Help please

[Zorro]

Hi, my 7 month Syrian has developed a scab on her foot. It’s dry and looks like it is scabbing nicely which appears to be in 4 sections of her pad. I change her bedding daily and total change weekly as her cage is massive. There is a little wire on top but otherwise plastic. She has a new disc wheel and is on it all the time when awake, she even has a wee while on it, I wash as soon as soon as I wake. The foot is not swollen, she is eating well and not overweight. I have read about bumblefoot which mentions swollen feet but hers is not and she has no problem using it. Can anyone advise please?

[Corbeens]

Hi, I think it would be helpful for the more experience members if you could upload a pic, but also if your cage is big you do not need to do any kind of big change weekly, and many people do not advise total changes at all, instead they advise keeping either 1/3 or 2/3 of the old bedding, and mixing it with new bedding. Bumblefoot only really happens when they run/walk on any surface that isn't solid for a prolonged amount of time(e.g wire wheels or platforms). There may also be something sharp in the cage or something, it may help if you were to upload a picture of your setup!

[Vierville]

I'm not by any means saying that this is definitely what it is but if it is a dry scab without an injury having taken place, it might be eczema of some type? My dwarf Monty had an eczema scab that presented as a dry scab with no swelling on her chest that also developed without her having injured herself. It went away on its own however the vet did say thst if it persisted he would give her some cortisone-based cream.

[Zorro]

Thankyou all for your replies. I only have iPhone and iPads and am having a technophobe moment as I can’t upload the photo of my hamsters foot. Can anyone advise please?

[Ria P]

Scroll down to Manage Attachments click on it then Choose file, click Upload and wait till uploaded (a blue line runs across top of screen) then click on Close this window and return to Reply to thread and Submit Reply

[Pebbles82]

Hi. Check if there is anything sharp in the cage - which I'm sure you have. Is the running disc wood? Sometimes wood items have splinters. It seems strange it is only one foot.

With regards to the cleaning - it is far too much and will be causing stress to your hammy. Changing bedding daily is taking away her familiar scent all the time. Even weekly is too often.

The key is to have a good depth of bedding/substrate - at least 4" deep but ideally 6" or more. This does two things - it allows the hamster to burrow down in their nest, bury hoards under their nest, and even dig tunnels. It also means the cage mostly stays clean and dry for a long time, because you can just "spot clean" the pee area. Syrians usually have an area or corner of the cage where they pee - they are quite clean and tidy like that. You just spot clean that area every few days - taking oiut a handful or two of soiled substrate and replace it with a couple of handfuls of new and mix it in a bit so it still smells familiar. A litter tray is your friend! You can get corner litter trays - put chinchilla bathing sand in - and put that in the pee corner/area and your hammy will use it. Then you just empty the litter tray every few days. They tend not to pee anywhere else, except the wheel sometimes. Don't worry about poops unless there start to be a lot of them around. They are not dirty or smelly - quite hard - they eat them sometimes, which is normal - they have two stomachs and can redigest vitamins and nutrients from their poops. They sometimes hoard some poops as well (emergency food supplies!).

So it's a balance between hygiene and allowing the hamster normal behaviours. Too much hygiene is an invasion of their territory and will lead to abnormal behaviours. We have to curb our human instincts to clean everything and work around the hamster's needs.

Most of the substrate will stay clean and dry for a long time and is fine to be left. Unless the nest or hoard is pee'd on they can also be left until you change the substrate. And even then it is better to replace some of the clean old substrate - spread it on top of the new so the environment still smells familiar to the hamster. Also don't clean everything at the same time. So if you do a substrate change,don't clean anything else at that time - do the wheel a different week, and any other items a different week again - so something always smells familiar. They scent mark everything so they can find their way around easily (they don't see well at all) and also to mark their territory. So if all the scent is removed regularly you will have a stressed hamster. Stress lowers their immune system and they're more prone to infections and illnesses then.

Torn up strips of plain white toilet material is best for nesting as it's safe - if you put a pile of that in the cage somewhere (not actually inside the house) they will forage for it and pouch it and take it back to keep refurbishing their nest. Just keep topping it up as it goes down. A baby hamster may pee in the nest the odd time, but they tend to grow out of that quite quickly. Obviously if it is pee'd in it needs removing, but try and leave a little bit of it behind that is dry - even if it's slightly whiffy. And they'll rebuild it from the toilet paper strips. Same with the hoard. If the hoard is pee'd on then it will need removing - but always put new food back in exactly the same place - they are very precious about their hoards and can start peeing on them to deter people stealing them! Then it becomes a vicious circle for a while. If the hoard is dry it can be left for quite some time. I tend to just remove the bottom half of it when I change the substrate,as that is the oldest food and the hoards can get quite big. Dry hamster mix is fine left for some time in a hoard. They tend to eat fresh food straight away rather than hoard it but you'll find out over time whether your hammy does this or not.

A good idea is to have a house with a lift off roof - then you can check inside sometimes (not too often or they might move out of the house) -and can see if there's any fresh food lying around - if so you can remove it so it doesn't go off (veg etc). It also means you don't have to take the house out to see inside so the nest doesn't fall apart.

I never really remove our hamsters nests. They stay clean and dry. Hamsters wash themselves regularly and are quite clean little things generally apart from their pee.

The pads of their feet are quite delicate - I reckon it might be something to do with the running disc or splinters on something your hammy walks on.

[Pebbles82]

Just to add - it will take a lot of substrate in a large cage if you have it 6" deep. But it will last a lot longer so you'll go through less overall. With spot cleaning and a litter tray.

They also need a good sized house because they like to build quite big nests to keep cosy in. And somewhere dark to retreat to (ie a big house). If you don't have one already then a shoebox house works well. Cut the base out of the shoe box and a hole for an entrance at one end of one of the long sides at the front. Keep the lid as the lift off roof. So the house is open underneath and sat on top of the substrate. That keeps it quite aired and also they can bury hoards under their nest. If you put a bendy bridge tunnel over the entrance it makes it dark inside and also gives a ramp onto the roof of the house. If the shoebox is big enough to fit a litter tray inside, that is a good idea - they tend to nest at the end furthest away from the entrance where it's darker so putting a litter tray opposite the entrance in the back corner of the house works well.

I find when they have a big house, they move their toilet corner inside the house.

[Zorro]

I hope it’s image attachment has worked

[Engel]

Originally Posted by Zorro

I hope it’s image attachment has worked

Ouch. Does he bar climb?

Can you attach photos of his cage setup. There might be something that he's fallen awkwardly on.

It could be a patch of itchy dry skin that he's messed with and made it bleed and scab.

[Zorro]

Thankyou to everyone for caring, Buttercups scab fell off last night and is looking good. The only non smooth wooden toy which could potentially cause a splinter is in the bin. I took her wheel away for a couple of days which made me feel awful as her little face looked at me through her play pen so I’ve given it her back and she is a spinning lively little beauty.
I have bought Beaphour antiseptic cream which I am about to start applying after she has walked in sterilised salt water (if anyone doesn’t think this is a good idea please let me know).
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