Hamster Question?

Question

My friend gave me her dwarf hamster cause she didn't want him anymore. She had him for like 6 months and would never pet him or pick him up and now he's just really mean. I've had him for about 5 months. I've tried petting him also tried using treats to get him to trust me and nothing will work. If you put your hand on the cage he'll run up and try to bite you. I just give up.

So my question is what can I do with him?? Nobody will take him cause he's too mean and I don't really want to just let him go outside but I might have too. Will a pet shop take him?

I gave him to a petstore

Answer 1

I've seen PetCo give away free pets before [with a sign like "take me-FREE!" or something] Maybe go there, or ask a petstore. Good luck.

Answer 2

he's probably cage aggressive. This is actually very common in dwarf hamsters, especially if they haven't been handled much. Luckily its pretty easy to solve. What he's doing is gaurding his cage from you, an intruder. So instead of trying to handle him in the cage, scoop him out of the cage in a cup or jar and take him to a safe place. Then "dump" him into your hands. Once they are away from the cage, most dwarf hamsters become very tame and harmless. It sounds crazy, but it really works! After a few weeks of handling him this way he may tame down enough for you to remove him from his cage without getting bit. don't linger in his cage, just remove him matter of factly at first and keep working from there. Remember that you will need to handle him with the jar/cup EVERY time you need to go into the cage. If you need to give him food or change bedding, scoop him out first to prevent his aggression, and take the opportunity to handle him then for a minute of two as well. If you really dont want to take the time (which is really very small) you MAY be able to give him to your local petshop or Petco will take homeless animals when they have room. Or you could give him to the shelter. Its highly unlikely he would find a new home though until his aggression is addressed. Hope this helps! -Neb

ps- do NOT let him go outside. it is cruel to your hammy who wont know how to survive and may be eaten by a predator or freeze to death. Or, he may survive too well and become an agricultural pest and wreck enviromental havoc. It is far kinder to give him to the local animal shelter to be adopted/put to sleep than to release him "into the wild"

Answer 3

Dwarf Hamsters will regress to 'wild' behavior if they are not handled continuously. Your friend basically ruined him in the behavior department.

It's recommended that you play with your dwarf about an hour a day to keep them friendly. Truthfully, ours don't get that much attention, but they are handled daily.

Hand him food through the cage bars, let him run on a wheel, give him tissue to nest with, and he will at least be fun to watch. He's already a year old and dwarf hamsters have a short life span of 1 year to 18 months.

I doubt anyone would take him, so try to make the best of it.

Answer 4

You could try a pet store, but do you really want to unleash the vicious critter on some unsuspecting child who wants a nice new pet hamster? My suggestion would be to take it to a rescue that deals with small animals. Not an animal shelter or anything like that. Look for a rescue in your area at petfinder.com Please don't just put him outside, cause he'll die. And even vicious critters don't deserve that.
Good luck!

Answer 5

I understand that you don't want to keep him because he is vicious, but letting him go outside is a death sentence. Why don't you advertise him in a free local paper? He's still good for breeding if there are breeders in your area. They don't have very long lives so he'd probably be happy just spending the rest of his grumpy life breeding and laying about. If you advertise something cute and quirky like, "Nasty, vicious, male hampster seeking SFH with good home and plenty of food, available immediately!" maybe you'll get some bites! lol (Sorry for the pun!)

Answer 6

Poor thing, because your friend never played with him hes not friendly. my hamster loves me when ever I come home from school and go up to the cage quietly to let her know I'm home, she'll wake up and come up to the cage to say hi. Then I give her a treat to tell her that she's a good girl. She's never bitten me before and I've had her for 2ys so far and she's still very heathly and full of evergy. like my previous hamsters (who died of old age)take him out of the cage and take him to your bed lay down on the bed with in your hands.them let hime walk around on the bed. and put treats near you. He may come over. if he come over do nothing just watch him. when hes finished put out your hands and see if he crawls into them if he does then he trusts you.
like humans let them get used to you

Answer 7

Yes, you can take him to an individually owned pet shop. No PetSmart or PetCo will take him .. My GF used to work at PetSmart.

He's mean because he's a hamster .. I bet you he's a Russian White or something.

Answer 8

Yea an petshop will take him because I had a REALLY mean hamster and she will bite so had u will bleed, then she had babies and I sold the baby hamsters and kept 2, so I asked if they can take back the mean hamster, the petshop took her

Answer 9

Try a pet store, they may take it, but it may be too old. If not, just try to find an animal shelter that'll take it.

PLEASE do not put the poor thing outside. It's not its fault he's not social.

Answer 10

ask in pet stores if they could acept hamsters or put on gloves pick him up and play and pet him for a really long time do dat for about a week or longer and he ma get used to u