Lethargic Hamster Uninterested in Toys

[madisongrace]

I’ve had my Syrian for two weeks now. After a few days I realized her cage and wheel were too small so a week after I got her I moved her to a much larger cage with the right size wheel (11 inches) and comparably deep bedding. I also just got her a sandbath, a wooden hideout, and extra wooden toys.

Her cage setup, for reference: http://madigrace.org/wp-content/uplo...66-scaled.jpeg

I have been hand feeding her treats such as carrot, apple, banana, and boiled egg. The carrot pieces are once a day (I’m working on taming her) and the apple/banana/egg are in moderation.

She is eating/drinking normally. She eats Full Cheeks brand hamster/gerbil pellets and when she runs out of that I will upgrade to better quality food.

I’ve given her cardboard tubes and chew toys within these couple weeks, but she chewed on them for a bit and then completely lost interest.

Within the past few days I have noticed her being lethargic. Sometimes she will appear to drag herself around. I can usually hear her on her wheel at night, but last night I didn’t hear her use it at all. I put a new toy in her cage and she didn’t even touch it the whole night.

I understand she may nap during the night, but she’s usually a bit more active than this. Now she only comes out for water, even at night that I can see, and goes right back to her hideout. I managed to coax her out last night and tonight with some carrots to give her her new toys—she ate a couple carrot pieces, sniffed the toy, and went right back to her hideout both nights. She wouldn’t come out to eat any more carrot pieces.

Although I live in Florida we are currently having cold weather outside. Inside, the house is usually 69 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and I turn the heat on during the night. I’m worried this is torpor.

I know hamsters can pee in their wheels but there are also brown spots in hers. I don’t know if this is diarrhea. Could she be sick? I don’t see any diarrhea anywhere else in her cage. Photo: http://madigrace.org/wp-content/uplo...MG_2565-1.jpeg

Again, my hamster is new—she’s been with me two weeks and has been through a lot of changes like new cage + new cage additions—so perhaps she is still just getting used to things… but is something wrong with her?

Brand-new hamster owner here and getting worried! Any help would be much appreciated.

[OG_Jam]

its good she's still drinking, one thing i'd worry about is maybe the amount of carrot your feeding her? ik you said your feeding apple and banana in moderation but carrot is quite sweet so i'd recommend feeding less carrot maybe like twice a week? i read recently in another thread that someone else's syrian hammy had just been diagnosed with diabetes. im not saying thats whats wrong with your lil ham because its apparently uncommon for syrian hamsters to get diabetes but if she's less active and seems to be dragging herself around the cage i'd 100% get her into the vets asap even if it is just pee in the wheel its better to be safe than sorry, if you can get any photos of the stuff in the wheel to show the vet and a video of how she's less active dragging herself around that might also help the vet i hope everything works out with your hammy i'd love to know how she's doing in a few days hopefully whatever it is has passed and she gets better soon

[madisongrace]

Originally Posted by OG_Jam

its good she's still drinking, one thing i'd worry about is maybe the amount of carrot your feeding her? ik you said your feeding apple and banana in moderation but carrot is quite sweet so i'd recommend feeding less carrot maybe like twice a week? i read recently in another thread that someone else's syrian hammy had just been diagnosed with diabetes. im not saying thats whats wrong with your lil ham because its apparently uncommon for syrian hamsters to get diabetes but if she's less active and seems to be dragging herself around the cage i'd 100% get her into the vets asap even if it is just pee in the wheel its better to be safe than sorry, if you can get any photos of the stuff in the wheel to show the vet and a video of how she's less active dragging herself around that might also help the vet i hope everything works out with your hammy i'd love to know how she's doing in a few days hopefully whatever it is has passed and she gets better soon

Thank you so much! What do you recommend for treats when taming her daily? What is a safe treat I could give daily?

She seems a lot better now that the weather has warmed up. She finally played with one of her toys last night, and was active this morning when I got up adding pieces of toilet paper I gave her to her little nest. I’m hoping she was just sensitive to and lethargic because of the cold weather… but will 100% be monitoring to her and I have a vet lined up if needed.

[OG_Jam]

my hammys love a slice of cucumber cut into tiny cubes, i always peel the skin off because i read hamsters find it difficult to digest, they also love dried mealworms and live wax worms (if you feed live insects you do have to make them safe for the hammy just in case they pouch it so you have to squish/remove the head of the insect so it doesnt bite) tho i would only give waxworms as a rare treat because they are quite fatty. i bought a bunch of them for my old syrian hammy because she was losing a lot of weight and wasnt very active so i started giving her waxworms twice a week just to try fatten her up a bit and she perked back up instantly and got some more weight on her. if you do decide to get live waxworms you wouldnt need very many and you can store them in the fridge to stop them turning into moths too. for a regular healthy hammy i would probably only give 1-2 waxworms a month unless its a chinese dwarf then its 1 a month because they are apparently most prone to diabetes and waxworms feed on honey so they are both fatty and sweet hence why hamsters love them so much i also use some malt paste, its how ive been taming my chinese dwarf. she was completely wild like she hadnt had any handling from the breeder. for the first 5 months of me owning her she wanted nothing to do with me and would run back to her tunnels/burrows at the slightest noise, it got so bad to the point i had to buy a night vision camera just so i knew she was still ok and eating/drinking, i bought the "trixie multifruit malt paste" (tho a lot of people use the beaphar brand with a ferret on the tube) i started putting a little bit of it on my finger and she absolutely loves it, within the first week of me giving her some she went from being so skittish that she would run back under her bedding if she heard me get up from my chair to now waiting at the door to hop into my hand. i still wouldnt say she's tame as she's still very skittish but she hops into my hand when i need her to and i have been working on getting her used to being petted too

[OG_Jam]

also just had a few suggestions �� first off i wanted to say i love the cage set up, you can give her more bedding too if you have it. with a cage that big she'd love the extra burrow space and you wouldnt have to clean it all out each week just spot clean the corners she pees in and change like a third of it at once so it all still smells like her. adding the extra paper would also help her make larger burrows to keep warm, you can also put dried mealworms/seeds into that little willow ball as a forage treat for her to roll around/chew and as for the cardboard tubes just my paranoia speaking i'd cut a slit right the way through it just so if your hammy tries crawling through it she wont get stuck

[madisongrace]

Thank you SO much! I really appreciate all the tips and advice, and I’ll 100% look into that malt paste. I tried giving her a piece of cashew last night—she wasn’t interested. A teeny tiny dollop of yogurt—she didn’t like it. It seems she only likes carrots and apples but I obviously cannot give that to her every day!

And thank you so much again! I’m ordering more bedding for her so she has more room to burrow. Good thought on a slit for the cardboard tubes, too! I so appreciate the advice!

[OG_Jam]

all good im just a very over protective hamster mum lmao i tend to overthink everything about my hamsters and ive heard a few bad stories about hammys getting stuck in tubes and heard people recommend cutting the tubes to make it easier for the hamsters to wiggle out and that malt paste is fantastic ive been using it for the past few months and its helped my little Pebbles get over her fear of me its also nicknamed "rat crack" so im assuming rats get as addicted to it as hamsters ��