Hammy hairloss/little red sores

Question
Hello,
My hamster is over a year old, not sure on more accurate age, but hes been sleeping alot more these days, even late at night(Im a nightowl) I hardly see him awake.He rarely sleeps in his home and ops to be out in the open.He used to be pretty big but has lost major weight, hes also squeeking more often when he is awake.Also If he is awake, he just attacks his water bottle (normal?) or stares at me while Im on the puter. I thought this was all just old age until I noticed him itching yesterday and today he has hairloss on his shoulders and 2-3 little red sores. Could this be mites or maybe ant bites? Ive been getting eaten up this week too while asleep, maybe its the same bug? I put benadryl cream on his sores in case they were itchy, Please help, hes my best little guy.

Answer
Hey, Kristin.
It could be mites, but it sounds more like it's fleas, especially if both of you have been getting bit.  If he's constantly squeaking, this means he's probably itching from the bites.  The best thing you can tho is to take your hamster to a vet.  The vet can give you some hamster-safe treatment that you can use to get rid of the fleas, and he could also check your hamster to make sure he doesn't have mites.  Either way, both of these cases can be treated by a vet, so that would be my best advice.
Hope this helps.  Hope your hamster gets better and best wishes to both of you.