Dwarf hamster upset, please help

[cypher]

I don't think there's any way you could get help by phoning really, a vet would need to see him & give him a full health check to be able to tell if it is a health issue & if so what it is.

[Pebbles82]

I don't think it sounds like one of those electronic rodent repellant subsonic sound things - or it would most likely affect both of them.

You said something spooked him when he was out of the cage - that does happen - they just freeze for a bit - maybe they hear or smell something you can't - but usually they're back to normal afterwards.

It is clear he is very stressed - bar chewing and running in his wheel a lot - it's like they're trying to run away out of fear or stress. If it was something that spooked him you may never know what it was - maybe he smelled a mouse - or even an escaped hamster under the floor.

Have you checked him to see if he has any injuries? A splinter or something.

If he doesn't seem injured then you could try a couple of things. Normally a cage clean causes stress - but I have to say that was the only thing that worked for me when our Syrian was like this and frantically like this for days. Doing a complete cage clean shocked him out of it and he settled down.

Normally familiar smells make them feel at home, but if he's not feeling at home then distracting him may help.

Unless it was a cage clean that may have started this or removing something from his cage that he liked or changing things around, but you said nothing was any different.

In my case it was caused by a change of environment. Same cage, same contents, but he had been left at someone else's house in his cage and then brought back home - that and the smell of the hamsters from the previous house on his cage were the cause.

And it is the kind of thing a change of environment does - eg moving the cage to a different room or position in a room even. Whereas normally something that just scares them wears off.

I do wonder if there is another escaped hamster under the floorboards - our syrian had smell and sight of a female hammy while away, who apparently climbed on his cage, and it drove him a bit bonkers I think.

Anyway. Sometimes a change of environment helps because being that stressed for that long isn't good for them. His wheel is clearly working. Does he have plenty of hoard in his cage - he hasn't run out of food or water or anything?

Because another reason for this kind of frantic stress is to try and tell you something is wrong - like no food or water or wheel not working eg.

So I would try putting him somewhere (if you have a spare cage that would be ideal) and then doing a cage clean - change the substrate, leave his nest and hoard, clean the wheel and toys. Hide a few treats in different places so it distracts him finding them - even add a treat parcel he can attack (toilet roll with seeds inside and ends folded in).

When I did it I also cleaned the base and bars (to remove smells from the other house, but your situation is different) - with dilute white vinegar. Although I rinsed it well there was still a faint smell of vinegar. Our hammy was really quite fascinated by this smell and kept sniffing it and not phased by the cage clean and calmed down and busied himself scent marking the cage and getting things how he wanted them again.

So as he is so stressed already I don't think it can do any harm and may shock him out of it. If he is just the same afterwards then yes it would be an idea to see a vet who may spot something.

I forgot to add - I do think our hammy was spooked and it wasn't just the change of environment. He was fine all the while we were away but got frantic on the last night - and that was when a hamster died in a nearby cage.

So I am just wondering if your hammy has smelled a dead mouse!