Toffee

Question
We recently bought a hamster from a pet store, syrian, female (Toffee). Shes 7-9 weeks old. By the second day, she seemed fine, out on our hands and playing with us happily- no biting. THe next two days the same. But for the last couple of days shes been waking up later (past 10:30) and has bitten us if we even put our hands in the cage- hard enough for it to bleed. And once she bit through the bars- hard!



Is there any real way to stop her biting? Is it a sign of anything?

Answer
Hi

Sorry to hear that Toffee is biting.  She's obviously feeling very territorial now that she's settled in.   Trying to stop a hamster biting and tame them can take a while, but it is worth persevering with it.

I tame a lot of hamsters - some come around quickly, others take several weeks.  There are a few golden rules I adopt:  I always talk to the hamster - every time I see it out of the nest, or I know it is awake because I see the bedding move.  I always say their name.  If I see them out and about I always give them a treat (nuts or hamster treats - I avoid hamster yoghurt/chocolate drops though)through the bars - this way they start to associate my voice with something nice.  I never just put my hand into the cage.  If I can I dismantle the cage - take the top off from the bottom section and put the cage on the floor.  I rub some of the wood chippings into my hands so that the hamster scent is on me - this makes my hands less scary to them.  Then I scoop the hamster up - never grab at them.  I immediately put them on my clothing as skin can freak some hamsters out!  After a few minutes I return them to their cage so that they can see there was nothing to worry about.  Sometimes they want to come straight out again and will actually walk onto my hands.  After a few days of doing this, I often let them have a run in an exercise ball for 10-15 minutes.  If you use one of these, do make sure any doors/joins are taped up - these balls have a habit of opening or splitting in two if they are bumped into furniture and the last thing you want is Toffee escaping right now.  

With regard to her waking up past 1030 hrs - you should be able to snap her out of this.  Four of my hamsters want to come out for a run and play in the evenings - but their body clocks are all different.  If I sat and waited for them to wake up I'd never get to bed!  So, around 8pm I tap their cages and call their names.  Sometimes I'm ignored, but if I do this a few times, then put some fresh vegetables in their cage, they start to stir.  By 9pm they are all usually out for a run in their exercise balls.  They soon get into this routine.  

It sounds to me that Toffee has settled in nicely to her new home but has decided she is in charge - you need to somehow remind her that this isn't the case!  Don't expect everything to change over night - some hamsters will take several weeks before they settle down a bit, and even then, if you happen to handle Toffee badly one day, or have the smell of food on your hands when you pick her up, you still stand a chance of being bitten - the thing to remember is that hamsters only bite because they are frightened, ill (they can get aggressive with some illness especially if they are in pain), being handled badly or a genuine case of mistaken identity.

Good luck with this - I hope it all works out well for you.  Hopefully in a few weeks you'll have turned this situation around and Toffee will be a lot friendlier.

Regards