Hamster, very bad skin condition

Question
I'm very worried about my pet hamster, I have been for at least a year now. He's 2 years and a month old and still seems to have alot of life in him and he's a long haired hamster. I've had alot of hamsters in my time and seen lots of different illnesses in them but not this one. I think it's mites which is common especially in long haired hamsters, I've tried a lot of things. I took him to the vets nearly a year ago now and he gave him an injection for mites, he stopped scratching for quite a while after that. A few months ago he started scratching excessively again, I got some mite spray from the pet shop, seemed to work at first. I got him out earlier and noticed a very bad skin condition, lots of dry thick skin and sores, I sprayed him with the mite spray and he went mad on the sofa and started scratching loads and running round furiously. Has he got mites or could it be something much worse? I'm taking him to the vets this evening but I know I still will not be very confident with the diagnoses. HELP!!!

Answer
hi hayley,

first off, im glad to hear that your hamster is so well looked after! well done!

it does sound like some skin has gotten infected from all the scratching he does, mention mange, ringworm or a possible allergy to your vet, just listen to the vet as he knows what hes doing and the best way to help :)

while your hamster is in the vet, spray everything, his cage, toys, anything he comes in contact with in his cage area, and his excersize ball with the might spray and leave it on for a couple of hours and rinse off thoroughly.

the reason why he went mad, might be because the pray stung the cuts on his back but i wouldnt worry to much about this.

good luck and thank you for your question, please ask again if you need to and let me know how you get on.

joanne :)