ya'know Martin? wellll

[~OREOHAZELMARTIN~]

This morning I was taming him and I pet him near his bum, and his tail started curling around my finger. So I went "huh, that was weird" and thought nothing more about it. Until later my mom looked some things up and found out that only GIRL hamsters do that. I went to check on him and saw that he had no... ahem, testicles. So yah, hes a girl! From now on I'm still gonna call him a guy and his name will still be Martin. I know its weird but I've always just thought of his as a guy and it seems wrong to think of him as a girl...

 

[Maz]

Martina? We have a Mr Maggie on here as well - a girl who turned out to be a boy I haven't heard of the curling the tail round you think before, as hamsters have such short tails! What species is she? Chinese? A chinese hamster does have a slightly longer tail and they do wrap it round your finger The way to tell is if she has two lines of nipples underneath. If she's handleable you could have a look/feel. If that could stress her out - well maybe wait a bit. However lack of testicles itself doesn't necessarily mean she's a girl. One of mine didn't seem to have any for a long time! And then they gradually appeared.

 

[~OREOHAZELMARTIN~]

Hes a syrian and sadly I can't hold him yet.. He seems like a very very aggressive hamster currently. when he was a baby he was super tame but now he's 2 months old he will literally run at my hand and bite along my finger until I leave. I've been trying gloves and feeding him by hand but I still get really freaked out every time. I have been able to see his belly before but since he is a longhaired hamster its hard to see nipples(also one of the other reasons I think he's a girl is because instead of having a skirt like most male longhairs he just has to tufts on his bum.)

 

[Maz]

I'm sorry to hear that he has some aggression. What cage is he in? Just wondering if it's large enough as they can get "cage rage" in smaller cages. Aside from that hamsters generally don't like a hand in the cage as it's their territory. Have you tried having some out of cage time with him in a secure place like a playpen or bathtub with a few items in - eg a chew and a tunnel and a hide so he has something to do?

I use a rat tube as a "taxi" so you put one end of the tube in the cage (perhaps with a bit of cucumber in it at your end so he;s tempted to walk into the tube), the hamster walks in - put your hands over both ends of the tubes (wearing gloves maybe as they can push hard against your hand and you might be afraid of a nip and you don't want to drop the tube). Then you can transport the hamster in the tube if the safe area/playpen is close by. If it's further away, just have a box on the floor next to the cage and let him walk out of the tube into the box, then transport the box to the safe area. If you put the box down on its side inside the playpen then he can just walk out of the box again.