Hamster screaming - should I be concerned?

[hollyay93]

Hi I adopted a female syrian hamster about 3 months ago. She's settled in well and is the loveliest girl. I always go in to feed her at the same time every evening and she is usually waiting for me or pops up as soon as I call her name. But tonight she was nowhere to be seen and when I called her name she made a horrible noise. It sounded like a cat with a sore throat meowing. I checked online and it apparently a hamster screaming.
She made this noise each time I said her name and I started to panic a bit as I thought she might be stuck. I went to get a chair to stand on to open the top of her cage, as it's high up, but as soon as I came back she was up and seemed fine and took some treats from me.
She's never made a sound at all before and she always responds positively to me call her. Should I be concerned?

 

[Socks' Mum]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I can’t give expert medical advice, but offer support and a listening ear. It wouldn’t do any harm to take your hammy for a vet check. It’s good to be registered with a vet and to meet them, now that she has settled in so well. It’s really great that you have such a good bond with her. She has turned out to be such a nice, friendly hamster.

 

[Lovelyness]

I wonder if something just spooked her

 

[Maz]

Maybe she was having a dream Some hamsters do scream in their sleep if they're dreaming. Just see how things go. I wouldn't take her to a vet over it unless she is showing signs of injury.

Maybe a nightmare about a claw from above! My first Syrian only screamed twice. The first time, when he was quite young, when I went to lift him out of the pet carrier and my hand was coming from above. The second time, he was in his house. I checked on him and couldn't find anything amiss so I guessed he'd had a bad dream. But to be on the safe side, I removed some leaves I had scattered on the substrate, as they had slightly spikey stalks and I wondered if he might have poked his eye on something.

Is there anything like that in her enclosure?

 

[Tulsi]

I agree with Maz.