Dwarf hamster anxious

[Sara H]

Hi everyone.

I have a russian dwarf hamster called Ronnie who is the sweetest little guy. He is around 7 months old now. He has always been really very sociable and loved spending as much time as he could out of his cage with us and has always been very active but a very sensitive hammie.

Ronnie and his brother Leon are in separate Hamster Heaven cages in a quiet room in the house. I have one cage on the floor, then a basic unit covering it and the other one on top and it has been this way all year.

Over the last 4 weeks Ronnie seems very nervous, doesn't want to come out of his cage and when he does, he just goes around the side and behind his cage. He will still come up to my hand and sit on it but seems to just want to hide most of the time.

I have been trying to think of things that could have changed to upset him:

4 weeks ago I adopted another hamster but he is not in the same room and I make sure I always clean my hands before handling Ronnie & Leon.

I also changed their bedding from wood to kaytee clean and cosy over a period of a few weeks to see if that might help.

Has he got to the age where he might need to be away from his brother in the other cage?

I just don't know what I have done wrong to upset him and its really making me quite upset to see him like this.

If anyone could please help, any advise would be greatly received.