Hamster doesn't want to come out

[hmr1221]

My Syrian, Helix, has been acting a little recently. Last Thursday night, she didn't come out to get her food, and the next day, I checked on her and found her really lethargic. I moved her to the bedroom from the office where it's just a little warmer and turned on a space heater and she perked up and was fine.

Last night (the next Thursday), she did the same thing, even though she's been fine this week. She's alive (I checked) and she did come out to use the potty corner, but she hasn't gotten a drink and she still didn't get her food from her bowl.

My husband is home from work today, and turned on the space heater. She hasn't come out yet, but that may just be because she is sleeping for the day.

Thoughts?

[mangoandmimi]

What's the temperature in her usual spot? If you don't know probably get a cheap thermometer and check - I wouldn't let it get below 17 degrees really as they tend to not want to come out. Worst case scenario they can enter a state called torpor if it gets really cold, where they usually don't wake back up. You want to keep the temperature relatively constant at 18-20 degrees if possible. I just set the central heating to come on at regular intervals but if you can't, then I'd just get an oil heater in the same room as they're cheapest. Hopefully it is just the temperature and not anything more serious.

[hmr1221]

As an update: I took her to the vet just to be sure, and the vet agrees that she just keeps trying to hibernate and go into torpor. She said that it's probably because the weather changed so suddenly this year as Helix didn't struggle last winter.

Our house is fairly consistent in temp, about 68-72, a little less at night. That's about 20-22 for those who aren't F people. So, hopefully she'll be fine.