Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Kind of hitting the ground running, but as a hamster caretaker I'm somewhat worried. Before that though, congratulations to our moderators and admin on the new forum-- looks great!

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this... I've had "Vanilla" for about ten months now. He was bought from a pet store, and being one of my first dwarf hamsters, I didn't know that for his size he must've been pretty old already. He gained weight steadily for while after coming home with me. He lost weight after an accidental diet incident. Since then he's been active and running the wheel. Recently he's been losing fur, and yesterday, after changing his shavings and moving him to a new location, I started hearing wheezing sounds from him. If anyone has a guinea pig, he sounds like one wheeking. It's soft and rapid, consistent with his breathing. Has anyone experienced anything like this? What do you think could be the problem?

Thanks in advance!

Did this happen after you changed the bedding? If so, then your hamster may be allergic to the new bedding.

Hi, thanks for replying!

See that's the curious thing. We've been using this kind of bedding for a while now and he's never been like that before. I tried to feel for a draft where the cage has been moved to, but it's pretty well sheltered and the other hamster in the cage next to him seems to have no trouble breathing. He doesn't wheeze like that when he's asleep though, I've found.

>>Did this happen after you changed the bedding? If so, then your hamster may be allergic to the new bedding.
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Haru!

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Currently...

What type of bedding is it? Cedar has been known to cause breathing issues. Pine as well, but it's not nearly as bad. Also allergies as I_Love_Hamsters had pointed out. For the heck of it, try changing bedding to plain paper towels or plain tissues and see if it goes away.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm currently using pine, and that's what I've been using for... well, as long as I've had him. There was one occasion when I had enough funds to buy CareFresh, but that was a while ago.

Just as an update, Vanilla's stopped wheeking. But I'm still going to try the paper towels for another hamster.

>>What type of bedding is it? Cedar has been known to cause breathing issues. Pine as well, but it's not nearly as bad. Also allergies as I_Love_Hamsters had pointed out. For the heck of it, try changing bedding to plain paper towels or plain tissues and see if it goes away.
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Haru!

Currently...

>>I'm currently using pine

You should stop using it if you can, Pine is bad for hamsters.

I've been using pine for all my hamsters since I first got one, and never had any problems. Most sites and breeders say that pine can cause problems, but many use them anyway-- it's not nessecarily bad.

Like I said, Vanilla's bedding was pine before I changed it and he started wheeking-- same brand and all-- and he's fine now.

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>>You should stop using it if you can, Pine is bad for hamsters.
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Haru!

Currently...