Help with mean little hamster!

[BiteyMcBite]

We got a two month old hamster three weeks ago and did lots of research beforehand, and we have done everything we’re supposed to do - large cage (100cm x 60cm), deep litter layer, lots of hidey-holes, toys, tubes, large wheel etc. We gave him three or four quiet days to settle in and then gradually started allowing a little household noise around him. We put items with our scent into the cage so he’d get used to our smells. Then we started putting our hands in slowly and not from above in case we scared him. Then we started putting treats in our hands and letting him approach to take them from us.

However, even with going so slowly and carefully, he’s still a bitey little sod and regularly bites down hard for seemingly no reason. For example, he’ll take the treat, but before I have a chance to slowly withdraw my hand, he’ll turn back and quickly bite a fingertip (and it’s painful - a deep bite that causes a lot of bleeding and a bruise). Are some hamsters just like this? Should we resign ourselves to never being able to handle him? I would have thought that, three weeks in, he would be a little bit more relaxed :-(

As my vet friend said - who the F decided that a nocturnal ground burrowing bitey prey animal was a good childrens pet?
SOME of them can be ok but generally they do not want to be held or touched, you should have got a rat, very intelligent and affectionate.

Yes we had rescue pet rats for a number of years and they were just the best 💗💗 I really miss those little guys. Sadly they don't live all that long & often seem to get horrible tumours or respiratory issues 😪. I've moved onto fostering cats and kittens now

Awww I've had guinea pigs before and they were fab pets for children (& for me). I miss their loud wheaks when I used to open the fridge 💗😆

When I was a child I had 2 lovely hamsters they wss so friendly walk out cage into my hand feed from my hand etc.
So when I left home I decided I wanted a hamster again. Well he put me off all hamsters for life. He was so bitey feeding him changing his bedding etc resulted in bites at first thought he would get used to be handled but he never did he lived 2.5years and would bite someone every single day.

if you have a room that could be hamster safe, you could try letting him free roam, you can sit in the middle and he might come to you. That's what I did as a teen with a lot of mine, and none of those stayed bitey forever. But maybe it is a temperament thing. A shame because the lovely ones are delightful!

Hamsters have poor eyesight. He isn't being "mean", he can't bloody well tell the difference between a bit of food and a human finger - he cannot see anything more than a couple of centimetres in front of him. You need to research these things properly.

When I was a kid my first hamster was a beautiful little thing, the second was a first class fucker. I don’t think they’re great pets as you have no idea what you’re going to get and Syrian have a rep.

We've got 3 hamsters 2 are incredibly friendly happy to be handled, the other one will happily chew your hand off, I use a wooden spoon to gently usher him along into the play pen even that he tries to take a chunk out of!

I had lots of rodent pets when younger and one, I think it was a Russian Hamster, was bitey. Always. I looked after him but wasn't sad when he died tbh.

Unless you’re my DH, you have no idea how much research I did. For your information, it was a LOT. I know about their eyesight - they can only see up to about a foot away, and it’s thought that they can’t see the colour red, and so rely much more on their senses of hearing and smell. This little sod bites whether or not there is a treat on offer, and no matter how well I’ve washed my hands and avoided anything too fragranced or harsh.

Ours were very gentle, could pick them up and play with them. Then all of a sudden one started nipping and wouldn't let me pick it up. Lo and behold a few days later a handful of tiny pink, transluscent chipolata looking babies appeared. Obviously the 2 adults were not the same sex.... Soon developed into dozens of them before we could deal with the original brood....😂

I had one like this a couple of years ago. I had to pick her up in a mug to clean the cage 🤣 she had an absolutely huge enclosure with lots of enrichment and specialist food. Some hamsters are just like that.

