When a pet hamster starts to get stiff during sleep, it can be difficult to tell if it is in hibernation or if your friend has passed away!Hibernation is a process that is quite common in animals and allows them to be able to cope with changing weather conditions. However, a hamster is unlikely to announce its hibernation.In case your pet enters the hibernation phase without any prior warning and leaves you second-guessing its health and well-being, there are a couple of things that you can do to make sure that your dearest friend is alive.Since a hamster is likely to become quite stiff and inactive during hibernation, hamster owners often panic and assume that their pet has passed away. However, there is no need to panic. A lowered body temperature and stiff body can also mean that your pet has been feeling cold.There also are a couple of ways in which you can prevent your hamster from hibernating. Keeping the cage or enclosure clean and warm can make your pet feel cozy and warm. Installing a heating pad and ensuring that the cage is not near a dark, cold spot of the house during the colder seasons are useful methods. However, if your pet does start hibernating, it is probably best to bring it back from this phase by heating up its environment gently. Keep reading for some hibernation-related facts and some tips for having a healthy hamster at home!If you enjoy reading this article, why not also check out hamster facts and do hamsters bite here at Kidadl!What time of year do hamsters hibernate?Hamsters are beautiful creatures, and some of the lesser-known facts about these animals revolve around their hibernating habits. Hamsters take part in permissive hibernation, which means that your pet hamster will only hibernate when the temperature drops beyond its liking. This also means that there is no particular time of the year when hamsters hibernate, and the occurrence of the process is completely dependent on the conditions that the animal is made to live in.There are two kinds of hibernation: permissive and obligatory hibernation. Animals who are obligated through their nature and habits to take part in hibernation at a specific time of the year are classified as obligatory hibernators. On the other hand, animals that only start hibernating when the environment gets colder are known as permissive hibernators. The former of the two categories is also known as true hibernation, and hamsters do not partake in it. This animal only hibernates when the hamster’s environment gets colder than it can be active in. This also means that if pet owners take proper care of their pets during the winter season, there is a chance that their hamsters won’t hibernate at all!Hamster hibernation may also be caused by a reduced diet. If your hamster’s cage has been receiving reduced amounts of food over the past few days, there is a chance that the animal may react badly towards the change. In their natural habitat, hamsters, such as dwarf hamsters and Syrian hamsters, often drop their body temperature to conserve energy and make sure that they can survive the cold temperature. A Syrian hamster enters a period of deep sleep, and a pet owner is unlikely to be able to figure out if the animal is alive or dead.If you are a hamster owner and are struggling to figure out what hibernation looks like, it may help to know the process and what happens during it. Hibernation lowers the breathing frequency and heart rate of the animal. The hamster’s body is likely not to remain warm, and the coldness of the animal’s body can be one of the reasons why you may assume that a hibernating hamster is actually dead. Many animals, including hamsters, lower their body temperature and breathing rate as a result of hibernation since the process is designed to lower their metabolic rate and tackle the cold. A hibernating hamster will only breathe faintly and about once every two minutes. If you want to check if your hamster is in hibernation, try to look for slight movements in the abdomen as breathing takes place. Do not be alarmed by its cold body, since it is one of the results of a lowered metabolic rate. Pet hamsters may still have warm cheek pouches. This is because hamsters store food in them. This is done in the natural habitat since in hamster hibernation, the animal often has a higher chance of being attacked by predators. If there is no food-like smell and if the hamster seems dead, most animals avoid attacking or eating it.Do hamsters hibernate in bedding?Your hamster may enter hibernation mode in its bedding if there is no warm light falling directly on the cage or enclosure during winter. For this reason, providing warm bedding is exceptionally important to make sure that the animal does not have to hibernate at all.Some bedding materials can get quite cold and do not allow for the retention of body heat. Such bedding must be avoided. Vets and hamster enthusiasts recommend that pet owners remain vigilant during winter and take extra care of their hamster’s living conditions so that any discomfort on the part of their dearest pet friend is avoided smoothly! It is also suggested by many vets that a hamster’s cage or enclosure has a heating pad installed so that it has some assistance in battling the cold. The heating pad should ideally be set up in such a way that it emits constant warmth of about 65-75 F (18.33-23.89 C).It is also noteworthy that hamsters sometimes play dead. This may be due to stress or anxiety that your pet is experiencing. To tell if a hamster is hibernating in its bedding or is actually dead, the hamster’s heartbeat should be checked by placing two fingers on its chest and trying to feel for rhythmic heartbeats!At what temperature do hamsters hibernate?Like most other pets, hamsters prefer to be warm and cozy. Hence, when colder temperatures start to arrive, the animal feels the need to save energy and control its breathing. The temperature below which your hamster is likely to go into hibernation is 65 F (18.33 C). When the temperature within the enclosure reaches below this mark, the hamster may start becoming lethargic and listless; thus a pet owner might see their hamster hibernate. Hamsters do this in order to regulate body temperature and survive through colder conditions.There are other reasons that lead to hibernation or deep sleep as well. Most hamsters feel the need to hibernate and lower their heart rate when there isn’t enough food to eat. If such scarcity of food is combined with cold temperatures, your pet hamster is likely to go into a deep sleep for a while and make you wonder if it is dead.How often do hamsters go into hibernation?Hamster hibernation is only a seasonal habit if these animals live in their natural habitat where there is no one to ensure that the animal is in great health. The animal thus lowers its metabolic rate to make up for the body heat that can no longer keep it alive. How often you see your hamster hibernating completely depends on the environment that the animal is living in, and if there are any methods of temperature control in play!Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘Do hamsters hibernate? Curious pet hamster’s body facts revealed!’ then why not take a look at ‘11 amazing facts on national daughters day revealed for kids!’, or ‘Why are earwigs called earwigs? Here’s the curious answer!’?
When a pet hamster starts to get stiff during sleep, it can be difficult to tell if it is in hibernation or if your friend has passed away!
