Hamster less active than usual

[misslyss]

Hello!

My Syrian hamster, Rosie, is about 1 year and 1 month old. She's my first hamster.

I've recently started noticing that she's less active than usual.

Usually she wakes up at about 8:00 pm, uses her litter corner, and runs on her wheel. Then I check on her (she is in a separate room so my cat can't bother her), give her a treat such as a carrot, some seeds, or a yogurt drop, and put her in her ball. I let her run in it for 20-30 minutes, let her walk around on me or explore my bed or my desk for a bit, and then put her back in her habitat, and then she runs on her wheel again.

She lives in a wire rat cage with a floor space of about 2000 cm2 and a height of about 76 cm. She has a large wheel, two water bottles, a cup for food, and paper hamster bedding, in addition to lots of wood chews, some toilet paper rolls, a litter box, a plastic snap-together house, a wooden house, a mineral rock, a salt lick, and a stone chewing cube thing. I feed her a mix of VitaSmart mixed hamster food and Living World hamster pellets. She does chew on the bars sometimes despite having a lot of (and a variety of) chew toys. The temperature of the room her habitat is in is 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lately (for about a week, maybe 1.5 weeks) I've noticed that Rosie doesn't run in her ball as much. Yesterday she didn't run on her wheel much, either. Today when I went in to check on her she was sitting in a corner in the little wooden shelter she has. She rarely uses the shelter, so this is strange, and usually when I go in she's on her wheel.

She did come out to see me and her appetite hasn't changed -- I gave her a baby carrot yesterday and she loved it, and today I gave her a tiny piece of leaf lettuce, which she also loved and ate. Her teeth look okay -- she yawned yesterday when she came to see me as she had just gotten up, and they didn't look too long. She is walking okay too, and her eyes look clear. Her fur is still nice as well. I don't feel any lumps on her.

The poops in her home look normal and she is drinking her water, although she doesn't poop in her ball as much. She used to poop in it a lot. Today after she was in it, though, she hadn't pooped at all. It does look as if she's still using her litter corner as usual, though, so I think she's peeing fine, but it's hard to know for sure. It's also hard to know how much of her hamster pellets and mix she's eating because she hoards it away under her nest (which she makes under her paper in a corner).

Actually, while writing this post, I went in again to check on her and she was sitting on her wheel and seemed a bit more active.

Is her change in activity because she is middle-aged, because it's September and winter is getting near, or because she isn't feeling well?

Thanks in advance!

[Lala Noma]

Sorry, I can't help you, but I am interested in this post... My little Pizca, an hybrid female, is one year and three months old and she is acting like that, too. I don't know if there's something wrong...

[cypher]

It is often a sign that they noticing a change in weather & day length & preparing for winter, obviously changes in temp & light will vary depending on where in the world you are but as long as they are otherwise healthy, eating normally etc that's probably the most likely reason.

[Lala Noma]

Originally Posted by cypher

It is often a sign that they noticing a change in weather & day length & preparing for winter, obviously changes in temp & light will vary depending on where in the world you are but as long as they are otherwise healthy, eating normally etc that's probably the most likely reason.

Thank you, Cypher. I feel better now

[misslyss]

Thank you! I'm glad it's nothing serious, then.