No Korn for Norman...

[Vierville]

So late last night all three of my little chaps were out of their nests and my wife and I decided to see if they would show a preference for different types of music. Bearing in mind it was 1am and we live in an apartment building, plus we do not want to scare them at any time with loud noises, all of the music was played softly.

We played some Frank Sinatra and some Queen which they all seemed not to change their behaviour for, carrying on their business,then we put on a song by Korn (a heavy metal band). The result was fascinating. Nanuk, who is always very feisty and who was busy cracking a peanut shell got very hyperactive and began really having a go at the peanut shell, Baldrick stopped dead in his tracks and sat up and stared (which he does a lot!) and Norman, bless him, ran and hid behind his house.

We switched it off and he came out again.

Fascinating.

[Presley524]

That's really interesting! I never thought about the fact that hamsters could have different reactions to music!

[AmityvilleHams]

While I don't know if anyone brought up hamster music preference before me on the forum, it is most definitely a thing that exists. I know when I was posting about my past Syrian Bambi's musical preferences it didn't seem to be something given much thought.

I don't think I ever tried enough music with Bambi(named after a Sex Pistols song more than a Disney character), but she did enjoy Marilyn Manson most. She also enjoyed the song form of a particular bit of Norse mythology(poem technically if my brain is functioning right with all this quarantine) especially when I would sing it to her. Peter Murphy was also enjoyed, just not as much as Marilyn Manson. There are probably many other musicians and such I'm forgetting!

I think animals in general can often have preferences for certain songs though so it isn't too surprising to me. I don't have any hamsters at the moment to really share any more hamster musical preferences, but my dog seems to be especially calmed by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra(but he likes other music too). With the cats the male seems to be a fan of Nine Inch Nails(and also genuinely watches TV) while the female seems more accepting of jazz and Nirvana(coincidentally and quite unfortunately her birthday happens to be the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death).

[Vierville]

Fascinating AmityvilleHams. I absolutely agree with you that animals can and do have musical preferences. In fact the reason we decided to see what music the hamsters each like is that our dove absolutely loves (but I mean LOVES) the song 'Surfin bird' by the Trashmen.

He perches on my hand and I play that song on my phone and he bobs up and down, stares at and pecks the screen...any other song he doesn't even bother with.