Neighbours Hamsters

Question
My neighbour has 4 hamsters I think they are dwarf. 2 Males 2 females. The females have blood red eyes and during the day they constantly run in circles in their cages. The males are asleep but the girls run and they are thin because of this. Could they have been inbred or is it a brain problem. Should they be put down? Is this a normal behavior? I feel sorry for these little guys.

Answer
Hi Hilary

The problem with keeping dwarf hamsters together is that they mate a lot, produce lots of babies, and often brother and sister mates.  Sometimes after lots of inbreeding, there can be deformities/problems with the litter.

Are there toys/wheel in the cage for the hamsters to play in?  Hamsters run up to 5 miles every night in the wild, and you therefore need to make sure there is enough to occupy them and burn up this energy.  You could try getting them a hamster exercise ball - they make small versions of these specially for dwarf hamsters.  Let them take it in turns to have a run around in this to see if it calms them down a bit.

I'm assuming the males are in with the females?  if so, I would strongly advise separating them immediately.  You don't want them mating again - if they do and they have got mental problems they would probably kill the litter, anyway.

If you take the males out, see if any of their behavior changes.  Females are naturally more active than males - males tend to sleep a lot during the day whereas females often come out and about during the day in short bursts of energy - this is normal.  What isn't normal is the running round in circles.

I think it is a case of modifying their living space and monitoring them for a short time to see if any of the changes make a difference.  If they don't and you feel the hamsters don't have quality of life, then I would advise that you get them to a vet for them to examine them.  They may recommend euthanasia if it is clear there is something wrong.  However, I wouldn't be too hasty in doing this.  I have a Syrian who clearly has some sort of mental illness - she screams for no reason and is very jumpy - but over the last few months she has changed a lot and whatever is wrong with her is pretty much under control most of the time.  It has taken quite an investment of time on my part but now she has quality of life.

Good luck with this, I hope it all turns out OK.

Regards