Owls hooting

[Vierville]

The last week or two we've had a number of owls move in to the immediate area of our home and they call to each other every night. Apart from me being uneasy due to my bizarre superstition about owls, do you think they are traumatising the hamsters? We can hear them clearly from inside the house and I was wondering if this would upset the hamsters?

This evening I've been observing our three hammies and Baldrick and Nanuk are absolutely nowhere to be found while Norman is running around his cage frantically.

Do you think this behaviour might be due to them hearing the owls?

[cypher]

It seems unlikely tbh, if it is bothering them & it goes on for a while they should soon get used to it.

[Petite]

I would have thought that it might bother them. In the wild, they are fine-tuned to respond to noises like this to avoid becoming a meal to an owl. Is it possible to muffle the noise somehow (a breathable blanket over the cage, perhaps) or to move them to another room where it might be a bit quieter?

[Ria P]

Hamsters get used to all sorts of noises and they can always dive under the substrate if the owls spook them.

I think that you, Vierville, are more spooked by the owls than the hamsters. Would an outside light help to chase the owls away?

[Vierville]

Originally Posted by Ria P

Hamsters get used to all sorts of noises and they can always dive under the substrate if the owls spook them.

I think that you, Vierville, are more spooked by the owls than the hamsters. Would an outside light help to chase the owls away?

I am spooked by them! I think they are amazing creatures but my superstition around hearing them really freaks me out! It is uncanny how throughout my life hearing an owl hoot has been followed a few days later by hearing of a death or some other serious misfortune.

We have a lot of outside lighting already and I don't know if more would help? They sit on the apex of the roofs of the buildings infront and behind us and call to each other.

I did notice that after they stopped calling all three of my little ones emerged. I was up the entire night until 04h45 so I got to observe Nanuk, Norman and Baldrick's nighttime antics in detail. They all got a mealworm and a talk on not being scared of the owl.

[Jadetooth]

They have a right to live in your garden - we are giving wildlife so few places to live and their numbers are dropping precipitously - please don’t do anything to move them on, they will move on in their own time.

[Vierville]

Originally Posted by Jadetooth

They have a right to live in your garden - we are giving wildlife so few places to live and their numbers are dropping precipitously - please don’t do anything to move them on, they will move on in their own time.

Hi Jadetooth. I have no intention of doing anything to move them on at all. I love wildlife and am of the same opinion as you- we have pushed wildlife out and done so much to harm wildlife particularly in urban areas that we absolutely have a duty to look after them wherever we possibly can.

My main question was whether anybody thought that the hooting would scare my hamsters. The hooting was audible in every room in my house the night that I asked so I ended up closing the blinds and drawing the curtains which did block out the sound a bit.

I considered playing some classical music to them but there was nothing on the radio!

[Jadetooth]

ok and sorry my message sounded unpleasant we had a spate of bird nettings on trees near me recently which was really sad!

Hope your hamster is ok with it, it may be that lots of these things are learnt in the wild and they won't know that it's would be a threat.

sending your hamster lots of love!

[Vierville]

Originally Posted by Jadetooth

ok and sorry my message sounded unpleasant we had a spate of bird nettings on trees near me recently which was really sad!

Hope your hamster is ok with it, it may be that lots of these things are learnt in the wild and they won't know that it's would be a threat.

sending your hamster lots of love!

Thank you, and absolutely no offence taken!

Bird nettings? What kind of savage cruelty is that?!

I am a huge bird lover (I'm taking care of a young dove and a young sparrow at the moment, both of whom were tiny when found).

You'd think that being entirely domestic and never having been in the wild hamsters wouldn't know that owls etc are a threat but my one hamster, Monty was out in her playpen once and an advert for a wildlife documentary came on on the tv in the next room...the advert had an eagle calling and Monty froze in place just as the eagle csll played and went completely lifeless. We really had a weak moment thinking she had had a heart attack but after a few minutes of being totally unresponsive she woke up and hid in her hide the rest of the night.

[AmityvilleHams]

At the end of the day no matter how much we breed an animal in captivity we can't remove all the wild from them! Dogs still display wild instincts and we've been breeding them for an extremely long time.