What's up with the Hamster

What a darling name for a hamster!!! I agree with the other posts, he's getting up there in age, but I would also check to be sure he's not too cold. Also sounds like he could use a reduction of food - maybe scale back on the amount of treats he gets and make sure he is eating lots of veggies. Our hamsters loved baby carrots (remove what they don't finish by the end of the day) and iceberg lettuce was a huge hit.

I hope Cheese Nip is around for at least another year or so, make sure you have lots of pictures to remember him by, and I would start to gently prepare your daughter using simple phrases like "hamster live about 2 to 3 years" and leave it at that for now.

Good luck and I'm so glad that your hamster is in such a loving home - they are cute little critter, aren't they?!

I am not a hampster expert but all of the hampsters I have raised only lived 2to3 years, depends on how healthy and how loved they are. That is what a vet told me. Hopefully yours will live for a while longer for your daughters sake, my daughter was crushed when she found hers dead. And hasn't had one since. Hope I helped. D.

Hi S.,

I'm not sure where you got your information from, but if it gets cold enough in the hanmsters environment,they will hibernate. many people had thought their little pets have died and put them in a shoe box or something to bury them, only to have the little critter come back to life.

if your pet is 16 months old that's a pretty good age for a hamster. he maybe just needs to rest more than ususal, or he's just showing his age. It will be very difficult if something happens to him and your daughter doesn't understand, but it is part of life.

If you haven't already done so, you might want to talk about death alittle with your daughter and explain things to her. It might make things a little easier if and when anything does happen to Chesse Nip. Good luck.

Go on Google to see what info you can find... here are a few quick links I found- Take care & Good luck.
http://www.hamster-club.com/health.asp

http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Your-Sick-Hamster

http://www.myhammie.com/sick-hamster.php

My daughter has two hampsters Charcoil and Bella and they are going through the same thing. I had hampsters when I was a child also and remember it is something that they go through espicially as they get older. Hampsters only live about 2-3 years so it could be getting close to that time, sorry to say that. I know your daughter will be crushed when that happens, hopefully you have talked about it with her.

wow you have had your hamster a long time. We got a few hamsters when our oldest was a year old. He loved them and watched them in their cages a lot. I got a hamster book and read that their life span was 9 months-1 year and we had ours about 8 months and I didn't want them to die on us so I gave them away and think that may have been easier than him possibly finding his little friends lying lifeless in their cages.

I don't know what to tell you but could be your hamster is going through that process. Maybe call your pet store and see what they think?

Hamsters are nocturnal, so he may be sleeping while you're awake. Usually hamsters do like to make a nice little bed for themselves. If you think he's ill, you could call a vet that specializes in exotics, and they should be able to give you more information.

K.

That sounds an awful lot like a "nesting" ritual normally performed by pregnat females in most species of animals. Possibly male hamsters have a paternal drive to do it. Are we sure Chees Nip is a male? Maybe his girth has tricked him into thinking he is pregnant.

Ours lasted about 15 months. He developed some sort of skin disorder (heard it's common in these little rodents) and started sleeping all of the time & burrowing etc. Check him over good to make sure that he doesn't have any growths (yuck - i know) and just keep an eye on him. Our neighbor said that her hamsters usually last 1-3 years (average being 18 months.) She's had around 25 of them with her 5 boys!
Good luck!

Hamsters DO hibernate ! Warm up the room where you keep him to prevent him from doing that.
Also, their lifespan averages about 2 years.
He may have a lot of life left in him yet, but start deciding what you will tell your children when he does finally pass on.

How old is little Cheese Nip? Or how long have you had him. Hamster's don't live that long, or at least they didn't in our house. Only 2-3 years.

Good Luck!

Lori K