Hamster bite

[loopyloo87]

HI we bought a Syrian hamster from a pet shop last week for our 11 year old . I explained that gaining his trust would take time & patience. However last night she put her hand gently in his cage and he bit her drawing blood, the cut is tiny but it bled a fair bit.. I washed it thoroughly under the tap and covered with a plaster .. Should I call my Dr this morning I am keeping an eye on it for infection but I am worried

Also little warning but even after you gain a hamsters trust they can and do still bite at random. My beautiful girl would be lovely one minute and bite people the next. She did that for nearly 3 years. They are unpredictable.

franky has not been rude or unkind to anyone she has been deeply sympathetic and received horrible replies for that sympathy.

No, you don't need to call a doctor. Keep it clean. She'll be fine. I've had 4 Syrians and only one was bitey. Stick with black and white ones.

loopy I assume DD now fine but FWIW: Males smell, the females bite, the bites hurt and bleed more than you would expect but probably have about 10 bites between us and the children, never had any problems but you would be wise to seek advice if there is any sign of infection, esp red lines tracking up the lymphatics. I think they (hamsters) lose visual acuity with age and get to rely more on smell in old age and any hint of food on the fingers and they try a nibble. Oh and females spend all night trying to escape whereas the boys just go to sleep and the males usually get gonadal tumours age 2 so have better built in obsolescence. Grouchy old female hamsters are not fun.

Age 14 DS wanted (a pair of) rats instead, so much better behaved, he even trained them to shake a paw and roll over. Never got bitten but the pet shop who boarded them when we went away were so impressed that they were so tame. All down to regular handling.