itchy and scratchy

[worldturns]

ok Nipper is a Syrian and 5 months old short haired. I have noticed that he rubs himself in his potty littler and does seem to sneeze a little. his sneezing is not regular it's about once every hour or 2 when he is awake. so I don't think he has a cold. but he does scratch and clean himself a bit more then my pervious hamsters. I am wondering if he could be having problems with his fitch. perhaps a dust allergy? if so what do I replace it with? hemp? go back to wood shavings? it would be a shame if it is the fitch as so for it has been the best bedding I have found. and my robo Zeek loves it and is not the having any such problems so I don't think it could be mites. any thoughts or suggestions very much appreciated thank you

[cypher]

Without seeing a ham it's hard to judge how much scratching is too much tbh, I do think it unlikely to be the fitch causing a problem it's about the least dusty substrate there is & doesn't contain anything a ham is likely to have a reaction to at all.
What potty litter are you using? Some of the litter pellets sold aren't safe & it's generally best to use chinchilla sand in the litter tray.
If he does seem to be scratching excessively then I would look for anything else that might be causing him some irritation.
What are you feeding him on?

[worldturns]

this is what I thought about fitch that's why I chose it in the first place.
he has been on Harry's hamster food, but also fresh vegetables. I have in last few days tried him on Nature's touch from pets at home and Nature's feast hamster nuggets. needless to say he does not like the nuggets. he does like the Nature's touch and still likes his Harry's hamster food.
I have removed the potty litter in the last 24 hours I am going to see if that works for him and I will take your suggestion of using the sand. thank you

[cypher]

See how he goes with the change in his litter tray, I would also try stopping the new foods, go back to HH for a while & if he's ok you could try reintroducing that again & see if he may be reacting to that, it's fairly unlikely but possible.