But remember if you're observing the animal during its normal sleep hours it might be a little groggy. Still, it should have clear eyes and clean fur, and its droppings should be well-formed. Any eye or nasal discharge, as well as labored breathing, are signs of a potential health issue. Otherwise, check out these other exotic animals to find your next pet. Hamster Care. Food Hazards. Merck Veterinary Manual. Russian Campbells Hamster. National Hamster Academy.
Routine Health Care of Hamsters. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
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Food and Water. Health Problems. Similar Pets. Warning Avoid cedar-based bedding, as it can be toxic to small animals. What Cage is Best for a Dwarf Hamster? Featured Video. Article Sources. The Spruce Pets uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Share this Health and welfare. Print Hamsters. Did you find this useful? A suitable environment for hamsters Find out more about the environmental needs of your hamster.
But many steps need to be taken before a solitary, not very cuddly hamster will feel okay being picked up. The placement of the cage in your home is crucial to how well the hamster can rest, and how safe he feels.
If you notice your hamster being scared of you, rest assured this will go away in time with efforts on your part. You can read this article to know how to ease a scared hamster. A very stressed hamster will be a nippy, irritable hamster. Unfortunately many things can stress him out, so you should check out this article, since it will shed some light on what having a hammy is like.
Or even heard of a pair of hamsters being kept together. True, Dwarf hamsters can live in pairs. But they require a much larger size cage than the minimum of 24 x 12 inches, and about 12 inches tall. This is because hamsters are very territorial.
While they can get along if they have no other choice, they will always prefer to live alone. Hamsters kept in pairs can become stressed, and one of them will eventually try to bully the other one. You can find out more about why hammies fight and how to separate them here.
Syrian hamsters, as well as Chinese Dwarfs, will fight to the death any creature put in their cage, be it another hamster or a rabbit. So the most humane and comfortable thing to do for your hamster buddies is to keep them separated. When is a hamster old? This is part of the natural order of things, and every hamster will grow old and grey. Still, that does not mean old age in hamsters is terrible.
Some may become blind, some may get an illness quicker. But most lead fairly normal lives up until their end. A hamster can be considered old when he reaches his second birthday. In the case of a Robo hammie, who can live up to 4 years this threshold can be extended to about 3 years. While for a Chinese that usually lives for two years, he can be considered old when he-s But 2 years is the accepted average.
Your hamster might not show his true age until very late into his life. For example my teddy is a Syrian male hammy, and he was born in July But he has lost quite some energy, and sleeps much more than he used to.
Always curious, always coming up for a treat, still panicked from time to time. The life cycle of a hamster From birth to his final days, a hamster pet will always be a wonderful little thing. Right from the moment the hamster is born, he could possibly be in danger. You see hamster mothers are very skittish and nervous, and will resort to eating their babies if they feel in any way threatened. Absolutely no handling or cleaning or saying hi.
More on that in the link above. Once the hamster has survived his first few weeks, he will be weaned. That usually happens around weeks of age.
At this stage it becomes crucial to separate the hamster babies into male and female enclosures. This is because even so young, they can start to reproduce, and no one wants surprise litters, plus the fact that the incredibly young mother has a very low chance of survival.
Once the babies have been separated, they end up at a pet shop or given away to prospective owners. This is when he has become an adult, and will start showing most of his fur marking and personality. He still has an immense amount of energy, needs to run, climb, hide, and generally investigate every new sound. Once the hamster has become a senior, around 2 years old, his metabolism will start to slow down.
He may become blind, or develop an illness, or maybe just die peacefully in his sleep. What owning a hamster is like Finally, a hamster is a commitment. They may not live very long lives, like a cat or a dog.
But they are still souls that need your attention and care. There will be moments when you wonder why you got yourself a rodent, of all things. Honestly when I got my Teddy I knew nothing about hamsters. I knew they had short lives, and were fuzzy.
This whole blog is dedicated to folks like me, who had no idea about hammies and want to know everything there is.
How to care for them, how to play with them, cages, toys, everything. You can check out this article to see some pros and cons of owning a hamster here. You see hamsters are very sensitive, and need much patience and gentle handling.
