I posted this on reddit but didn't get a proper answer so I thought I'd ask here too.
My dwarf hamster squeaky came into our care in October, she was my niece's who couldn't take care of her properly. We have her in the Bucatste 100x50x50 cage, half of it filled with carefresh white paper bedding and a little bit of aspen sprinkled too. She's got multiple hides with sand, beech chips, moss, coco soil and a slab of slate. She used to eat just a generic hamster feed but I switched her over to dwarf mix from Bears Hamsters and initially she loved it and would stash it all away but the past couple of months she's been eating it less, we assumed it's because she's now got a giant stash of food. She loves her sand bath and her wheel, we hear her all the time on there. She's also very friendly and loves her meal worms and calci worms.
The reason I'm posting here is because yesterday after work I saw her at her usual spot where she comes to greet me, I noticed tho that instead of looking at me she was sort of sniffing/biting/scratching her belly. I also thought it looked pink and patchy so I took her out. She looked fine everywhere else, and ate all her treats but I'm worried about what this patch is. The only recent thing I've done is clean her little den, her wheel, food bowl and water bowl/bottles.
It was very hard to take a picture because she won't stay still but I just want to make sure she's okay, we're currently looking into vets nearby but wanted some peace of mind until we can get her to a vet. She's about 1 year now we think and is running around not showing any other symptoms.
Thank you for reading this wall of text!!!
My dwarf hamster squeaky came into our care in October, she was my niece's who couldn't take care of her properly. We have her in the Bucatste 100x50x50 cage, half of it filled with carefresh white paper bedding and a little bit of aspen sprinkled too. She's got multiple hides with sand, beech chips, moss, coco soil and a slab of slate. She used to eat just a generic hamster feed but I switched her over to dwarf mix from Bears Hamsters and initially she loved it and would stash it all away but the past couple of months she's been eating it less, we assumed it's because she's now got a giant stash of food. She loves her sand bath and her wheel, we hear her all the time on there. She's also very friendly and loves her meal worms and calci worms.
The reason I'm posting here is because yesterday after work I saw her at her usual spot where she comes to greet me, I noticed tho that instead of looking at me she was sort of sniffing/biting/scratching her belly. I also thought it looked pink and patchy so I took her out. She looked fine everywhere else, and ate all her treats but I'm worried about what this patch is. The only recent thing I've done is clean her little den, her wheel, food bowl and water bowl/bottles.
It was very hard to take a picture because she won't stay still but I just want to make sure she's okay, we're currently looking into vets nearby but wanted some peace of mind until we can get her to a vet. She's about 1 year now we think and is running around not showing any other symptoms.
Thank you for reading this wall of text!!!
. And she sounds to have a lovely set up. I’m wondering if her scent gland on the tummy is bothering her. Sometimes they can get blocked and infected. But then it usually looks a bit crusty. Sometimes it just needs cleaning with a bit of saline to stop it being crusty.