Sweetie died :s

[onebunnywuv]

Um, I'm a bit confused. How fast do hamsters die? :confused: Sweetie was JUST playing on her wheel this morning. I went to give her fresh food and water like I do every night, and she's laying on her side, paws on the left, eyes closed. I looked real close, and I didn't see her moving (breathing) so I took her food dish out, took out her water bottle, and poked her very gently. She's stiff! I swear, I just saw her on her wheel not even 4 hours ago! Ugh. I'm too scared to even take her out. This is honestly the first pet I've ever had (besides fish) that have died. :( She didn't like me much, always bit me when I put my hand in her cage, but I feel sad :( I didn't even know something was wrong, she was hyper right up til the end. I got her as an Xmas gift from my hubby. Now I don't know if I want another hamster or not.

[Frostking9]

how old was her when she died? what kind of food did u give her? what kinda bedding? gimme ALL the info

[onebunnywuv]

As for age, I have no idea. As I said, she was an Xmas gift from my hubby. She was eating the Hagen brand of hamster food. It was the only one I could find in any of the pet stores around here other than Hartz, and I was told to avoid Hartz. She got fresh demineralized water every night, about 1/4 of a water bottle full. We don't use tap water here, we have our own water machine. As for bedding, I stopped using pine about 2 weeks after getting her. I've just been using some newspaper and regular printer paper. It was a lot easier to clean and she'd tear it herself. I'd toss in some yesterdays news bedding now and then (the kind I used when I had a rabbit).

[Frostking9]

hhmmmm.... nothing seems wrong, maybe she was sick or was just old

[onebunnywuv]

I dunno, but it sure creeped me out. I'm not a person who gets easily freaked out. Truth be told, most people think I'm insanely morbid. I watch movies like Final Destination (1, 2 and 3) and laughed when the people got killed in weird ways. I went to my first funeral and viewing in January, and it didn't creep me out. But seeing my hamster dead in her cage, it gave me the willies!

My hubby says I should get a new hamster. Not to replace Sweetie, but to keep my routine going. Spending about 10 minutes at night with Sweetie, just me and her, was a routine. I let her nibble me (a few times she drew blood) but she didn't really bite to hurt anymore. Don't think I'd go with another syrian now that I know they're not overly sociable.

[animalmagic]

I'm sorry to hear about Sweetie! Is your daughter upset? :(

It's up to you whether you want to get another hamster. Some Syrians aren't very sociable, but mine have always been fairly friendly so I don't know!

It just worries me that if she was a Christmas present, and it's only February that she shouldn't have died naturally unless she was old- where did your husband get her?

:hug:

[onebunnywuv]

My daughter lost interest in Sweetie shortly after getting her. My daughter prefers watching the fish and telling the birds to "shh" :) Sweetie came from Petland. She was kept in one of those big glass like cages on pine bedding, which everyone suggested I stop using when I got her. She was relly active, I have no idea what happened. She spent hours on her wheel, she had at least 3 hours in her hammie ball, and then she and I could spend a good 10 mins one on one even if it just meant me petting her head. :) She seemed to like that, but that was about all I could do with her.

[onebunnywuv]

This was a picture I took the day after I got her. It's why I was told to switch her from pine bedding. :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/onebunnnywuv/sweetiethehammie.jpg

[PetLuver21257]

Oh dear! I am terribly sorry!! :( :cry:

I think you should get another hamster. But wait awhile first. Give Sweetie a nice funeral and bury her and then clean out everything in the cage with bleach (let bleach sit on stuff for about 20 minutes to kill germs), rinse, then towel dry and air dry for the rest of the night or day.

Put in fresh bedding, set everything up, just don't put any food or water in. May I suggest a Campbell Dwarf or two? ;) They are very social and I just got mine yesterday and he is great. I had two others before, both were sweeties. Make sure if you get two, that you get two males or two females, no male and female because of the babies.... Good Luck and again, I am very sorry! :( I think she died of old age because what else could it have been? At least you know she was happy before her death.

[Zouave]

I have had them die suddenly, too. Although usually that doesn't happen until they are older. But you never can be sure. Mostly, I would just find them dead, as if they never woke up.

I have a Memorial Photo Gallery (http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=5199770&uid=924030&members=1) of all the pets I have lost. BUT, that never prevented me from getting more: they may have short lives but we can make them happy ones.

[onebunnywuv]

The stores here (Petland/Petsmart) only sell one gender per store. The Petland in the SE where I'd gotten Sweetie only sold females, the one in the North area sells males (or so they said). Same with Petsmart.

All I have cage wise right now is a habitrail mini with a ton of pipes, an outpost, a little house thingie, etc. I can't upgrade the cage any time soon because of space limitations (gimme a few months and I should be able to though).

Would a teddy bear hamster be okay alone for awhile? Say get one next week on payday and then later when I have more space and more cash get another one and a bigger cage? Or are dwarf hammies best?

[dwankrista]

syrians are solitary animals and canNOT be housed together. dwarves are social and can be kept in pairs or colonies but syrians must be kept alone or they will fight to the death.

[onebunnywuv]

which would be why I asked if a teddy bear would be ok by itself now and get a friend for it later. Sweetie was a syrian, a not very nice syrian. No way am I getting another syrian. :rolleyes:

[dwankrista]

teddy bears are syrians, just a long hair variety. syrians are called syrians, golden, teddy bear, black bear, panda bear, etc. they are all syrians and canNOT be housed with others.

[onebunnywuv]

teddy bear hamsters are syrians? why don't pet stores just label them all as syrians? ok, so i'll stick with a dwarf hamster or two :)

[dwankrista]

the sad reality is they don't label them syrians because they realize they can make more money from different varieties. one pet store here sells "regular" hamsters for $9.99, "teddy bears" for $12.99, and panda/black bears for a whopping $24.99. the funny part is, i've seen a litter from the same mama ham produce "regulars" and "pandas", yet they went into different bins for different prices upon being weaned. it's all about the dollar at pet stores, unfortunately.

best of luck with the dwarves! i'm actually adopting my first pair in a few days (i've had syrians in the past and will never do that again either :D). keep us updated!

[onebunnywuv]

thanks. I'll let you know what happens. I should probably also warn my cousins that syrians don't do well together. they have a huge huge cage (about the size of a small dog crate) with 4 teddy bears. not sure of gender, but they've lived together over 8 months, never fought never reporduced :D

good luck with your dwarves.

[dwankrista]

your cousins will, at least there's a 98% chance, wake up to bloody, dead hamsters when they get territorial. also, they should sex them and get them out of there. breeding is never a good idea.

[PetLuver21257]

Yep, teddy bears are Syrians. Syrians are solitary. So get two of the same sex dwarves. Two or three, doesn't really matter....

Good Luck! :)

[buddy01]

where do you adopt hamsters?

[PetLuver21257]

Uhhhh.... In a pet shop because there are no animal shelters with hamsters near me or breeders either.... I got all three of my hamsters from NJ pets which is in New Jersey only....

[dwankrista]

there are no hams in shelters here either. however, most areas will have hams in need of rescue. check with your local aspca/spca or humane society. :)