Hamster Central - View Single Post - Hamster sleeping behaviour - Recently lost two in the space of a week! Very anxious

Pebbles82 · 11-20-2016, 01:12 PM

It must have been awful having two die like that. And I can quite understand your worry now you have another one - it was all a bit traumatic. But the main thing is - it was nothing you did. As Souffle says a lot of these things are due to genetics/breeding and conditions that female Syrians are prone to. So your new little hamster has just as much chance as any other hamster out there

Our Syrian is a pet shop hamster and he is almost two and a half now! (Which is about 100 in human years).

The main things to help them along with their health are - good diet, keeping warm enough (or cool enough in summer) and avoiding too much stress as they do get stressed by certain things and that can lower the immune system.

Sorry if you know all that already. But as long as you give her a good quality hamster mix and supplement with a bit of raw fresh veg every day or two, clean water every day, and plenty of torn up strips of toilet paper to build a big cosy nest, you are doing all a hammy needs. It's best not to disturb their cage layout if you can - once it's set up it's best left as it is as long as possible (ie until something breaks). Moving things around can cause them a bit of stress. Also leave the nest and hoard in tact if you can - you may need to remove some of the hoard if it gets pee'd on, but if it's dry it's ok left for quite some time. As with the nest. And as much depth of substrate as you can - minimum 3 to 4" deep but ideally 6" or more - this encourages burrowing and digging and also reduces the need for big cage cleans (usually the bottom half of the substrate stays dry when it's deep) so you can just spot clean the top substrate now and then and only need to do a full cage clean ever 2 or 3 months or so. Even then I only do "partial" cleans so as to reduce stress and leave familiar scent - so I'll do the substrate - keeping the bottom half and mixing it in with the new, but not clean the wheel or toys. Then another week I'll clean the week and only clean the toys occasionally if they really need it or are gathering dust! Using a potty litter tray also helps keep the need for cage cleaning down - if you put it in the area/corner the hammy has chosen to pee in. Our hammy only pees in his toilet - the rest of the cage stays dry.

ie always leave something familiar smelling when cleaning anything and avoid using scented products that can aggravate. A warm damp cloth is fine unless here has been illness or disease.

Another area is - contentment. A hammy that is tamed and familiar with you and has quality time with you, a bond with you, and out of cage time regularly, in a playpen or safe area fenced off, will have the health benefits of love, trust and bond with an owner. All these things will help - but at the end of the day genetics will play their part too. xxx

I've always given Charlie quite a bit of fresh food and a lot of people on here supplement their diet. He gets his hamster mix every day (he has Harry Hamster which contains everything needed and just about enough protein but extra bits of protein in the first year help - they need a lot of protein in their first year). Plus he gets a very small piece of fresh veg every day (broccoli, carrot, cucumber, sugar snap peas, baby corn, cauliflower - whatever we have in - just a tiny floret or a 1cm squared size piece (just for size - doesn't have to be square). I also put two other "extras" out and hide them in the cage - always in the same place so he knows where to look. These are either, half a brazil nut, half a pecan nut, a raisin, a small piece of apple or banana or cheese, half a cashew not (plain not roasted or salted), a few pumpkin seeds. And if we are having a roast chicken he gets a piece of that. You can also give them a little bit of scrambled egg or porridge on a teaspoon too! Scrambled egg, plain chicken and nuts are all good for protein and brazil nuts have something in that's good for the immune system so I give Charlie half of one once a week.

As much variety of set up and diet as possible can be good - in terms of extras and fresh food - but hamster mix should only ever be changed gradually to avoid digestive upset. And veg should be introduced slowly too. Say once every 3 days then every 2 then every day, over 2 or 3 weeks. Our hammy goes crazy for any fresh food - he loves his daily bit of veg - I put it in a different place to his hamster mix - on top of a little ceramic log he has.

Talking to them also helps them get to know you and I swear Charlie knows what I say! I explain things to him! I say sorry sometimes, we sing him little songs, and if any kind of upheaval is about to happen I explain to him in advance and he almost nods and then it seems to go smoothly

They are quite sensitive little things I think and I felt terrible when we first upgraded Charlie's cage because I just plopped him into the new one cold turkey and he was a wreck for about 10 days. I've done things a bit more gradually since and treated him like you would someone you care for rather than something to be rearranged or organised. So his next cage change had some explanation, a couple of playtimes in the new one and then a gentler move. Just as an example.

I am sure you know a lot of this but it's just my take on - don't worry. Just give her good food, a good cage and lots of love and whether her life is shorter or longer she'll have had a good life with you. It's hard that one year of their lives is equivalent to 40 of ours and that they don't live for a very long time. But I also find it fascinating seeing them go through the stages of life. From little baby to naughty teenager to difficulty middle age, and the tolerance and gentleness of old age. In fact now Charlie is so old I worry more that he might have a slow lingering death rather than an unexpected sudden one. Either way - it's hard xxxx But you have lots of happy times ahead with your new hammy.

It's natural to feel anxious that one day you will find her ill or gone. I hope that settles down quite quickly. Your confidence in that area will grow as you get to know her and her personality and find out how robust or not she is. Looking forward to seeing photos.

The only other thing I'd say is - their environment can enhance their quality of life - so enough substrate, enough space, variety of levels and textures and toys in a cage to keep life fun and interesting, and plenty of hidey places and a nice big wheel

Not sure what cage you have but something 80cm x 50cm to 120cm x 50cm is good. Charlie is in a 100cm Barney cage from Zooplus, but the 84cm Alaska cage is good too.