A child for example would not be a good owner for a hamster. A guinea pig, on the other hand, might be better suited for them.
A hamster will bite when handled wrong, try to escape at the drop of a hat, and be endlessly curious. Still, you can make our stay with you as comfy as possible. If you want to know more about us hamsters, you should check out the related articles below. Syrian hamsters are small animals with a great deal of character.
Their needs are very complicated and they can be easily injured. Hamsters are nocturnal animals, meaning they sleep most of the day and become active at night and in the evening. This implies that for people who may be out during the day and at home during the evening, they can make good pets.
Table of Contents Male Syrian hamster behaviorAggressive behaviorParental behavior Social behavior of a hamster Male Syrian hamster behavior Among the most common options for small pets is the Syrian hamster, also known as the golden hamster. Just as we do, hamsters use body language. They can show several feelings that include being happy, scared, threatened, curious, terrified, angry, and many other feelings.
When conversing with others, they also use sign language to a limited degree. To call their mothers, babies use ultrasonic sounds, females have mating calls to attract a mate, and a hamster will squeak when it feels threatened or aggressive.
Many of these sounds are brief and often unrecognizable to the human ear. Learning all the behaviors of your Syrian hamster means that you will be able to understand it better, thus taking better of him. If you notice your hamster is upset, mad, or ill, you can change the way you care for it. If the hamster is burrowing or digging its bedding it just means that the hamster is happy.
The hamster is just playing around and by digging it is searching for snacks he buried earlier. Hamsters in the wild are extremely good diggers and will develop deep underground burrows. Make sure that your hamster has a dense layer of bedding so it can dig and burrow endlessly. If he is standing erect on its legs and watching you, it means that he is curious and is watching his surroundings, but still being calm.
They feel comfortable and relaxed about their present condition as they are stretching their limbs. Try to minimize the stress factors that brought on this action.
It means that a hamster is insecure about the current situation and is likely to run and hide when it empties its cheek pouches quickly. Another indication of insecurity and uncertainty is that as you approach it gets startled. If you just got the hamster and you see him walking slowly and creeping around the cage, it just means that he is insecure around his surroundings.
He is not yet comfortable with the cage and needs time to adjust to it. Try burying some snacks in the bedding to keep him active and get used to the habitat. Also, if the hamster is new to the cage, when you approach him, he will freeze in place. When the hamster is afraid, he will most likely play dead by standing still or lying down. He will most likely shy away and hide from you.
This means that he is stressed out with the new environment and will need to adjust to, for example, loud noises. If the hamster continues to be unresponsive, you need to make some extra measures.
If a hamster has a repeated routine and is doing the same things from day to day, it means that he is mentally ill. You can fix this by giving him toys to play and exercise, or giving him a larger cage. The most indecisive sign of a hamster is its squeak.
He might be squeaking for no reason at all. This situation is the most difficult to figure out. Most of the behaviors displayed by hamsters does not mean he is ill. Hamsters are very active when they are awake and always find things to entertain them. If you feel the hamster is not acting normally, you can always enrich their time with toys and exercise.
Make sure your hamster has plenty of training room and has suitable things to play with, such as tiny boxes, tubes, and mazes. For exercise, a good quality running wheel may provide additional activities.
Once you can handle them with trust, you should enable your hamster to spend time out of their cage, but never leave your hamster unattended or overnight out of the cage.
As long as the hamster is properly maintained, he will not be bothered and his behavior will remain natural. Try interacting and exercising with him. If his behavior is seriously worrying you, consult with the local vet.
Aggressive behavior Since they are solitary by nature, Syrian hamsters can never be housed together. Sometimes, almost without reason, hamsters may display worrying or aggressive behaviors. Acting this way is also not an indicator of the nature of the hamster — there is generally a very good explanation of why the animal behaves this way. If two grown male Syrian hamsters are kept together, they will show aggressive behavior.
