Hamster with mites?

[InkyPen]

Hi,

We're concerned that our Syrian may have mites / mange (caused by mites) because she's losing fur (see photo) and my partner's previous hamsters have had the same issue, years ago.

She's probably about 2-3 months old, female, very tame and was bought from a pet shop about 3 weeks ago. She's black underneath apart from that white line and patch, and there's noticeable hair thinning there and also around her ear tufts a little bit. The skin looks red but haven't seen signs of her rubbing on anything to scratch an itch. She's also been slightly more lethargic over the last few days, but when we put the heating on she seemed to perk up so we thought it was a temperature thing.

Before we stress her out with a trip to the vet, please can we just check that this isn't just normal / we're not just being worried hamster parents!

Thanks!

[InkyPen]

PS sorry for the enormous picture.... I have no idea how to fix that

[Cinnamon Bear]

It does look like hair is thinned, does your hammy scratch all the time?

[InkyPen]

She grooms a fair bit, but I haven't noticed her scratching, and certainly not around those areas... The grooming is mainly around her face, and perhaps at the high end of normal, but not excessive.

[racinghamster]

Hi Inkypen. It doesn`t look too bad to me and you won`t see mites as they are microscopic and small animals who get a flare up of mites usually change behaviour and seem quite irritable, so if she`s not racing about scratching like a banshee, I wouldn`t think it`s anything to worry about. Look at everything in her environment. Shavings, bedding, do you tend to clean the cage out all the time rather than spot clean? Do you use any cleaning sprays/products?

If you do, stop. These products are not necessary and hot water and kitchen towel is all you need to wipe over the cage shelf or wash individual items without thinking you need to clean the entire cage out. This can be stressful for a hamster who likes to smell their scent and have a food stash left where it is for example.

Keep things simple. You mentioned she seemed lethargic? Too much heat can cause them to feel warmer and hamsters prefer a cool, but not cold room temp. So if she`s otherwise bright eyed, eating/drinking, wanting to do normal hamster things and not giving off signs of hunching or irritation or anything else you feel is not right, I could be she`s fine but obviously, some hamsters will show some thinning fur or reactions, but without knowing the cause, it may not be anything your doing. Keep an eye on her and always see a vet if anything acute happens that wasn`t there before if it affects her health. x

[souffle]

It doesn't really look like mites. Have you considered an allergy? May be worth changing the bedding to chipped tissue and ripped plain white loo roll and see if it resolves. Was she kept in good conditions in the pet store as it does look a little like she may have been getting wet underneath. Some females do get very thin belly fur which is hormone related but not usually till they are older.
Try a bedding change and give her a few weeks. Try giving her some porridge with debittered brewers yeast to boost up her B vitamins or even a multivitamin animal product in it - just a drop.

[cypher]

Mite problems usually begin to show up around the ears & eyes & may or may not be accompanied by scratching so it's not always easy to tell without a skin scrape by the vet, skin & fur problems can have quite a variety of causes so as RH said you do need to check everything you're doing, environment, diet etc just in case something may be causing her irritation, it can sometimes be hormonal too.
If she seems well enough in herself & it's not bothering her I'd watch & wait for a while.
My first approach with skin problems is always to add some flax seeds & evening primrose oil to the diet, it often helps & certainly won't do any harm. Just a pinch of flax seeds & a drop of EPO every day or two is sufficient.

Cross post with souffle, I always forget to mention brewers yeast for some reason but I use that too & it can be really helpful.