New hamster sneezing

[Ria P]

I read back and you say that he sneezed a lot when he came out of his nest so it's not only the sand that triggers his sneezing.
Quite a few people don't like the sand we use and say that it's dusty but i don't think that it is.

I don't know what to advise to be honest because he seems to be sneezing on a daily base. It could be triggered by so many environmental things like substrate, sand, hay etc and one can't rule out a respiratory problem either.

[sushi_78]

It could be worth removing the hemp as it's common for humans at least to be allergic to it. I've heard that it's supposed to be hypoallergenic but I don't think that's true.

When it comes to mysterious allergic-type symptoms, one approach is to scale the cage back to just low dust paper bedding (e.g Kaytee, Fitch or Small Pet Select), no sand, no hay, no wood shavings. See if the symptoms clear up and if they do, add things back in one at a time until you've isolated what the problem was. But I appreciate this will disrupt him settling in which isn't ideal so it's a tough call.

[Snowy_Syrian]

Originally Posted by sushi_78

It could be worth removing the hemp as it's common for humans at least to be allergic to it. I've heard that it's supposed to be hypoallergenic but I don't think that's true.

When it comes to mysterious allergic-type symptoms, one approach is to scale the cage back to just low dust paper bedding (e.g Kaytee, Fitch or Small Pet Select), no sand, no hay, no wood shavings. See if the symptoms clear up and if they do, add things back in one at a time until you've isolated what the problem was. But I appreciate this will disrupt him settling in which isn't ideal so it's a tough call.

I might try that at his next cage clean-out, next week. I'm reluctant to try earlier since, as you said, it's a lot of disruption.

@Ria_P it wasn't when he had just come out of his nest, the first time - he'd been pottering around for a bit but I hadn't been watching closely as I was trying to give him some space to settle in. The times I've been watching, it's mainly been when he has his nose in something, either the food or his sand. There have been one or two isolated sneezes when he's been in his wheel or just pottering around, but the big sneezing fits have been mainly around the sand bath. Should I try removing it? The problem is, he really does seem to love it!

Would it be helpful if I try to get a video of one of his sneezing fits and post it here?

[Snowy_Syrian]

Further update - he's been sneezing much less since I took the hay out. I gave him some out-of-cage time yesterday in his playpen and popped in the hay-stuffed cube toy to see if he reacted to it, and that triggered a sneezing fit, so it seems hay is definitely a trigger. The sand seems also to be a trigger, as he's only really sneezing now when he goes in his sand bath.