Stashing...poop?

[Jesska]

Hi everyone! I haven't been very active lately because of school, but I'm glad to say Mabel is doing very well! She's very mellow and VERY energetic!

She has this adorable little habit of taking any treats I give her and carrying them over to her food dish, where she seems to store all her goodies. But tonight I saw she was doing something strange. She looked like she was grooming, and i kept hearing a "plink"... I looked closer, and I saw she was pooping, picking it up in her mouth, and literally tossing it into her food dish! I was wondering where all that poo was coming from; I thought she was just going potty on top of her food, but nope, she's throwing it into the dish!

Does anyone else's hammy "hoard" their poo? Or is Mabel just strange? :-k

[Cheetobandito]

my first Hammy, a Syrian named Fidget, threw poop through the bars of his cage, and I have seen Hammys picking up their own poop, but hoarding is something I rarely see. she may be just getting the feces out of her way?

[Jesska]

She poops in other areas in her tank without touching it, even in the wheel while she's using it, but only throws it directly into the food dish whenever she does this near the dish. She will also toss little bits of treats in too if she doesn't feel like eating it right away, she's even carried an entire baby carrot over in her mouth, the way a dog carries a bone, and carefully placed it into the dish, so I'm fairly sure that she sees the dish as her stash. Maybe she's just silly :p

[Thin Lizzy]

When I do a daily spot check, I always remove any poo I can see. My oldest usually leaves a little pile at the entrance of his igloo for me to collect, my youngest leaves me a few outside her bedding area but she also likes to bury them. Every 3rd day, I'll look in and under their houses.

[Piebald]

Vid? ;)
I'm sure it's just a special thing your hammie does. Your description was great-- I could hear the "plink". :)

[cypher]

If it's fresh then she's probably just saving it to eat, that's what they do!!

[peasypea]

Is she young?
When I first got my latest Syrian Nelly she used to do exactly that but none of my others ever have!
All of mine when they are young seem to eat from the food bowl rather than take it and stash it, and she just used to poo while she was eating, bend down and flick the poo away with her mouth but it generally went into the dish. Used to make me laugh watching her do it because it was so weird! You could also see her eat the ones they 'recycle' as she was doing it.

Now she is a bit older she stashes her food in her bed but she obviously still does the same because all her poo is in her food stash so I just have to change it regularly. If your hamster is anything like mine she will probably stop after a couple of months - it's just a weird habit! :lol:

[Pebbles82]

It's normal for hammies to eat their own poop - they have two stomachs and get extra vitamins from the poop second time around. Apparently there are two different kinds of poop but I can't tell the difference! I wondered if she was young too because when Charlie was young he actually used to poop in his food bowl. I think they do it as a resourceful thing in case food ever gets scarce, as Charlie only ever did when he was older if his food bowl was empty. I think when they're young they just poop all the time and especially when they eat! And why not put it in the food bowl if they think food might be scarce one day! the only places I ever find poop these days are under his nest and in his wheel.

[Jesska]

She's 6 months old, and she only seems to do it when her dish is nearly empty. ( I tell her she can't have any more until her brown pellets are gone, like a little kid with veggies :p ) I've seen her eat it before, but I just thought it was so strange that she was "saving it for later"!

[Pebbles82]

Aha that's it! I used to do that too - not fill his bowl till he'd taken everything and then he'd kind of poop in it in a panic as if there might never be food again! Now I just top it up regularly and hide bits of food in the cage and substrate as well and he doesn't poop in the food bowl any more. Most of his food seems to go in his hoards anyway - I always find loads - he seems to eat the fresh stuff and hidden bits more.

[Thin Lizzy]

2 stomachs! Why don't humans have 2 stomachs?
These hammies are so lucky! They can stuff food right down to their hips, 2 stomachs and eating their poo is better 2nd time around. lol!