Signs/symptoms of mites? Other things?

[Jenibelle]

I'm probably way over thinking this. But Bernie seems to be itchy/scratching/grooming more than usual. He seems uncomfortable. Also, it's 10:30pm and he hasn't really come out of his house yet, and he's usually up and about at 8pm. He's also ignoring me when the first few days he was very curious and was fine being handled.

I know I've only had him a week so I don't really know his solid routine, but it has me a bit worried.

[Elliiy]

I'm no expert since i just got my hammy a month ago but i think you should just give it some time he's probably just a little more tired than usual and as to the grooming well they do like to stay clean so they do groom themselves quite often but thats just my opinion and I'm no professional in any way. but i wish you luck and hope barney is doing alright

[cypher]

They do get a bit itchy sometimes & he may have been busy scent marking new things so doing a bit more grooming than usual, just wait a while & see if he settles down again.
With mites the itching scratching will go on pretty continuously & you can begin to see fur loss, they mostly get them around the eye & ear areas, unless you've put something new in the cage like hay which can have mites I doubt very much you have anything to worry about, other than that it's usually stress weakening the immune system that causes them to have a problem with mites but I don't think Bernie has any reason to be stressed so again nothing to worry about.

[Pebbles82]

I think - you've only had him a week, he's had a few changes in his cage and it'll probably be another couple of weeks without changes before he gets into a routine and relaxes a bit. They do groom a lot sometimes - I worried about this when we first had Charlie. They can also groom more when a bit stressed. I shouldn't worry just now. As for scratching - this is Charlie having a normal groom - lots of ear scratching there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZlOEHJaF18

[Jenibelle]

I may have jumped the gun, but I think the majority of the forum is on a different time schedule than I am and I was very worried. I took his new sand out, because other than the itching he also started breathing very heavily, and he appeared over all lethargic in his tank. He just kept huddling over, breathing heavy. Groom, groom, groom, huddle over breathing heavy.

Once I got him out of his tank he started perking up.

I don't know what to do I know I stressed him. You can read more about it in his thread in the Syrian section.

I don't know whether to try his sand again after washing and baking it? He really seemed to enjoy it before the new shipment last night. Or if I should just leave things be now and leave the care fresh in.

[Pebbles82]

Yes I read the other thread about the sand. I think you did right to take it out. Sand isn't really necessary. Usually people give a sand bath, but not all hamsters even like sand baths. I'd stick with the substrate you've been using on the base of the cage for now. Even a different substrate can cause an allergy (sorry can't remember what you have in the cage - was it Carefresh or shavings?)

[Jenibelle]

It's a mixture of care fresh and aspen shavings!

[Pebbles82]

Great - just pile it up at the other end and he'll have a field day digging.

[Angie B]

Skittle had mites about 12 months ago. He'd squeak terribly, spin round and round in really fast circles, trying to get to them/groom himself, it was awful to watch so we took him to the vet as an emergency. He bit the vet nurse (!) luckily she was wearing leather gloves but still felt his teeth, and they identified mites. One dose of prescribed mite treatment and he was cured and never had them since either, thank goodness.

He was very distressed with the mites, I think you'll know if he has something really wrong with him like that, but if you are unsure then take him to the vet for a check-up. It could be however, as others have said, that he is just settling in - moving house is a very big step for a small creature like a hamster.