I need advice please :)

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HayMeadow

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Hey y'all,
I'm new to this but I have a Syrian Hamster I adopted in January. He is my second hamster (His name is Gus Gus) but he is nothing like my late Campbell's dwarf hamster (Little Bear). Little bear was super sweet and he never bit. But Gus Gus is completely different! He is aggressive to anything new in his tank. He has bit me multiple times. I've tried using gloves but he bites so hard I still feel it. He even hangs off the glove! I tried to rub my hands with toilet paper to get him used to my scent and I tried leaving a glove in there to get him used to it. He tore the glove apart. He's ok with being pet but when you let your hand flat in the tank he bites. Im not sure how to tame him and make him bite less. I want him to be able to be used to people so my friends and family can hold him and pet him without being bitten instead of being a just watch hamster. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone had a hamster similar and did they ever get better? If so please let me know! I need help! I'm open to anything. Thank y'all so much!
 
Hello and welcome. I am sorry to hear this. Syrians aren’t normally aggressive unless they are in pain or feel threatened - or have cage rage because the cage isn’t big enough. They can also get very stressed if there are full clean outs weekly or things changed in the cage a lot as it skews their normal behaviours and removes all their familiar habits and scent.

Some are more sensitive than others so may get more stressed than others.

It sounds like he needs chance to o settle without disturbance for a while in a large enough tank with deep enough bedding. How big is his tank? Syrians need at least a 40 gallon breeder size tank (assuming you’re in the US). And at least six inches of bedding - ideally 8” or more - so they can burrow and bury hoards.

Although that sounds a lot of bedding you don’t need to do weekly clean outs, but spot clean mainly, so it lasts much longer.
 
He does have a 40 gallon breeder tank and I keep most of the tank filled with about 6 inches of bedding which he moves around. The parts that aren't are by his 12 inch wheel and his water which I keep in the same area in the tank.
 
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I’ve had a similar issue with my hamster. If she eats food than you can pet her and hold her. The second the food is gone, she will bite you. She purposely comes up to me just to bite me. I’ve had her for about a month and have seen minor progress. This summer I’m really going to try and work on bonding with her. It’s just hard to bond because I’m scared of putting my hand near her when I’m almost 100% sure she will bite! So, you’re definitely not alone. I think that she just has to learn that I will never hurt her and I’m not here to threaten her territory. I’ll let you know how it goes after I try some more bonding. Good luck! I know how discouraging that can be. Luckily, my hamster is absolutely amazing to watch, even though I can’t hold her.
 
Thats exactly what my hamster does! Yeah! Let me know and let me know what works! I just want him to trust me and not be scared but im not sure how to gain his trust. He does take food from me though. Like if I offer him a sunflower seed in my fingers he will take it. Good luck to you too!
 
Sorry to read Gus Gus is being aggressive towards you. When we first brought our Syrian home, he just seemed super shy and nervous and similarly when food wasn’t involved he’d dodge any contact.

I would keep my hand movements very slow within his cage and like you I’d rub my hand with some of his bedding prior to offering treats to him, so I had some of his scent on me. After he’d taken a sunflower seed or two, I’d remove my hand completely from his home and just sit chatting. Even if I couldn’t see him, I’d just sit chatting sometimes, so he knew not every visit meant I wanted to touch him and I was just checking in to see he was ok.

It was likely around 4 months when he became more inquisitive of me for a sniff of my hands or arm and at that point I used a few brown linseeds in the palm of my hand and he’d climb on to lick them up, I didn’t try and lift him at this point, just left my hand completely flat until he finished and hoped off and then slowly I started to be able to stroke him when he was in his home and out in his play pen of an evening and it went from there really. They are all so different, some just take a lot more patience than others 😊 Look forward to hearing how he settles in over the coming months.
 
It's more common for a dwarf hamster to take a bite than a Syrian hamster. Syrians don't normally bite. He has a good sized tank. Could it maybe be clean outs that are causing him upset? Maybe you could post a photo of his set up in case there are any suggestions or tweaks we could make that might help. Sometimes there's something just not quite right for them in the enclosure.
 
This is what it typically looks like right after I clean it. IMG_0266_Original.jpeg
And over time he packs it down and he moves things to make it look like this
IMG_1205.jpeg
He puts all the bedding in the hide he has. I should probably add more bedding.
 
I'm just wondering, with it being a tank if he doesn't like a hand coming from above. Some hamsters can be more bothered by that than others.

It would help to have more bedding, but also maybe more hidey places. It's difficult when the wheel area needs to be lower but maybe the bedding could slope up away from it. I'd fill the floor space with tunnels and hides so he has lots of cover and doesn't feel to exposed maybe and it adds more enrichment. If you can afford to get one new thing - I'd get a cork log - they are nice big tunnels and a nice texture and something to climb over. Otherwise cardboard is your friend :-) Cardboard tunnels (pringles tubes are good), tissue box hides etc. So he has lots of places to go and things to do.

Maybe have a look at the "Show us your cages" thread for some ideas :-)

www.thehamsterforum.com

Show us your cages 2023 onwards

A new thread for 2023 to show cage set ups :) Some may have changed or be new but feel free to add your existing set up again. It's mainly so all current ones are viewable in the same place.
www.thehamsterforum.com www.thehamsterforum.com
 
That peanut shaped hide looks interesting :) I think a big cork log would go down well and you might not be able to fit in much more than that - but they also seem to like round coconut hides, which can fit into a convenient gap somewhere :) I would try not to disturb his house area when you spot clean his cage, and just do the left hand half when you clean and leave the right hand half another 3 weeks or so. But the more bedding you have in the less often it will need cleaning out. Do you know where he's peeing?
 
He pees in the back left corner in his sand bath. I moved his sand bath there because last time I cleaned it I noticed he loved to pee there. 😂 Took me a while to clean it out.
 
That's good he's peeing in his sand bath. They do tend to choose a corner of the cage as a toilet - it means the rest of the cage should stay clean and dry - I've found most of my Syrians keep their nest area very clean and dry - once they're old enough not to wet the bed! You can just kind of sieve the pee'd bits out of sand rather than changing it every time, but it's up to you.

I'm sure he'll love some new things in there and it might distract him a bit. Does he have any chew sticks?
 
He does. He has apple wood sticks and I bought an apple wood ball that he chewed up. But I noticed he was chewing on the peanut so I might go out and by more chew toys for him. As well as some more whimzee chew toys.
 
I can see him sitting under the bridge :-). Sometimes they just feel more secure with more things to sit under. My Syrian likes to sit under his shrug for a good wash wheh he gets up :)

Are you any good at basic diy? I’m sure he’d love a platform on the left hand side - it’s somewhere else to go and a place to put heavier ceramic things - plus something to sit under. They aren’t cheap to buy but it’s just a piece of wood with dowel legs. Having said that, it would be beyond my diy abilities 🤣.
 
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