Hamster Sleeps/Eliminates in Same Spot

Question
We brought home a golden hamster (I think) from the Petstore about three
weeks ago.  She has no white hair in her ears, so I've read that that means she
may be a bit older, is this true?  She escaped the first night and we had to
catch her which seems to have traumatized her a bit.  Since then we have
been unable to hold her, but are working patiently to tame her by offering
treats (she will take food when I hold it out to her) and simply holding our
hands inside the cage.  Unfortunately, she started biting in fright, so we've
gone back to only offering her food and petting her gently as she eats, never
leaving our hand in the cage (she seems to think we're food, though we
always wash our hands!) She has started spending more time in her
enclosure, and taking the food when offered and running back into the
enclosure. Do we still have hope to tame our little pal?  She was so unabashed
when we first got her, but capturing her after the escape seems to have really
hurt her confidence.

Also, Recently I noticed that our hammy is pooping in her "house" - the
shelter that came with our Habitrail cage.  She poops and sleeps and stores
food in there, and today emerged with a very dirty top of the head, as if she
had been in something sticky.  Is this a sign of an illness, or just that she's
afraid and doesn't want to leave her house?   What can we do to discourage
this behavior?

Answer
I'm sorry to hear your hamster got out. The best way to tell a hamsters age is by size. A hamster becomes full grown around 6 months of age (which isn't very old) and are quite long, around 6 inches or so. Younger hamsters seem to be very jumpy and nippy as you describe, it may take some time before your hamster grows up and learns to love it's human. You are doing the right thing by hand feeding to tame her, it is just going to take some time until your hamster becomes tame. Your hamster going into the enclosure is a sign she is not fully awake, usually your hamster will be more inclined to stay out later at night.

My hamster used to have a look out tower where he spent most of his day snoozing. He also spent the day pooping and hoarding in the same spot. I took the area out and gave him an igloo instead, but he used it for the same things. I have kept all my hamsters in aquariums and he is the only one to do so, so you can tell it has nothing to do with cage setup. You can't really discourage your ham from doing this, I've tried. There is nothing wrong with your ham, and it is just personal choice. Just look at the positive, that all the droppings are in one area, making clean up a snap.