Wet tail-hamsters

Question
I have had my female hamster about a week,  For the last two days she has been sleeping all night and day and hasn't touched her food bowl.  She wakes up about once a day to get a drink of water, then goes back to sleep.  When she woke up today to get a drink of water I picked her up to talk to her and pet her and I looked at her bottom, knowing that wet tail is common in hamsters and sure enough her bottom had a dirty wet look to it and is smelly.  Is this something that I can treat at home or do I need to take her to the vet?  I am really worried and know that these little guys can take a turn for the worst very quickly.  I would appriciate a quick response since I really don't know the severity of this problem and I don't want to lose my new little girl.  Thank you.

Answer
You can take the animal to a veterinarian, but most people do not take this measure. There is a medication that you can buy at a pet store called Dri-tail. You can put this medication in the water bottle and also you can medicate the animal directly. It is suggested the you do both in animals that appear extremely weak and have had several bouts of diarrhea. You can also hydrate the animal orally with an eyedropper with some water or Pedialyte.
Remember that wet-tail is often caused by stress. The hamster will undoubtedly be stressed when it arrives at your house. Do not attempt to handle it very often those first couple of weeks. Respect the hamster's privacy. When you first have the animal home, only handle it once or twice a day. Don't put the animal in a noisy place in the house. Also make sure the animal has fresh food and water daily. You should also change the bedding every few days. This will lower the chances of the animal contracting the infection. It is not wise to house several hamsters together. For one, hamsters are not social animals, and thus they prefer to be alone. Housing them together increases the chances for infection. If you do house the animals together, and one contracts wet-tail, it is important to separate them immediately. Well I hope that helped. Sorry if my answer took awhile. I was at a church baskeball that me and my fiance go to every thursday. Make sure you get her taken care of asap. Have a good night.