i just got my teddy bear hamster and its afraid of my hand what do i do??

Question

i dont know what to do i just got it today

Answer 1

This is a tough one to answer. There's a few other things involved that you may have to overcome. First, you bought a Syrian hamster. Syrians are the largest of the five hamster species and are sold by pet stores with "cute" names to get more money for them. I haven't seen a pet store yet that sells a "Teddy Bear" at the same price as a "Golden" even though they are the same species. Hamsters are the only animals that I know of that sold so incorrectly.

So, I'll assume you have a Syrian hamster that you bought at a pet store. Unfortunately, since it's a pet store hamster it probably came from a commercial breeder. Commercial breeders produce as many hamsters as they can, as fast as they can, in as many "fancy" colors that they can. They do not select animals based on health or temperament, the breeding animals aren't around long enough to determine if there's health problems and they aren't handled to know if there's temperament problems. I have seen some down right vicious Syrian hamsters landing in the pet stores.

I own over 100 Syrians at any one time and have had so over the last few years. I've had hundreds of litters and thousands of pups. I do not use any gloves and have only been bitten four times. That's it, four times. I'm no hamster whisperer, I just have animals selected for their temperament. I get new hamsters from other breeders that also selectively breed. Some of my hamsters get very little interaction from me. Some are just taken out of their cage into a "holding cage" for five minutes while their's is being cleaned. Even these hamsters are calm and gentle and they're only being held briefly once a week. This is the difference between selective breeding and not. I have begun selling animals to a distributor and with my first shipment to them, just everyday people noticed a big difference between my animals and the animals they typically receive. They couldn't believe that not a single one of the hundred pups I shipped them tried to bite. Their clients also noticed the difference. What a nice compliment to me.

So, back to your situation. Not to suggest that it's a lost cause with your new friend because you bought her at the pet store, you may just have to work harder because of her genetically determined temperament. She may always be a bit persnickity but if you stop working with her altogether, she will get harder to handle when you need to change her cage.

You need to start holding her a couple times each day. If you can't get her out of the cage, then get her into a toilet paper roll and then dump her into your hand. Begin walking her from hand to hand, one in front of the other. You can also make it an unending "staircase". If you keep her moving you probably won't get bit. Do this over your bed so that if she manages to jump off your hand you can catch her. Once you're comfortable handling her in this fashion, begin to closing your fingers as she's walking from hand to hand so that she's now moving through an unending "tunnel". This will get her accustomed to being held and touched on her back. These sessions only need to last five minutes but you need to do them at least twice a day, preferably more. If you're scared of doing this at first, then wear a pair of leather gloves to get her accustomed to the "exercise".

If you have a ball that you want to roll around on the floor in, work with her before putting her in the ball. You may think that she'll be more tired and easier to work with after having some exercise but she'll be more excited and actually harder to work with.

She may never be as easy to handle as other hamsters and you will just have to recognize it as her individuality. I bet she tames very quickly though as long as you keep up with it.

(You didn't specify the sex of the hamster in your question so I just refered to it as a her.)

-Janice
http://www.holmdenhillhaven.com...

Answer 2

Some hamsters are really protective of their territory. You'll probably get along better with him if you take him out of his cage into a secure area where he cant run away or hurt himself, and try to feed him out of your hands there. Also, just keep on letting him to know your scent. My own hamsters know me now to the point where I can take them out of the cage and they'll fall asleep in my hands. I hope that you can get there with your own hamster ^_^.

Answer 3

You should buy a book based on how to care for hamsters.
1. Leave them in the cage for a few days, just feed them and give them water and look ate them thru the cage.
2.during these few days, let it smell ur finger whenever it comes to the cage. Doing this will make it know who u are and it'll get used to ur smell.
3.when you think ur ready, (i mean also when u put ur finger in/thru the cage, he won't bite you or scratch u) then you can take him out:)

P.S. hamsters don't like to be bothered while sleeping. there was once when my hamster was sleeping and i wanted to touch it because it was so cute, then the next thing u know, I'm bleeding...

Answer 4

Of course he's scared....you just got him. For all he knows you're a predator that wants to eat him. He has to be taught that you're trust worthy. Keep putting your hand in his cage, talk to him gently, let him know you mean no harm. Offer him treats like yogurt or peanut butter. Something he needs to eat off of your hand so he begins to realize you're not a threat. (and dont be surprised if he doesnt take treats from you right away). Keep holding him every day, for atleast 20 minutes. It might take a while but he'll come around. Even biters can be trained out of it, it'll just take a little longer. If he does bite and youre scared of him hurting you, wear gloves for a while, just make sure you dont hurt him accidently or it'll take longer for him to trust you.

Answer 5

I know exactly what to do.First, when you feed him, make sure he knows you're doing it with your hand.Then sooner or later, he'll figure out that your hand brings him food.Then after one week, start letting him eat out of your hand.Then after another week, try to hold him.If he still doesn't trust you,then do each step again, but for a longer period of time.But until the day he dies, always feed him with your hand.You don't have to let him eat out of your hand all the time.But just make sure you do it every once in a while.Just always dump the food in there with your hand.I hope I helped you and I hope you and your hamster begin to learn to trust one another.

Answer 6

Well of course he's scared, you just got him! give him a day or two before you try to touch him. Let him smell you, and try that a few times a day. Then they say if you rub your hands in shavings (clean) the smell will be more familiar to him and he won't react by running away from you so much... Try that out

Answer 7

start with just putting your hand in the cage and if it runs away just leave it untill it comes out and notices it. make sure your hands r clean though because if u have food on your hand it might bite. when it notices your smell try feeding it treats from your hand. good luck

Answer 8

I know this sounds stupid, but I had a Siberian Dwarf hamster and it just didn't like being picked up out of its cage. It was fine once it was out of its cage, but we would use an empty toilet paper roll (they love to hide) and put it in its cage and when he went in we would pick it up and put him in our hand, then he was fine. We would also keep one in there so he could hide and sleep in it.
Hope it helps!
Good Luck!

Answer 9

hamsters and gerbils take awhile to get used to their new environment, and your hand going in and out of the tank, just slowly let them get used to it, and they will be socialized. trust me, it's worth the wait.
don't rush it

Answer 10

Well let it get used to it's new place give it a few days then you can handle it.I'm sure he'll be fine.Good Luck