Dear Kelly,I recently bought...

Question
Dear Kelly,
I recently bought a female 6 month old teddy bear hamster from a humane center. She's extremely friendly and active, but mostly at night. I am trying to get her to wake up earlier in the day, so i usually take her out early evening and play with her. But the two times I've put her in the ball after waking her up, she'd roll it over to the corner and diarreah in the ball. I've been doing plenty of research on wet tail, but she eats, drinks, and moves around too much to be that sick. And before the first time she did it I hadn't fed her anything but dry food. I cleaned out her cage once and found something that could have been diarreah, but in the ball seems to be the only place she does it. Is there anything I should be worried about, or is she just mad I keep waking her up? Thank you.
-Rachael

Answer
Hi Rachael,

Since you wake her up and then put her in the ball, she likely has not had time to use the bathroom first.  And, since she has been sleeping, and not eating food, her droppings will be mushy, which is normal immediately after a hamster wakes up.  In the future, let your hamster roam around her cage for 1/2 an hour or so, to let her use the bathroom and tank up on water.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Kelly