Does anyone know why a new hamster would be hissing (best I can describe it) at us?

[Springandsummerarecoming]

We only got him over the weekend and he is hissing when we approach him. Any ideas? I’m guessing he’s scared but I’ve never known a hamster to do this. Not that I’ve known many 🤣. He’s putting us off of handling him but we know we need to.

He's scared.
You'll need to take it slowly getting him used to you.
Small pets forum on here might have some good advice on this.

Stress.
Needs time to decompress and scent his living area.
Give food and water and leave him alone for at least 48 hours.

It's best to leave new hamsters alone for a few days to let him settle in.

To help him get used to your smell you could carry a tissue on you for a day or so then put it in his tank. I usually stick a tissue in my bra for a few hours. 😃

Ahh ok. That’s what I thought. We were told to start handling him today and the kids are excited to but perhaps we should wait a bit longer then. It’s quite daunting when he’s hissing when we’ve just topped up his food bowl and put it back in the cage. A friend got one at the same time and theirs is happy being handled so thought ours would be too.

One of mine used to hiss/scream at me. Start gentle, if he hisses just place a treat in front of him then gently stroke his back with one finger once and retreat. You might get a bite or two at the beginning if he is very frightened.

Repeat once or twice a day and when he stops being scared, progress to holding the treat in your palm so he has to put his paws on you to take it. Don't move when he takes it then just do the usual one stroke and retreat.

You'll find he soon starts to come to you when he sees or hears you and if you do it at the same time every day he will be up and waiting for you at treat time.

Mine only screamed when picked up or when i had to give him medicine but he wasn't scared of me it was just sheer temper. He never bit me.

You will get there Op. We bought a dwarf hamster two years ago and it played full on dead the first few hours. I genuinely thought it had died, it was that still. He was utterly terrified of us all and now he will even lie on his back in my son’s hand and doze off. Trust takes time. Rather than try to hold him, in a few days time I’d start putting him into a play pen with toys etc. We let ours get used to a very slight touch and the sound of our voices before we even attempted to let him run around on us. Maybe that’s a controversial approach (first timers) but it worked out for us.

Is the hamster definitely a he?
When I was a child we got a male hamster that was quite aggressive and hated being handled. A week later the hamster made a big nest from the bedding and the next morning there were little babies in the nest. The pet shop had either lied, or didn't bother to check.

Pet shops are perhaps more reputable than in the early 1990s, but just putting the idea forward on the off chance it's the same situation!

It means he's scared. I've had 13 hamsters over the years, all Syrians. Only one hissed at me and only when he was a baby. He was terrified. I let him settle into his new home but when we was awake I used to talk to him gently without getting too close to him. Gradually I got closer and he let me put my hand near him. You'll get there but you need to go at your hamsters pace. If he's a baby then he's likely been separated from his litter mates and everything he's ever known.

Be slow and be gentle. He will learn to trust you. You can also occasionally rub your hands on his woodshavings or bedding so he gets used to your scent.

Thanks all. We got him out tonight as there was no hissing and he seemed happy to explore the play pen area. Has started biting a bit though which puts the youngest off but hopefully this will stop soon.

Give him a few days to settle. We let our children lay in an empty bath and let hamster climb around at first. No worries then about him getting dropped.

Make sure they wash their hands really well with unscented soap before touching him. Hamsters don't see very well at all so if your hands smell like something nice or like food then he will try to take a bite, thinking it is food.

Otherwise just gently pull your hand away or twitch a finger if he is just nibbling it. He is testing to see if you are edible. It generally stops once they get to know what you smell like.