Concerns about my new hamster

[xskyebear]

Hello everyone! I just got a new albino syrian hamster about 4 days ago and I am noticing a couple issues. This is my first ever hamster, so I’m sorry if I seem like I’m overreacting or anything, I’m just worried.

My first concern is that she is grooming herself excessively. A lot of times when I look at her she’s rubbing her face and body, sometimes she even uses her back legs to scratch her hip area. I also notice her skin seems a little red but I’m not sure if that’s normal because I read that a lot of hamsters have reddish skin.

My next concern is that when she burrows in her bedding and plays in her sand bath she sometimes sneezes.

My last concern is that she keeps going in the corner of her tank (it’s a 40 gallon with a lot of hideouts, chews, and there’s also a wheel and sand bath) and she digs in it, tries biting at it, and rubs her body against it.

Overall, she’s very active, she comes out at night and runs on her wheel and she’s plays with her chews. She seems to be eating regularly and drinking her water. She also doesn’t seem ill, her eyes are normally red, her nose isn’t runny, she doesn’t seem to have crust anywhere on her face, and her tail and poos are normal.
I would appreciate some advice from anyone on what I should do. Thank you

[souffle]

White syrians do normally have quite a pinkish tone to their skin as you can see the pink skin through the very white coat. I think the grooming is her spreading her scent around to get it around her new home. They groom the scent glands on the hips to get the scent on the feet and then spread it around and they often rub themselves against things which you are seeing. The sneezing is likely dust in her bedding and like all mammals dust can get up their noses. As long as she is not doing it all the time and does not have a nasal discharge she sounds fine. If you are worried though that something is not right then a vet visit would be needed.
Just be sure you use the sand and not chinchilla dust which can be harmful to hamsters.

[xskyebear]

Originally Posted by souffle

White syrians do normally have quite a pinkish tone to their skin as you can see the pink skin through the very white coat. I think the grooming is her spreading her scent around to get it around her new home. They groom the scent glands on the hips to get the scent on the feet and then spread it around and they often rub themselves against things which you are seeing. The sneezing is likely dust in her bedding and like all mammals dust can get up their noses. As long as she is not doing it all the time and does not have a nasal discharge she sounds fine. If you are worried though that something is not right then a very visit would be needed.
Just be sure you use the sand and not chinchilla dust which can be harmful to hamsters.

Thank you so much!