Hamster suddenly died after changing her sawdust

[Caitlin96]

Hi,

I’m just wondering if anyone is able to suggest what might have killed one of my dwarf hamsters earlier this week.

She absolutely loved burrowing and was super active and normal etc, then on Monday morning my mum cleaned her cage out and decided to use different shavings than usual.

Anyway, before the clean out she was busy burrowing away and being her usual self, no problems at all. Then after we put her back in her cage after cleaning her cage she completely changed. She no longer wanted to burrow, avoided her shavings/bedding altogether and seemed very different. It was as though within 30 mins she had become a completely different hamster!

Then by the next day she had unfortunately passed away.

Does anyone know why this may be?

(I’m aware some people may be against using sawdust but my hammie was used to it when I bought her and I’ve never had any issues with it with any previous hammies)

Thanks

[alpacassei]

I’m so sorry for your loss x

Unfortunately seemingly spontaneous deaths are common with pet store hamsters, especially Russian dwarfs. While it’s possible the new bedding caused a respiratory reaction (especially if it was actual sawdust and not woodshavings), its most likely that she had an internal issue relating to overbreeding. Theres also the small possibility of rapid-onset diabetes, the most noticeable symptom is drinking more but with the weather getting warmer hammies will be drinking more anyway so it can be hard to recognise if you’re not experienced with the illness.

[herbi7]

Did your mum use any chemical cleaner in the cage? That could cause problems