Ideas for taming a dwarf hamster.

[My Peanuts]

I got Vivian a few weeks ago. She's had plenty of time to settle in. I have been 'handling' her a bit. It's not really handling her, I use her ball or the TP roll or gloves, but I really haven’t started to work with her. I think she is totally trainable because when I give her food she walked right up to my hand and it's not to attack. She's not scared of me, which I love, BUT Viv will try to grab my finger through the bars with her hands and try to bite. She has loads of potential and I need some ideas of how to tame her. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[SunsetRose]

Well the best thing for you right now is to stop using a glove. You want her to be used to your hand, not the glove.

What I did with my dwarfies when taming them was to scoop them up in a cup first and then dump them out right onto my hand and just let them walk around in my hand without trying to pet them yet. Just keep laddering them (like let the hamster walk from one hand onto the other like a ladder and just keep going and switching hands).

I have only had one hammy that was practically impossible to tame and she was super aggressive, charging my hand even if I only went to get her food dish. In fact, she would even charge my hand aggressively if I was working on the outside of her cage. She'd chatter aggressively even if I was near her cage.

[TamanduaGirl]

give her treats while holding her. Don't give her treats through the bars. Sounds like she is grabbing you hoping for a treat.

[Vermontcat]

Here is a link with more ideas on how to tame a hamster.

Taming your hamster

With my hamster I have also used the tubes and her ball to get her used to handling.
Using treats will also help, but if your hands smell like food she may want to nibble on you too.
Good luck with taming.

[Whisk_Luva]

Well i must say dwarfs are much harder to tame. I have a syrian hamster and it has never bitten me. But anyway I love the look of dwarfs they are soooo cute and Vivian seems to have a good temprement. Just keep trying and look at the links
Maybe you could enter Vivian for pet of the day?