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Old 02-23-2019, 09:01 AM   #1
mikatelyn
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Default Do your hamsters get sleepy if you turn the lights on?

So kind of a random question:
My Syrian, Smokey, only seems to come out in the dark or dim light situations. So I usually will turn the lights down around 8 or 8:30pm, rattle around a bit in his cage and he'll start to get active for the night. This of course makes it nearly impossible to get any photos unless I scare the daylights out of him with a flash.
So I thought maybe if I get him out, then slowly walk into another room that does have a light on, then he'd already be awake and we could do a little photo session! After a few minutes in the lit room he starts to look really sleepy and he'll start to close his eyes and look like he's going to nod off. He's now done this a couple of times a few weeks apart, so I didn't keep trying it.

Am I the only one who has this problem? How is everyone getting all of these super cute, well lit photos and videos?
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Old 02-24-2019, 01:18 AM   #2
kristina_with_a_k
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Default Re: Do your hamsters get sleepy if you turn the lights on?

First of all, hamsters are nocturnal animals who are awake at dawn and dusk. So you shouldn't try and fit a hamster into your schedule. You should try and fit yourself into the hamsters. They're pnluy suppose to be awake at nighttime and early mornings. Therefore some of them think it's daytime with all the bright light. If your hamster closes it's eyes everytime you turn on the light, it could be because the light is to bright. And by the way, I would never ever take a flash photo of my hamster. That would be cruel to their eyes.

Every hamster has their own sleeping patterns and times that they're awake. One of mine is awake early in the mornings, just for at little bit. She'll wake up some where between 5.30 and 8. She's also awake for around 20-30 minutes in the afternoon, where she drinks, eats and sniffs around. Then I don't see her again until somehere between 22 and midnight. Then she's awake for about an hour and then sleeps again. And then finally around 2am she's awake for a few hours where she's doing normal hamster stuff, like running in her wheel and being really active etc. She's awake quite a bit so I'm pretty lucky when it comes to photosessions and interaction. My only advice would be to interact and take photos when your hamster wants to. Turn down the light a bit and interact with your hammy when it's awake. Then it will more likely stay awake long enough for you to take some photos or something like that

But always remember that they're nocturnal and you'll just have to do things their way. I hope you'll be able to take a few photos some time soon
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Old 02-24-2019, 05:15 AM   #3
mikatelyn
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Default Re: Do your hamsters get sleepy if you turn the lights on?

Ok thanks!
We've gotten into a nice routine where he'll either already be awake and ready to play in the mornings and evenings when I normally freshen his water or scatter some food around his cage, or will come out of his nest within moments of hearing me do these things and start looking for treats from me. He'll normally be really active for at least an hour or two if not more, so I don't think it's a schedule issue. It really seems to be a lighting issue. He seems to hate any lighting that doesn't result in very dark or even pitch black videos! Usually this means a light spilling in from the hallway is ok, but anything brighter and he starts hiding. I've often thought that people would likely find it funny if they saw me in that moment, a grown woman sitting in the dark, in a bathtub, with a hamster running all over her! And I've been avoiding flash for exactly the reasons you said. I think I'm going to try using light with a dimmer and increasing the brightness VERY gradually while he's in the play pen. It's good to know that other hamsters will tolerate more light though, because that means he could maybe get used to slightly brighter than twilight- like conditions. I'm wondering if maybe he's just not used to the light since I've been keeping everything so dim for him
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