Itching, scent marking or something neurological?

[sian130]

Hi all! Newbie here
I just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on some strange behaviour I've noticed from my 9 week old Syrian hammy recently.
She suddenly gets very lively and runs to a corner where she digs, rolls and itches and rubs herself against the wall but in a reaaallly fervent manner. She'll then run into another corner and do the same thing - digging, then a bit of rolling, itching and generally just flipping out! It scared me a little the first time I saw it as I almost thought she was having a fit or that it was something neurological.
I first saw this happen just over a week ago now (9 days). I first thought perhaps she had mites and was itching, so I bought some Ivermectin which I administered two days ago. However, after that first instance of craziness 9 days ago, she didn't do it again so I talked myself out of the mite idea (and just went ahead with the treatment as a precautionary measure). But now she's suddenly acting this way again! What's going on?
Is it something to do with scent marking, perhaps? To do with her 4/5 day cycle? Or is she just expressing happiness? Or is it perhaps something more sinister?
I have a video of it but I'm not sure how to upload...
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks all!

[sushi_78]

As far as I know, Syrians scratch their sides to stimulate their scent glands (dark spots on both hips) to produce oils so they can mark their territory. It can look quite frenzied!

I'm not sure whether female Syrians scent mark more when in heat but it seems possible.

If she had mites or another skin issue she would probably be itching much more often, in the cage as well, and would likely have red skin, sores or other visible signs.

[LunaTheHamster1]

100% Sounds like scent marking. Hamsters can fling themselves all over when they are doing this, and yes it does look like they are having a fit sometimes.

[Lilafernim]

I also have a female Syrian and I own a cat also. I always shut the door when I come in or out to separate them but if sometimes if I forget I’ll catch the cat staring at the cage. I always find she scent marks then and also if anything new is added to the cage. When I first ever got her in the tiny cage I upgraded her cage, I thought she’d never stop scent marking! They do though, eventually stop once everything remains constant and there’s no more changes. Maybe even if yours is constant, even if you’re using deodorant or any strong scent in the same room she may feel the need to rescent the area.

[Pebbles82]

It’s hard to tell without seeing a video. However it could be neurological. Our last Syrian did a similar thing (out of the cage) which at the time seemed funny - like what is he doing!
? But it was the start of a problem with his eye (probably behind his eye).

He was sort of grooming and then suddenly sort of doing a little dance round in Circles then grooming again. It went on for a good 15 minutes then stopped.

One thing I would say is - Invermectin shouldn’t be used unless vet prescribed and mites diagnosed via a skin scraping under the microscope. It is very strong stuff and can be toxic to hamsters.

I would keep an eye on her and just see how she goes.

But at 9 weeks she is still a baby and will probably get up to all kinds of funny things. She’s probably looking for a way out (digging in the corners).

A tip - if you didn’t know already - don’t clean out her cage for the first two weeks - that will drive her bonkers. Even then spot clean mainly and avoid full cage clean outs.

[sian130]

Thanks all! It seems like it could just be frenzied scent marking then. It would make sense because I changed the bedding and rearranged the top floor of her cage (she has a duplex IKEA kallax cage) for the first time a few days ago. I left the bottom floor completely unchanged to try to keep some consistency for her, but perhaps the whole thing unsettled her more than I realised.

I've checked her fur for patches or sore parts, but it seems fine (although she does have some thinner spots of hair around her face, but could just be because that's the softer part near her ears?).

She's just throwing me off guard a bit because she's SO different to my last hamster (a male Syrian). He was the most chilled thing ever - we'd watch TV together every night and he'd just sleep on me - but Persephone is a very different character. Constantly trying to escape, very hyperactive and obsessed with food! I love her and her big personality, but it's like having a whole different species!!

Thanks for your reassurances. I'll keep an eye on her but assume it's scent marking unless I notice anything else unusual.