Hamsters are unable to communicate vocally with their owners, but they can still display their anxiety. One way you can tell if your pet is nervous or fearful is if he begins to wash his face. “A good rule of thumb is that a hamster that is laying on his or her side and unable to move is an emergency situation, as is a hamster that is gasping to breathe. If you can recognize the signs, you can prevent serious injury or death to the weaker, less dominant hamster. Learn how to spot the signs of a stressed fish and what you can do to calm them and and restore a peaceful, stress-free atmosphere for your aquarium inhabitants. If your hamster seems calm and content, it could just be they want to move you out of their way. They will also use their mouths to move things that are in their way. Hamsters can get stressed or scared if you wake them up. The best way to handle stress of hamster is to make sure the diet is correct and play with the hamster for long periods if none of this works on a hamster it maybe ill and time for a trip to the vet Some things to look out for are sleeping a lot, reduction in activity, extensive cage gnawing, pacing etc. My male Syrian uses his mouth and teeth to move my fingers when he’s done being held. If your hamster is continually scratching itself, particularly so much so that it is drawing blood, then your hamster could have a health problem such as mites or mange. If you notice this behaviour in your pet then we advise that you give it a thorough health-check to try to determine the cause. Anxiety and stress in hamsters are characterized by hiding or avoidance behaviors like spending time near walls, in their nest boxes or under their bedding, as well as aggressive behaviors like biting handlers or other hamsters, a decrease in or lack of eating, or freezing when in your presence. They say to put hamsters in a quiet calm place and that they sometimes get stressed with too much activity. Take your hamster to your veterinarian. Hamsters make great pets, but they can startle easily. Stress can affect hamsters' young and old alike and occurs in response to adverse external influences know as external stressors. Make sure to watch body language. The hamster may run about the cage and go off food and water. Sometimes, of course, it can’t be helped — a sudden backfire out in the street, a loud noise, you need to move their cage, etc. Hamster not moving and is apathetic: inactivity and apathy can be symptoms of both disease and stress in hamsters. Your veterinarian may give your hamster some fluids to improve his circulation. Stress in a hamster. Hamsters use their mouths to move bedding and food. This is a sign that your hamster is stressed and is trying to perform a habitual activity in order to calm himself. Bear in mind that every hamster is different, though, and not all hamsters will show unhappiness in the same way. Stress is an emotionally disruptive and upsetting condition that can have adverse effects on both animals and humans. Stress can be caused by incorrect diet, lonliness, dirty or small cages. Like us humans, depression present in many different ways, so unless you really know your hamster, it can be difficult to tell. “If you notice your hamster is sick, you will want to visit the vet in the next day or so,” Dr. Valdes says. But unlike a stressed rodent, a dying hamster is usually unable to move or has a hard time reacting to stimuli from its surroundings. But don’t wake your hamster up just to play. A scared hamster may scratch or bite you in an effort to run away or get back into its cage. In addition, if your hamster is seriously injured, your veterinarian will need to treat that injury. Even if your hamster is showing signs of improvement, your veterinarian should still check him out.