Meet Speedy!

[EnerHam]

This is a continuation of this thread: Urgent: weak back legs

Speedy is a little runt I've adopted. He's (Not 100% sure about the sex) just over 2 inches long and an inch wide, and is 8 weeks old. He has a few problems, the main one being his back legs aren't very strong. He tends to alternate between walking normally, dragging one foot and dragging his entire lower half.

Though he's doing less of the last two now he also tends to be quite wobbly while walking, and if he trips up he frequently ends up on his back and is unable to right himself without assistance. He's on flat tissues at the moment as when I put him on substrate he fell over every minute or two.

This also poses some issues with toys, as he currently cannot use a wheel, platforms or anything else that would require climbing. The place I got him from never used a water bottle with him either, so I'm mashing up cucumber into a pulp, adding a little more water so it's really juicy and thin and giving that to him as he hasn't as of yet worked out the bottle. He can't reach into a normal hamster bowl, so all of his food is on a plate (and all over the tissues by the time he's finished pouching the bits he likes).

The plus side: he has a huge appetite. Every time he awakens he's straight on his food. I've had to crush some of the larger pieces of harry hamster into smaller chunks as he can't get his mouth around them, and the issues with his back legs means he cannot grab food with his front paws so all of his food has to be small enough for him to pick up with his mouth.

He's also friendly. Before I got him on the 18th of June he had never been handled, but the level of care he needs means that I have had to interact with him a lot in these first few days. As a result, he is more than happy to walk straight onto my hand, lick my fingers and take food from me.

I'm calling him Speedy for now as despite his issues he's a little fighter, and can walk really fast for a hamster with bad coordination. That might change when I figure out whether or not he's a boy or a girl.

I'm finding it really hard to take photos of him, but I've added the best one I have.



Edit: here's a link to the image instead: Speedy! Photo by EnerHam | Photobucket

[Rodent Fan]

The picture isn't working for me

I love hearing about this little guy. Good luck to you both!

[Pebbles82]

Hope Speedy is having a good day today!

[cypher]

Hope you can get the photos to work, been following his other thread & I'm really looking forward to meeting little Speedy

[EnerHam]

Sorry about the image problem! I've posted a photobucket link for now.

I'm glad you guys are enjoying the thread--I'm enjoying posting on here. It's nice having a place to talk about Speedy and get advice.

Speedy is doing very well today! To my complete surprise he picked up a whole monkey nut, started walking around his cage with it and didn't trip once! He's still pretty wobbly but it was great to see him looking so strong.

He's gone on his back a couple of times and gave me a nibble earlier for checking on him when he was arranging his bed - I destroyed the tower of tissues he was making when I lifted his house up. Woops!

He's moving around so well I'm considering moving him into the zoozone when the new perspex lid gets delivered (arrived cracked in the post). The viovet stuff *should* be here tomorrow.

[Pebbles82]

Yay! I bet he was parading proudly with his monkey nut - they do get excited about a whole monkey nut. Shame about his nest - you could make a house with a lift off lid then you can check without his nest falling apart I love houses with lift-off lids! Shoebox with the bottom cut out and the lid as a roof and a hole cut in for a door - you probably know that already lol! Hope the new Zoozone lid comes in one piece.

It sounds like motivation, confidence and exercise and lots of love will work wonders with this little guy.

[EnerHam]

I like the thought of him parading around! I have a feeling he was trying to work out if he could fit it through one of the doors on his house. He managed it after munching a little of his hamster mix.

His jaws are getting really strong. When I first gave him a monkey nut he gave it a couple of light bites and gave up, but last night he went back and tried to bite through the shell several times. It was so loud on one occasion I thought he'd done it.

His walking was amazing last night! If he didn't have that fluffy coat I would have thought someone had replaced him with a different tiny hamster! Both of his back legs are in use. He's still a little wobbly, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact he needs to build up strength in those legs now.

Looks like his house is going to need a little DIY! He's currently in a tissue box and barely takes up any space inside, I have a feeling a shoe box would feel like a mansion lol. I've ordered one of those carrot cottages, so seeing as he won't be able to reach the top of it I might cut it off and make a different sort of a lid. He can have the carrot bit somewhere else!

It's amazing to see the progress this guy's made in a few short days. When i first got him he was so weak I wasn't sure if he'd survive the night, and now he's using the back legs he was dragging on the first day. Now that he's got control of his back legs I'm thinking of trying him in a wheel this weekend. I assumed he'd never be strong enough to use one, but he's proving me wrong at every turn!

You're right Serendipity, all of those things are working wonders with this little one!

I really hope that lid gets delivered in one piece this time, but I've had issues with this particular courier service before so I'm not hopeful. Fingers crossed!

[Pebbles82]

This is so heart-warming reading of Speedy's progress! It just makes me think they are a bit like children who can fail to thrive in the wrong environment (ie if he was being overlooked as the runt or failing to get enough food or something) and with all your care he is flourishing! Lol about the shoebox - I forgot he was so tiny. The carrot hay cottage sounds nice. They can fall over a bit but you can just push them down into the substrate a bit to keep them stable.

Being able to use his legs should make huge differences to him being able to eat Go Speedy! I wonder if he'll always stay small or suddenly grow!

[cypher]

He's making amazing progress, well done to both of you, keep it up Speedy

[Rads]

He is doing so well did you try him with some banana thqt we suggested?