Ageing Hamsters

[Mogster66]

I have a Syrian Hamster that is around two and a half years old,he is eating and drinking as normal but I hardly ever get to handle him, I go to bed at 10.30 or 11.00pm and get up at 5.00am for work but he is always in his nest,I can hear him nibbling away in the morning but he does not seem like he wants to come out to play,maybe once a week he will appeare from nowhere and be like a two month old Ham full of energy and running all around the place,I,m used to handling him morning and night,thanks.

[DrKMcK]

If I have a sleeping ham and I want to have him come out to play or I want to check on her (He being young Ted E. and she being my old girl Patches), I (ahem) accidentally bump/bang/jostle things near their cages, or their actual cages. I, of course, "happen" to have a few meal worms on me (Yecch!) which smell good to hammies and they will come out. You can train a ham to come out ot play in the daytime. They'll go right back to bed afterward. (Unless they are like Ted E, who can go at all hours for hours . Try doing this around 7 or 8 p.m.

[BrainGirl]

If you're worried about the change in his behaviour, from regular appearances to rarer ones, I think it's normal. Every aging animal I've known has done that actually. They sleep more, and more often, and occasionally have bursts of activity. As long as you don't see any changes in his droppings or odd smells and as long as he's eating you probably have nothing to worry about

[caro317]

It's easy to get out of a play time routine but you can encourage this by proffering treats as DrK suggested and also it's important to make sure you're providing a stimulating and constantly changing environment. I find that if I put in a new chew toy or block with a yoghurt drop rubbed across its surface they will be up for hours trying to squeeze every last drop of taste from it. Hams do get bored quickly so after a couple of days time to change it or something else. Hopefully this stimulation will give him more motivation to be up longer

[Mogster66]

Thanks for your nice answers everyone,lets hope the lazy bones gets up early tonight lol