hamster experts - again

[Prudie]

I posted this on Monday in Pets and only got one pointless answer so trying again. Shortened version - my hamster doesn't wake up till gone midnight, is there something wrong with him? If this was normal why would anyone keep hamsters?

[what..the?]

It is not too uncommon in my experience of 4 hamsters over the years, mine would wake about 7-9 pm maybe which is till quite late for a child owner to have some one to one time with their pet

I would not worry though that there is something wrong unless his eating, drinking, or toliet habits change.

If you want him to get up earlier you have to manually change his body clock. I have never tried to do this but I would gues you have to make it darker earlier in the evening and lighter earlier in the morning.

So can you put him in a dark place in the evenings, and a place that gets the light in the morning, try to then not disturb him during the day and hopefully he will wake earlier. Maybe hiding food round the cage and new toys even toilet rolls will give him activities to get up for, we wouldnt get out of bed if there was nothing to do, I dont know what you have for him, toy wise.

Hope this helps

[icemaiden]

Hi Prudie,

Hamsters do generally sleep alot. If he is eating and active when awake, then I wouldn't worry too much.
Hamsters are also nocturnal so they would wake up about this time.

Is it especially cold where he is? If so, he could be trying to stay warm by sleeping more.

What I used to do, when I kept Hamsters, was keep mine awake during the day by playing with them and keeping them amused. This would then make them sleep more through the night. you would need to do this every day, but eventually they do adjust.

Hope this helps you.

[spudqueen]

They are nocturnal creatures who in the wild run miles every night through tunnels they have made. So yes, I think it's cruel actually to keep a hamster as a pet.

[Prudie]

Thank you for your suggestions, that's made me feel better and I'll try them out. On the cruelty thing spudqueen don't want to open a can of worms and respect your views, I feel the same way about caged birds.

[terambulan]

Hamsters are nocturnal

http://www.petinfo4u.com/hamsters.htm

[zzxxee]

ive never had a hamster but my mate breads them, her advice is they are nocturnal, but there is nothing wrong in waking them for short periods during the day make sure you have plenty of things to keep him her stimulated hamster balls are great

[jen78]

They are as a species nocturnal but most of my hamsters have become socialised and like to be up and about when people are around for the attention and treats.

They can recognise routines. My current hamster has cottoned on that when he hears the balcony doors open and close just before I get in the shower in the morning or before I go to bed it's a good time for getting a treat and he often comes and waits for me.

Often in the evening he will come and curl up out in his cage as if he wants to be around people.

If he is in a sociable place during the day where he is talked to and played with and a quieter place at night his body clock may adapt.

You can work in a routine as well, say first thing or when people are most likely to be about, sort his food and water, something he is interested in and will want to come out and investigate.

As said above, hamsters like tunnels and are natural burrowers so mine has a sandpit (bird sand) in one big part of his cage so he can dig away. You can also bury treats in it which won't get icky in the sand.

They also like empty toilet rolls and similar they can tunnel through and chew on and things they can hide in and under. They also like to climb and hang and swing (like on money bars).

Climbing not too deep carpeted stairs can be fun for them and good exercise but just make sure they don't stash bits of carpet and always feel safe as they can't see very well at all.

They like corners where they can hide and encase themselves in a little nest.

[madboutcats]

Im going off on a complete tangent here but thought you might like to hear this story from my local paper.
A local man was driving down one of the main roads into town when he spotted a plastic ball rolling down the guttering, he stopped to pick it up and much to his surprise there was a hamster inside the ball, merrily rolling her way down the road, he decided to take it home and named her lucky for obvious reasons, well with it appearing in the paper her rightful owner came forwards, she'd been clearing her cage out and had put her in her ball but went and left her front door open and out went treacle (her real name) for a spin. There was a lovely picture of her in the paper which i tried to put a link in for but without any success.