Chinese dwarf hamster & hibernation

[Marty63]

O/H bought a chinese dwarf hamster a couple of months ago,

it seemed to have a pattern of sleep during day and emerge on the evening,

it has now moved out of the plastic house and made a massive nest in corner of cage,

question is - do hamsters go into a period of hibernation in the colder period or

is she just sorting her domain out for the hell of it..................

more of a dog person than smaller fury things.


Cheers in advance

[bexVN]

They can hibernate but it's better not to let them. If the house is cold move it too a warmer area(though not next to a radiator)

However they do move there beds esp if they feel unsettled in the old spot.

[205alive]

In my experience (myself and my sister as kids) once they hibernate they never wake up.

[Nick M]

Maybe it didn't like the smell of the plastic ?

Daughter's one has a small bed made from ceramic which he drags bedding into. He has two other 'bedrooms' as part of his enclosure, but at the moment he's preferring the bed in his main cage.

And he shows no sign of hibernating, but is definitely on the nocturnal side.

[Mutley]

Marty63 said:

O/H bought a chinese dwarf hamster a couple of months ago,

it seemed to have a pattern of sleep during day and emerge on the evening,

it has now moved out of the plastic house and made a massive nest in corner of cage,

As I found with my Russian Dwarf, that's quite normal, they're morning/evening animals, and moving the bed to somewhere else is them finding where they feel most happy to sleep.
if looking like they're going to hibernate, do check to see if where the cage is is cold, or in a draft, bright light. Try moving the cage to a warmer spot out of a draft, and perhaps nearer to where you generally sit, they are social animals.

[Marty63]

Mutley said:

Marty63 said:

O/H bought a chinese dwarf hamster a couple of months ago,

it seemed to have a pattern of sleep during day and emerge on the evening,

it has now moved out of the plastic house and made a massive nest in corner of cage,

As I found with my Russian Dwarf, that's quite normal, they're morning/evening animals, and moving the bed to somewhere else is them finding where they feel most happy to sleep.
if looking like they're going to hibernate, do check to see if where the cage is is cold, or in a draft, bright light. Try moving the cage to a warmer spot out of a draft, and perhaps nearer to where you generally sit, they are social animals.

Yep, thanks for that, she seems to have settled into said pattern,

fast little sods aint they, watched it scratching it neck with back leg, not even a blur