The point for this post is to start several (hopefully) interesting threads of weird hamster death stories because apparently these things never die naturally?
Hampy was a vicious little bugger so we only noticed he had died about a week after when mum went to clean out his cage. Little Russian White Winter super fast, you’d open the cage and he’d be attached to your finger before you could swear at him.
Well… it’s eye fell out. And that didn’t seem normal.
She escaped into the ceiling and refused to come back out. We left food out for her, and she would eat it, but we never saw her again. We heard her though, yipping and scuttling about on various ceiling adventures. Rest well Frank Zappa the Second.
She was a replacement for my son because his other one (Frank Zappa the First) got sick and died while he was on holiday. His mum swapped them before he found out, but when she did so she forgot what colour the original hamster was (mix of dark/light brown). We had to convince my son that hamsters shed their baby fur and grow back a completely new colour (ginger/white).
Not to be a killjoy but they’re such delicate creatures and people keep giving them to children while doing zero research about their needs. No wonder they keep dying weird deaths. 😭
The tweet about the guy feeding cats to foxes can apply here
One day he was happy and healthy. The next morning he was cold and dead. I have no idea.
Not mine, but my sister accidentally kicked a tall floor lamp over in her sleep. It landed right next to the glass aquarium her hamster was in. It had one of those really bright incandescent 100w bulbs.
Poor little guy cooked to death like a Thanksgiving turkey.
The average hamster lifespan in captivity is usually only something like 1-2 years, this guy lived for like 4.
He was in rough shape towards the end, his fur was falling out, he’d pretty much set up camp in one corner of his cage and rarely left.
Eventually my mom decided to take him to have him put down. I strongly suspect that we may be the only people to ever request that at the local SPCA
My dad put their cage in our sunroom during the night because they were making too much noise. Eventually the sun came out.
Had two hamsters (Calvin and Hobbes) growing up. Both just got old and sick with old hamster stuff. Their deaths happened exactly the same way: my mom reaches into the cage because they haven’t been moving much for a while. Their last act of life is to bite her finger as hard as they can, so she naturally flings them at the wall in front of us kids. Splat.
He was way too damn smart, a real escape artist. He opened the door on his cage. I wrapped a paperclip around it to add security. He still escaped.
Couldn’t find him for a day or two. Heard him inside my bed which was not on a frame, so he chewed his way inside from the side. Gorged himself on foam and was fully blocked up. Died of intestinal trauma.
I couldn’t keep him locked up, and he killed himself.
My honorary hamster (a green anole lizard) escaped and was presumed dead. We found him and recaptured him over two years later, living on the spiders and other insects in my brother’s basement bedroom and bathroom. He lived for several more years in captivity, and I renewed efforts to give him a variety of wild-caught food instead of just store bought feeder crickets. He died fat and happy of old age.
Jamie passed away from old age and died peacefully in his sleep. He was my first childhood pet… RIP Jamie!! ❤️ 🐹
We brought back a hamster for our daughter without realizing she was pregnant. After having a giant litter, we gave them all away…or at least we thought we did? A day or two later, I saw a wiggling in the shavings and out pops a head. Our eyes locked momentarily before she dived back down.
Definitely the runt of the litter. Had all sorts of paranoia and cowered under things for most of her life. She was maybe a year old when my daughter came running up. “Guys, you gotta see Hester!” We rushed over and there she was, hanging from the bars at the top of the cage and swinging arm-to-arm across.
We were so happy for her, finally getting past her inhibitions and leading her best hamster life. Then she was curled up dead the next morning.
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Non-denizens of Lemmy, how the hell did you even get here? From Mbin or Mastodon? In any case, this question is not for you!
My first hamster, Lucky, died of old age and was, as best I could tell, happy and pleasant to interact with. He was somewhere around 4-5 years old. Given that later hamsters did not fare so well, I’m surprised my first one had such a peaceful life.
