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Old 03-10-2019, 12:35 PM   #1
Lozzyjayne
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Default Brushing up against everything

Hi guys,

I've been noticing lately that Hamilton has been obsessively brushing up against literally anything and everything almost all the time, especially when he's out of his cage. I'm guessing that it's because he's scent marking, but I was under the impression that hamsters tend to do it more often if they've recently had a change in environment or feel that they're under threat. I haven't changed Hamilton's environment or routine at all; he has the same cage he's aways had, I let him out at the same time every day and he's allowed to free roam in the hall as he always has been doing. The only thing that's changed recently is that I gave his cage a full clean and changed his toys around a bit yesterday, but as he was behaving like that before the cage clean, I don't think that would have caused it.

I was just wondering if maybe there was a reason other than scent-marking? Could it be because he's stressed out by something, or is it just a phase he's going through?
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Old 03-11-2019, 03:08 AM   #2
souffle
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Default Re: Brushing up against everything

It's more likely because spring is in the air and as the light increases he will want to advertise his presence to any passing males or females for different reasons! He will also be maturing and this tends to make them scent more ( a bit like a young male dog starting to lift his leg to scent mark ) You may see his scent glands looking more greasy. Keep cage cleaning to a minimum anyway so he feels comfortable with his scent around him.
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Old 03-11-2019, 12:00 PM   #3
Lozzyjayne
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Default Re: Brushing up against everything

Aw, so my little baby boy isn't a baby anymore! I never thought about the fact that it could be to do with that; thanks A lot of his other behaviour makes sense now too; he's always in a hurry to get places and explore, so that's probably because he's hunting for a female :P And I only deep clean the cage every six to eight weeks anyway, so that's not a problem.

Might be a silly question, but do females exhibit the same sort of behaviour with regards scent marking? I've only ever had female hamsters before Hamilton and never noticed them behaving that way, though I was a lot younger when I had them so probably wasn't paying close enough attention.
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Old 03-11-2019, 01:02 PM   #4
SKB_Hamsters
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Default Re: Brushing up against everything

Females do exhibit the same behaviour of scent marking usually when they are in going into/or are in heat. As in the wild this would be used to get a Male attention.
Liquorice as well as my past girls will run around playpen at a speed rubbing their side on everything they run past including myself.
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