I took my hamster to the vet this week as she had some scabs and I thought it could have been mites..?

Question

The vet said she was in excellent health, and the marks and bruising were not like that of mite infestation, but possibly due to self-harming behaviour!! I adore my hammy, she gets loads of attention for hours each day, is given treats and is very sociable. Vet said she seems in good condition and is happy, so I was alarmed at the possibility that she has been biting herself!

Does anybody know anything about this behaviour?

I've given her a spot-on mite treatment just in case (from the vet - he wanted to get that covered in case). She is still happy and friendly.

Answer 1

I have kept guinea pigs and rats for many years and have never heard of an animal self-harming.  I imagine that either your hammy does have a skin problem maybe fleas (unusual in a hamster), mites or mange (although with mange you will notice them really scratching themselves to blood), or perhaps your hammy has an allergy to the bedding in the cage?  If you use woodchips or sawdust type bedding, sometimes the wood has been treated and this chemical causes an allergic reaction.  Maybe you could try some untreated woodchips if this could be the problem?

Answer 2

Hamsters do not scratch or groom themselves obssessively until something is irritating them badly. It might be tough to point to the source of irritation but once you find it out and remove the source, the hamster would be alright.

Two infections - mites and ringworm - cause scabs but your vet has already ruled out both.

Then the only reason that could cause scabs and itching is allergy to something. The main causes of allergy could be bedding, food or environment. Wood shavings and bedding can be replaced with tissue paper to establish if the bedding material is the cause of the allergy, feeding a plain diet (only hamster mix, skip all commercial treats) for a few days may establish if the hamster is suffering from a food allergy and moving the hamster to a different room may help to establish if it is something in it's environment which is the cause of the allergy.Once the source of the allergy has been found this should be removed and the hamster should recover fairly quickly.

I had a hamster recently which used to itch badly too and we could track the reason to yoghurt drops treats causing the allergy due to their high sugar content.