leg chewing

Question
my daughter has a hamster that was recently given to her. She noticed last night the hamster has chewed off its rear legs. They saw her at one point doing this. I have had many hamsters and never had one do this any clue why it would chew itself and how do we stop this from conti8uing this behavior. As it is there not much left to the legs.  

Answer
It sounds like he's having serious hot spots. Hamsters will scratch themselves raw if they are having serious skin problems. What type of bedding are you using? A lot of times wood shavings can cause serious skin reactions especially ceder and pine. I would switch to another bedding like soft-sorbent or carefresh bedding. I would also take your hamster to a vet for treatment as well. Do you have anything to help with soothing the skin. There are bottles you can buy at petstores to help stop the itching in animals. Look in the cat or dog section for something to help with the constant itching. If you have any ointment or styptic powder put that on the would to help stop bleeding and infections. The best way to get rid of the behavior is to figure out what is causing it. More than likely it's some type of allergy or skin irritation going on.
Good luck and keep me posted.