Expert: Jedediah - 3/29/2008

Question
My dwarf hamsters bite when ever I try to pick them up. I've tryed to where gloves when I pick them up. The lady at the store said to try that to so if they bite tap them on the head. The first few days they dident bite then a day or so they started to bite. Help!!!!!!!!!!

Answer
Dear Joe,
thank you for your question.
Tapping them on the head will only make them more aggressive towards you. Don't pick them up from above and let them come to your hand by themselves instead of picking them up. Try putting your hand in the cage and offering a treat on your palm. Once the hamsters are used to climbing up on your hand and sitting there, move your hand around the cage and once they don't jump off, put your other hand gently on top, to form a cave, and take them out.

Some dwarf hamsters are aggressive inside their cage, but friendly outside. If that is the case, offer them a bowl or toilet paper roll to climb inside and take them out of the cage with it. They will learn fast that it means time outisde their cage and climb in readily.

Aggression inside the cage can mean that the cage is too small. For dwarfs, the minimum for one hamster is a cage measuring 30x15x15" in leangth, width and height. They are also not really social and being forced to live together may make them aggressive towards you and towards each other. Dwarf hamsters do live as breeding pairs in the wild, but they have huge territories and can avoid each other completely if they want to or choose new partners. Hamsters of the same sex don't live together once they are adult. Keep an eye on them and separate them as soon as they start to fight because the fights will get serious very soon. If you can, I recommend separating them now because very often the fights happen late at night and you won't notice anything until one of them is hurt.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer