Greasy looking fur

[scotia]

One of my rescue/foster robos has what looks like greasy fur. She has the biggest sandbath as she is alone in the tank where i originally had all 4 of the females. The others all have lovely soft fluffy brown fur on top, and with her you can see the dark stuff underneath and its sort of sticking up like shes put hair gel in it. Should i be worried or is she just lazy with her sand bathing? She seems fine otherwise, eating, running in the wheel, drinking.... thanks for any tips!

[Tammy - Oak Farm]

Hiya

i have only recently been having the same discussion with someone else and i think we came to the conclusion that this particular robo just seems to be a little lazy and a little scruffy and just doesnt seem as bothered about how he looks, lol - so i think your robos is probably the same. Like you say, she is still eating, drinking and doing everything as normal so she isnt ill or anything and she has a sand bath, but maybe she just doesnt use it as much as she should!

Having greasy fur can be a sign of stress, but usually when the hamster has cage mates and is either being bullied or scared by the others - but your hamster lives on her own so it cant be that.

I have also heard that some robos produce more of the grease in their fur, so maybe your hamster has this problem. There is no treatment and it doesnt cause any other problems but it just makes them appear more greasy.

You could try giving her a sand bath - just hold her in your hands and massage chinchilla sand into her fur, she will then groom it out when you put her down and her fur will look less greasy once she has finished.

Hope this helps,

Tammy x

[scotia]

Thanks for your speedy answer! I have had a robo before but suddenly having 5 of them, im a little overwhelmed by it all so its great to know i can come here and ask (sometimes really basic) questions and always get a reassuring reply. I will try giving her a sandbath, will see how willing she is to sit still
(Three of them already have new homes now to go to, once the pregnancy watch is over! )

[debs]

Thanks for that tammy i was wondering why Nibbles wasnt useing it.