Hamster Age Equivalents As Estimated by Lifespans on Hamster Central

[Catherine Spark]

I don't know if there is another thread on this, or an official figure, but I did some rudimentary calculations based on the average ages of death of male Syrian hamsters as posted in the 'How Long Do They Live?' thread here.

The hamsters I counted had to have a definite specified age of death, had to be male and had to be Syrian. I will do it for females too, and both genders of other hamster species at some point, but for now I've kept it to male Syrians for better accuracy.

The average age of death (including 'natural' and 'unnatural' deaths) was roughly 26 months.

The 'How Long Do They Live?' thread contains a post by liam4mail containing a (now dead) link to some source that apparently states that 2 weeks (i.e. 14 days) has been said to equal one hamster year and that every human year is 25 hamster years and every human hour is a hamster day. But 58 hamster years (which is round about what twenty six months would average out as) seems a little too young to be equivalent to a human lifespan, especially if the hamsters are well looked after (as we know the ones listed on HC would be) for all, or the majority of, their lives (unless they're rescue hamsters, perhaps).

After my initial investigations I would cautiously estimate that:

10 days = 1 hamster year
So 1 human year = 36.5 hamster years

Then if we get our hamsters from human pet shops they are around 4.2 hamster years old (although we know in actual fact with animals, aging and developing happens much faster when they're younger than it does with humans, and then tails off in rate as they get older).

And the average lifespan of a male Syrian hamster as estimated by ages of death on hamster central = 26 months which equals around 79 years. Hamsters that make it to three (which we know is getting impressively old for them) have lived an equivalent of 109.5 years, which again is impressively old for a human, but definitely do-able with a very healthy life.

Given the difference between well bred hamsters (equivalent of growing up in a clean home with a healthy diet and plenty of exercise) and badly bred hamsters (equivalent of growing up in a cramped, squalid slum with really poor quality nutrition) this average conversion rate seems to me to be about right.

If this is the case, then we can take down or estimate (and therefore celebrate) our hamsters' 'birthdays', and reflect on their development and progress in that time, every ten days!

What do others think?

[Gamina]

That would have made my Cat 182 Hamster years old as he lived to just under 5 human years o.O now thats OLD

[Flamestriker]

I'm depressed. I wish they lived longer.

My male syrians all died at roughly 2 and a half years of age. I can't remember the females sorry since for the last 10 years I kept all males. I wonder if longevity is greater in females?

[Gamina]

I think it tends to be greater in males from looking at the figures on the forum and from keeping myself.

[kirst]

This is kinda sad Wish they lived as long as other pets!

[emilyweb]

It is sad, but rather interesting and chaps lets not think about what's to come lets think about now

[Katty_Sheldon]

I cant wait for the winter white estimations, thank you for this post!

[LawaRawr]

this post is actually quite interesting, i do wish they live longer but i guess we just have to make the most of the time that we have with them

[TraceyH]

Originally Posted by Catherine Spark

I don't know if there is another thread on this, or an official figure, but I did some rudimentary calculations based on the average ages of death of male Syrian hamsters as posted in the 'How Long Do They Live?' thread here.

The hamsters I counted had to have a definite specified age of death, had to be male and had to be Syrian. I will do it for females too, and both genders of other hamster species at some point, but for now I've kept it to male Syrians for better accuracy.

The average age of death (including 'natural' and 'unnatural' deaths) was roughly 26 months.

The 'How Long Do They Live?' thread contains a post by liam4mail containing a (now dead) link to some source that apparently states that 2 weeks (i.e. 14 days) has been said to equal one hamster year and that every human year is 25 hamster years and every human hour is a hamster day. But 58 hamster years (which is round about what twenty six months would average out as) seems a little too young to be equivalent to a human lifespan, especially if the hamsters are well looked after (as we know the ones listed on HC would be) for all, or the majority of, their lives (unless they're rescue hamsters, perhaps).

After my initial investigations I would cautiously estimate that:

10 days = 1 hamster year
So 1 human year = 36.5 hamster years

Then if we get our hamsters from human pet shops they are around 4.2 hamster years old (although we know in actual fact with animals, aging and developing happens much faster when they're younger than it does with humans, and then tails off in rate as they get older).

And the average lifespan of a male Syrian hamster as estimated by ages of death on hamster central = 26 months which equals around 79 years. Hamsters that make it to three (which we know is getting impressively old for them) have lived an equivalent of 109.5 years, which again is impressively old for a human, but definitely do-able with a very healthy life.

Given the difference between well bred hamsters (equivalent of growing up in a clean home with a healthy diet and plenty of exercise) and badly bred hamsters (equivalent of growing up in a cramped, squalid slum with really poor quality nutrition) this average conversion rate seems to me to be about right.

If this is the case, then we can take down or estimate (and therefore celebrate) our hamsters' 'birthdays', and reflect on their development and progress in that time, every ten days!

What do others think?

26 months isn't too bad considering Ithought they lived 24 months max. My eldest is 21 months so hopefully five more months with him. But, I gave him his christmas presents in october just in case he pops off early

[Eleanor]

My hamsters would love it if I celebrated their birthdays every ten days. I think their cages would be pretty full with all their presents and I would be broke! :')
This is really interesting! It's so sad they live for such a short time, isn't it?
It would be interesting to compare males and females, along with different breeds and hybrids to breeders etc. This was a really good idea