Winter Weight Gain

[Fluffagrams]

Do hamsters naturally gain weight in the run up to winter?

May's weight is currently 37g and whilst she certainly doesn't feel overweight or fat, it's bigger than she was about two or three months ago.

I'm wondering if it's to do with the fact that she's actually eating better than she was a couple of months ago, whether she's running a little bit less on her wheel overnight or whether the change in season has somethig to do with it?

[cypher]

She's still on the small side so maybe it's just that she's eating better.

I noticed Mickle's put on a couple of grams & seems to be sleeping more so exercising less whether it's winter or she's getting lazy I don't know!
In the wild it would be natural to put on weight at this time of year but I don't normally notice a difference with mine.

How old is May now, I can't remember how long you've had her but maybe she's still been growing a little the last couple of months or is she too old for that now?!

[Fluffagrams]

She's just turned ten months so I'm not sure if she should be fully grown by that stage or not.

[cypher]

I thought she was a bit younger than that, she will be fully grown now then, they usually stop growing by about 6 months, 8 months at most.

[Fluffagrams]

She still acts like a youngster a lot of the time.

A couple of months ago she was picking at her food and eating pretty much the seeds and mealworms from her mix but since she's been having Science Selective as her main food, we don't seem to be wasting as much food anymore. I like to think that the improvements to her diet have helped but I did wonder if it might have been seasonal.

Thanks,

[Thin Lizzy]

Twinkle's been storing more, sleeping more and stuffing her house with substrate and the extra toilet paper I've been giving her.
May's fully grown and an adult, Twinkle eats things that she wouldn't normally eat from her food mixes during the colder weather, it's so funny watching her stuff her pouches and then squeeze into her house.