what is wrong with my hamster

Question
About 2 weeks ago we purchased a Black syrian bear hamster.  We thought the hamster was lonely so we purchased another one from the same pet store.  We then found out that they are solitary animals and we keep them in seperate cages.  Though while they were together they fought and one of them jumped out of the cage and landed on the ground.  It was probaly about a 2 foot jump.  The hamster seemed to be ok just a little traumatized.  For the first 2 or 3 days after this episode the hamster was pretty active it ran on its wheel and seemed to be doing fine.  Around 3 days after the episode it stopped running on the wheel and it found a nice cozy little place and it barely moves from it except to get food and water.  It sleeps all the time even at night when the other hamster is awake and active.  We thought maybe it got hurt from the jump but if it had internal issues wouldn't it have died by now. Could my hamster be sick? or is it depressed?

Answer
Hi Shelley

I've a number of questions for you:  Firstly, what sex are these hamsters?  Are they both male?  Is there a possibility that one is female - i.e. the active one?  If so, how long were they together?  Sorry to have to tell you this but if they are opposite sexes, then she could be pregnant (they go into season every 4 days - one day they are receptive to a male, two days they are OK around a male, and the other day they will fight/kill if a male comes near them).  If they are opposite sexes - the gestation period is 16-18 days.  If you find this to be the case, please get back in touch with me and I'll advise you what to do and talk you through the pregnancy.

Male hamsters are much lazier than females.  Whilst some males are pretty active, generally they are lazy - one of mine hardly ever comes out before 11pm, so it is very rare I see him - he is now over 2 years old and has probably slept for 80% of his life!  Whereas the girls are awake on and off all day and night - they are always busy and always want to know what is going on.

Hamsters are pretty sturdy animals - chances are, the type of injury your hamster would have sustained in the fall would be a broken leg.  Obviously I'm not a vet, and haven't seen your hamster, but I think that had it been injured, the injury would have been obvious and symptoms would have shown by now - these little creatures deteriorate very quickly when they are ill.  I'm assuming your hamster is walking normally, not dragging a leg or unable to climb and it doesn't look sick - eating/drinking OK, not sitting hunched in a corner looking dull.

How big is the cage and wheel?  Hamster cages often come with a standard size wheel - however, these are too small for adult hamsters, especially bears who can get very large.  They find that in order to get the wheel to move they have to arch their backs - if this is too painful for them they tend not to use the wheel at all, or climb on it from the outside.  If you think the wheel is too small, you need to get a larger version.

Your hamster is definitely not depressed.  We like to think how nice it would be for all animals to live together as they look so cute, but as you discovered Syrian hamsters can't abide each other.  You could, however, put their cages side by side so they can smell each other - but don't try putting them in together again.

In terms of your hamster always wanting to sleep - if you want to snap it out of this behavior, you need to set up some sort of routine.  Do you have an exercise ball for it to run around in?  If not, you might want to invest in a couple of these.  Make sure you tape around any joins in the balls as these can open when they bang into furniture - you don't want them escaping.  If you buy two exercise balls you can get both hamsters out together - while they mustn't be allowed to see each other face to face, it is fine for them to smell each other through their exercise ball.  

I hope this helps you.  I think the first thing is to check the sexes of these two hamsters.  I would also suggest you give the quiet one an examination - pick it up and have a good look - feel around the joints - just to make sure here is nothing obviously wrong.

Please let me know how you get on.

Regards
Sheila