Any Advice?

[Jenna Lee]

I recently purchased a Panda Bear hamster on 3/19/2005. . .well last night actually, from Petsmart. Being a brand new "mom" I made sure to ask the assistant exactly what I needed to keep my hamster healthy and happy. She was very helpful in showing me everything I would need for my new hamster's home. A sufficiently sized cage which came complete with exercize wheel and water bottle, Kaytee Aspen bedding, I bought the kind of food that they feed them at the store, I also bought some Kaytee strawberry yogurt treats, and a natural chew toy. Confident that I had everthing I would need to have for a happy hamster. . .I picked out my Panda hamster and went directly home. There I set up Daisy's cage (that was her name) complete w/ plenty of bedding, food in the food dish, and fresh water. She seemed happy as can be that night, running in her wheel constantly, and exploring her new home. The following morning, I thought nothing of it as she slept, knowing that hamsters are nocturnal animals. She would awake periodically and get a drink, or just shift around in her nest that she created during the night, and during one of these times when she was awake, I plucked her from her cage, and let her wander around my room for a little while under my supervision. . .she didn't move very fast but I figured it was just because she had just got up. . .but nonetheless, she was active - so I placed her in her exercize ball and she rolled around for a few minutes before I returned her to her cage. All seems normal right? Well that's what I thought too, so I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I notice her moving around in her cage. . .but very akwardly, almost like she was "drunk"...kind of wabbling around, and dragging her back-end only a couple hours later. "Something's not right here." I thought to myself, so I took her from her cage, and she just "sat" in one place, but I noticed she peed. She seemed to do that a lot. I just watched her there for a few moments, and when nothing happened really, I put her back in her nest. . . and she just layed there, and it seemed she was breathing rather shallow and swift. My room's in the basement, and it can get pretty chilly at night and I remembered the Petsmart Lady telling me that it's important to keep the hamster at a tempurature of atleast 65 degrees (my house is set to 68@ night), so I placed a heating pad under her cage set on "low". . .thinking that she's probably just too cold. Unfortunately less than 2 hours later when I checked on her, she had died, only a day after I got her I was just wondering what could have happened because she seemed "perfectly fine" the night I brought her home. . .and then. . . .well you know. It was almost like night and day. Any Advice anyone can offer would be most appreciated. Thank you

[J mouse]

I am so sorry for your loss. Did Daisy smell funny? You shouldn't take your hamster out of their cage for at least three days after getting them. You might even want to wait longer. It isn't unusal for a new hamster to getting wet tail. Also, did you show Daisy how to get water. It took my hamster Pinky a few weeks to figure out how to use his water bottle, I had to give him water by hand. Rest in Peace Daisy.

[Cammiehammie]

I think Daisy probally passed away from wet-tail. Whenever I get a new syrian, I place a few drops of dri-tail in their water bottle, and try to avoid playing with them for a few days.

[lilforjc]

sounds like wet-tail to me.too...we had a coupla hammies die of wet-tail due to stress-they like to get used to their new homes for a coupla days...i am sorry for your loss-will you get another do you think?

[Cammiehammie]

I am very sorry about your loss, and hope it dont stop you from getting another hamster. I would also contact Petsmart about this, they probally have more that are infected. If you get another hamster make sure you clean and disinfect the other cage with water and 1-10th bleach.

[OmniscientOnus]

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about Daisy . Second, and this has nothing to do with what was wrong with her, but if you do decide to get another hamster, get a different kind of bedding. I've heard a lot of different things about bedding, and a lot of them contradict each other, but it seems to be pretty universal that aspen bedding is bad for your hamster. I use pine bedding, though I've heard bad things about that too. The pine though seems to be split 50/50. Half of what I find says it's bad, and half says it's just fine. But just about everyone seems to agree that aspen is bad for them.