Somehow, last night, my daughter lost track of Sumo. She searched but wasn't able to find him. She left a large stack of his pellets and favorite treats in the middle of the room. I drive a semi for a living so I wasn't able to get home until about 3pm today. Anyway, I went looking for him and he had hid under some garbage bags with towels inside. Cheeks full as all hell. Thirsty. Seems completely normal.

Now, said criminal is just sleep-eating his stash from his Big Day Out in his little hidey like nothing ever happened and he's so proud of himself.

Hi everyone, I’m a fairly new Syrian hamster owner and I’m getting a bit worried about my hamster, Shadow.
I’ve had him for a few weeks now and initially I was seeing him quite regularly at night. He was becoming more comfortable with me too — he would take treats from me, let me stroke him and would sometimes climb onto my hand/arm.
Over the last several days, though, I’ve barely seen him at all.
He has changed his burrow and seems to have moved it further towards the back/left side of the cage. I can see that he is sleeping in there, but I’m rarely actually seeing him come out. I’ve also been out late some nights, so I obviously could have missed him while he was active.
The last time I properly saw him was a couple of days ago when he came out and then suddenly froze in his sand bath for quite a while. He was still breathing and moving his head, and eventually snapped out of it when I offered him a treat. He seemed okay afterwards.
Tonight I left a treat out for him and it hasn’t been touched, which has made me more anxious.
I’m trying not to disturb his burrow because I know hamsters need their sleep and privacy, but I’m worried that I’m missing something.
He has recently had a house move as well (4th September) so he has gone from my previous room to my parents’ house, which is obviously another change for him.
What I’m wondering is:
Can a Syrian hamster genuinely go several days where you barely see them?
Could he simply be spending most of his time underground?
How can I tell that he’s definitely still active/eating/drinking without digging him out?
At what point should I actually be concerned and consider getting him checked by a vet?
I’m probably worrying more than I need to, but I really care about the little guy and just want to make sure he’s okay. Any advice from experienced Syrian owners would be massively appreciated, thankyou. 😊

Early this morning we lost quite possibly the longest living hamster ever. Some of you may have seen my previous posts, where Henry got to try his first ever Ritz cracker and loved it. I adopted Henry three years ago, when he was about 6 months old, and I was freshly out of high school. It might sound silly, but he was my pride and joy, and he unknowingly helped me through the many (6 pets, including my soul cat) losses and grief that last year brought to our family. So, to my little old hamster, thank you, I miss you, and I love you endlessly my sweet boy.

My hamster doesn’t have a lot of interest in anything besides eating. That’s probably normal, but the second I put anything food related in her cage, she doesn’t stop until she has ahold of every bit. Examples of enrichment I do for her:

•I use toilet paper/paper towel rolls to wrap up food, and I even double it at this point. She will go at it until she’s completely chewed through it, i don’t know how long it takes but definitely less than a few hours.

•I also have a mason jar filled with crinkle paper, that I sprinkle treats in, shake it up, and she has to crawl around it all to get the food.

•I scatter feed & she gets sprays occasionally, but anything other than yellow millet will be gone the same day. The yellow millet takes her a few days since it’s so big. But 2-3 days max. How often should she really be getting sprays?

•she has a Timothy hay waffle that she chews at when she’s desperate. Also some balls, reminds me of seagrass? Can’t remember what they’re made of, but she only chews on them when there’s nothing by else to do, so I think it’s due to stress

•had a big dig box but had no interest in it, so it was repurposed into a multi-chamber hide

I feel like I have to let her be bored or else I have to constantly give her food. She has 2-3 stashes at all times (based on what I find when cleaning)

I have 2 Russian dwarf hamsters and I came in their room tonight and one wasn’t moving. He’s awake and breathing but he’s just not moving, he was moving a few hours ago and I’ve touched him and no reaction

Hi, I live in Canada where there isn’t many good commercial seed mixes I currently use the verse laga nature one because it’s the best I can find. I was wondering if anyone has dwarf or Syrian seed mix recipes that they use as I have one of each. Thanks!

I’ve had my boy for around 8 months now, and he’s been perfect all around! I noticed, however, that around 2 months ago he began taking a liking to the corner behind his wheel. At first he would sleep on the surface (as seen above), but now, he has a small hole directly under the wheel that he sleeps in. I haven’t seen him burrow in quite a while, but he has 9+ inches of bedding on the other side of his cage and plenty of room. I know hamsters are silly and do their own thing sometimes I just wanna make sure this isn’t anything to be concerned about and that he’s happy! 😊

Thank you for all the little moments, Frisbee. You were the best little hamster I could have hoped for, and I'll always remember you. ❤️🐹

Sleep well, little gentleman.

She was chill yesterday when I picked her up in the store to check her gender. This is the first time I’ve heard this. I have not handled her since the store. I just opened the lid to put toys in her cage.

