Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Central Forum Topics > Hamster Healthcare

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-29-2019, 11:17 PM   #1
10Minutes
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 187
Question Scratching

So I have had a hamster for a month and she keeps scratching herself a lot, but I'm not sure how much scratching is too much!

I sleep with her and have never heard her sneeze or wheeze. I don't see any mites when I clean out parts of her cage. Her fur looks powdery dry and fully fluffy. Her eyes look bright and clear and her nose doesn't seem to have discharge either.

I can't pick her up for a closer examination because she is still pretty skittish (Roborovski), but she does let me stroke her softly sometimes.

She has been scratching like this the whole month since the first day I got her. How much scratching is too much scratching? Should I be worried? Her bedding does not contain pine or cedar.
10Minutes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2019, 01:10 AM   #2
SKB_Hamsters
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
SKB_Hamsters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 3,186
Default Re: Scratching

Hamsters do groom a lot so it can be hard to say if the grooming is excessive without seeing your hamster in person. Can you see her skin my any chance - Does it look red/inflamed?

Mites on hamsters you won’t be able to see unless under a microscope - the way determining if mites are causing the scratching is for vets to do a skin scrape.

I know you said you don’t use cedar or pine - but what other bedding do you use in the cage as it may be an allergic reaction to another substrate? Or even a food allergy which is harder to identify.

How long have you had her for to? As some hamsters when stressed will groom excessively.

If the scratching still seems to be excessive it might be good to get her to an exotic specialist vet - who will be able to determine if any underlying issues are causing the scratching.
__________________
Popcorn Syrian

Owning Hamsters since Nov 2007
SKB_Hamsters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-30-2019, 06:15 AM   #3
10Minutes
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 187
Default Re: Scratching

Quote:
Originally Posted by SKB_Hamsters View Post
Hamsters do groom a lot so it can be hard to say if the grooming is excessive without seeing your hamster in person. Can you see her skin my any chance - Does it look red/inflamed?

Mites on hamsters you won’t be able to see unless under a microscope - the way determining if mites are causing the scratching is for vets to do a skin scrape.

I know you said you don’t use cedar or pine - but what other bedding do you use in the cage as it may be an allergic reaction to another substrate? Or even a food allergy which is harder to identify.

How long have you had her for to? As some hamsters when stressed will groom excessively.

If the scratching still seems to be excessive it might be good to get her to an exotic specialist vet - who will be able to determine if any underlying issues are causing the scratching.
I have had her for a month and she still scratches all the time, even when she doesn't look stressed to me (though I may be wrong in thinking she isn't stressed). She is fully furry (no bald patches) so I can't see her skin.

Bedding: She has a chinchilla sand bath, but she scratched even before I introduced that.

For her bedding I use poplar wood bedding because a lot of the other bedding here is just advertised as "100% natural wood" so I can't be sure if those are pine or cedar or aspen and I didn't want to risk using unknown bedding. Should I switch her out to shredded paper and tissue paper fully? I don't really want to stress her out by doing a full bedding change unnecessarily. She doesn't sneeze or wheeze and there's no discharge from her eyes or nose.

Food: I have used two different types of food mix and a pellet throughout her stay with me, and she has scratched throughout.

Jolly Crispy Hamster: Protein 11%(min), Fat 2% (min), Fibre 15%(max).

Maize, Wheat, Barley, Peas, Safflower seeds, Buckwheat, Popcorn, Sorghum, Peanuts, Maize flakes, Wild Oats, SUnflower seeds, Dehydrated carrot, Dehydrated celery, Seasame oil, Expanded feed.

Ebers Complete Food Mix: Protein 17%, Fat 3.5%, Fiber 10%

Wheat middling, Dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, Alfalfa meal, whole peas, whole corn, soy hulls, ground wheat, cane molasses, calcium carbonate, vegetable oil, flaxseed, apple chunks, Dehydrated Banana, Dehydrated carrot, dehydrated sweet potato, dehydrated papaya, soybean oil, lignin sulfonate, salt, zucchini dehydrated, cranberry dehydrated, dehydrated celery flakes, manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, vitamin e supplement, selenium yeast, ferrous sulfate, niacin, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, biotin, choline chloride, sodium selenite, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B-12 supplement, folic acid, calcium update, rice bran, cobalt sulfate, monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, yeast culture, propionic acid, ascorbic acid, diatomaceous earth, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, DL-Methionine, Dried Yucca Schidigera Powder.

SmartHeart Hamster: Protein 24%, Fat 4.5%, Fiber 5.0%

Ground corn, soybean meal, full-fat soybean, fish meal, poultry by-product Meal, vitamins, and minerals, antioxidants.

She used to be on the Jolly brand, but I upgraded her to Ebers and supplement it with a SmartHeart pellet once a week, for the protein boost. She eats mealworms and unsalted sunflower seeds too, and I have fed her some broccoli once.

I am a beginner and really have no idea how much scratching is normal. I'd hate to be doing something wrong and not know it.
10Minutes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2019, 03:09 AM   #4
SKB_Hamsters
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
SKB_Hamsters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 3,186
Default Re: Scratching

Without seeing her in person difficult to know what to advise - as one option is to keep a close eye on her incase the scratching worsens to the fact she causing harm to herself and causing bald spots and scabs. And the other take her to an exotic specialist vet who will help with helping you to either figure out what causing the scratching or give you reassurance it normal.

