[SevySev]

Hi everyone,

We are heartbroken that our little Roborovski Bruce passed away this morning. We are still in shock. I regitered on HC a few days ago because we noticed change in his behaviour, but he seemed to be better and so I didn't ask right away.

We found him forever asleep this morning and I would like to still ask my questions to the community to try and understand what happened and at least learn something. It seems so sad, cruel and arbitrary otherwise.

Background is, we bought him at the charity section of the pet store on the 14th of March 2020. He probably was around 3 months old then. They had kept him separate from his litter because he had a littleinjury on the nose, so to heal him they kept him apart until he was able to be given up for adoption, and we had him.

This means he only lived for maybe a year and a month and that seems awfully short for a Roborovski - I had read they would live up to 3-4 years?

Please be gentle, as we are hurting very much. We considered going to the vet but he seemed to be better and we didn't realize there was a life or death situation. I don't know if we did anything wrong.


In the last year, Bruce was always very lively and did a lot of wheel, super fast, often. We normally didn't see him much during the day, but we did from time to time. His hair was very thin, so sometimes he seemed a bit "greasy" despite grooming himself normally. We tried introducing him to sand baths but he disliked those and never used them.

About a month and a half ago my partner researched how to make his home better and found online that the standard cage we had is maybe a little bt small. So we bought him a bigger plastic box with no lid, and put the beddign and all his usual belongings in there, and he seemed happy and normal.

His box was close to the heater, which we started to use a few weeks ago, on mild heat (only during the day, to break the cold). After a few days we realized that this was not clever at all so we moved him opposite, far away from the heater.

Throughout, he seemed happy, healthy and content, as usual.

Now, I want to say that I am nearly 6 months pregnant and, because there is a virus that hamster droppings can have that is very very dangerous for a foetus, we decided that I would not handle him (usually we alternated days with my partnere, or did it togther). So, In the last few months, I was less reactive and aware of changes in Bruce, but my partner was more.

Maybe 2 weeks ago? My partner told me he was worried about Bruce. All of a sudden, Bruce started making little squeaky noises, which he never did before. He did them often, also when we handled him. We intensely Googled, and found that it was probably like purring sound - that hamster is happy. We probably went wrong there? I have a short video but I cannot bring myself to looking at it right now.

His behaviour was still normal, eating food the same, fast running on the wheel the same... so we were surprised but not worried. Come to think of it, I think this is when he started to be more awake during the day.

At some point I noticed that and I Googled it too - I learned that it really depends on the hamster and that most probably we got more aware of that because it was the holidays, so we are less absorbed with work (we work from home throughout lockdown) and probably notice him more during the day. When we handled him, he seemed normal, fast, curious, as usual, so again, no cause for worry.

Then at some point we started noticing that on top of the squeaky noises there was also a lot of bruxing giong on. Lound teeth chattering noises. We looked at his teeth and they looked normal, the top ones not too short but not too long, the bottom ones longer than the top ones.

Online we saw mixed info on the bruxism - that it is normal, or it can be a sign of pain.

But Bruce was still curious, eating, running on his wheel, drinking, climbing on things... so why whorry?

Our previous hammy (and first together) had gotten very still and quiet in the last days before his death and this certainly didn't look like it.

In the last days though something changed, and my partner said, I think his back is a little bit hunched? And I agreed. Just a very round back, perhaps a bit high on his paws as well. At the same time, we noticed that he really wasn't pooing as much as before. It's hard to tell how much he does because the cage is larger now and he didn't usually poop always in the same place.

So, after looking up online, we thought that he porbably was constipated, as the signs added up. Bruce was still eating and wheeling, albeit slower. So, we started looking more closely at his food intake and we gave him just a little bit of carrot, yoghurt, veg so he had fiber and water for sure - but just a little bit! Not too much to not go too hard the other way. He massaged his tummy lightly too.

A day or two later, we saw that Bruce had started poopign again, so we thought, "that was it!". AGain throughout, he kept beign curious, active, and running on the wheel. I even felt he was less hunched... but maybe not.

I didn't mention that progressively he also started to grind his food to powder. We always give him the same hamster food from the pet store - the hamster mix - and in the last year he had his preferences but would never leave powder remains of the pellets. But now we saw that he was doing it.

But at the same time, he stopped squeaking and bruxing - so we thought he was back to normal.

At this point, yesterday, all I can say was he was still running on his wheel often, but slower, less hunched but still a bit, loved the yoghurt, didn't squeak or brux, was awake several times in the day to eat/run, and also at night, but had totally powdered his food. Yet in the last days, when holding him in our hands if we gave him a peanut (his favourite!) he would still, as usual, very skillfully peel it, discard the skin, and eat half of a half there and then - just as he has always done!

So, as you can see... we had quite a few changes, some worriying, others comforting. I don't know if we should have been more alarmed. I don't know if we should have brought him to the vet and if so, at what point?

Our previous hammy had had mites issues and we had brought him to the vet twice - we had learned our lesson. With Bruce we preventatively treated regularly with the store-bought drops, and he never had mite issues.

But this, this is totally unexpected.

I feel so much guilt for not seeing things sooner, beign more aware, knowing more.

This morning I gazed at the cage and Bruce was sleeping with his butt outside his house and his head inside; I found that odd but didn't disturb him. I checked, he was breathing.

Later I was cookign lunch, Bruce was in the same position... my partner said, "Darling... Bruce... died".

Just above a year old. What could he have had that killed him like this? I feel so guilty. But I'm not sure what I should have done and when.

Ahy thoughts on hammy health, please let us know. I know sometimes they die for unknown reasons. This is so hard.

Thank you for reading and for your sympathy.