What to do if a child is bitten by a pet hamster

When getting a pet for a child, parents want to please their child by giving him a new friend. However, mom and dad don’t always think about the possible consequences of having a small animal in the house. Of course, children love to cuddle their pets, hug them, and stroke them, but hamsters are animals that can bite deeply. In this article we will look at the reasons why a pet hamster bites a finger, what the consequences may be, and what needs to be done after such a bite, how to help a child, and how to prevent a possible attack.

Possible reasons

A hamster bites when it senses danger.
A pet will not bite its owner, especially to the point of drawing blood, without a good reason. We will look at the main factors that provoke aggression in a hamster.

Fear. The case when a child takes the hamster from above, holding its back. The animal does not understand what is happening, gets scared and defends itself by biting. In such a situation, it can bite its owner repeatedly.
A hamster can be frightened by a sudden movement or any unexpected action at the moment when a child is playing with it.
Your baby's smelly hands can arouse your hamster's interest in a new smell. Especially if it smells like something tasty, and the animal is also hungry. As a rule, such bites are single and shallow.
An attempt to protect themselves or their offspring is observed in pregnant females or animals that have recently given birth. If this is your situation, you need to know that it is unacceptable to handle either a pregnant or recently given birth hamster or her babies.
Trying to grind my teeth. Hamsters have long, sharp incisors and front teeth that continue to grow throughout the animal's life. Therefore, the animal needs constant grinding. If a rodent does not have objects in its cage to sharpen its teeth on, it may bite your hand when it finds itself outside its territory. Therefore, it is recommended that the animal in the cage have a branch of a fruit tree or root parts of plants, a cracker.
The hamster will bite if the child squeezes it tightly in his hand, that is, it will cause direct pain to the animal.
A bite can occur in a situation where the hamster has just been brought into the house. The animal is frightened by a change of environment; it needs time to adapt. It is unacceptable to immediately pick it up.

My son loves hamsters very much. Now we have two animals, Snowball and Shustrik. These are atypically tame hamsters, who have never bitten, calmly run around and play.

What to do if a hamster bites you until you bleed

The larger the hamster, the harder it can bite. The largest representatives of the domestic species are the Syrian ones. These rodents reach 18 cm and 100 grams of weight. But despite their relatively large size, these animals do not bite. If this hamster bites, it is extremely rare. It is not tamed, possibly pregnant, protecting itself or its children. I was bitten by a hamster with blood, what should I do? If he does manage to bite, the bite will be deeper and more painful than that of other rodents. Very often, the wound from such a bite can be lacerated. If a Syrian hamster bites you until it bleeds, you need to disinfect the wound, rinse it with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, cover it with an adhesive plaster and wait until it heals. This wound will also not be very harmful in terms of bacteria, but it will be very unpleasant and painful. Therefore, be careful and do not allow the hamster to bite until it bleeds.

What could be the danger?

It is recommended to buy a hamster at a pet store. This way you will have almost one hundred percent confidence that the animal is healthy.

Pet hamsters purchased from people who breed these pets pose virtually no visible threat since they are not wild animals. However, it is worth knowing about diseases that hamsters can carry:

parasitic infections;
ringworm;
rabies;
listeriosis;
tuberculosis;
toxoplasmosis;
tularemia.

It is unacceptable to bring a wild hamster to your child. In addition to the fact that such an animal may have innate aggression and is unlikely to become tame, it is quite capable of being a carrier of many diseases.

Statistics

The virus is more common among wolves, foxes and other wild animals. In domestic animals, it manifests itself in dogs and cats. Rare cases of the disease occur in rodents, namely squirrels, rats and hamsters. There are certain areas where rabies is widespread, which can be found out at the nearest veterinary clinic.

The virus is widespread in America and Canada, where raccoons, foxes, and skunks are carriers. Bats are also susceptible to rabies in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

There are two types of rabies: urban and natural habitats. The above animals are natural. In the city, the virus is common in cats, dogs, and farm animals.

It's safe to say that a rabid hamster is a rare occurrence. There have been cases where hamsters have bitten owners, infecting them. But these are isolated precedents.

In 2003, there was an incident in Russia in the city of Novosibirsk. A pet store bought a hamster for a boy in the middle of summer. Two months later, he bit his 8-year-old owner and died. The examination diagnosed rabies.

Three years later, an infection was discovered, but in Belarus. A hamster bit a 12-year-old girl. Then he died 2 days later. The laboratory confirmed the diagnosis of rabies. The girl was saved after undergoing a course of vaccinations.

It happened that, having bought three hamsters, they all bit the young owners. This happened in Ukraine in 2012. They died a week after the purchase. The children were admitted to the hospital to undergo a vaccination course.

The last time rabies in hamsters was noticed was a year ago, in 2022. Again, Belarus and a hamster dies after infecting a 19-year-old girl. The diagnosis was confirmed.

The cases are isolated, but they will serve as a pretext to begin developing a vaccine against rabies in rodents. Now there is no cure, but for prevention they give vaccines to cats, dogs and ferrets.

First aid

It is important to promptly provide first aid to a child who has been bitten by a hamster.
Parents are interested in the question of what to do in a situation if the hamster has already bitten the baby, and even deeply, with the appearance of blood. Next we will look at the first aid algorithm.

