[LunaTheHamster1]

I'm sorry to hear this. I think it can be hard in our little ones to always know what is wrong with them.
With my syrian hamster Sunny I had taken her in to the vets as one of her teeth had grown very quickly and she wasn't eating. he had just finished telling me how great she looked and when he went to sort her tooth out he found a big mass in her stomach, I had to put her to sleep. Admittedly he wasn't my normal exotic vets as they saw me as an emergency due to it being New Years Eve. It was the same vets practice though.

I also think with our hamsters health sometimes right there in the moment they will look fine, it is only when they are at home and we observe what is going on with them over days that we can truly put a picture together of what is happening with them.

Re your items, i think you should be fine just cooking them in the oven for 20-30 mins around 90 degrees c , especially if they are going into storage too for a while. I don't think it was an infection, it sounds like his organs were slowly shutting down. So sorry for your loss.