Merlin the dwarf hamster

[Sabine]

So I ended up with another pet. In fact he was confiscated from my eldest son (15). The poor fellow (about a year in my son's care) was in a terrible state. The cage was filthy his wheel was saturated with pee and he also looked somewhat bedraggled.
I initially said I'd take him for a week or two to let him recuperate but as it turns out my son isn't all that interested in getting him back (he lives with his dad) This means I suddenly own a cute tiny Sibirian Dwarf Hamster called Merlin.
Unfortunately he isn't very tame and has been known to bite. Not quite sure how to go about taming him as he doesn't grace us with his presence very often.
I also own to gerbils who are really tame and entertaining. One of them even climbs into your hand to be taken out. I can't see that happening with the hamster. I'd even consider to get him a mate as dwarf hamsters are more sociable than Syrian hamsters i read somewhere. When I bonded my gerbils I had a breeders support. I am not quite sure how to go about it with a dwarf hamster. Has anyone ever tried to bond an adult dwarf hamster to another one? How tame can they get?
Any advice appreciated.

 

[kirsterz09]

well here's some bits and pieces that I know:
There is 4 types of dwarf hamster, the campbells dwarf and winter white russian dwarf hamsters which usually lives for 1.5 - 2 years, Chinese dwarf hamster which lives for 2.5 - 3 years and Roborovski's dwarf hamster which, lives for 3 - 3.5 years.
The campbells or russian dwarf hamster are sociable and can be happily introduced to others at a young age but sometimes they can fight and so may need to be separated.
The winter whites are more sociable to humans than other hamsters, they are know to be more aggressive and territorial to their cage mates then other dwarfs.
Chinese dwarf hamsters don't appear to be as social as other dwarfs and are not fully related, though they have a quite temperament and are easily handled.
Finally the Roborovski's are probably the least sociable and are most likely to bite when being handled they can be tamed but it is best to start when they are young and it takes a lot of patience lol! However these hamsters can enjoy having a cage mate and if they find one that they like can enjoy each others company.
Here is some links for different colour variations of the hams, the first is for Campbells hamsters, the second for winter whites, next is the Chinese and finally the Roborovski's. I thought it might help you identify which is yours:
http://purplekatkritters.tripod.com/dwarf/campcolor.html
http://www.hamsters.co.uk/dwarf_winter_white_russian_hamsters_colors.htm
http://www.hamsters.co.uk/chinese_hamsters_colors.htm
http://www.hamsters.co.uk/roborovski_hamsters_colors.htm

If you flick through the links on the www.hamsters.co.uk links you can see the different patterns as well as colours which, may also help with your hammy identification.
I hope this helps, i'll be looking forward to knowing which one your hammy is and if you have any more q's don't hesitate to ask and I will try to answer them as best as I can.

 

[Sabine]

I am pretty sure mine is a Winter White. I am wondering if he is blind. I have been feeding him sunflower seeds through the bars and whenever I changed the spot wher I held the seed it took him quite a while to cop on. My only comparison are the gerbils and they are much more on the ball when it comes to food.

 

[grumpybabies]

I have very little and biased experience of russian dwarf hamsters, 2 i adopted from someone that was really mistreating them, and one that only had one eye. All were nasty biters so i wouldn't risk introducing them to any new cage mates, just wear gloves and handle him when you can to get him tame, but i don't think he will ever get really tame like gerbils, mine certainly weren't as much as i tried.

 

[kirsterz09]

well the whites have really poor eyesight, that bad they are at risk for falling off your hand! So it might not be that it is blind it might just be that it's the really poor eyesight.

 

[Rayen]

Yeah, hamsters have very poor eyesight. I try to give my little guy dog biscuits or mealworms which he loves and he'll wander around sniffing like crazy until he finds my hand. Hamsters are such neat little creatures, they eat almost anything.

As for the cagemate, I wouldn't risk it. You said that he's at least a year right? They tend to not live much longer than 2 years, if that, which would leave you with a second lone hamster eventually. Plus it's very hard to introduce them to cagemates when they're older as they tend to fight. Younger hamsters and hamsters that live together when they're born usually get along, but I've heard it's just not worth it to introduce them when they're older. I have a lone dwarf hamster and he's fine, he just lives in his little storage bin and runs on his wheel like crazy. Besides being the cutest little animal alive that is. I love dwarf hamsters.

From what I've heard to bond two hamsters you need to fully clean everything in the cage to get rid of the existing animal's scent. You need two of everything in the cage, two wheels, two hidey spots, two food dishes, water bottles, etc. so that they don't try to take over one spot and deny the other access. It's also better to get one large open cage for them (like a storage bin) instead of the little cages you combine together as they tend to take over certain sections and protect them from the other. It's best to introduce them with a screen between them at first too, to make sure that they don't fight. Again, I haven't done it, but when I considered it, that's what I had read. I decided it wasn't worth it to put Griffith through all the stress for something that was likely to fail.

