Weird taming?

Question
Hi Sheila, I bought my Hamster (her name is Waffles Pancakes OR Ms. Pancakes) and I was reading about how to tame my hamster. As I was reading, I quickly realized that it will be hard. Now, this is the weird part that happened. I forgot to NOT touch your hamster until after a few days. Well I touched Waffles a few hours yet she didn't freak out and bite me! Has this ever happened before? Should I be worried? She does not take treats from my hand yet, and I cant pick her up. I know that picking up is last stage though!

Answer
Hi Sean

There is no one rule for taming a hamster.  The friendliness of a hamster depends on how stable/calm their parents were and if they have been handled as babies.  Some hamsters are tame pretty much from day one, others can take weeks to settle.

In terms of taming Ms Pancakes, I would strongly advise that you don't let her sniff your hand or actually pick food off it as hamsters have very bad eyesight and can easily bite if they smell something that resembles food.  I usually hand treats etc. to hamsters in a way that they can't nip.  

I would strongly advise that you try to handle her now - the more handling you can do in the early days, the better.  If you can, dismantle her cage so that you remove the top section and have easy access to her.  In the wild hamsters are preyed upon by birds and other creatures therefore you don't want to pick her up through a tube or door opening.  Once tame she will walk out of a side door of her cage if she has one straight onto your hands.  If you rub some of her bedding onto your hands this will put her scent on you and she won't be as worried.  Then if you place a hand each side of her and very quickly 'scoop' her up and immediately transfer her to your clothing.  I usually sit down at this stage and let the hamster walk over me.  let her explore you and if she starts wandering off, gently slide a hand under her.  A lot of hamsters hate walking on skin and feel much more comfortable on clothing.  Stroke her while she is wandering around and talk to her a lot.  After about 5 minutes return her to her cage.  Hamsters are incredibly nosey creatures and chances are she will want to come straight out again if you open the side door to her cage - if so, get her out again.  Hamsters can learn quickly and you need to let her see that it is safe outside the cage and that you aren't going to hurt her.  If you can do this nightly for a while and also talk to her a lot, I'm sure she will settle quite quickly.  Females do tend to be more energetic than males and can take a bit longer to tame, but their personality is often a lot more interesting.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila