us in their cage
As I said, this is just the advice I got from one hamster book, and it worked for us. If the other advice you have been given does not, then you might find this woks for you.
DD2 was six when she tamed her hamster and DD1 was 7 when we tamed her first hamster.
Agnes, good hear it is going well. Hamsters make great pets when tame
A further update. She is really getting tame now. Has not bitten the woolly gloves for days now and is very happy for us to pick her up and cuddle her. I have even picked her up with no gloves today and absolutely no attempts at biting.
We still don't pick her up from inside the cage and so I'd recommend a cage that you can take the whole top off so its easy to get at hammy.
We are hoping to let her out of bath confines soon so that she can explore the whole bath room as we are much more confident about picking her up. DD is so happy that we didn't take her back to pet shop 
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.