mdfa
11-26-07, 08:32 AM 11-26-07
I have tried posting this before but for some reason my thread went to bit heaven... So, here goes again:
I am a new member and as of today we have two hamies at home. One is an almost 1 year old teddy bear female, Misty, whom I call our "pinto" hamster. She is beigey-grey with white patches. She is our tenacious survivor hamster (long story here) and is very sweet. She belongs to my 7 yr old son.
My daughter has a 3 mth old little syrian female of the "panda" variety - all solid black with white paws and chin + stripe down her tummy. She was a very social and friendly hammie from the start and was obviously handled from birth.
But we've had two sudden strange deaths and I'm a bit puzzled and worried that it's something we did, but can't figure it out. Daughter's Georgie (Syrian male) and sons' Squishy (also Syrian male) both died in their sleep. Both appeared perfectly normal 24-48 hours before, neither one of them has been sick in any way during their lives, both were around 6-7 mths old. Georgie was a shorthair and a bit small for his age, but again, healthy and active all the time. Mind you, he was "home bred", read: an accident most likely, so he could have been inbred and if it was only him, I would not worry so much.
Squishy was a "teddy bear", or more like a long hair/short hair cross as he had a long "skirt" around his back end and some longer tufts of hair around his body. We got him from a pet store.
Both went to sleep and just never woke up. At least we know they didn't suffer, but we do miss them and worry what happened? Misty, who is treated and fed the same food as the other boys were, appears perfectly fine so far (knock on wood!). We cleaned Squishy's cage about a week before he expired and did it the same way as always: with a mild soap and vinegar. Nothing has changed in their diet (other than addition of a couple of blades of some fresh oat grass grown at home) or environment that I know of. Is there any disease or condition that could have caused this? Is this something that happens often and we just haven't run across it?
I'd like to know as I hate such mysteries and I don't want to get another hamie until I know what the problem was. I'd hate to expose another little one to a possible premature death.
If anyone is able to shed any light on this situation, I would greatly appreciate it.
Margaret.
I am a new member and as of today we have two hamies at home. One is an almost 1 year old teddy bear female, Misty, whom I call our "pinto" hamster. She is beigey-grey with white patches. She is our tenacious survivor hamster (long story here) and is very sweet. She belongs to my 7 yr old son.
My daughter has a 3 mth old little syrian female of the "panda" variety - all solid black with white paws and chin + stripe down her tummy. She was a very social and friendly hammie from the start and was obviously handled from birth.
But we've had two sudden strange deaths and I'm a bit puzzled and worried that it's something we did, but can't figure it out. Daughter's Georgie (Syrian male) and sons' Squishy (also Syrian male) both died in their sleep. Both appeared perfectly normal 24-48 hours before, neither one of them has been sick in any way during their lives, both were around 6-7 mths old. Georgie was a shorthair and a bit small for his age, but again, healthy and active all the time. Mind you, he was "home bred", read: an accident most likely, so he could have been inbred and if it was only him, I would not worry so much.
Squishy was a "teddy bear", or more like a long hair/short hair cross as he had a long "skirt" around his back end and some longer tufts of hair around his body. We got him from a pet store.
Both went to sleep and just never woke up. At least we know they didn't suffer, but we do miss them and worry what happened? Misty, who is treated and fed the same food as the other boys were, appears perfectly fine so far (knock on wood!). We cleaned Squishy's cage about a week before he expired and did it the same way as always: with a mild soap and vinegar. Nothing has changed in their diet (other than addition of a couple of blades of some fresh oat grass grown at home) or environment that I know of. Is there any disease or condition that could have caused this? Is this something that happens often and we just haven't run across it?
I'd like to know as I hate such mysteries and I don't want to get another hamie until I know what the problem was. I'd hate to expose another little one to a possible premature death.
If anyone is able to shed any light on this situation, I would greatly appreciate it.
Margaret.