QUOTE(Jamien @ Aug 9 2008, 03:38 AM)
BTW if the leg just shrivelled and fell off, then it most probably is a genetic disease. More like a genetic defect. I've seen inbred robos born with 4 legs but ended up having 2 back legs lame after a certain age (no accidents involved. And luckily not mine.

)
I think your WW is not used to your scent. You don't handle her as often as your parents? My hamsters are tamest when I handle them because I handle them to most. It applies for both syrians and robos so I think i applies to all hamsters.
When you catch her, scoop her up with 2 hands. Or train her to jump into your hand. If a fully tamed hamster has 10 points, chasing them all over the tank with your hand trying to catch them reduces trust point down by 2 or 3.

I'm lazy to scoop them one by one (my robos back then) so I train them to jump on my hand in a whole group. The I just lift and deposit them in a spare tank while I clean their tank.
And yes, I think you're very kind to adopt a hamster with special needs and only has 3 legs. I said pink skin because hamsters (normal ones) have fur dense enough to cover their skin. Inbred robos have pink skin (in the sense that I can see the skin beneath the fur just by looking. In other words, fur too little).
Whenever I try to scoop her up with two hands she runs away before she does. My mom uses one hand and then kinda...donno it's done with a little bit of a flip. My dad can catch her also, but whenever I try to scoop she is too fast. If it is too fast on my end, she might get scared and nip me also.
I've been trying to train her to climb on my hand but the only time she does that is if there is food. She usually ignores the hand once there's no food.
Maybe mecause my hands tend to be cold, she don't like ^^;;
Her continition improve a lot sinceI first met her. So oily, so scraggly
Nezu's smoothie to the recue. Took me so long to find it
This post has been edited by Sophiera: Aug 9 2008, 12:26 PM