I apologize ahead of time since my question is actually about my hamster
instead of my gerbil. I have a siberian hamster which we have had for about
2 1/2 months now. When we first got him he nibbled on our fingers
occasionally. Now everytime that we try to pick him up or put our hands in
his cage for any reason he bites, grabs hold of our fingers and will not let
go. Let me tell you for being such a small guy it really hurts.
Is there anything that we can do to make him stop this? We always make sure
to wash our hands before to make sure that we don't smell like food or
gerbils. I remember also hearing awhile back about how sometimes they can
associate your hand with food if you feed them too much by hand so we haven't
been doing that as often. I do not know what else we can do. We have
started having to use gloves b/c when we are holding him he will bite our
palms and wrists. He even bit my husband on the chin the other day. Would
it hurt him if we soaked our hands in something sour like lemon juice (or is
there something better to use)?
We really want to play with him more but since he just keeps getting worse,
we are scared (mostly for fear of him biting us and us jumping or dropping
him) to play with him. He seems very eager to play, he stands on his hind
legs and scratches at the aquarium or jumps up on his toys so we will pick
him up.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Kara, Shawn, Maggie and Pomplefritz