When one violent hamster attempts to bite the underbelly of the other, encounters will intensify into a wrestling match. To drive the hostile hamster down, the subordinate hamster will rise up, open its mouth, puff up its cheeks and stretch its arms out. This action can be interpreted as a retreat. However, a wrestling match can break out if one hamster does not initially back down. The wrestling match starts when one hamster stands up on his hind legs and attempts to bite the underbelly by lunging at the other.
The two hamsters start rolling around in unison, trying to get the advantage. When one of the hamsters admits defeat, it will give up by lying on its back and freezing in this position.
The wrestling match is generally over when this happens, but often, no hamster wants to give up that quickly. This is when they can intensify the wrestling into a fight.
A fight looks a lot like a wrestling match but takes on a more violent and physical tone. Biting can become even more extreme and can lead to severe injuries. More pronounced squeaking may also be present. In the end, a hamster will give up and escape from the fight. When the subordinate hamster runs away through a hamster tunnel and hides in another habitat compartment, the battle always ends. If the hamster cage is not big enough for the hamster to run and hide, by chasing after it, the winning hamster can continue to fight.
Hamsters can and do bite in certain cases. However, it is uncommon for a hamster to actually be aggressive, and they generally only bite when they get frightened.
Hamsters who have not been approached often, on the other hand, are typically not quite friendly, and if you attempt to pick them up, they sometimes bite. It can bite out of fear if you grab your hamster without allowing it time to readjust to your presence. If you do not physically hold them correctly, hamsters can even nibble you, which can be very painful for them. Hamsters are nocturnal, and if you wake them up during the day, they will be quite disoriented and very agitated.
If they are scared and afraid, when you try to pick them up, they are likely to bite you. If you stick food through the cage bars, then when you do the same with your finger, it will also believe it is a tasty treat and will bite you. You will need to gain the trust of your pet and do so gradually. Spend time sitting near the cage and talk to your hamster. Remember, moving to a new cage and new environment is very stressful, so this period is also habituation to a new home. After a week, try putting your hand on the cage.
Place your hand next to the door or top of the cage, then extend it a little further each following day. When the hamster explores your hand, use that trust to slip him some treats and let it eat them from your hand. When your hamster starts eating treats relaxed, you can try to gently pet it. If your pet accepts treats and allows you to cuddle him, try lifting it. First, try to direct it so that it climbs into your arm, by placing the treats in it.
Parental behavior The Syrian female hamster has anatomical characteristics that are different from other species. They mature from weeks of age and have an estrous period of 4 days.
She frequently prefers to mate with an alpha male who, more often than any subordinate males present, will flank the mark a scent-marking activity associated with aggression and competition. Male offspring are at greater risk of permanent effects from maternal social stress than female offspring.
It is always recommended to separate the male hamster from the mother and the babies. There are many cases in which the father eats the babies, but it sometimes happens with the mother as well. If by nesting and consuming a little more food than average, a hamster has prepared for a regular birth, then it may be particularly shocking to see a hamster kill and eat its own offspring. But while the reason this happens could be a shortage of food, there are a few other explanations that a hamster will eat its babies.
For anyone, even a hamster, getting pregnant, giving birth, breastfeeding, and caring for multiple babies is really exhausting. If a hamster is too stressed, its babies will be eaten. She may feel that caring for her young is more than she can do. The same goes for when the hamster is scared. This is especially true with young hamsters. This can be caused by the fear of other pets, loud noises, and many other things that will intimidate the hamster.
A hamster mother spends a lot of time grooming and caring for her youngsters. The fragrance left on each infant helps the mother to identify the babies. The mother could become confused and not know her own babies if a new smell, such as the scent of a human, is detected on the babies.
The shortage of food is the most apparent explanation of why a hamster eats its own babies. Every animal that is pregnant or breastfeeding needs more energy than it can normally need.
Therefore, there is so much more food required. From the lack of food, the hamster may be starving and fear being unable to provide for its baby. To prevent the mother from eating her babies, provide a quiet place for them. This can include keeping kids and other pets out of the space where your hamster lives, keeping the noise down in your house so that your hamster is not bothered, and maybe even covering the cage so that no potential threats or tension can be noticed.
