my hamster is loosing hair and no ones helping me..

Question
QUESTION: i have had my hamster for 3 weeks now and my little brother held him today,so i took him back discovering that he had to bald spots by his bottom butt area. and it has scabs on it,like he's been itching it. i called petsmart (where i got him) and they said i have to contact a vet and i have to treat him but idk if its worms or skin irritation?.

ANSWER: Hi Mariah

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your hamster.  Whereabouts exactly are these bald patches/scabs?  Are there two areas, and are they symmetrical - i.e. on the hip area?  if so, these could be his scent glands.  Syrian hamsters have one on each hip and often they appear bald, there is a blackish spot in the middle and some hamsters keep licking them which make them look more obvious.  If it isn't this and the patches are somewhere else, then is the skin dry/red/flaky?  If this is mites, then providing this is a Syrian hamster, then this is easy to treat with a drug called Ivermectin - you can either get this from a vet, or you can buy a small pet anti parasite drug made by Beaphar that contains this drug.  This is applied externally to the back of the hamster's neck.  However, if your hamster is a dwarf then you cannot treat with this particular drug.   Do you want to send me a photo of these bald spots?

Regards
Sheila

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milos bald spot   QUESTION: im sorry,i left a comment thinking i couldnt reply.But if you didnt see it it said,that my hamster does have to bald spots on his hips. but there kinda red and flacky. so,does that mean he has mites biting him on his scent glands? or thats just normal.I sent a picture with this message.and he also has alot of wax in one ear,so wen hes burrowing and he looks at me one ear (the normal one) goes up and the one with wax stays down

ANSWER: Hi Mariah

Thanks for the photo but I can't really tell from this.  Is Milo a Syrian or a dwarf?  There are some good photos on http://www.hammysworld.com/index.php?p=hipspots - do Milo's look like this?

Regards
Sheila

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QUESTION: no milo does not look like any of thoughs. so i guess its just his scent glands.? thank you for answering my question but i have one more. i recently got two male fancy/dumbo rats and there pretty young. maybe in there teens. and im trying to have them get used to me and ive been searching online for everything and theres nothing helping me. so,one of my rats take there food and sit on my lap and eat it. does that mean he's beginning to trust me? online it said they would urinate on you a little to mark there territory and he just pee'd all over me. does that mean he's just using me as a bathroom or he considers me his friend now?

Answer
Hi Mariah

I'm not sure if I can help you with rats - I've never kept any.  From what you've said, however, I would think that they feel comfortable with you - usually if they sit still and wash themselves or eat something whilst sitting on you, this is a good sign.  I've had several hamsters pee on me, so I'm not sure if this means anything as such.  Rats are very intelligent creatures and it sounds as though you are doing all the right things.  There's some interesting information on the following site: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=tamingyourrats

I hope this helps.

Regards
Sheila