Hamster fight/personality change

Question
I have different kinds of hamsters, and I keep them all in aquariums so that they don't escape (I had a lot of trouble with my Syrian escaping from his cage, so I switched everyone to aquariums with covers on top). I keep the aquariums next to each other. Last night, my Syrian pulled a Houdini and managed to get into the neighboring aquarium of my two Campbells (~1.5 years old), who tend to be a lot more aggressive than he is (towards other hamsters, but to each other they are very friendly). I awoke to the sound of hamster squeaking, and quickly separated the combatants.
The Syrian was fine, but my one Campbell was bleeding a lot from his head. He seems fine now physically (he cleaned himself off and slept it off), but he is very passive suddenly. I used to blow in his cage and he would immediately come looking for my finger to bite ("I smell human!"), and he would gobble down his treats and then steal them from his cage mate (who always let him have them). He still likes treats (and is eating well), but if his cage mate comes over, he gives the treat up to his cage mate, and he lets me pet him and doesn't seem to care (which I have NEVER seen a hamster do. At the very least they walk away after a few strokes). He alternates being in his house and out of it, so he's not afraid of being out. Do you think this is a permanent personality change? I miss my little spunky man.

Answer
Hi Janice

I'm really sorry to hear about your hamsters.  It must have been incredibly frightening for your Campbells.  Syrians are very territorial (hence the reason why they live alone) and they can cause horrendous injuries if put in with other hamsters, so I'm not at all surprised the Campbell came off a lot worse.

The change in personality could be psychological or physical.  If it is psychological then there is always the chance that with time he will revert to his old behaviour, but the fact that he was once in many ways the dominant one and is now submissive makes me feel that he really did have a nasty shock.  It might be worth trying a flower remedy on him.  Have you heard of Bach flower essence?  The most known one is their 'rescue remedy', although they make a number of different ones.  They are designed to work on a psychological/emotional level.  Whilst some people are skeptical with these I have always been impressed with the way they work for animals because an animal has no preconceived ideas.  You could either get a bottle of their Rescue Remedy, or you could try getting either their Rock Rose essence or Aspen essences (or get both and mix a drop of each).  Rock Rose and Aspen are both designed to work on the emotions when there is fear, terror of some kind etc.  You would only need to put a drop of each into the water bottle (most of their remedies do contain alcohol so you don't want your hamsters getting drunk!  Alternatively, you could add the drop to a small amount of hot water to burn off the alcohol before putting it in their water bottle) and it might help him get his confidence back.  I know this idea might sound a bit crazy, but it might be worth considering - I often put a drop of rescue remedy in my hamster's water bottle if any are particularly nervous etc.  You might want to have a look at this site: http://www.bachfloweressences.co.uk/  If you can get hold of it, it is always worth keeping a bottle of Rescue Remedy in your first aid kit either for your hamsters, or for yourself as it can come in very handy if you suddenly have a moment of panic!

Of course the impact of the injury might have caused him some sort of physical injury to his head, and unfortunately, unless he starts showing symptoms you won't know that because of his small size, but if you had received a head injury then there is always the chance of brain damage, concussion etc. and a Syrian has a very powerful bite.

It is very hard to know for sure why he has changed personality but hopefully with a bit of time you will get to see his old self back again.

I hope this helps you.

Regards
Sheila