You can also upload a video and share it here as the we can have a look the video and advise from there?
This is a tutorial to share a video that you have uploaded to YouTube - How to embed YouTube Videos
Or some people use other video hosting sites but I’m unsure how to share them that way.

Hamsters can still develop allergies to substrates which are safe - the fact that she hasn’t got any baldness then potentially this might not be the cause of her scratching. I’m a little concerned with the Ebers mix due to the list of chemicals usually I personally like to avoid anything with a long list of chemicals. Might be worth seeing what others members think of the Ebers mix just as nutrition isn’t an area of expertise for me.
__________________
Popcorn Syrian

Owning Hamsters since Nov 2007
SKB_Hamsters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2019, 10:28 AM   #5
10Minutes
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 187
Default Re: Scratching

I thought all of the hamster mixes here actually contains those chemicals, only unlike Ebers, they're just labelled as "vitamins and minerals" in the ingredients. Now I'm concerned, hopefully someone is able give more input on the Ebers mix.

I have tried very hard and the best I can find in terms of nutrition (in my *very* limited understanding) here is Ebers or Hagen Gourmet Hamster & Gerbil (Protein 13%, Fat 6%, Fibre 7.5%):

Red milo, wheat, white millet, corn, toasted green split peas, wheat shorts, oat groats, ground corn, dehydrated alfalfa meal, flaxseed, wheat middlings, dried banana, carrot pellets, safflower seed, black oil sunflower seed, ground wheat, soybean meal, dehulled peanuts, carrot flakes, dried papaya, dehulled pumpkin seed, dried beet pulp, corn gluten meal, calcium carbonate, salt, orange oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dicalcium phosphate, brown rice, dehulled barley, cane molasses, yeast culture, lecithin, sugar, DL-methionine, choline chloride, alfalfa nutrient concentrate, magnesium oxide, L-lysine, calcium L-ascorbyl-2-monophosphate, lignin sulfonate, yeast extract, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, copper sulfate, vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium iodate, folic acid, sodium selenite, cobalt carbonate, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, artificial colors (Red #40, Yellow #5, Titanium dioxide), rosemary extract, yucca schidigera extract.

I can switch to Hagen if need be, but it also looks like it has a lot of chemicals in it. Hopefully more people will be able to comment on the nutritional aspect... It's really tough finding a reasonable food mix here. I typed in all the names on the "recommended" list into a few online shopping platforms and I couldn't seem to find any that would ship here.

I brought her to a vet, but my naughty girl refused to scratch at all while she was there, lol! The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. I'm not sure if it's psychological, but she doesn't seem to have scratched as much these couple of days even though I haven't made any changes. Perhaps she was stressed and only settling in now, like you said

Thanks sooo much for your comments, I will try to keep a closer eye on her bedding and also her diet for any potential signs. I'm a paranoid newbie that hopes to do my best by her, hopefully it's just normal grooming. I'll continue observing her and try to grab a video if she starts scratching a lot again.
10Minutes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2019, 12:22 PM   #6
AmityvilleHams
PM Fluffy for custom title
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 4,545
Default Re: Scratching

Vitamins and minerals are a bit of a necessary chemical. Any premade food with one exception will have them. I would be far more concerned with artificial dyes and flavors as well as harmful preservatives(BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin). I will say that there is some concern with menadione/synthetic k3 as it can cause health issues over time, which is much more well known with other pets rather than hamsters but it is something to look out for.

Things like "expanded feed" or unnamed ingredient pellets are also a huge concern as they can contain harmful ingredients without listing them. Any unnamed "by-product" meals or meat meals and such should also be completely eliminated, as you have no idea what these are actually made from and they could be made from the lowest quality cheapest possible byproducts(which won't be beneficial compared to real chicken, chicken heart, chicken liver, or similar things).
AmityvilleHams is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-04-2019, 07:51 PM   #7
10Minutes
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 187
Default Re: Scratching

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmityvilleHams View Post
Vitamins and minerals are a bit of a necessary chemical. Any premade food with one exception will have them. I would be far more concerned with artificial dyes and flavors as well as harmful preservatives(BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin). I will say that there is some concern with menadione/synthetic k3 as it can cause health issues over time, which is much more well known with other pets rather than hamsters but it is something to look out for.

Things like "expanded feed" or unnamed ingredient pellets are also a huge concern as they can contain harmful ingredients without listing them. Any unnamed "by-product" meals or meat meals and such should also be completely eliminated, as you have no idea what these are actually made from and they could be made from the lowest quality cheapest possible byproducts(which won't be beneficial compared to real chicken, chicken heart, chicken liver, or similar things).
Yay, that's really great information, thank you so much. Yeah, I'm concerned about those without a list of detailed ingredients too, and I'll start to keep a look out for all those harmful stuff that you mentioned. Just by glancing at these harmful things you mentioned, the safest from my available selection seems to be Ebers (Jolly has expanded feed, Hagen has artificial dyes and menadione, SmartHeart has the by-product with a lot of unlisted vitamins/ minerals).

For other supplementary foods, I've found that my hamster hates chicken, cheese, carrots. She loves sunflower seeds and mealworms, and is only willing to nibble a little broccoli once in a while.
10Minutes is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
scratching, month, roborovski, discharge, stroke, skittish, pretty, pick, softly, examination, closer, worried, bedding, cedar, pine, day, fully, heard, sneeze, wheeze, sleep, hamster, lot, mites, eyes

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:44 AM.