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View Poll Results: Is this bald spot severe, moderate, mild, or nothing to worry about?
Is this bald spot mild? 0 0%
Is it severe? 0 0%
Is it moderate maybe? 2 20.00%
Is there nothing to worry about? 1 10.00%
Does she have to see a vet? 7 70.00%
Voters: 10. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 12-15-2015, 02:02 AM   #51
Pebbles82
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

I would leave if for now and just observe her for a while if she seems well in herself Do you know how old she is? Many people use comfort wheels without problems.
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Old 12-15-2015, 10:48 AM   #52
Scargirl
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

I don't know for sure. When I got her The pet shop lady wasn't very specific. She said she is around 6-8 months and I got her about a year ago so, just being conservative with her age, she is probably a little over 1 1/2 years old. But that was in August so she is probably more like 2 months from being 2 years old.
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Old 12-15-2015, 11:52 AM   #53
Pebbles82
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

Well it could be a combination of things then - an age thing combined with a hormone thing or licking around that area more. If she is over 1 and a half she's not that young any more. 1 hamster year is supposed to be equivalent to about 40 human years so that would put her at about 60 to 70 human years. She could still live for quite a long time but older hammies can start losing hair. As long as she seems well in herself then maybe just keep an eye on how she is doing.
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Old 12-15-2015, 01:27 PM   #54
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

Okay. Thanks. Do you think it has something to do with cleaning her cage? I don't mean urine burns like hammy2 said but I don't spot clean at all. I have done full cage cleans ever since I got her. Someone said that it could be from rubbing up against things from scent marking. And I am tired of cleaning the cage every two weeks. If I cleaned out the sandbath and spot clean once a week, can I just clean the cage once a month?
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Old 12-15-2015, 05:48 PM   #55
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

That sounds like a good plan. She would probably have less stress with less full cage cleans. If she uses the sand bath as a potty then clean that out when necessary - could be 4 or 5 days, could be a week. And spot cleaning otherwise is just removing the odd handful of wee'd on substrate (it doesn't usually go down that far and there is dry substrate underneath, if you have a few inches depth of substrate in there). So you take a handful or two of wet, and add a couple of new handfuls of clean substrate and kind of mix it in a bit with what's underneath so it smells more familiar. If she uses a potty/sandbath and there are no wet areas, you don't even need to do much spot cleaning. I can go 2 or 3 months without doing a full cage clean. I empty his potty about every 5 days, clean it and refill it. I'll give his wheel a wipe maybe every couple of weeks (he doesn't wee in his wheel, but if they wee in the wheel it could do with being washed more often). Most of his toys don't really need cleaning except the odd plastic thing like his sputnik but usually a wipe with a damp cloth is enough.

The trick is not to clean everything at the same time as that removes all their familiar scent in the whole cage and causes them stress. So do the wheel at a different time to the toys and the substrate.

So depending on how much she wees in the cage, something like this

1) Potty/sandbath every 4 or 5 days - longer if it isn't wee'd in or you can ust scoop out the wet bit and add some more sand sometimes.
2) Wheel - when necessary but not at the same time as cleaning toys or substrate.
3) Toys - when necessary - they tend not to need cleaning often unless wee'd on or in and a wipe with a damp cloth could be ok.
4) Substrate - spot clean maybe once a week - taking out the odd handful, replacing it with new and mixing it in.
6) Nest - leave it unless it is wet. If it has been wee'd in remove the wet part but try to leave a bit behind so it smells familiar and put new strips of toilet paper out so she can rebuild it. You can check the nest maybe once a week as well.

With this kind of regime you could easily go a month or even two months between full cage cleans. It depends on her weeing habits. If she exclusively wee's in one place and a potty it will go a lot longer - maybe even 2 or 3 months. But if she has a few wee places or doesn't use a potty, then maybe once every 4 to 6 weeks.

The key thing I find is - the deeper the substrate, the less you throw away and the cage base stays clean. So with 4 or 5" of substrate, when you spot clean, the underneath bit is dry and the cage base is dry so doesn't need cleaning.

When you do a full cage clean as well, don't use anything scented. You can just wipe the cage base down with a damp cloth, or if it needs more than that, just soapy water (ie like washing up liquid in water), give it a good rinse to remove and residue and dry it well. Strong smells or perfumes also stress hamsters.

