Problem with a wet hamster!

Question
Hi Heather,

I was hoping you may have the answer to a problem we are currently experiencing with a hamster we purchased recently for our son.

She is a female Syrian hamster who we understand at the time of purchase 5 days ago, was 7 weeks old.

She seems to be extremely tame, and is a pleasure to have around although when we handle her, she leaves a foul smelling urine on our hands.
Her underneath is also very wet and smelly!

She doesn't appear to be scared, should I be concerned?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Emma

Answer
The underside of the hamster being wet and smelly could indicate to me one of 3 things. Once every 4 days female hamsters come into heat, which can be sometimes seen as a webby sticky substance on the females behind. I'm not too sure about the smelly part. The second could be a disease called wet tail, which you would notice as diarrhea around the cage. Although the diarrhea can usually be seen on the bottom of the hamster, sometimes it can just appear very wet, with the diarrhea only being seen in the cage. Sometimes an unkempt hamster is also a sign that points to wet tail. Third, the wetness may just be urine from the hamster that smells foul, and is making her bottom wet. Hope I helped!