Playing the trumpet? o__o Help.

[LadyPikachu]

Honestly starting to think getting a Hamster was a bad idea. All I do is worry about her, she's made me physically throw up from stress (a couple of weeks ago) already and I've not had her long at all. :c

She just means so much to me already, I'm severely attached. I never imagined I would be like this.

Is this a 'new mum' phase? Will I get over this and have a more reasonable mindset? Sigh.

Anyway, back to the Hamster Healthcare..

Last night I heard the strangest noise coming from Pikachus house, she has finally started using her Hamster Head house from Zooplus..

It at first sounded like a cat being sick.. but then as I got closer she was sniffing repeatedly then every couple of seconds this weird kind of cat sick noise was happening I don't even know how to explain it I thought she was blowing the trumpet? At first I thought she was rubbing her nose on the house and it was making the wood-rubbing noise.. or maybe her wooden house was just rubbing on the plastic of the cage? but then the more it happened the less likely I thought that was? Not sure what to think. It happened for about 10 seconds then stopped. She sniffs weird, not sure if all Hamsters do this.. but it sounds and looks like she sniffs outwards? She's always done it, and I know she is sniffing because she only does it when something new is around and she gives it a good sniff! ANYWAY.. I started to panic.. what was the noise all about? I thought maybe she had a blocked nose and was trying to unblock it?

The other day I was giving her some bedding and she sniffed it, as she sniffed it I saw some little red/orange spots. Maybe she has a Hammy cold? I read they have red/orange snot? Or maybe she caught her teeth on something (AGAIN, she seems to get very excited about food and keeps hurting her mouth. I put vitamins in her water a lot because of this..)

She's completely fine, eating and drinking normal.. wakes up and sleeps the same times.. eyes are bright and cheerful. Nothing has changed, other than this weird noise (she's not done it since) and the red blobs? I've found these red/orange blobs in her bedding a few times too. Not often, not a lot of it. But every now and then.

Anyone have any idea what is going on? I'm monitoring her closely and checking her every day pretty much at the moment.

Any advice? I'll take her to the vets OF COURSE if she does deteriorate.. but I don't want to upset her when she's happy right now.

EDIT: Oh her teeth look perfectly normal by the way, nice and yellow.. good lengh.. no twisting.. so I've ruled out teeth being an issue. I genuinely think she does the same as me.. gets excited and eats food to fast then hurts her mouth haha.. I do it all the time!

[LadyPikachu]

Here's some recent pictures (Taken Monday late at night a day after I gave her bedding and she sniffed it with the blobs etc. ) of her being her usually happy self, to brighten the thread (The blurred one makes me laugh so much I don't know why haha she loves her new bridge!):

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[racinghamster]

Hi LadyPikachu. She looks fine to me in the photos. I can`t see any visual discharge from her nose and she looks healthy. I understand your worry, we all do. Syrians can make weird noises and I imagine female Syrians can be little minxes! If she`s eating/drinking and playing normally, then I wouldn`t be too concerned. What you need to do is take a step back an say right, is there anything physically wrong here? Is she giving you any signs of illness or behavioural change? Is she craving attention? Syrians can be attention seekers!

One thing I can say is, I would remove that plastic bed or if her wooden one is too small?, look for either a decent sized food box like a large tea box or better still, a shoe box. Remove the lid, turn the box upside down so it doesn`t have a floor and cut a couple of doors in the box. Put the box under a shelf where it`s cosy and dark and put her nesting material inside. You may find she will settle better on the ground floor level of her cage. These boxes are much better and more roomy inside and you may find she won`t be as frustrated. x

[LadyPikachu]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

Hi LadyPikachu. She looks fine to me in the photos. I can`t see any visual discharge from her nose and she looks healthy. I understand your worry, we all do. Syrians can make weird noises and I imagine female Syrians can be little minxes! If she`s eating/drinking and playing normally, then I wouldn`t be too concerned. What you need to do is take a step back an say right, is there anything physically wrong here? Is she giving you any signs of illness or behavioural change? Is she craving attention? Syrians can be attention seekers!

One thing I can say is, I would remove that plastic bed or if her wooden one is too small?, look for either a decent sized food box like a large tea box or better still, a shoe box. Remove the lid, turn the box upside down so it doesn`t have a floor and cut a couple of doors in the box. Put the box under a shelf where it`s cosy and dark and put her nesting material inside. You may find she will settle better on the ground floor level of her cage. These boxes are much better and more roomy inside and you may find she won`t be as frustrated. x

Thank you so much for replying, it has calmed me down a lot. I'm so scared of failure with this being an owner thing. Your logic makes me feel silly, but also makes me calmer. I appreciate you spending the time to reply to me very very much!

I put nesting materials in the hanging house, she uses it to get the the bridge sometimes but not often. She mostly uses that for taking the tissue out of it. But I think you mean the pink one on the shelf as that's smaller than the Sput. ? I was going to remove it, then she started keeping her chews in there so I've left it. She never goes in it other than popping her head in to get a chew haha! I guess it is a bit pointless being there.. I could buy her something else to go there that she might use more..

