Is it unusual for a hamster to go from healthy, running about, to dead!

[BigSandyBalls2015]

Our last one deteriorated slowly but just found this one dead in her bed 😢

I've never known a hamster die a natural death but maybe my sibling and I just had a bad run.

It sounds like the hamsters were the ones to have a bad run tbh!

I've buried 2 hamsters in tupperware boxes in the garden. I'm now hoping I didn't bury them alive

Poor hamster. Agree they can end up being quite a traumatic pet experience!

I really hope it revives but then imagine how all the people who buried hamsters in similar circumstances would feel.

Even when they're dead they still cause mental trauma...

Sorry to hear that OP.

Oh no...
Do gerbils do this? Asking for a friend...

I have been unfortunate enough to witness my mum giving mouth to mouth to a hamster. My little sister was so distraught on finding the little thing that I think she just did it on impulse.

I'm on a hamster group on FB (we just got one) and apparently cold but floppy=a chance it's torpor (which is rarer than people think), but cold and stiff = dead. Apparently if the blood has pooled at the base of their claws and appears reddish or pink, you can safely bury the poor little thing.

God I do hope this doesn't happen to ours. He's a sweetie, we've not even finished taming him and DS's stocking is going to be full of hamster accessories and toys!

Crap, I have possibly buried two hibernating hamsters. Would they have been able to dig their way out?

I thought mine was dead then I read online to put the cage near a heater, sure enough he was up and running around again a few hours later. He did die a couple of weeks of later though and it was more obvious, his little feet were purple. No idea what caused it other than possibly age.

Don't bury it yet! I had one as a child and one morning went to check on it, was halfway out of its little house, cold and stiff. Later that day moving around again!

I am learning so much about hamsters on mumsnet - their wildly violent behaviour and now this

We had one which appeared dead stiff and cold. I had lots to do that morning so when I got round to dealing with her the heating had kicked in and she was doing her monkey bars trick and very much alive.
Then another young female who we found dead with a salad leaf in her mouth.
Our little Russian male lived 2.5 years and we really loved him. He got cancer and we all took him to be put to sleep. We cried buckets 😂
We now have a female Syrian who looks like a tiny panda bear. She is cuddly and gorgeous and sleeps in a large wool sock .

@DownToTheSeaAgain

I've never known a hamster die a natural death but maybe my sibling and I just had a bad run.

Come on, I'm really intrigued... what did they all die of????

Try a warm airing cupboard for a few hours before burying just in case. I've had hamsters do this before.

We had one that we thought was dead. Tucked it back up in its house until we could bury it and it came back to life. It was Easter weekend so ds2 decided it was the 2nd coming of Jesus
Despite having hamsters as a child that was the first time I'd ever known one to hibernate!