11-20-2016, 01:12 PM
Pebbles82 Hamster Antics Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 23,533	Re: Hamster sleeping behaviour - Recently lost two in the space of a week! Very anxio It must have been awful having two die like that. And I can quite understand your worry now you have another one - it was all a bit traumatic. But the main thing is - it was nothing you did. As Souffle says a lot of these things are due to genetics/breeding and conditions that female Syrians are prone to. So your new little hamster has just as much chance as any other hamster out there Our Syrian is a pet shop hamster and he is almost two and a half now! (Which is about 100 in human years). The main things to help them along with their health are - good diet, keeping warm enough (or cool enough in summer) and avoiding too much stress as they do get stressed by certain things and that can lower the immune system. Sorry if you know all that already. But as long as you give her a good quality hamster mix and supplement with a bit of raw fresh veg every day or two, clean water every day, and plenty of torn up strips of toilet paper to build a big cosy nest, you are doing all a hammy needs. It's best not to disturb their cage layout if you can - once it's set up it's best left as it is as long as possible (ie until something breaks). Moving things around can cause them a bit of stress. Also leave the nest and hoard in tact if you can - you may need to remove some of the hoard if it gets pee'd on, but if it's dry it's ok left for quite some time. As with the nest. And as much depth of substrate as you can - minimum 3 to 4" deep but ideally 6" or more - this encourages burrowing and digging and also reduces the need for big cage cleans (usually the bottom half of the substrate stays dry when it's deep) so you can just spot clean the top substrate now and then and only need to do a full cage clean ever 2 or 3 months or so. Even then I only do "partial" cleans so as to reduce stress and leave familiar scent - so I'll do the substrate - keeping the bottom half and mixing it in with the new, but not clean the wheel or toys. Then another week I'll clean the week and only clean the toys occasionally if they really need it or are gathering dust! Using a potty litter tray also helps keep the need for cage cleaning down - if you put it in the area/corner the hammy has chosen to pee in. Our hammy only pees in his toilet - the rest of the cage stays dry. ie always leave something familiar smelling when cleaning anything and avoid using scented products that can aggravate. A warm damp cloth is fine unless here has been illness or disease. Another area is - contentment. A hammy that is tamed and familiar with you and has quality time with you, a bond with you, and out of cage time regularly, in a playpen or safe area fenced off, will have the health benefits of love, trust and bond with an owner. All these things will help - but at the end of the day genetics will play their part too. xxx I've always given Charlie quite a bit of fresh food and a lot of people on here supplement their diet. He gets his hamster mix every day (he has Harry Hamster which contains everything needed and just about enough protein but extra bits of protein in the first year help - they need a lot of protein in their first year). Plus he gets a very small piece of fresh veg every day (broccoli, carrot, cucumber, sugar snap peas, baby corn, cauliflower - whatever we have in - just a tiny floret or a 1cm squared size piece (just for size - doesn't have to be square). I also put two other "extras" out and hide them in the cage - always in the same place so he knows where to look. These are either, half a brazil nut, half a pecan nut, a raisin, a small piece of apple or banana or cheese, half a cashew not (plain not roasted or salted), a few pumpkin seeds. And if we are having a roast chicken he gets a piece of that. You can also give them a little bit of scrambled egg or porridge on a teaspoon too! Scrambled egg, plain chicken and nuts are all good for protein and brazil nuts have something in that's good for the immune system so I give Charlie half of one once a week. As much variety of set up and diet as possible can be good - in terms of extras and fresh food - but hamster mix should only ever be changed gradually to avoid digestive upset. And veg should be introduced slowly too. Say once every 3 days then every 2 then every day, over 2 or 3 weeks. Our hammy goes crazy for any fresh food - he loves his daily bit of veg - I put it in a different place to his hamster mix - on top of a little ceramic log he has. Talking to them also helps them get to know you and I swear Charlie knows what I say! I explain things to him! I say sorry sometimes, we sing him little songs, and if any kind of upheaval is about to happen I explain to him in advance and he almost nods and then it seems to go smoothly They are quite sensitive little things I think and I felt terrible when we first upgraded Charlie's cage because I just plopped him into the new one cold turkey and he was a wreck for about 10 days. I've done things a bit more gradually since and treated him like you would someone you care for rather than something to be rearranged or organised. So his next cage change had some explanation, a couple of playtimes in the new one and then a gentler move. Just as an example. I am sure you know a lot of this but it's just my take on - don't worry. Just give her good food, a good cage and lots of love and whether her life is shorter or longer she'll have had a good life with you. It's hard that one year of their lives is equivalent to 40 of ours and that they don't live for a very long time. But I also find it fascinating seeing them go through the stages of life. From little baby to naughty teenager to difficulty middle age, and the tolerance and gentleness of old age. In fact now Charlie is so old I worry more that he might have a slow lingering death rather than an unexpected sudden one. Either way - it's hard xxxx But you have lots of happy times ahead with your new hammy. It's natural to feel anxious that one day you will find her ill or gone. I hope that settles down quite quickly. Your confidence in that area will grow as you get to know her and her personality and find out how robust or not she is. Looking forward to seeing photos. The only other thing I'd say is - their environment can enhance their quality of life - so enough substrate, enough space, variety of levels and textures and toys in a cage to keep life fun and interesting, and plenty of hidey places and a nice big wheel Not sure what cage you have but something 80cm x 50cm to 120cm x 50cm is good. Charlie is in a 100cm Barney cage from Zooplus, but the 84cm Alaska cage is good too.