Hamster keeps going into hibernation - Page 2

Pebbles82 · 01-12-2017, 04:57 AM

Edit - posted at the same time as Souffle (genetics sounds like the issue then!)

Just to give an example of part buried house and big nest here's a pic of the nest our Syrian built last winter! He had quite a big house and he packed it out with paper nesting material and substrate, and even buried his potty in the corner at one point. The hole on the left is his nest - where he snuggled in. The back right hand corner has a potty underneath! he just piled substrate on top and crawled through a hole in the front

Sometimes if the house isn't big enough to build a big nest they will burrow down into the substrate inside it a bit - so it's important to have a good depth of substrate. Or they will abandon the house and build a big nest in the corner of the cage. So the most important thing is plenty of material to build/rebuild a nest with. If the pile of torn up strips of toilet paper you put out starts to go down, keep adding more to it.

Also try not to throw the nest away when you clean out and spot clean rather than do big weekly cleans, so she can feel more settled. Obviously if the nest is pee'd in you'll have to remove most of it but try and leave a bit of the original nest so it smells familiar and she can rebuild it from the pile of nesting material. If they don't pee in it you can leave the nest really. I like the lift-off roof idea for a house because you can check inside without having to take the house out, so the nest doesn't fall apart - they do get upset sometimes if they lost their nest.

To make a shoe box house is a quick easy way. Cut the bottom out of the shoe box and cut a hole or arch in the long front section for a door and use the lid for a lift-off roof. Putting a bendy bridge or tube over the door makes it cosier as well.

cypher · 01-12-2017, 05:52 AM

That's useful to know souffle, I hadn't heard about that before, the daylight bulb sounds like a good idea.

beckybirmingham · 01-16-2017, 12:47 PM

Hello All. Once again thank you for your advice. So, tonight was all a bit strange again. She was asleep in her wheel then spent and hour walking around like she was drunk. Im not sure how else to describe it. She has now gone back to sleep and we are thinking to take her to an emergency vet but I think they may suggest she is put to sleep, If she seems ok in an hour or so I will take her tomorrow morning. We don't think she is in any pain and are hoping she gets better over night. Naive probably.

This strange behaviour has been going on for a few weeks now and Im prepared for her to pass away but very sad about it too.

Thank you for everyones advice. I will post again over the coming days and when we have been to the vets. x

Pebbles82 · 01-16-2017, 02:33 PM

It sounds a little bit like some congenital condition she has maybe. I hope the vet has some answers. It might be something treatable. Is she drinking ok? And is her water bottle working ok? I think staggering around can be a sign of dehydration. Just to be on the safe side you could have two bottles in the cage in case one stops letting water out properly.

squeakylittlepaws · 01-16-2017, 05:23 PM

I'm wondering now about seizures? I'm really sorry to say he genuinely doesn't sound very well.

Has he got any sort of head tilt?

If you've ruled out the obvious - diabetes, resp infection, heart etc

I'd be looking at middle ear disease - have vet thoroughly check his ears, strokes, fits (epilepsy) (possibly can be controlled by phenobarbitone - if vet willing to prescribe) or a pituitary tumour.

It's really hard to know what's wrong with him from a forum and a good vet will be telling you the type of thing they are want to rule out.

How has his weight been through out all of this? And other signs like his eyes/coat condition etc

xx

beckybirmingham · 01-17-2017, 05:30 AM

Hello All. Ok, so we woke up this morning to a happy healthy hamster running around the cage looking fantastic! We look her to the vets who checked her all over, weighed her, tested her tummy for lumps, checked her skin, did a dehydration test and she is apparently the picture of health! The vet said she hadnt heard anything like this before so recommended a local vet who is a specialist in hamsters. We cant get in until saturday so we are off to see them at the weekend.
Winnie seemed to love her adventure out and saw lots of new things like rabbits and dogs but I didnt love it too much myself!
I will post again on Saturday when we have had her blood checked etc as its all quite strange and may help someone else in the future.
The mystery continues.....

Pebbles82 · 01-17-2017, 05:34 AM

That's good news! If she is healthy now again it could well be something like lack of water possibly? Keep two bottles in just in case! I have often found a bottle has drained all the water out or is not letting enough water out. Our hammy knocks the spout round which unfastens it a bit and all the water drains out in minutes!

Maybe keep a diary of observations so if her behaviour changes like this again you can show it to the second vet.

Or it could have just been the cold and going into torpor as mentioned before. Fingers crossed.

cypher · 01-17-2017, 05:35 AM

Great to hear that she's well again at the moment & her general health got the all clear from your vet, it will be interesting to see if the other vet finds anything.
Fingers crossed she stays well.

squeakylittlepaws · 01-17-2017, 07:25 AM

really pleased she's feeling better.

Something does sound like it's going off though - so be really interested to hear what the more specialist vet suspects as it could be really useful for us all to know about incase anything similar happens to our hamsters.

I wonder if she's having seizures of some sorts. So hard to know.

I had a rat who was triggered by the hoover, he went mental - he flung himself around the cage and it was really really weird. I didn't make the connection at first, I just wondered what on earth was wrong with him.

Second time I hoovered and he did it again I made the connection. But weirdly it didn't start the first time he heard the hoover, it started like 6 weeks to a couple of months or so after I had him - that's why I didn't make the connection as I hoover a couple of times a week!

I trained him out of it. I would put the hoover on for a second and then give him a treat, extending the time the hoover was on - very quickly he was fine with the hoover. I even used to be able to hoover inside the cage. It's a mystery what brought on the sudden fear.

This might be way off the field, do you have close neighbours? I.e do you live in flats? or a house connected to someone else? Is it possible they have something like this? Or is there anything like this you have outside to keep foxes or anything away?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Adv...ellent+plug+in

or this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Insect-Co...ellent+plug+in

These are growing in popularity and they are effective, a wild mouse or rat would have the opportunity to escape and move location - but unfortunately it spells bad news for our caged small furries pets.

I used to have one for spiders before I got a hamster. I had neighbours either side and I thought - OMG what if they had a small furry! I just hadn't thought about that before.

cypher · 01-17-2017, 07:50 AM

I wouldn't have thought it would be one of those sonic pest things really as it's not consistent enough unless a neighbour was turning it on & off all the time.
Also I think behaviour would be more obviously stressed, mice & rats run a mile from those things (I used one to get rid of a rat under my floorboards before I had hams, worked immediately!) so I think a ham would show more frantic behaviour rather than becoming lethargic.

I think what souffle said about a predisposition to go into torpor does sound more likely.

Have you noticed any correlation with her being well or in a torpor like state & light levels beckybirmingham?