A facial abscess in a hamster is a
painful pocket of pus from a bacterial infection, often seen as a lump
on the cheek or face, caused by bites, scratches, or sharp cage debris
getting into wounds or pouches. Symptoms include swelling,
redness, pawing at the face, reduced appetite, or discharge, requiring
prompt vet care for drainage, flushing, and antibiotics to prevent
serious complications like spread of infection or vision loss, with
prevention focused on solo housing and safe bedding.
Causes
Bites/Wounds: Fights with other hamsters (even in dwarf species) or trauma from other pets.
Cage Hazards: Sharp wood shavings, wire cage parts, or rough toys scratching skin or pouches.
Cheek Pouch Issues: Abrasive food or debris getting stuck and causing infection.
Dental Problems: Can lead to facial swelling and abscesses.
Signs to Watch For
A visible lump or swelling on the face, head, or neck.
Redness, warmth, or tenderness in the area.
Pawing at the face or general discomfort.
Reduced eating or drinking.
Discharge (pus) oozing from the lump.
Difficulty closing an eye if the abscess is near it.
Treatment (Veterinary Care is Essential)
Diagnosis: A vet confirms it's an abscess and identifies the bacteria.
Lancing & Flushing: The abscess is drained, cleaned with antiseptic, and packed.
Antibiotics: Oral or topical antibiotics are prescribed to fight the infection.
Supportive Care: Soft food, pain relief, and keeping the hamster warm and hydrated.
Prevention
House Alone: Keep Syrian hamsters solitary, and monitor dwarfs closely for fighting.
Safe Bedding: Use soft paper bedding, avoid wood shavings like pine or cedar.
Inspect Cage: Regularly check toys, wheels, and cage bars for sharp edges
---------------------
No surgery.
If an abscess isn't treated, the infection can spread from its pocket of pus to its bloodstream or vital organs.
This leads to severe complications like sepsis (life-threatening blood infection), brain or heart inflammation or even death.
Why should an abscess be treated? While small skin abscesses may resolve, internal or dental abscesses require professional intervention to prevent serious systemic infection, increased pain, tissue destruction.
What is an abscess? A facial abscess in a hamster is a painful pocket of pus from a bacterial infection, often seen as a lump on the cheek or face.It is caused by bites, scratches, or sharp cage debris getting into wounds or cheek pouches.
What causes a skin abscess in the face of the hamster? A facial abscess in a hamster is a painful pocket of pus from a bacterial infection, often seen as a lump on the cheek or face.It is caused by bites, scratches, or sharp cage debris getting into wounds or cheek pouches.
Great White Pelicans in Singapore Zoo. Groups of pelicans may come together to feed cooperatively, “corralling” fish together to take turns scooping up.
Canon R5
tv mode, 105mm, 1 over 2000 sec, f over 4.5, ISO 1000 Above images show that the Great White Pelicans worked as a team to herd the fishes closer to the waterway bank by swimming in a semi-circular formation. Then, each bird will scoop up the fishes in its beak.
TRAVELS SINGAPORE
WILDLIFE SINGAPORE - The Great White Pelicans.
Friday 27 June 2025 around 10am. Many local families and tourists visit the Singapore Zoo
during weekends and school holidays. Warning signs advise visitors to stay 1 metre away from them.
The great white pelicans swimming in a semi-circular formation nearer to the bank of the
waterway. They are working as a team to herd the fishes together so that each
one will be able to catch the fish for a meal.
BLOG:
This action is not seen in this video but photos are in the blog as follows:
8 Jan 2026. 3.15pm Singapore Zoo Great
White Pelican. This make is in breeding season as he has pink facial
skin and a yellow breast. The colours are not so prominent yet.
Canon R5, 75-300mm. 120mm 1 over 1000 sec f over 5
Male Great White Pelicans are generally larger than females, withmales weighing up to 15 kgand females up to 9 kg.Males also have a longer bill, measuring 35-47 centimeters, compared to the female's 29-40 centimeters.Both
sexes exhibit white plumage with black flight feathers, and during
breeding season, males develop a pinkish facial patch while females have
a yellowish-orange patch.
