Hamster died or hibernating???

[almostn9ne]

Bought hamster as Xmas pressie this year so not old.

It's currently curled up snuggly in its bed but usually at this time of night it's usually awake so I put my hand on it and it doesn't seem to be breathing and feels cold.

I've read on here about hamsters hibernating - please tell me it's doing that and not dead!! I'm not ready to cope with a dead one yet, let alone DD, whose pet it is.

Oh now I'm worried that I may have buried a dead but not dead hamster. I've never heard of warming them up.

Lizzie hopefully you had the Bride of Hamsters

Any joy yet ?

It is on the hot water bottle, wrapped in a towel. It had a smell about it that I haven't smelled before so my instincts are saying it's dead. Its little hands are outstretched like it was distressed, rather than curled up as if trying to get warm. I'm trying to hope it's still alive....... I don't have any anti bac since I don't buy it so have washed my hands as usual and then sprayed surface cleaner anti bac on my hands!!

Ohhhhh godddddddd

Going back in to check on it........

I think it's a goner. Sorry OP.

I knew with my daughters one as it went rock solid. Before that when it was in a deep sleep she still felt warm and well softer....... you will definitely know if she's dead as they feel so much harder.

Oh no! Sorry OP

Oh OP, it doesn't sound good ☹ they are such delicate creatures and prone to illness, but to be so young is a shame

I also cried more than my daughter when the hamster died. Now have guinea pigs and I absolutely adore them so I'm dreading that day ☹️

Awww I’m sorry

(I didn’t know about this hibernating malarkey until I’d thrown away my hamsters corpse wrapped in newspaper in a bag of rubbish that went to the tip - I like to think that Wonky lived a long life scavenging)

I know, @dropzone, it's very young isn't it. 5 months. Oh god oh god oh god. The timing is really bad. Never a good time, I know. But in terms of having much chance to tell DD and be with her this weekend, there isn't a lot of time (ie none). She's 5. :(

Going to check on hamster again. I hope the other 2 hamsters aren't sensing death and getting stressed too!!

Poor hamster. They aren’t very long lived creatures. We had several hamsters die when I was young, which is why I’ll never keep one myself 💔

Is it kind of like a sweet smell but not a pleasant sweet smell if you see what I mean? I used to work in animal rescue and you could always tell when one of the small furries had passed away due to this strange sweet smell.

Oh no...

Not sure how I'd describe the smell. Just a very definite smell. Not bad or good, or sweet. But certainly smells bad to me because it's not how it would usually smell at all. At all. Oh god.

Right well that's it, it's now officially warm. And dead. :( :( :(

Because it looks and smells so distressing, I have thrown it (and the towel!) in the bin. I was just taking the bin out when I stopped and thought, oh god, does DD need to see it and bury it and perform some sort of bloody ceremony to sort of I don't know, learn about death and come to terms with it or something?

Please can I just chuck and talk about it dying rather than her actually seeing it dead and looking scary??

@QOD, if you lived in South London at the time, I can reassure you - DTwatCat brought it in that night and after a protracted chase sequence which included my banging my head on the underside of the kitchen table and DP calling DTwatCat a 'Fucking Evil Cunt' for not wanting to give up his new Best Friend that he'd invited for dinner whilst I flung myself prostrate on the floor brandishing a slightly used beer glass, said Hamster was renamed Lars and lived in the palatial surroundings of a huge cage on top of a speaker cab in the recording studio for another 18 months, coming out to listen to guitar but coming out to scowl at us each time we recorded bass.

PS it's on its way to meet Wonky, @QOD! :)

I used to keep a chopstick handy to poke ours. When it died I double bagged it and binned it. I hated having hamsters, never again

I am clinging to hope.

By the way, my neighbour accidentally killed her rat by heat stroke by forgetting her on a little box with a towel on top of a radiator so careful not to over heat it.

Doesn’t seem quite right to just chuck it in the bin. We have always put ours in a little box and taken to the vet to be cremated. Seems a little kinder. You could seal the box if you don’t want DD to see.

Not got a hamster mainly because we have a 12 lb Bengal be but I was strangely over interested in your post and totally willing the little fella to come back to life so I'm just upset it failed work for you and little fur ball didn't make it.

@mitziK oh that’s brilliant 😂

Yes, cremation is a good option, if you want to spend a fortune. Mine was buried under the daisies in a plastic bag.. which was a stupid thing to do as the bag was preventing the hamster from.... composting? And making it more likely for it to be dug up by a cat.

Ah thank you for your post @BlueEyed. Poor little thing. :(

Still sitting here wondering what to do re the dead body and how best to handle it with DD. I am supposed to be dropping them off at school tomorrow, then working, then heading away for the weekend (long planned arrangement). They will all be with my folks and their Dad all weekend so I won't see them till Monday. REALLY bad timing.