Hamster walking weirdly

Oobee35 · 10-12-2018, 10:38 PM

hello! so tonight i’ve been noticing some weird behavior in my dwarf hamster Suki. As she was walking around the cage, she would give herself a good old scratch and then flatten her body to the ground and walk with her hips swiveling side to side. Obviously, I was concerned and took her out and felt her to see if I could feel anything unusual. She walked perfectly normally on my hands, and in the cage she would sometimes walk normally. I was wondering if anyone could help me? thanks! Oh also, as a heads up she is about 9 weeks old so it wouldn’t be anything to do with age.

cypher · 10-12-2018, 11:03 PM

It sounds as though she may have been scent marking, had you recently done a clean or changed anything in the cage?

Oobee35 · 10-12-2018, 11:48 PM

yes, actually. last night I took off the top layer of bedding and added a few more inches because when I added it in I didn’t add enough. Thank you so much!! If she wasn’t scent marking, what else could it have been? Anyways thanks so much! I’m not so worried anymore!!!

cypher · 10-13-2018, 12:18 AM

If she was walking normally on your hands & you'd just put fresh substrate in then I'm pretty sure it was scent marking, it can look a bit weird when they do that!
If it was anything else like an injury she wouldn't have been walking normally on your hands I wouldn't think.