The most obvious precaution to take is to provide the hamster with plenty of food, during and after pregnancy. Make sure that you offer a high-quality hamster diet with plenty of protein as soon as you know that your hamster is pregnant.
Also, make sure it always has clean water. You may want to split the hamsters if your pregnant hamster lives with another. This would make the babies safer and prevent any adult battle. If you find that you have a male and a female hamster living together, this will probably eliminate any pregnancy in the future.
But, if both male and female hamsters are cared for properly, both of them will show high parental behavior. The male hamster will also contribute to building a nest, caring, grooming the young. Male hamsters will even pick up and carry the babies more often than the female. Even though the female hamster is more likely to eat the babies, male hamsters will injure them more.
When trying to lie down, the male will accidentally lay down on the babies, almost suffocating them. Social behavior of a hamster Hamsters are normally solitary creatures and may be aggressive to other animals, often leading to significant injury or even death. In particular, Syrian hamsters are not inherently sociable and they are best kept on their own.
The Syrian Hamster lives alone in the wild and is intensely territorial, threatening any intruders or other hamsters that it might face while traveling. In separate burrows, Syrian hamsters live a distance away from some other burrow of another hamster. Hamsters create unique odors that they use to communicate, so avoid housing unknown hamsters and hamster cages next to each other, as they can find this disturbing and can start fighting.
In the house, they can also find the presence and scent of other animals stressful, especially animals such as cats and dogs that would usually eat small animals such as hamsters. By using their body language to exhibit emotion, you should observe your hamsters communicating and engaging with each other. As a pet hamster owner, understanding when all is well in the cage or when you may need to resolve a dispute is crucial. These hamsters are one of the most solitary species in the wild.
As pets, they should always be alone in a cage. Young hamsters often tolerate cage companions for a little while. Through smelling their scented gland that is located in that region of their face, they would be able to tell who the other is. Several things may then take place once their identity is established. If one hamster recognizes the other like a dominant hamster, he will point its ears up, lean backward in fear, turn, and leave.
The female could do a walk where she arches her back and then goes into the lordosis position, if the encounter is between a male and a female, showing she is ready to mate. For two hamsters, circling is another way to find out who each other is.
This hamster action may often look a little aggressive if there is an over-eager hamster involved. Often, it can escalate into wrestling in this case. Syrian hamsters are generally friendly, and many owners say that they are a good choice of pet since they can develop a very close bond with their owners.
They are the biggest and one of the most common pet hamsters, partially because their size makes it easier to handle them. These hamsters are slower than any of their smaller counterparts. Another factor adding to their popularity is that this hamster breed should be kept on its own, as for fun and excitement, it focuses more heavily on its owner.
Because they do not have a hamster friend to play with, during the hours you are both awake, it will be more open to forming relationships with the owners. Hamsters may not interact with a variety of people like many other pets do. Instead, hamsters are most happy sharing time with one, often two, owners. Hamsters are reasonably independent and can amuse themselves for long periods, provided that their housing is sufficiently enriched with toys, bedding, burrowing, and climbing opportunities.
Also, the hamster should undergo regular handling and contact to be comfortable and well-adjusted. Some hamsters are cuddlier, while others are more independent. Syrian hamsters are usually easier to tame, so they will be a little more affectionate than other types of hamsters. But this is only because the Syrians are much bigger than the other hamsters, which makes it easier to treat them. Hamsters often seem to prefer to sleep on their owners once the trust point has been achieved.
Even though hamsters show affection to their owners, they will not be so affectionate and lovable to other hamsters. Remember that in the wild, hamsters live alone. They should have plenty of time by themselves, and they will find any kind of entertainment. Some owners tend to think that hamsters get lonely and want to touch them all the time.
The hamster will not appreciate it if you pick him up constantly and it can become aggressive if he is not left alone. Especially during the daytime, when it is sleeping. Set up a routine so your hamster knows when he will play with you and it will not get stressed out For a more detailed comparison between gerbils and hamster, you should read this article here.
Table of Contents So can hamsters and gerbils live together? No, hamsters and gerbils can not and should not live together. This is because the hamster is territorial, and will attack and kill anything that tries to come close, even their own siblings. While gerbils can and do live together, hamsters do not. This makes hamsters unable to share their home with anything, especially not an animal that is not another hamster.
