Hamster gone quiet

[pumpkin13]

Hi everyone. Wanting a little advice. We have had our Syrian hamster for 8 weeks and she is approximately 18 weeks old. I have been a little worried over the last couple of days as she doesn't seem herself. She always comes to the bars as soon as we enter the bedroom and call her name and usually climbs up the bars to greet us. she is normally quite lively. She is not fully tamed, we haven't held her yet as we are taking it slowly, but she will take treats or food from us through the bars. The last couple of days I have noticed she seems to be having trouble climbing onto her shelf (usually climbs on the roof of her house and up onto the shelf), as if she hasn't got any grip or strength and when she comes down her ramp she has been sliding slightly as if she hasn't as much control. She seems to be going in her nest more and sleeping more. Not noticed any wet areas around her tail area. At first I thought she was just calming down a bit as she was getting older, but now with her not getting onto her shelf very well I am beginning to worry. She always used to have a drink when I put her fresh water in her cage, not done that for a few days unless she has been drinking when we are not there, I will monitor. Has been taking food from her bowl, but leaving a bit in there, usually takes it all. would be grateful for any advice. Only thing I have done different is give her a small piece of cooked broccoli a couple of days ago.

[Pebbles82]

At 18 weeks it isn't going to be old age symptoms. If she is having difficulty climbing it does seem like there is something wrong. Syrian Hamsters are usually quite healthy.

Going into the nest more and sleeping more can be normal - if they're just content and settled in. We hardly ever saw ours unless we woke him up in the evening at feeding time. It's difficult to know if there is something physically wrong or if she is a bit "knocked off". Although she isn't tame I would suggest taking her out of the cage and seeing how she walks around, and then decide whether you need to take her to the vets.

I used to do this, when ours wasn't tame, by putting a tube over the house door with the other end of the tube in a hamster ball and a tempting treat at the far end of the tube. She should walk into the tube and into the ball, then you can lift the ball out and pop the lid on and carefully carry her somewhere you can let her out - maybe rig up a playpen area or use the dry bathtub with a couple of toys/tubes in it and a hidey place so she has somewhere to retreat to. I used to gently put the ball down in the bath and take the lid off so she can walk out of it. Our hammy used to get back in the ball when he wanted to come out again.

If you can't fit a ball in the cage, or have it near the entrance of the cage if the tube won't reach, then just use the tube and when she walks into it to get the treat, lift the tube out with your hands over both ends so she can't jump out and hurt herself. Then lift the tube nearby either into a box or the ball and put one end of the tube in the ball, keeping your hand over the other end.

When she is out, see how she walks around.

[Drago]

It definitely does not sound very normal, as serendipity said, your ham should have no trouble getting up and down her levels. Generally a change in behavior is the first sign something is wrong when dealing with hamsters. She could have suffered an injury, you mention she used to climb the bars to see you, perhaps she fell and hurt her legs or worse hit her head and is now dazed. Watch her for a day or two and if she shows other symptoms or just seems "off" then take her to the vet. Just a little note, when it comes to water, try to change it on a daily basis as it will be fresher and safer for your ham. Plus they'll enjoy it a lot more! I hope she begins feeling better soon and gets back to her normal self

[pumpkin13]

Thanks both for the replies. Yes I always give her fresh water every day. She seems to be walking around her cage ok, can't see that she is limping or anything,just the climbing she's having trouble with. Will keep an eye on her for the next few days and hope she improves. Thanks again.

[souffle]

Does she look hunched at all Pumpkin? Hunching and walking stiffly can indicate pain. I do think you should really get her out to check on her underneath and feel her for bloating / check for injuries etc for the sake of her health and your peace of mine. Young hamsters can go downhill quite quickly so I wouldn't wait a few days to give a full health check. Even getting her in to a clear glass jar would help you look underneath maybe?
I hope she is OK

[pumpkin13]

Thanks for the reply. No she doesn't looked hunched. Trouble is I can't pick her up yet, still trying to tame her. I have bought some gardening gloves today as she keeps biting, so will try and pick her up tomorrow maybe. Don't want to stress her out.

[Pebbles82]

Don't try to pick her up then - it'll stress you both out Try the tube thing I mentioned above. I just had a thought - it could be just nerves - except that you have had her eight weeks. Have there been any changes in the cage recently? When we moved Charlie to a bigger cage he was like this going up and down ramps and climbing on things, and nervous of everything. It can take 10 days to 2 weeks for them to start feeling confident. So if you have changed the set up or moved things around she could be nervous of climbing. Do you have a photo of her cage? We can look and see if there are any fall risks. It's possible she could have fallen and hurt herself maybe.

[pumpkin13]

Hi Serendipity. Thanks for your reply. No not changed anything around. she used to climb on the cage side bars and launch herself down, but she has a ramp on one side and the roof of her house and then a bendy bridge which all step down from her shelf to the bottom. I noticed something more on sunday when our granddaughter wanted to see her. Now I don't usually disturb her in the day, but we went into the bedroom and she came out of her nest when she heard us. She got onto the roof of the house and then tried to get on the shelf (not a big gap) and it was as if she couldn't pull herself up. She fell backwards and landed down the side of her house. Thought she was just a little shaky because she had just woken up. but she's not her lively self. think all this has shaken her up a bit, but can't understand why she couldn't pull herself up. Normally its no trouble at all and she's not attempting to climb the bars at all. Spoke to the pet shop I bought her from, they told me to clean her cage in case there were any nasty germs lurking which I reluctantly did as was frightened of stressing her more, although I hadn't done a full clean. I think I am killing her with kindness, so worried of doing anything wrong.

[Pebbles82]

It doesn't sound like nasty germs to me. She is showing the signs that our hamster did just before he turned two. He suddenly couldn't quite pull himself up into something and fell over. He continued to have diffculty climbing after that and as it was old age, I lowered everything "bungalow style". I am not sure if it was muscle weakness or arthritis.

I wonder if she is either older than you think or may have some kind of early onset arthritis or muscle weakness. Do you have a good vet? Because it would be a good idea to take her. I asked if you had a good vet because not all of them are that good at diagnosing, so ask around and google and so on and ring them up to see what kind of things they say, to find the best one in the area If it's arthritis they can give Metacam. There are diseases that can cause muscle weakness and they are harder to diagnose. It just seems very unusual in an 18 week old hamster.

[Hekomi]

I would definitely see if you can get into a vet. If she is young, perhaps it might be an inner ear infection - it can cause wobbliness and unbalanced actions in a hamster as it skews the centre of gravity.

At the very least, they can start you on a path to help make her feel better.