This is the house she has at the moment, it's already under the shelf because I did think that she'd like hiding under there haha! :

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Cosy Hamster Wooden Den | Free P+P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

She sleeps there in the day then when she has naps at night she's made a HUGE nest on the shelf that takes up most of it haha!

I bought it because it was twice as big as the one she was sleeping in, is it still not a good size? She seems to have plenty of room when she is in it as she's quite a small Syrian I think? I'll happily get her a bigger one if need be. I can't give her a cardboard one really, she DESTROYS carboard! She eats it and just shreds every last bit haha! I do give her cardboard for her enjoyment, but I don't think a house would last one day unless it was very thick! :P

[Piebald]

She's so sweet! Looking at you all inquisitive taking pictures-- "whatcha doin mum?"

She is going to live her life Lady Pikachu you can't live it for her. You have given her a good and safe place to do that and that's all you can do. Enjoy your time together. If she needs you she will let you know.

[CPalmer]

Freya has that bedding box (In fact she has two lol, I got a new one to drill air holes for ventilation as she will pack the door up tight).
It's plenty big enough for a syrian, it's huge

As for your worries, We all worry, but as you say she's eating and drinking and moving fine. Her teeth are fine. I think you just need to step back and watch for any changes. She looks lovely and healthy in your pics x

[racinghamster]

The sleeping box looks fine and you are providing a wonderful home for her and remember, hamsters can and do make strange noises sometimes and it doesn`t always mean anything to us, although it`s human nature to feel stressed when we do hear them!

All you really need to be aware of are things like making sure she has adequate sleeping space, she`s not agitated by bar chewing or anything in her environment is causing issues. I can`t see any personally. x

[LadyPikachu]

Originally Posted by Piebald

She's so sweet! Looking at you all inquisitive taking pictures-- "whatcha doin mum?"

She is going to live her life Lady Pikachu you can't live it for her. You have given her a good and safe place to do that and that's all you can do. Enjoy your time together. If she needs you she will let you know.

I know I'm being ever so silly haha! I just worry at the sight of blood/anything red in colour with any animal.. the first time I found it in her bedding I was so scared.. but I am 90% sure it's where she gets excited and hurts her mouth or snot haha! As she's acting her usual self!

It's so hard to think logically about something you care so much about! I'm the same when I get a new phone or something.. I panic if it freezes for a milisecond.. I'm terrible.

Part of the reason I wanted a pet to be honest, to try and make myself get over this worrying. My boyfriend is helping me too.. I'm a very anxious person. Pikachu is helping a little every day really..

This forum really helps, with lovely people like yourself who reply to me.

I must thank everyone for being so patient with me, and not rolling their eyes! :')

[LadyPikachu]

Originally Posted by CPalmer

Freya has that bedding box (In fact she has two lol, I got a new one to drill air holes for ventilation as she will pack the door up tight).
It's plenty big enough for a syrian, it's huge

As for your worries, We all worry, but as you say she's eating and drinking and moving fine. Her teeth are fine. I think you just need to step back and watch for any changes. She looks lovely and healthy in your pics x

Ah I like the hole drilling idea, Pikachu did block the door the other day.. I didn't even think of ventilation ! Might have to do that if she keeps blocking it.

And thank you, I try and keep her as happy as can be!

[LadyPikachu]

Originally Posted by racinghamster

The sleeping box looks fine and you are providing a wonderful home for her and remember, hamsters can and do make strange noises sometimes and it doesn`t always mean anything to us, although it`s human nature to feel stressed when we do hear them!

All you really need to be aware of are things like making sure she has adequate sleeping space, she`s not agitated by bar chewing or anything in her environment is causing issues. I can`t see any personally. x

I'm glad as she seems to like it! She has her old house in there (Came with her first cage) and she's finally left it now that she's found this one, so I'll be taking her old one out soon to make room for something new.

She did start bar chewing once a while back, I upgraded her cage and bought her some new toys and she hasn't done it since. The old cage was 50x40 though, so I'm not surprised she got stressed. I bought the cage with her, I decided to go small first to tame her up then at the first sign she didn't like it would upgrade.. which I did!

It pleases me that she loves her new massive wheel, her new house, her new bridge. It makes the ££££ spent worth it!

I know her old wheel was upsetting her, it was the Trixie, she didn't like being enclosed and started trying to bite off the front panel which resulted in a rough edge and a sore belly. I bought the biggest Wonderland and coated it in a fancy blue colour (only on the inside where she wont chew) and she LOVES it.

The only thing that has changed is she rubs up against things a lot more now quite aggressively, but I'm 99% sure it's because she's in her teenage stage and is getting all territorial because she doesn't want to move from her lovely new cage due to the fact she had 2 cage moves in one week. :')

Sorry for the story time haha! All my family now can't stand hamster talk as I got a bit obsessed so I let it all out here!