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Old 05-07-2021, 08:22 AM   #1
PipSqueak13
 
Join Date: May 2021
Posts: 2
Default All of my friends hamsters keep dying

My friend has had a few hamsters who have all suddenly died after not even a year. All of those hamsters were dwarf hamsters and she got a Chinese hamster in January last year. She thought that the reason why all of her past hamsters died since dwarf hamsters are usually hybrids and have poor health. She got a Chinese hamster thinking he would have better health. Sadly he died yesterday very suddenly. He never appeared old or wasn't acting weirdly and she found him in his burrow last night and he had died. He always was running around on his wheel and would burrow around and he loved to be taken out of his cage to climb around on our laps. He had a bin cage that was a very good size. She used Higgins Sunburst food and used paper bedding. All of her care was right but he still died. Does anyone have any idea of why this could have happened? I really want to help her. I will try to post a picture of him. The only one I have is from July 2020.
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Old 05-09-2021, 02:34 PM   #2
Pebbles82
Hamster Antics
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 23,533
Default Re: All of my friends hamsters keep dying

This is very sad and no it isn't usual for so many to die under a year. My first thoughts are 1) One hamster was infectious and the others have picked it up from cage items etc. 2) She should get a carbon monoxide monitor. 3) Use a different pet shop.

One member on here found her hamsters kept dying and it was because of carbon monoxide emissions from the boiler. Which of course also kills humans but perhaps they were very low levels and the hamsters were in the same room.

It's usually recommended, after a hamster dies, to not only thoroughly disinfect the cage and all contents, but to wait to or three weeks before using them again for another hamster.

If she is getting them all from the same place then the pet shop or breeder may have ongoing disease on the premises. So going elsewhere would be better.

It is true that hybrid dwarfs and pet shop hamsters can be prone to genetic health issues through bad breeding and interbreeding. Hybrid dwarfs are also prone to diabetes which can shorten their life span. So any dwarf hamster should have a sugar free diet. I don't think Higgins is. Sugars can be in dried fruits etc in the mix as well.

It used to be recommended to get Burgess dwarf hamster mix which was sugar free but its not made any more. The best option would be Harry Hamster which is sugar free and contains everything needed. If she's in the Uk or Europe, Rodipet make dwarf specific mixes and one especially for hybrid dwarfs.
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