My Hamster seems to be sick?

He is biting you either because he can not see or he is in pain.

When did his eye start looking abnormal? Is the swollen eye a normal color? Any discharge? Any other symptoms?

One theory is that he got his eye injured. It is common for hamsters to fight, which can result in a bitten or scratched eye. This could also create an abscess. The best thing to do is to get him checked over by a vet.

Good luck.

[Edit:] Do you have a picture of your hamsters face/ eyes that we can look at?

[EDIT2:] I just looked at his photo. The surrounding skin on his eye looks very red and infected. His needs to be put on antibiotics and have his eye checked out by a vet. Is there any way you could take him to a vet?

[EDIT3:] For antibiotics you need to see a vet. Do you have any dog or cat vets in your area? They might be willing to take a look at your hamster. If that is not possible at all, try to flush the eye out with a sterile solution made for eyes. Hopefully, with time, the eye will turn back to normal although he might have permanent damage to his sight.

The first thing you should do is separate the hamsters. It is possible that this could be a contagious condition, and you don't want both you hammies to have it. Also, you might not think they fight, but they probably do when you're not looking! They're crafty little creatures! And just becaue they may be fighting doesn't mean they hate each other. It could be an eye injury, but since both eyes are involved I'm not sure that is the case.

Dwarf hamsters have incredibly sensitive skin and eyes. This sounds similar to what happened to me years ago with my first ever dwarf hamster: I thought cedar shavings smelled nice so I used them for it's cage. WRONG! Cedar shavings are dangerous for hamsters, everything from the smell irritating their eyes/nose/mouth and the actual wood being bad for them. Just to see if it is the shavings, keep him in his own cage with nothing but shredded paper towels. Just take a fresh roll of paper towels (make sure it's been sealed) and shred up enough of them to cover the bottom of the cage about an inch.

If it is not an irritation from cage materials, it is probably an infection. Call your local vets to find if one will see a dwarf hamster - it took me a while to find one that would. Explain that you are on a budget and think your hamster might have an eye infection. The vets that I used did not charge me the same office visit fee as they did for cats or dogs, and the antibiotics were not expensive (it was $12 for a month's supply). Remember, though, that if you seperate them for a while now, they might not want to share a cage again. But you should separate them to protect them.

Yes, you need to see the vet for this. He may have an eye injury or infection. If possible, put that one in another cage just in case if it's an eye infection like pink eye, which is contageous to the other hamster. Any time there is swelling, crusting or watery eyes always see the vet for them. The reason he is biting you is because he's in pain and can't see who you are. His sense of smell may be off to and he's not able to reconize you smell. You are aware that most dwarf breeds only live 1-2 years.

I'm taking 2 of our oldest dwarfs (18 mo. tomorrow & 18 mo. on the 23rd of June) to the vet for a skin condition that sprang up over night plus a Syrian who is almost 3 1/2 yrs with dandruff and is suddenly biting when touched (not like him ever to bite), but I have to wait til the morning when they open. These 2 dwarfs are also blind from prior fighting injuries from when they were juveniles and thought they were tough.

Sounds like a pouch abcess. You have to take it to a vet or at least move it out of the cage so the other one won't unitentionally cause it more pain. Try to make it comfortable and feed it soft foods as it going to be very sensitive.

As there is no saliva in the hair lined pouches to clean a wound, the smallest scratch from a sharp seed or thorn can quickly become infected. Symptoms are a swollen face, discharge from the eyes, and laboured breathing. Once the pouches become too sore to use, the hamster will not feed and decline can be rapid. Take it to a vet.

Take your little guy to a vet, they are not that expensive no more than taking a dog or cat. He is biting you because he can not see, do not let him suffer with this condition have the doctor give him some antibiotics. don't wait small animals have a difficult time recovering from what ails them..Good Luck

He may have an eye infection. Take him to a small animal vet. They can usually take care of that with antibiotics

First thing I would do is separate them. is there any new food,wood chips,or anything as this may be an allergic reaction. Other than that I recommend a vet.

Is there red liguid that looks like blood coming out? If so, that happened to me about a week ago! Except with my gerbil. It does that when they're stressed! You should let it be by itself for a few days. I really hope it clears up. I hope my gerbil gets better to. I'm so scared she'll die. :( I'll be SO upset if she does! Hope this helps! Bye

ok somethings in his eye or he probaly slammed into somethinbg to bruise the eye, get a paper towel with warm water, not hot, and try to carefully wipe the eye thats swollen. it should heal up in a few days or in one night.