Poops aren't dirty or smelly - if there start to be a lot you can spot clean at bit.

House - leave it unless she wee's in it. Her hoard should be ok too unless she wees in her nest. The dried food is ok for quite a long time. It's a good idea to have a peek and make sure she hasn't hoarded anything fresh now and then that could go off, but usually they eat fresh stuff straight away.

Whether it helps with the hair loss or not I don't know, but it would definitely reduce any stress levels which would be good for her and less work for you
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Old 12-15-2015, 07:07 PM   #56
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

Yes. She uses her sand potty and the same corner mostly in her cage. So that would be great if I can go 2/3 months in between cage cleans. Thanks, serendipity!
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Old 12-15-2015, 09:51 PM   #57
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

I gave the wheel advice because of personal experience with a Comfort wheel that had a small bur of plastic which when looked at was not easily seen but ripped the fur off my long haired male right at the very same spot that Scarlet has lost hers.

Some times a little bit of going bonkers is better then a hamster who has a badly wheel going from fur rubbed off to a big gash in her side from the once hair grabbing defective wheel grabbing the bare skin instead. An older Hamster doesn't use their wheel as often nor as long as a young one and removing a wheel for health matters (injured leg for instance) is done for way longer then 3-5 days and the hamster does fine.

However you know your hamster so if you feel she would go bonkers without a wheel then you have only one choice buy a different wheel which she may not like(I have three here who absolutely hate enclosed wheels like the Wodent Wheel) or have a bald sided Hamster. By your photos her cage is gonna be hard to fit even a WW Jr in as the stand and wheel are almost 10 inches high and that is without any substrate under it.

With the situation that you have to obey adults who see her as fine as she is it will be very hard to get them to change their minds and get Scarlet what she would need which is a much bigger cage so a proper size wheel or even a large size flying Saucer can fit in her cage. WWs are not cheap and Carolina Storms are even more costly then WWs. Like the UK WW and CS wheels can only be purchased online they are not sold in Pet stores. With you already being poked at for spending so much on a Hamster now, I'm sad to say they will hit the roof if you ask for either of the better for her wheels because the Comfort wheel is the cheapest wheel available at pet stores. Followed by those horrid Mesh wheels.
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Old 12-16-2015, 05:30 PM   #58
Pebbles82
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

That's a good point Nancy makes - I hadn't thought of a defective comfort wheel! And she has had experience of the wheel causing this - so maybe the wheel is the way to go. Could you give the details of the wheel you want to order to someone and ask for it as a Christmas present. As Nancy says - it needs a good sized cage to fit a Syrian sized wheel in, but some Syrians are ok with an 8" wheel if they're not large Syrians, and that should fit.

That's probably the best you can do - if you can't go bigger on the cage. I know you got her current cage recently and it's a bit smaller than the 360 square inches. You could make a bin cage possibly if you parents would allow it.

You (or someone else) can order 8" wodent wheels here

Wodent Wheel 8 inch - Wodent Wheels
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:30 PM   #59
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

SammiHammy said that silent spinners are okay. Once you add veggie oil to them though. What do you think?
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Old 12-17-2015, 03:01 AM   #60
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Default Re: IMPORTANT!!! Bald spot on Hammy's leg!!!!!

The problem is Silent Spinners only come in two sizes - a teeny tiny 6.5" one for dwarf hamsters, and a massive 12" one! The 12" one is too big for a lot of cages and that would be the case with yours - I think it stands 33cm high on its stand. The Same size as the 12" Wodent wheel. Wodent wheels come in 8", 11" and 12". The 11" is usually the one needed for Syrians but some average or smaller sized Syrians can use an 8" one.

I wouldn't get one anyway as they changed something in the manufacuring in recent months and people are complaining they just don't spin.

Most hamsters seem like the enclosed wheels with the holes, like the wodent wheel, as they like holes to go in! Ours went potty when he got his and really loves it. More than the open wheel he had before. There is only really the comfort wheel you have now, the 8" Wodent or the 8" trixie wheel that would fit in your height of cage. The Trixie wheel is a "wodent wheel look alike" a bit more flimsy and can be noisy. Many people are happy with these but they can be a bit noisy. The Wodent wheels are very quiet - ours is virtually silent. Occasionally someone complains about one that squeaks a bit but that can be sorted with greasing the spindle with vegetable oil. I've never had that issue.
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