Here's a more detailed look at the differences:
Size:
Males
are significantly larger, with a body length of up to 175 centimeters
and a wingspan up to 3 meters, while females are around 148 centimeters
long with a similar wingspan, according to the Creatures of the World
Wikia.
During the breeding season, males develop a pinkish facial patch, while females have a yellowish-orange patch.
Other Characteristics:
Both
males and females have white bodies with black flight feathers, a large
throat pouch, and short, pinkish legs with webbed feet.They also share a bare pink/yellow facial patch around their eyes.
BOUQUET. anattractivelyarranged bunch of flowers, especially one presented as a gift or carried at a ceremony.
3 Jan 2026. 6pm. Pei's School of Dance, Outram.
Canon R5 33mm. 1/80 sec, f/16, iso 12800
This bouquet for Pei's School of Dance looks predominantly
red and orange. The orange Heliconias (lobster-claws) at the top are
very healthy and attractive. Pure large white lilies will give contrast
and make the bouquet more attractive, in my opinion.
---------------------------------
SINGAPORE - 3 JAN 2026: A bouquet with pink flowers bordered by a large leaf, a balloon with the text "Pei School of Dance" instead of a sender's card, together with a heartfelt congratulation message to Ms Pei, make this floral gift a great piece of artwork.
A facial abscess in a hamster is a
painful pocket of pus from a bacterial infection, often seen as a lump
on the cheek or face, caused by bites, scratches, or sharp cage debris
getting into wounds or pouches. Symptoms include swelling,
redness, pawing at the face, reduced appetite, or discharge, requiring
prompt vet care for drainage, flushing, and antibiotics to prevent
serious complications like spread of infection or vision loss, with
prevention focused on solo housing and safe bedding.
SINGAPORE - 6 JAN 2026: This 16-month-old Syrian hamster has a swelling under the skin of the left ear canal opening. It is a developing abscess due to bacterial infection under the skin. The hamster needs veterinary treatment urgently.
Have you ever seen an angry lizard in the Bird Paradise? The Bird Paradise is for birds, not lizards. I was surprised to see one reptile. WILDLIFE SINGAPORE - AN ANGRY BROWN ANOLE INTIMIDATED ME. Doctor Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow) Educational Video created: 4 Jan 2026 20 Oct 2025 was a warm bright sunshine blue skies morning to connect with Nature. Many tourists posed for photographs at the Orchid Waterfall Garden with the orchids as a backdrop. Some were less than two feet away from this lizard lying on a low tree stump amid the orchid flowers. This Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) was a small brown lizard lying on a low tree stump amid the orchid flowers. Since he stayed put, I photographed and videoed him from a distance of six feet. Head-bobbing up and down. It looked like he was doing push ups to appear bigger. His red dewlap which is skin below his throat ballooned out 3 times in succession and then once more. I knew he was intimidating me based on similar four previous encounters with the Oriental Garden Lizard during my past decade of Nature journalling. This is a rare video footage of the Anole's communication to make himself look bigger and more intimidating or stronger to attract the female.
Have you ever seen an angry lizard in the Bird Paradise? The Bird Paradise is for birds, not lizards. I was surprised to see one reptile.
WILDLIFE SINGAPORE - AN ANGRY BROWN ANOLE INTIMIDATED ME. Doctor Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow) Educational Video created: 4 Jan 2026
20 Oct 2025 was a warm bright sunshine blue skies morning to connect with Nature. Many tourists posed for photographs at the Orchid Waterfall Garden with the orchids as a backdrop.
Some were less than two feet away from this lizard lying on a low tree stump amid the orchid flowers.
This Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) was a small brown lizard found usually in the Caribbean. He was introduced into the Bird Paradise via plants imported by the nurseries.
