Well all of a sudden..

[Nyani8110]

I'm using Cell-Sorb Plus, he's had it ever since he's been in my house and at the pet store. I did try to introduce him to something new and I'm pretty sure that's when he started sneezing so I got rid of it.

[Thin Lizzy]

Never heard of it, so I checked the internet and it looks safe enough.

[Nyani8110]

Do you think he should get a check up?

[Thin Lizzy]

If he's sneezing and you can't think what it could be then it wouldn't do any harm to get him checked out.
Mention the sneezing and strange behaviour.

[Nyani8110]

Okay, thank you so much!

[Thin Lizzy]

That's OK!

[cypher]

It sounds to me as though something has spooked him or something new is upsetting him too, maybe the incident with escaping the ball having cats around scared him.
It's hard to tell but the only time something like this happened with me was when I began putting my first totally tame ham in a ball, he'd climb in & run around readily enough but began to bite me, that was all that changes so I stopped using the ball & he stopped biting.
I'm not saying the ball is your problem but he could be associating you with something new or changed that's upsetting him.
It may just be that you're having to clean his nest out so often, I agree with Lizzy it would help if you could get him to pee somewhere else, good luck with that!
The sneezing is a bit strange & as Lizzy said a vet check might well be a good idea.

[Pebbles82]

Sneezing a lot doesn't sound too good. Yes it could be an allergy to the substrate as Thin Lizzy says. Have you got a potty tray? They tend to start using it if there is one and you put it in his wee corner (assume he has a wee corner as well) with some litter and a bit of the soiled substrate in.

It's very difficult when they wee in their nest because that's the bit we try not to disturb normally. Charlie stopped doing it when I had to remove all his nest once and put new paper in for him to make a new one - he kind of got the message!

I would put a second water bottle in to be on the safe side - the bottle may be blocking intermittently or something. Yes maybe take it slowly with the taming for a bit until he has settled down. If you change the substrate, do it gradually, like mixing the new one in with half the old one first time, then a bit more next time then gradually change over to the new one. Maybe give him a treat chew for now to distract him from chewing your finger lol. Hams go potty for these antos chews. They say they're dog chews but are fine for hamsters and very popular with hamsters!

Antos Cerea Toothbrushes Dog Chews

Sorry I missed the previous few posts when I wrote that. I also looked up the substrate - this one I guess. I'm just wondering if it's attracting your cats? It is advertised as being for cats and separately advertised as being for small animals with some patented thing that makes it odour free for up to 3 weeks. That might be spooking him if the cats are around his cage attracted by the litter maybe. It doesn't actually say what is in it - it could have some odour killer type treatment in it that is attractive to cats or unattractive to hamsters or something. The pellets might also be a bit hard under his feet.

It might be worth getting some Fitch and mixing it in and gradually replacing it. Fitch is just paper - nice and soft and works out cheap, although the smallest bag is about £20. (The big one is the same price). I bought the smaller one recently and it is huge and will last a long time, so although £20 is a lot to fork out up front, it works out quite economical. I bought mine on amazon here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fitch-Beddin...keywords=fitch

[BrainGirl]

Are you sure he's actually sneezing? Sometimes when a hamster is excited but uncertain about something they'll make an explosive nasal CHFFF! Sound that's easily mistaken for a sneeze. Not sure about the biting though.

[Piebald]

Have you changed the soap you're washing your hands with or is it strong scented?