I'm not sure how your son was handling him, but I've never been bit by Griffith. I wash my hands before I pick him up, if they smell food with their poor eyesight they tend to think it's food and bite. You have to pick them up from the front so that they don't think they're going to be eaten. It's usually a good idea to put some seeds in your hand and let him come up to you instead of you going to him if you're trying to get some trust. I've heard you can carry a piece of toilet paper around with you and then put it in his cage every day to get him used to your scent as well.

I'm not sure if any of that helped!

 

[irishbunny]

I haven't really got any advice to offer but congrats on the hamster! I love hammies, I have had a few before and would love to add another to the family soon, well really I want a rat but my parents said no
I prefer syrian hamsters though to the dwarf breeds, but they are all so cute!

 

[tonyshuman]

I have a russian dwarf hamster, which is similar to the winter whites, but still a different species. I got her and her sis when they were just weaned from an accidental litter on craigslist. The sister died from unknown causes. The emergency vet did me the favor of doing a mini-necropsy (not a whole one, which is very expensive, this was more just a post-mortem dissection to see if anything was wrong), and she had some congenital GI issues.

I tried to introduce another hamster from a breeder (assuming their hammies would be better in the genetics department because they were responsible breeders) to the original girl about 2 weeks after her sister passed. It didn't work out. I had to keep them in separate cages. The one from the breeder also suddenly died one day. I took really good care of them both, so I don't know what went wrong. I just wanted to mention that because hamsters are so tiny and fragile, and it seems to be the luck of the draw whether or not they will live long.

I still have Petunia, and I love her to pieces. She loves to climb the bars of her cage and beg for food. Her reaction to seeds or whatever treats you give her is not like yours (she can find that treat no matter where you put it), so I guess your hammie does have some eyesight problems. She doesn't like to be picked up, but she doesn't bite me unless I stick my fingers in her burrow, through the cage bars, or right at her when she's cranky about being woken up. She loves to run around the house in her ball, and supervised on the couch (very closely supervised as I've learned she can get lost in there). She will sit on my shoulders and run from one to the other.

What I've read and experienced is that you need to handle them daily for at least 5 min. Picking them up, sitting them on your hand and feeding them treats is a good way. I like to put a handful of hamster food on my palm and put her on there--she'll gather it all up in her cheeks one piece at a time. To pick him up, have a cardboard toilet paper tube in the cage, and let him run into that, and pick up the tube. I used to do this with gerbils when I was little too--works like a charm. Eventually he might let you just grab him. It's best to try to socialize him at night, which is when they're most active. Unlike gerbils, hamsters are nocturnal and can be VERY cranky if you wake them up. I only wake Petunia up when it's not night to give her treats.

Another thing that may help is some really tasty treats. My gerbils used to think sunflower seeds were God's gift to the world, but Petunia would much rather have a bit of cereal, a tiny broccoli flower, a bit of crust, or even a rabbit pellet. She's such a beggar--when she hears us get the rabbit pellets out from under the table her cage is on, she starts climbing the bars like a monkey to get some. I give her bits of lettuce, hard-boiled egg or unseasoned cooked meat, moths, strawberry tops, dog biscuits, basically anything. She loves these treats, and I think the positive association of me with special treats other than her packaged food is good.

 

[Sabine]

Thanks for all the advice. I haven't put my hand into the cage yet as I am afraid he may mistake it for food but will try the toilet roll first. I have one in the cage anyhow. I probably won't bother with a cage mate as I am really not prepared to keep two seperate hamsters if they don't get on.
I am actually surprized he got to over a year in my son's care. I hope the shock of a clean cage won't kill him altogether
I am trying to fatten him up a bit as he looks rather skinny. Some of the treats mentioned above I hadn't thought of. I keep forgetting that they can also have animal products.

 

[Sabine]

I managed to take Merlin out of his cage today. he climbed all over my hands lured by pumpkin seeds. He didn't even try to bite me He seems to be missing quite a lot of his fur on the lower half of his back. Do they molt i wonder or could he be deficient in anything?

 

[tonyshuman]

That's strange. I haven't seen a molt like that. I have heard though that they can get mites in their bedding, and that might be the cause. Glad he didn't bite you!

 

[Sabine]

Mites:? I do hope that's not the case as I imagine they are hard to treat on a little critter like him. He doesn't seem to be scratching though or being in any sort of dicomfort. I am putting some vitamin drops in his water at the moment because he got into the habit of feeding selectively. My son used to fill a bowl twice his size with food (I assume Merlin used it as I toilet too) and discard the uneaten food (loads) after a while. I am using a miniscule bowl at the moment and try not to re-fill it too fast. I wish there were complete pellets for hamsters.

 

[tonyshuman]

I would talk to Zouave (former owner of Poppy, now owns two sister bunnies), who has a lot of small critter experience. He had problems with mites in dwarf hammies. He told me the best way to contact him about a small critter question is another forum specific to critters, or I can PM you his email address if you like.

His forum:
http://kanez.proboards.com/

 

[Sabine]

Thanks. I'll check out the link

 

[irishbunny]

Hope he gets better soon!

 

[kirsterz09]

my hamster got mites from infected sawdust from a pet shop. It made him go bald and the hair never grew back so, he was bald to the day he passed on.