[alpacassei]

Older dwarf hamsters can sometimes become more anxious or cage agresssive, I think it’s because in the wild, a sick older hamster is easy prey and could also become a threat to the colony’s safety. Sometimes downsizing to a smaller cage can help them to feel safer, I’m currently using a Mini Duna for Stephano’s retirement cage. Covering part of the cage and adding more hides can also help an older hamster feel safer.

I have a lot of experience with blind Russian dwarf hamsters. Being blind doesn’t really bother them or affect their behaviour much, blind hammies learn how to use their whiskers and scents to navigate. As long as you don’t rearrange her cage often, you probably won’t even be able to tell she’s blind! One of my blind hammies hated open spaces and needed his cage to be full of hides (so many there was almost no actual floor space left!), but most of them loved exploring and climbing las much as any other hammie!

If she’s falling out of her wheel, move any hard items away from it and make sure there’s lots of soft substrate she can land on (carefresh or fitch is good). Some older hamsters do better with flying saucers than upright wheels, but it depends on the hammie.