It is unacceptable to throw the hamster on the floor or hit it or scream after the incident. It is important to understand that the animal did not do this by accident.
To prevent the development of the consequences of an inflicted bite, you should send the rodent back to the cage, and wash the wound that appears with a solution of water and laundry soap; treat with an antiseptic, for example, peroxide; and then anoint with brilliant green. After this, you can stick the patch on.
If your baby has not had a tetanus vaccination, then if he finds himself in such a situation, it would be a good idea to get one. Or you can take your hamster to the vet to check for infectious diseases.
You should not try to squeeze anything out of the wound, since the animal’s saliva is not toxic.
If a child has a tendency to have allergic reactions, then after the bite it is recommended to give an antihistamine, for example, Diazolin or Loratadine (in a dosage appropriate for age). In such a situation, this will prevent the inflammatory process and the appearance of edema.

If your baby’s temperature rises, pain appears at the site of the bite, or the lymph nodes become inflamed (change in size), you should definitely consult a doctor.

After a child has been bitten by a hamster and first aid has been provided to the baby, you should pay attention to the animal. It is important to examine it to check if the animal has any symptoms of infection. Particular attention should be paid to the tummy and face of the animal. Examine the animal's body for bald areas, swelling, bite marks, and purulent discharge (from the animal's ears or eyes). If there are negative manifestations, you should immediately go to the doctor and tell them about what was discovered.
In a situation where the parents decided to treat the wound without visiting a doctor, but over time they noticed that the hamster was behaving unusually, getting sick or, even worse, dying, it is necessary to urgently visit a medical facility. It is also mandatory to visit a doctor if the child experiences itching, abscess, swelling or bleeding at the site of the bite.

It is important to immediately treat the bite site to prevent the development of an inflammatory process.

Pre-exposure (pre-exposure) immunization

Indicated for persons at high risk associated with their profession (laboratory workers directly working with the rabies virus, veterinarians).
Travelers who may be at risk of exposure to the virus.
Persons living in areas where rabies is endemic and where the availability of anti-rabies biological products is limited.

It should also be remembered that for any injuries that damage the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes, animal bites, burns, frostbite, etc. emergency prophylaxis of tetanus is carried out.

Precautionary measures

If a small rodent appears in the house, it is extremely important to teach the child how to behave correctly in order to prevent the occurrence of bites.

You should not take the animal out of its cage as soon as it arrives from the store. It is important to understand that the animal needs to adapt to the new territory.
If it is known that the hamster is a female, and even pregnant, it is also unacceptable to pick it up.
If the animal is sleeping or eating, children should not touch it. In a sleep situation, the hamster may become very frightened, not understanding what is happening, and bite. When he eats, he bites because he is torn away from his favorite treat.
Teach your child that there is no need to take the animal by the back. It is important that the hamster sees that they are trying to lift him.
Initially, parents themselves must verify the adequacy of the animal. There are some individuals that, despite any circumstances, are quite aggressive and bite whenever you touch them. Therefore, it is better if the parents meet the hamster first. Only after this, making sure that the hamster is adequate, place the animal in the child’s palm. Let both the animal and your baby get used to each other's company. After this, you can allow your child to independently remove the hamster from the cage.

Now you know, if a child was bitten by a hamster, what to do in such a situation. Remember what diseases these animals can carry. If you are not adopting a hamster from trusted people, then ideally you should show it to a veterinarian. Do not forget about the need to treat the wound in case the animal accidentally bites the child.

Prevention

There is no cure for rabies and there are no preventive vaccines. But hamsters very rarely get rabies, which is good news. Prevention is simple:

Do not let the rodent roam outside the house and reduce contact with other animals.
Buy hamsters in special stores or nurseries, but not on the market.

How to avoid loss of offspring

To ensure that the female does not harm future children, it is necessary to adhere to some rules:

mate only hamsters that are not related;
provide a sufficient amount of protein in the diet of the expectant mother;
the optimal age for the first pregnancy is considered to be 3-4 months;
do not touch the mother in labor with her offspring for the first week; only after this period is it allowed to change the bedding and clean the cage.

It is possible and even necessary to avoid a hamster destroying its own offspring. To do this, it is enough to follow simple rules for the care and maintenance of a pregnant female.

Features of handling Campbell's hamsters

Breeds of domestic hamsters are not as diverse as we used to think. Today it is common to breed the following breeds:

Dzungarian (Sungur);
Syrian hamsters;
Angora hamster;
Roborovsky's hamsters;
Campbell's hamster.

Campbell's hamsters are one of the most problematic species to keep at home. For a comfortable stay for one hamster, it is enough to purchase a cage measuring 50 by 30 cm. Hamsters are unusually nimble, so the distance between the bars of the grid should not be more than 0.5 cm so that the pet does not escape. It is advisable to provide the animal with a running wheel. Under natural conditions, hamsters are excellent runners and sometimes cover considerable distances, so in a cage they need to receive sufficient physical activity.

Campbell's hamsters are nocturnal, which can be an obstacle to their communication with humans. They become active at night, and by morning they hide back in the house or nest. You can only communicate with them in the evening or early in the morning.

Incredible love of freedom is another characteristic feature of Campbell's hamsters. They don’t like to be picked up and begin to defend themselves and let their teeth in. Experienced owners often remove animals from cages while wearing gloves. However, once in your arms, these hamsters quickly come to their senses, becoming tame and affectionate.

Fear

However, sometimes even experienced owners who have owned a rodent for several months wonder why a hamster bites.
A very common reason is simple fear. Don't forget: this pet is not very smart and is quite weak. In the wild, the only way to survive in a dangerous situation is to attack a potential enemy with lightning speed. Without this habit, which became a reflex, hamsters would simply have died out many years ago. Make sure that you do not frighten the hamster or provoke it into aggression and bite. A variety of things that seem very ordinary to you can frighten him: a sharp unfamiliar sound, a changed situation (installation of a new house or wheel, changing the cage), sudden grabbing. Do not forget - each of these situations can be perceived by the hamster as critical, and he will not hesitate to use his small but very sharp teeth.