[emilyontoast]

Hello!

I have had my hamster, Sandy, for around 3 weeks now. She is slightly older than most new hamsters, as she had been returned to the pet shop where I found her.

I have had many hamsters in the past, including difficult ones which growl and bite. However, Sandy seems like a particularly troubled case. She is incredibly nervous and very jumpy at sounds, and also very distressed and unhappy in her big cage! Any attempts at stroking/handling her and she will pounce across the cage and bite me (strangely she isn't growly or unfriendly in general, she's actually very curious of my from the other side of the cage).

I have noticed over the past week that occasionally a kind of clucking sound would emerge from the cage..These have been pretty sporadic up until a few days ago, when she suddenly made a screeching noise (im not sure whether she was asleep, but she was in her bed). Today things have taken a turn for the worst and she made a terrible screech (like stepping on a cat) whilst in her bed. She then made more and more distressful noises and came out of her bed. She was quite wild and jumping around so much she fell kept falling off things. The noises continued for about half an hour.

Obviously something is clearly not right with her, although apart from this she seems fine in herself and is eating/eager to go in her ball. I will take her to the vets asap, but am a bit concerned that if her issues are psychological, this could make things worse.

Has anybody experienced anything similar? Could there be another variable? I have read that electric heaters/radiators can cause respiratory problems (but this seems like a strange reaction).

Many thanks!