I had a lot of hamsters growing up, mostly Syrian and then a few sets of roborovskis.
I’ve also had a couple of mice and rats. (We weren’t allowed dogs so think my parents tried anything lol.)
naturally, the Syrians were the most vicious out of all the rodents I’ve listed. They have to live on their own (as you know) whereas all the others (including robotovskis) can live in pairs. I think this naturally makes the others more affectionate and less likely to bite/nip as they’re use to other creatures whereas Syrians (though look sooo cute) would kill each other in the same cage.
I have never been bitten by a rat or mouse.

as some commenters have said, it can be temperament. We had some lovely, gentle ones but also a couple who always bit, no matter what we did. (Syrians.)

i would keep at it as the hamster is still young. The worst thing you could do is not let your hamster smell your smell so definitely keep at it, you’re doing all the right things! Some hamsters are just like this unfortunately. And I remember those bites, so deep and so painful!

Don't remove your hand if he bites you, he's just learning that biting gets the big scary to go away.

Rats don't smell if you keep them clean. They can easily be litter trained mine trained themselves then the older rats train the young ones. They're lovely pets as they're very interested in humans and what snacks you might be hiding.

I've committed the cardinal sin of not RTFT but hamsters have poor eyesight and rely on smell. If your hand smells like food, the hamster might bite (never put your finger through the bars). Gentle handling often can make them tamer (DD had several hamsters as a child and mithered the poor things to tameness). None of ours were bitey. I think some are just arseholes though. You have my sympathies, their teeth are like razors.

I had 1 Syrian hamster as a kid and 3 as a student. One of them was nice, the other 3 were grumpy. Two out the four died quite abruptly as well, one from a tumour.

The nicer one, who lived for a couple of years, was hand reared from when she was tiny - a friend worked in a pet shop, someone came in trying to sell her, she was too small for the shop to sell on, and she ended up with us. She was a lovely wee thing.

They're not great pets overall though.

Give him a good talking to. If he doesn't behave.Threaten him with sending him to Richard "The Hamster Hammond.

Or to a man like Freddie Starr who will eat him.

I don’t think it’s particularly ‘bitey’ OP, it’s very normal for one that isn’t yet tame.

A few minutes but consistent handling several times daily especially with a treat will help.

They are usually active in the evening also. Sometimes wake up during the day.

We had a Syrian hamster who went missing through a hole in the wall for a few days. We thought she was gone forever but returned - albeit very scared & bitey. My husband said we’d need to rehome her. But I was determined to keep her, so my daughter and I followed some hand training videos on YouTube - while wearing some gardening or horse riding gloves. It took a while but eventually the hamster became very sweet and docile. Good luck. Pets - no matter how small - are always a challenge & take a lot of time & energy & patience.

We had a lovely friendly hamster but we’ve never done well with rats which are meant to be friendlier but ours always bit.

I think the key is just to get them as young as possible and handle as much as possible from a young age. Some are grumpier than others.

I’ve never had an angry male Syrian the only grumpy one I ever had was a female. Are you sure you have a male? (Is there an obvious pair of balls?) Do you currently still have cats or dogs? That could unsettle them. They can get used to a bit of noise but generally don’t appreciate it. I’d be very surprised if there is not some other factor causing this behaviour. Any chance you have mice? As a student I left mine of my hamsters at my parents house for a few weeks and I suspect a mouse got in his cage to pinch some food as when I got hamster back it had lost most of its fur and needed a vet trip and antibiotics. 🫤

I have had 7 hamters roborovski all boys these are known to be the least handable hamters species all of them within 4 weeks was starting to settle within 7 weeks they responded to name and would always great me although their most active in the day mine choose to come out on the day for about 15/25 mins all hamster are different

We have had two Syrians, one very bitey and one not. You sound like you are doing everything right, I think some are just bitey types

My advice would be allowing the hamster to walk out of the cage onto a teatowel or alternatively picking them up in a tube or hidey house and letting them walk out of there. Our Russian one was very territorial of his cage and would bite if you put your hand in, but was much nicer once out and able to potter around exploring/sniffing.

Use gloves to hand feed treats for a while. I kept hamsters and I left the cage door open to encourage them to want to come out. Then they had to land in my hands to come out so they were rewarded for coming to the hand.mine loved out time and would make chirps to come out when we went in the room. I never put my hands into their home. Mine were female Syrian. I also used to show rats and they are my favourite x