Since he stayed put, I decided to photograph and video him from a distance of six feet.
Head-bobbing up and down. It looked like he was doing push ups to appear bigger. His red dewlap which is skin below his throat ballooned out 3 times in succession and then once more.
I knew he was intimidating me based on similar four previous encounters with the Oriental Garden Lizard during my past decade of Nature journalling.
This is a rare video footage of the Anole's communication to make himself look bigger and more intimidating or stronger to attract the female.
WILDLIFE SINGAPORE - AN ANGRY BROWN ANOLE INTIMIDATED ME. Doctor Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow) Educational Video created: 4 Jan 2026
Have you ever seen an angry lizard in the Bird Paradise?
The Bird Paradise is for birds, not lizards. I was surprised to see one reptile.
20 Oct 2025 was a warm bright sunshine blue skies morning to connect with Nature. A gentle breeze wafted the fragrance of the orchids at the Orchid Waterfall garden to my nose.
Many tourists posed for photographs with the orchids as a backdrop. Some tourists were less than two feet away from this lizard. They posed, laughed and took selfies. If they were predators, this Anole would be eaten in a flash.
But the humans didn't faze him. "Faze" is a word that means "to frighten away".
"These ladies want to look pretty besides the orchids," he thought. "One man did point at me. But people would not spot me as my brown colour camouflaged me on the brown stump!"
He was nonplussed about the posing tourists, as he had become accustomed to them over the weeks.
This Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) is a small brown lizard found usually in the Caribbean. He was introduced into the Bird Paradise via plants imported by the nurseries.
He was alert, eyeing me and fully aware of my presence as I was setting up my Canon R5 camera and positioning my tripod on the soft soil some six feet away.
I knew he was
intimidating me based on similar four previous encounters with the
Oriental Garden Lizard in the past decade of Nature journalling.
This is a rare video footage of the Anole's communication to make
himself look bigger and more intimidating or stronger to attract the female.
I focused
on his eyes and shot several images. He was not disconcerted. He did not
scurry away unlike most lizards.
Since he stayed put, I decided
to video him. This video is a rare footage of a lizard intimidating
me!During the past decade, I encountered such behaviours around four
times, researched the internet and hence knew what the behaviour meant.
Head-bobbing up and down. It looked like he was doing push ups to appear bigger.
His
red dewlap ballooned out 3 times. I did not back away. He expanded his
dewlap once more making him stronger and larger. I knew he was
intimidating me based on similar four previous encounters with the
Oriental Garden Lizard in the past decade of Nature journalling.
This is a rare video footage of the Anole's very short communication as I usually don't have time to video its action.
P.S Why do anioles have a dewlap?
The
dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs below the neck. Anoles
are not very vocal, so the dewlap provides a communication tool that
can be waved like a flag.
When an anole is angry, he flashes
his dewlap repeatedly and may perform push-ups and head bobbing to make
himself look bigger and more intimidating.
A male displays this behaviour to a female to look stronger and appealing.
This is a rare video footage of the Anole's very short communication as I usually don't have time to video its very short duration of head bobbing, push-ups and dewlap ballooning during my past 10 years of Nature journalling.UPDATES, VIDEOS AND IMAGES AT
Anole lizards in Singapore areprimarily the non-nativeBrown Anole(Norops sagrei), an invasive species accidentally introduced via plant shipments around 2012, now widespread in parks and gardens, known for males flashing orange dewlaps and shifting color. While native Green Anoles exist, the Brown Anole population is growing, raising concerns about competition with native species, though they serve as food for some local birds, notesNature in Singapore.
Brown anole "push-ups" aredisplays of dominance, territorial defense, and mating signals, where males rapidly lift and lower their bodies, often with head bobs and dewlap (throat fan) extensions, to intimidate rivals or attract females, showing off their strength without needing a physical fight. These movements are a key part of their communication, telling other males "back off" and signaling fitness to females.