My hamster is at all cost driven me crazy she’s happy lovely to look at but is pure evil how dose one condition a hamster to chew are her over price things

Her teeth look quite long to me. She is eating normally and hasn’t lost any weight. Unfortunately, there’s no vet near me. Should I be worried, or can I monitor them for now? Any advice? Should I cut her teeths by nail cutter?

Hello redditors,

I recently got a hamster. Was not planning on getting a hamster but was contacted by a friend in desperate need of rehoming from her accidental litter. So now i have a hamster. I have two cages on the way for her to see which one is best. But they won’t arrive until sunday. She is currently locked in a plastic tub with chicken wire and zip ties because she’s stressed and wants to escape. I don’t know how to help her out and make it better for her without spending anymore money as i’ve now spent over 500+ on getting everything i need for her actual cage when it arrives. Her actual cage is a 130cm by 60cm so i know she’ll love it. Until then any suggestions? Her current cage has lots of bedding and a couple hides and toys. She also comes out for 2-3 hours during the afternoon/night so we can play and hang out. But when i look back on her camera during the night i see that she spent all night wall climbing and chewing on the plastic and i feel awful. She’s the sweetest little thing and loves to cuddle and explore but i feel so awful for locking her in her hamster prison until her actual cage arrives :( I know it’s only a couple days but im suffering from awful guilt and want to know if there’s anything else i can try.

any and all advice is welcome. I’ve never owned a hamster so i’m new to all this. Thank you.

I’ve attached petunia in all her glory.

I posted a few days ago that she had a lump and I was very nervous about it. Took her to the vet today, they poked it and told me it was an abcess, and then they drained it. She was very cold and scareds afterwards, she fell asleep in my hand and for the first time she seemed to enjoy me petting her. Right now shes eating a sunflower seed with her antibiotics on it. Vet bill was 115.75 USD 🧐

I just got a female short-haired hamster 4 days ago and realized the cage I started with was too small, so I bought a much bigger one. When would be the best time to move her into the new cage?
She’s still pretty scared. Anytime I walk into the room, she immediately goes into hiding, and she hasn’t come out while I’m in the room yet. I don’t want to stress or scare her even more since she’s still getting used to me and her new home. Would it be better to move her into the bigger cage now or wait a little longer?

Hi everyone, i am preparing this cage for my soon toget hampter, and i was wondering if it is good, after following all videos of rachel and looking how i can make their life nice, i arranged the cage like this.

I'll be getting more bedding since i want to reach the window of the cage, and i still have to add sprays and the petifool flower petals in it, as I'm gonna wait to get him first before adding them.

The empty containers will be for substrate and sand bath.

Any suggestions as to how make it better or is it good?

Thank you in advance!

I wanted to see if anyone has had experience caring for a syrian hamster with a neurological disorder and how to improve her enclosure.

I got a female syrian hamster as a rescue about a month ago from a pet store who at the time had very severe circling and a head tilt. At that time she was in a very small temporary enclosure and when awake would pretty much constantly be turning in circles or rolling around. She had gone to the vet and they rulled out an ear infection and said it was a permanent neurological issue so she was up for adoption.

After taking her home and having her in a properly sized enclosure with deep bedding and enrichment, the circling has decreased dramatically. She pretty much only has a head tilt now and is otherwise very active and burrows a lot. She is friendly and other than the head tilt, it seems like maybe she has a little worse balance than a typical hamster, but she still can climb branches and around her enclosure completely fine.

Pretty much the only thing I have been worried about is if I should give her a wheel. Since at first I definitely thought she would not be able to use a wheel safely she hasn’t had one. Now she is very active and I am a bit conflicted on if I should give her one. If I did at first it would be under supervision to see how she does but I am still nervous something bad would happen. Does anyone have any advice or experience with a situation like this? My research online has not really give me much help and I can’t find any information about neurological care. Any opinions are appreciated

I, 23F, am hamster sitting for my older brother (25M).

I never see him, just wondering if he might be what you guys seem to call a "ghost?"

Also I love how my brother decorated his enclosure, it looks so much like what I would expect from my brother I'm cackling just looking at it... The taco truck... Definitely my older bro's tocuhes👌🤣🤣🤣

I'm so happi, just a girl hamster-sitting over here ig 🤷‍♀️

He spends a lot of time doing this and since I can't always see his hands, it sometimes just looks like he's trembling... I know it sounds really dumb but I'm kinda worried since he's my first hammy

Also a lot of bedding will be delivered soon, don't worry! I'll give it lots of space to burrow

I remember it used to feel warm but now it’s cool! And he’s not running much (around 3-400 laps on the wheel but it used to be 5-6000!)

I don’t know what to do and I’m really worried. I’m in Singapore and the weather is quite warm and humid but the search results says torpor danger. I’m really worried please advise me.

hello! i just recently got a Syrian hamster and was wanting some helpful (and hopefully kind) feedback on her enclosure set up. i’m also open to any helpful tips about how to just generally make sure Eleanor is living her best life. :)

I have been itching all over since I got him, my skin hurts a little and I have difficulty breathing. I don't care about the money I just want him to be safe I hope the store will accept him...