Miles is Spinning

If you listen to my podcast, you’ve probably already heard about Miles the Roborovski hamster and his spinning issues.

Poor guy!

Miles came from Pet Supplies Plus, where he was for at least 3/4 of a year and at that point, marked down 75% (from $20 —> $5). I decided to take him and another hamster, “Ginger”, home, in hopes I could give them a good life for what time they had left.

Miles, at first, was extremely shy. He would fling himself into a burrow at the slightest sound of sight of me. But after some time, he started coming out more in my presence. I wouldn’t call him “friendly”, but at least he was willing to come out!

It was at this point I started to notice an issue… Miles was spinning! Always in the same direction (counter clockwise), Miles would pace or spin.

At first I thought, “this might just be from stress after a year of being in a small cage & being born at a breeding mill.” But time went on, and the spinning got worse.

I was afraid to touch anything in his bin lest it stress him more. I tried to give him more enrichment (like seed sprays from Oakwood Forest) but it didn’t seem to help. He spun and spun, doing tighter and tighter circles.

So, Miles went to the vet.

I wasn’t sure what they would say. Last time I had a spinning hamster (Sofia the robo), it was clear there were other health issues going on with her (her eyes bulged & she seemed to be going blind). I prepared myself for the worst, but he checked out fine! He did well at the vet visit, although he did scream at the vet after she put him down.

The vet took some time to look into causes and possible solutions and eventually came back to me with some advice.

She said she felt that the issue was similar to what she sees in dogs who chase their tail - a form of OCD . She also mentioned (something I already knew) that this issue is most often seen in white face / husky Roborovski hamsters, just like Miles.

The vet suggested that I try to disrupt his OCD / pacing & repetitive behavior by making his enclosure as crowded & enriching as possible, in addition to moving things around in his bin.

While giving him an enriching environment seems obvious enough, I wouldn’t have thought to move things around - usually the advice is to not move things too much so your hamsters aren’t stressed. This was an interested suggestion and I’m glad I went to get a second opinion.

So far, the vet’s advice helped a lot! I got out every little hide & tube I had left to clutter up his space. I also started moving them around every day or two. I think it’s helped! I was just watching the footage from last night and I see him spending more time exploring the new items / new locations than I see him pacing & spinning.

I don’t think I’ll ever get Miles to stop spinning, I’m hopeful I can help minimize it so he can still have an enjoyable life. As my next step, I’d like to focus on getting him to the play pen more frequently in hopes that a change of atmosphere will help break up that behavior. So far, I’ve only been able to get him there once (last week), as he his a very trickly little guy to catch. I’ll keep trying!

Have you ever had a hamster with neurological issues? How did you deal with them?