I just got my hamster today (31st May), I think it's around 2 months old. It's a dwarf hamster, very tiny, but it'll grow bigger I guess.

My problem is that she (I think it's a female), -her name is Hershey- bites me whenever I put my hand near her, except when I'm offering her food from my fingers.

I only put my hand near her because I read that she has to get used to my scent before I can pick her up and play with her. When she sniffs my hand, she bites it. She bites quite hard for a tiny hamster. She even bit my dad.

I've read many different suggestions on how to stop her biting, but which is the most effective (and least painful)? There was one about rolling the toilet roll between my hands before putting it into her cage, but if I do that, next time I put my hand near her, won't she think it's ok to bite me? Since the toilet roll which she bites has my scent and all.

Also, is it ok if I don't buy the hamster food from the pet shops and feed her some fruits, rice, and cereal everyday? Or should I feed her food from the pet shop?

are you still having problems with her?

I have always found dwarfs to be biters, no matter how hard I tried, all 5 I had bite me and I couldn't pick them up.

My Syrian's have all been great, with my current Syrian, who was a very jumpy when he first arrived, I used a tube to pick him up, then gradually let him get used to me by letting him sniff my hand as he was running around my bed. I could pick him up and stroke him within 2 days of egtting him.

Hope you've had some luck with your little hammy

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I have had all sorts of hamsters, dwarf hamsters, teddy bear hamsters, syrian hamster.... but not one of them has ever bitten. They were all friendly and a great pet to have. I've had over 10 hamsters and only 2 of them I couldn't pick up (females) because they would jump out of your hands and leap and it was just too unsafe incase they fell on the floor or something.

I don't really know what to suggest as all my hamsters have been fine from day one... obviously some were a bit nervous at first but they wouldn't bite.

All I did was keep offering them food from my fingers and let them smell me to get used to my hand going in the cage and my scent, and to also know I am not a threat and I am feeding them.

I have heard of people saying that their dwarf hamsters tend to bite, so maybe I've just been lucky.

At a last resort maybe try some thick gloves? lol... but maybe not if it will scare them.

Hi, thanks for the replies. Yes, she still bites me, but somehow she doesn't bite my dad. I narrowly escaped her because my nails were long at the time I was adjusting something and she bit my nail instead of my finger (thankfully). She seemed rather aggresive when she tried to attack me.

Hey hershey5,

From my personal experience I do find that the females can be more touchy and "grumpy" than the males, this is why I ended up always getting males in the end!

Good luck and I hope you can sort her biting out soon.

Thanks, she's really big now and still very jumpy. I can stroke her when she's eating, but other than that, she's running around too fast.