05-18-2006, 04:45 AM
Paul F., no way. It had been so long since I've kept rodents as pets, that I'd forgotten the fact that they are actually pretty intelligent (as a group) and that their intelligence is largely based in curiosity and learning both by trial-and-error (like what we primates use) and conditioning. It's the latter that is so often taken advantage of in behavioral tests with rodents-- that they are very amenable to tests involving classical conditioning.
The reason I bring all this up is that she has VERY quickly learned to associate me (my voice, my smell, etc.; since hamsters have very poor eyesight) with a source of food. That is, she knows that when I come by, I will give her food-- I am NOT the food itself! (She knows this, and despite the fact that I've had her for only about a week, she hasn't yet bitten me-- the only time she came close is when I was feeding her peanuts, and the scent of the peanuts was of course on my fingers... washing my hands took care of that.)
The reason I bring all this up is that she has VERY quickly learned to associate me (my voice, my smell, etc.; since hamsters have very poor eyesight) with a source of food. That is, she knows that when I come by, I will give her food-- I am NOT the food itself! (She knows this, and despite the fact that I've had her for only about a week, she hasn't yet bitten me-- the only time she came close is when I was feeding her peanuts, and the scent of the peanuts was of course on my fingers... washing my hands took care of that.)