Hamsters that bite or cannot be handled are not vicious; they are wild. They've probably been brought up in huge tanks by commercial breeders and never handled. Or possibly they are brain damaged from in-breeding from the same source. A good pet shop should not be selling animals that have not been handled in infancy. It is cruel to make them into pets and it is unfair on children. "An animal brought up in this way may never be tame," says Pamela Milward of the Southern Hamster Club. The other possibility is that the hamster is in pain - so a visit to a vet would help identify this.
To pick up a hamster that bites, she suggests wearing cotton gardening gloves and using either a small fishing net (with a piece of cardboard to pop over the net when it's inside) or a household paper towel tube. Block off one end of this, and the hamster should rush inside for safety. Keep the gloves or equipment next to the cage.
If you have lots of patience you could try training it to be handled. "Try a biggish piece of cooked chicken, sardine or lettuce, ' says Pamela Milward. "Hold it out to it and then while it is eating try to stroke it. If you are able to do this, the next stage is to hold it firmly round the middle to pick it up." Hamsters will also probably respond well to the dry meal worms used to feet garden birds. Of course, if the hamster is brain-damaged from in-breeding, no amount of training will help.
Sometimes a hamster bites because your hands smell of food. So see if washing your hands, before handling the hamster, will prevent this. If you are cleaning out the hamster and putting in new food, do this AFTER handling not before.
Sometimes hamsters "taste" the owner¹s hand by giving a gentle bite that does not break the skin. "It is disconcerting but once you get used to this, it is not a worry," says Pamela Milward.
If you decide to get a new hamster, ask the shopkeeper if you can handle the new animal. If they refuse ask to watch them handle it. If they refuse (or if the animal bites them) do not buy it.
Syrian hamsters, the traditional kind, do sometimes bite. Russian female hamsters are quite likely to bite. Chinese hamsters are less likely to bite.