sounds like hiccups

[Nora]

hey fellow hammy owners,

Nora (3 months old Female syrian) is giving sounds like hiccups. i took her toa vet and vet said she looks like bit stressed. it is normal when they are in stress makes these little sounds. vet checked nose and eyes and said they looks fine. no wet nose and tears in eyes. but am still worried. here is a small video. should i go for another vet? this is my first hammy and i have no prior experience. because of that am double worried.

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[Nora]

@Maz @Socks' Mum hey guys. do you have any idea about this?

 

[Maz]

Hi. It's hard to tell from the video - it might be hiccups or it might be chirruping noises. Some hamsters are quite vocal and do make chirruping noises. She does look a bit stressed in the video, as if she's trying to tell you something. Has anything changed just recently? ie has she just had a clean out? Does her breathing seem ok and is she active and eating and drinking ok? How is she when she's out of the cage? Does it settle at all? ie do you have a safe area she can be out of the cage - ie a playpen or even the dry bathtub. If she's not tame enough to handle on a sofa or bed (if she jumps off, she could escape).

 

[Lovelyness]

Hmm...she could be trying to tell you something My girl Blossom is quite vocal and will squeak when she wants attention or if something isn't to her liking.

 

[Maz]

Have you checked her water bottle is working? Or is her wheel jammed up? I've also had times where a hamster is frantically trying to tell you something - eg the water bottle emptied itself.

She is lovely by the way

 

[Nora]

Hi. It's hard to tell from the video - it might be hiccups or it might be chirruping noises. Some hamsters are quite vocal and do make chirruping noises. She does look a bit stressed in the video, as if she's trying to tell you something. Has anything changed just recently? ie has she just had a clean out? Does her breathing seem ok and is she active and eating and drinking ok? How is she when she's out of the cage? Does it settle at all? ie do you have a safe area she can be out of the cage - ie a playpen or even the dry bathtub. If she's not tame enough to handle on a sofa or bed (if she jumps off, she could escape).

thanks for the reply.

Has anything changed just recently?
got her a play pen

got her a new house


she doesn't seems to like the play pen. trying to escape it. so two days back me and Nora was in the play pen. after that i have not taken her.
this house small for her. but she roams in it. but not staying.
other change is climate. used to be around 24-26C raining but now 28-30C. but am using AC when the temperature goes beyond 30

after your comment took her to the play pen. not like last time. she sniffed all over me. but after few minutes i took her back to the cage.

has she just had a clean out? i did not get you

Does her breathing seem ok? looks ok
and is she active and eating and drinking ok? she is active. eating. but i don't see she drinking. only one time i caught she drinking from the bottle. i change the water everyday. she has another water pot also.

Hmm...she could be trying to tell you something My girl Blossom is quite vocal and will squeak when she wants attention or if something isn't to her liking.

thanks for the reply.
may be she is trying to say something or looking for my attention. but this squeak happens recently. that what am worried

Have you checked her water bottle is working? Or is her wheel jammed up? I've also had times where a hamster is frantically trying to tell you something - eg the water bottle emptied itself.

She is lovely by the way

Yes. water bottle is working

one thing is her wheel was jammed. she was sleeping behind it and. she made mountain of papers that blocks the wheel. i have not cleared it yesterday. but today when she was in playpen i cleaned a bit just to wheel get working again.

today she running in wheel

but occasionally makes the sound.

Thought of getting a second opinion of a vet tomorrow morning

 

[Maz]

Aha - her wheel was blocked! She loves her wheel. I think she was trying to get your attention Personally, if she seems active and is eating and drinking and her wheel is now unblocked, I would give it another day or so before another vet visit. Some hamsters can be very vocal!

If the new house was a change in her cage, did it mean moving things around to put it in? If so she could be objecting to that as well. They tend to accept new things being added and are curious about them. But they don't like major changes - like other items being moved around or taken away!

By clean out recently I mean - have you cleaned her cage recently? That stresses them as well - it's best to do spot cleaning mainly and not do big cleans too often - and even then, it's good to replace at least a third of the old clean bedding, so it still smells familiar. They scent mark everything in their enclosure - partly to "claim" it and partly to help them find their way around the enclosure - they follow their scent trails as they don't see that well.

She might keep blocking the wheel up accidentally so you might need to check that each day

 

[Maz]

I don't think it sounds like a health issue It sounds like she is making a big fuss because she needed her wheel unblocking

 

[Socks' Mum]

She's not showing signs of discomfort or breathing distress. She seems to be looking for something. If the sound becomes very frequent or there is discharge coming from her eyes and or nose, then best to see a vet, but she looks healthy. It sounds like an intentional, communicative sound. You are very lucky if you have a chatty hamster. She's not shy to demand to know what is going on

 

[Nora]

She is not making sound now.. seems she wanted her wheel unblocked ..
I never clean out her cage. Only spot cleaning. She always use sand bath as her potty. So cleaning is bit easy.

The reason that i not unblocked the wheel earlier cause she was relaxing behind the wheel as her new nest. But she wanted to unblock the wheel. I got the message bit late

Thanks guys. These forums makes noobs likes us to understand the behavior of hammies

 

[Maz]

We've all been there! And yes it does sound like that. I think you can expect her to be noisy again if there's something else she wants to say!