Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Navigation
Front Page
Forum
Gallery
Wiki

Ads by Google


Go Back   Hamster Central > Hamster Central Forum Topics > Behaviour

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-27-2019, 12:27 AM   #1
Feltyninja
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: United States
Posts: 4
Default Hamster cagemate passing away

I had two hamsters, Cloudy and Chestnut, and recently Cloudy passed away, which I suspect was due to natural causes. Upon finding her corpse, I noticed that her face had been removed, likely eaten by Chestnut in a possible attempt to clean up. The two were sisters, and have been together since I got them when they were young, which was close to two 2 years ago when they were around 10-14 weeks old. I buried Cloudy yesterday upon finding her but I’m not sure about Chestnut, who’s still alive. She seems to be relatively unfazed about her sister’s death except for sleeping outside the house she used to share with her since she passed, and hasn’t seemed to have eaten or drank much. She’s still pretty active on her wheel and is not lethargic. I tried replacing the bedding where her sister’s sleeping spot was and giving her a new hamster house so she possibly wouldn’t be as stressed (if she is) but the rest of the cage still probably has some of her scent on it.

I’m not sure how she’ll take it or if she’ll grieve, because her sister bullied her sometimes when she was alive, mostly over food. Cloudy often tended to snatch treats and vegetables right out of Chestnut’s mouth even though she had her own portions, and sometimes they would squabble.

Chestnut is kind of old so I don’t know if she will be friendly towards a new cagemate. After I removed the body I gave her a hanging treat stick attached to the ceiling of the cage (I previously couldn’t put it inside because they would fight over it) and a new serving of food.

I’m a little worried about if she’ll be doing okay, is there anything in particular I should do next? Sorry for this wall of text
Feltyninja is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2019, 01:06 AM   #2
cypher
Dwarf whisperer
 
cypher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Wales UK
Posts: 24,789
Default Re: Hamster cagemate passing away

I'm really sorry for your loss of Cloudy, I think it would probably be best to just leave Chestnut to adjust at her own pace now, I wouldn't change things in the cage, her sisters scent will gradually fade but as she's used to it I wouldn't make a sudden change & clean the cage/change substrate/toys etc.
She may show signs of missing her sister or just changes in behaviour as she adjust but try not to worry she should be fine.
You absolutely cannot introduce another hamster to her now though, that would be extremely stressful for both of them & would almost certainly end in fighting, injury & possibly another death.
__________________
Slave to Zak.
Always loved, never forgotten, forever in my heart
T'ycor, Ziggy, Zephyr, Flynt, Mickle, Little Whisp, Zen, Zeki, Tinwë, Zylvan, Míriel, Calyanwë, Gusto & Meri
❤️
cypher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2019, 01:15 AM   #3
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: Hamster cagemate passing away

Agree with Cypher - don't introduce a new hamster that isn't a sibling - it is too risky. It may stress her to do a cage clean when she's like this - but on the other hand she may take longer to get used to being without her sister while the scent is still there. I'd suggest not doing a full clean just now but add some extra substrate and mix it in, which will lessen the scent a bit and add something fresh. A new house or hide sounds like agood idea too - but leave the old one in as well. Put some treats in the new one and she may move in. Then maybe in a few days time do a full cage clean, so she starts fresh and can re scent the cage herself. Normally I think partial cleans are better to keep some of their scent as full cage cleans can upset them, but there are times when it's better to do a full cage clean. I had a time with our syrian where it helped get him out of a stress cycle (his cage had the scent of other hamsters on after we'd left him somewhere else while on holiday).

When you do the full cage clean, don't use anything strongly perfumed. Johnsons or Beaphar small pet disinfectants are both ok if you have them, but the cage will need rinsing well afterwards as they are a bit perfumed but not too strong. Or you can use white vinegar diluted in water 50/50. And also rinse well afterwards. It can still smell slightly of vinegar afterwards, but our hammy seemed to find that quite interesting and it's more natural - no chemicals. Normally you wouldn't need to use anything other than warm water or soapy water (a bit of washing up liquid), but the disinfectant or vinegar mix will thoroughly remove the scents.

Then all new substrate and nesting material and wash any toys etc. If you have wood items, it's difficulty to remove the scent and you may need to replace them - cardboard hideouts like tissue boxes and toilet roll inners make good toys etc. If left outside in the sun for a day or two, wood items should lose any scent but you need her back in the cage within a couple of hours, but they could be added again at some point in the future.

So you'll need to clean or replace everything, including the water bottle (boiling water would do the trick with that) and food bowls - or just scatter feed. And Clean the new house as well. Replace her hoard with new food in the same place as the old hoard was.

She should settle a lot better after that - although may be a bit skitty for a day or so with the cage clean. I tend to hide lots of treats in different parts of the cage after a clean and scatter feed a bit and that helps distract them. Plain white toilet paper torn into strips is best for nesting and safest, if you don't use that already. So add a big pile of that somewhere in the cage (not actually in the house) and she can take some to build a new nest. They like to forage for it and take it to the house themselves. If you use any fluffy bedding then don't use that,use the toilet paper strips. Fluffy bedding is hazardous.

Last edited by Pebbles82; 02-27-2019 at 01:43 AM.
Pebbles82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2019, 08:35 AM   #4
Feltyninja
Newborn Pup
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: United States
Posts: 4
Default Re: Hamster cagemate passing away

Alright, thank you for the advice! I’ll let her adjust.
Feltyninja is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
chestnut, cloudy, i’m, she’ll, sister’s, sleeping, house, hamster, food, alive, removed, finding, eaten, cagemate, cage, passed, scent, chestnut’s, bullied, sister, tended, snatch, treats, mouth, vegetables

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.43 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright © 2003-2022, Hobby Solutions
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:59 AM.