Help! Our hamster is going bald...does anyone know why??

[pickledbeetle]

He is about a year old and has a bald patch on his head round 1 ear. He eats hamster food, fresh salad, odd bits of meat, and occasional dog biscuit.

What can we do?

He could have mites, or it could just be old age (mine looked a bit ropey as he got older). Is he scratching the bald patch?

Have you changed his brand of bedding or sawdust recently. Otherwise could be diet, skin disease or just old age.

Im guessing you only have one hamster in the cage because hamsters fight, we had two gerbils and one was nibbling the other to show authority. Id phone the vet as fur problems are a sign of illness or perhaps check on a hamster site on the internet.

Hmm, my gerbil has a scabby bit near his ear at the moment, do you think the heat is making them itch or something?

I don't think we have started doing anyhing differently. The only reference i have found is a dietry deficiency but no clues as to what and I don't know what he could be short of!

Any vets out there?

Bedding occasionally causes this - they can get tiny mites from it. When its warm weather, you need to change the bedding really really frequently to prevent it - but if he has mites now, you need to see the vet to get some drops for him
Alternatively, he might be too hot or bored. Mine live in the rotastak cages which are fab for entertainment value but the perspex does make them v hot so I always draw the curtains on them to ensure they are never in direct sunlight

And no, before any of you say, I mean MY curtains, they don't have curtains in their cage

i have two hamsters, well their the kids hamsters really but i seem to have adopted them. lol. the white one had a baldy patch under his chin, i wasn't sure whether he'd got it wet or his fur had gone. But its gone now, so I don't know what it was.