This means that they are skittish, will try to hide as often as they can, and do not react well to strangers. Hamsters are more aggressive than gerbils, and they will attack anyone or anything that comes too close. There are some submissive hamsters that just cower in a corner or freeze in fear, but most will actually attack and fight to the death. This means that housing a hamster with anything is a bad idea.
Hamsters sleep during the day, and wake up in the evening. They stay up all night, running in their wheel and playing in their cage. Busy little things. He will not stay put, at all, and will want to wander off and explore everything. As such, a big cage with lots of space is going to help the hamster feel more at ease, and less stressed. This means that you can house together several gerbils and they would be fine, but their cage needs to be very large. The more gerbils you own, the larger the cage.
Gerbils, like hamsters, will protect their own. Compared to hamsters, gerbils are more mellow, and are easier to tame. They can still be skittish, especially as babies, but not nearly as much as hamsters. Their energy is similar to the hamster, and as such they needs lots of stimulation. Unlike hamsters, a lone gerbil will become depressed, and possibly ill from being so lonely. They need the stimulation and activity a colony or at least another gerbil provides, and they grow up happier if they have a friend.
Major differences between hamsters and gerbils A hamster is fairly short, stocky, and has barely any noticeable tail.
There are 5 types of hamster to choose from Syrian, Chinese, Roborovski, Campbell, and Djungarian and they look very different from a gerbil. The only hamster that resembles a gerbil is the Chinese, with its long slender body and longer tail.
Gerbils have longer bodies, and look like a bit of a cross between a mouse and a squirrel, minus the bushy tail. A hamster has a much shorter neck, and a wider body. It looks fluffier than a gerbil, and has more of a rounded face.
Both gerbils and hamsters love to run, but their needs are different. If the tail is injured or caught in something and it can happen in a wheel it can and will fall off. This is not easy on the gerbil, nor on you as an owner. Another big difference is the sleeping and activity patterns. While the hamster sleeps during the day, the gerbil will go about his business. He will take short naps throughout the day, but the main sleeping time is the night.
This annoys the hamster greatly, since he is trying to sleep. Conversely, while the gerbil sleeps at night, the hamster will wake up and do his own hamster things. This will wake up the gerbil and he will not rest well, leading to other fights.
Food is pretty much the only thing hamsters and gerbils agree upon. All this means is that a gerbil and a hamster have different housing needs, and they will end up fighting over space anyway.
They both use their scent glands to mark what;s their, be it it with their bellies, hips, or faces rubbed against various objects. This leads to fighting in the end, and there is no amount of toys and duplicate of cage objects that will keep that from happening. Both the hamster and the gerbil love to chew, so in that respect they would need the same toys and hideouts.
They would both end up chewing on the cage bars or trying to escape, so housing them together is not good. Do Hamsters Get Bored? So, sometimes you wonder if your hamster is bored, and how you can keep your hamster friend entertained.
Table of Contents So do hamsters get bored? A word from Teddy So do hamsters get bored? No, not really. Aside from their instincts survive, reproduce, find food, etc. Too small, dirty, no toys, no hideout, too many sounds and people trying to get to them, being handled too much, etc. Yes, hamsters have an amazing stash of food in their nests, and they will hoard everything. Chew on everything available, including his hideout — great to have a wooden hideout for that reason. Let me explain, What your hamster would do in the wild In the wild, the essential activities would be the same ones I described above.
Except the hamster can be found and eaten by a predator at any moment. So that means the hammy is always on edge, always hearing things out, always running away.
In the wild toys would have no purpose. Finally, in the wild the hammy would try to find a mate too. The minimum cage size for a single hamster is 24 x 12 inches, and about 12 inches tall.
Every hamster will like a larger cage better, so if you can get a big cage you should do that. Aside from the minimum bedding on the cage floor, there is also the absolute need for a hideout. Your hamster will make himself a nest anyway in the most hidden corner he an find. An exercise wheel is mandatory as well, simply because running is half of everything a hamster does.
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