mean siberian hamster

Question
Ok so I bought a mom siberian hamster and her 2 babies. she was mean as a snake, im thinking of course because of her babies. I learned after a few days to remove her babies once their eyes opened cause she was being mean to them and they seemed to do fine on their own. The mom is still so mean we cant even touch her. When we even open her cage she like jumps at us to bite us. Why is she still so mean and im guessing she always will be. I want to know the best way to raise these two babies to not be mean. They will nibble at your fingers and bite a little but its not hard...yet...lol. We plan to handle them everyday and put them in a play area outside of cage each day to get them used to us. Is there anything else i can do. I have always had regular fancy hamsters and never had a problem with mean or bad btiers. Help. Thanks, Monica

Answer
Hi Monica

Unfortunately some of the dwarf hamsters are like this.  I'm guessing you've got a Campbell hamster by the description.  I think you may find you never fully tame her and right now your attention needs to be on the babies - handle them as often as you can and hope that the mother's temperament hasn't been passed on.  If they are Campbells - often they are fine as babies but when they reach adulthood they have a dramatic change in personality - hence the reason why you need to spend as much time with the babies as you can and hope that they don't change in a few months time.

The only thing you can do with the mum is in effect start all over - try to get her used to you by talking to her every time you see her.  Don't put your hand straight into the cage.  If you need to pick her up - open up the cage and quickly grab her from above, or get a plastic cup that you can isolate her in.  You need to win her confidence and this is a slow process.  Siberian hamsters aren't like Syrians who normally tame really well, I'm afraid and you may end up having her in her cage to look at, rather than play with.

With regard to the babies - they need plenty of nourishment right now.  If you buy human baby food - the powdered variety is best (creamy porridge oats is my hamster's favourite).  Mix a small amount with water and put it on a low dish for them.  If you let them have some of this every day for the next couple of weeks.  This will ensure they are getting plenty of nutrients.  You can give their mum some of this too so that she rebuilds her strength.

I'm sorry there is no easy solution for this problem - however, the more time you spend with your hamsters at this stage the better.

Regards