hamster (a.k.a. expert escape artist)

Question
My younger sister has a hamster, who is named strawberry. I am said to say that she is often neglected. The reason for this is simple. The litle beasty is fast as anything, and has fur camoflauge, and mostly because shes a biter. For some unknown reason (haha) she is always finding ways to wiggle out of her cage. we bought a much nicer cage, but she still gets out.And I am sick of playing the "find strawberry" game, every other week. Please help.

Answer
Hello Sam!  

I can help you with this problem.  All hamsters are naturally escape artists.  For this reason all types of enclosures (their homes) must be carefully examined when considering what type of home to get them.  

I can offer advice for the housing, and biting.

For housing:

Hamsters love to find ways out of things.  In my experience the following enclosures had their ups and downs.

Plastic enclosure (example: All plastic Critter trail)
GOOD:  It looks cool, fun for the hamster to run around in
BAD: Cleaning and breaking apart, IF the hamster wants out it will MAKE a way out, plastic is much easier for a hamster to wear down in time (biting a hole or making a small hole BIGGER) this makes this type of enclosure a bad choice.  Sure the thing looks good but if a hamster catches a slight breeze of freedom, he will go for it.

Plastic/Wire Enclosure: (Example: A wire cage with plastic bottom)
GOOD: Allows the hamster a feel for freedom without actually setting it free,  Easy to clean.  You can hand water bottles and toys around the outside of it.
BAD:  Hamsters sometimes may manage to squeeze out,  Bigger hamsters will make an annoying sound at night trying to bite their way thru the metal bars (they of course are not strong enough but Hey?!  Who are we to tell them they can't try?!), Hamsters will sometimes kick shavings out of the cage and you will have a nice little mess, if you leave any clothes near the cage or on top of the cage then expect your hamster to turn it into scraps for his own bed.

GLASS: (Example: all glass tank, terrarium)
GOOD:  Hamsters cannot eat thru glass, Hamsters are usually not tall enough to reach the top of the glass and escape.
BAD: a little harder to clean, some tanks do not come with a top so you have to buy a screen top to prevent escapes.  Many water bottles are built to hang off the edges and some hamsters will use this to their advantage and try to climb out.

What I suggest for Strawberry is an all glass Terrarium.  Make sure it is at least a 10 gal size.  Buy the smallest water bottle you can that attaches with either suction cups OR sticky tape (this way Strawberry can't climb on top of the water bottle and escape).  If you get her a hamster wheel, place it in the middle of the cage (this way She cannot lean against the side of the terrarium and chimmie her way up to the top). Basically just make sure that IF Strawberry were to stand on top of the tallest item in the terrarium (home) her little fingers cannot reach the top. Make sure you get a screen top.  Hamsters gravitate to where they KNOW there is an easy way out, so if Strawberry senses fresh open air above her head then she will concentrate on trying to climb out rather than dig, bite or squeeze her way out.

An all glass terrarium is the type of home I recommend to people who do not want to bother with too much noise at night. Glass terrariums also work to help prevent escapees, so long as you keep a rule of thumb to have no less than your hamster's height and an inch of space between the top of the tallest item in their home and the top of the Terrarium.

About biting.  Make sure you wash your hands WELL with soap and water before handling your hamster (or at least that you do not smell like food). If Strawberry bites the most when you are trying to pull her out of her home then she is simply being territorial.  I would then take a medium sized cup and scoop her out of her home before handling.  This way she does not feel territorial when she is removed from her home.

If Strawberry bites when she is outside her home and being handled... then this could mean she just doesn't want to be handled.  I have solutions for problematic hamsters who do not want to be held.

I have biters, jumpers, territorial, and shy.  There are ways to get them all to calm down enough to be handled.  For this you will need a lot of patience and to describe all the ways to calm the hamster down would be too hard to detail in this message alone.  However biters usually do not trust the person handling them, they feel "insecure" and/or scared. You will have to earn the hamster's trust, and some hamsters are more stubborn than others.   I would give Strawberry a little more time.  Do not give up,  if she doesn't calm down or if she is an "outside the home" biter then contact me again and I will try to further help you.