Seeing your adorable bundle of fluff taking a much-needed rest from its busy lifestyle can be a peaceful and relaxing change of pace—some might even say heartwarming—but the joy and bliss can soon become a genuinely concerning circumstance if your hamster doesn’t begin to wake up when you attempt to interact with it.
This scenario has led some people to the critical question: What should you do if your hamster is hibernating, or better yet, can hamsters even hibernate in the first place?
In a sense, wild hamsters do hibernate, but assuming you are talking about pet hamsters, then no, they do not hibernate but will go into a torpor state from which they will need to be gently woken up.
This article discusses how to wake them up from the torpor state. It will also help you better understand why they do it, so we recommend continuing reading for more information.
Do Hamsters Hibernate?
The answer to this question is double-edged, but if you own a domesticated hamster, no. Hamsters do not hibernate, as they’ve adapted past the need. However, the opposite is true of particular wild species, like the European Hamster, which does hibernate when left to its own devices out in nature.
While hibernation might not be considered a big deal in most cases, it can often be confused with a dangerous state that hamsters can experience if they get too cold or don’t eat enough to have adequate energy for their daily lives.
These states of being are called torpor, which could be exchanged with extreme fatigue or tiredness. These negative aspects can hinder your hamster’s breathing, heart rate, and more, so it should be taken seriously if noticed or suspected.
When Do Hamsters Hibernate?
Hamsters do not traditionally hibernate in captivity. Their active lifestyle, combined with the lack of need to forage for their food, means they can remain active year-round, assuming they have the will and desire to do so.
Wild hamsters, however, usually hibernate in colder months to cope with food shortages or an inability to safely access food reserves. At this time, they dramatically lower their food consumption, movement, and general activity. They remain almost completely asleep throughout the season, relying on stored fat reserves to let them wait out the poor weather.
Suppose your hamster is displaying hibernation-like qualities, such as general fatigue, a lack of interest in being active, unresponsiveness, or even feeling cold to the touch. In that case, it may be in a state of torpor, which is incredibly dangerous for your little friend.
What to Do if Your Hamster Is in Torpor?
Being able to appropriately diagnose whether your hamster is in a state of torpor or not is paramount to getting it the appropriate treatment it needs or recognizing that it’s just in dire need of a quick nap and nothing more. Below, we’ll go over the telltale signs that your hamster is in torpor and needs help as soon as possible.
1. Recognize the Signs
The first and easiest sign to look for when attempting to tell if your hamster is in torpor is its breathing. Most people know how fast your hamster breathes and generally how quickly it responds to movement nearby or direct touch.
If your hamster doesn’t begin to stir when you interact with it, that clearly indicates that something is wrong, but you can continue to look for additional signs, like it being slightly cold to the touch. A good comparison would be to very gently brush the tip of your finger against their cheeks, as they are typically the warmest part of their body.
One of the final things you can do to check for torpor is observe your hamster’s whiskers for slight movements, specifically in response to touch, or gently hold up a small spoon or mirror and attempt to look for fog gathering on the surface. This would indicate that your hamster is, at the very least, still breathing.
2. Move Them to a Warm Area
If your hamster is displaying any of these signs, the first thing you’ll want to do is heat it up. This will get their blood pumping, allow them to get their heartbeat going at a steady rate, and generally give them more energy.
Doing so is simple: just bring them within range of a heat lamp, ensuring proper light. If no such methods are at your disposal, holding them gently and utilizing the warmth of your hands can make do, especially when combined with gently warming a towel in the dryer and removing it, using it as a very snuggly heating pad.
When using the towel method, however, it is imperative that you check the spots where you intend to place the hamster and ensure that it is just warm, not hot. High temperatures can burn your hamster’s paws or injure their insides, so a fine balance should be maintained when utilizing this method.
It’s understandable to be afraid of messing this step up. If you don’t trust yourself to do it safely, the hand warming method is just as effective, especially when combined with turning up your thermostat and waiting for the room to heat up more evenly.
3. Monitor Their Breathing and Heartbeat
Taking the time to assess your hamster’s breathing and heartbeat will indicate the state of your hamster’s health. A normal hamster’s heart rate is extremely fast, hitting anywhere between 280 and up to 412 beats per minute, so a bit of math is going to be required to gauge whether or not your hamster is in normal territory.
Ideally, you’ll want to count your hamsters’ heartbeats for about 15 seconds and then multiply the number you obtained by four. This will allow you to get an idea of their heartbeat range. Breaths, on the other hand, are usually between 50 and 100 per minute.
It’s good to know that these amounts are averages. While they can be slightly higher, they shouldn’t be much lower, as these ranges can be indicators that your hamster is entering torpor territory.
4. Ensure They Have Hydration Before Waking Up
If your hamster has gone amiss, you’ll want to make sure all of its core needs are accounted for when it returns to normal behavior. If it is seeking to stabilize itself (be it nutritionally or with hydration), making sure it has ample amounts of water and food on hand will help it better ease itself back into a state of normalcy.
In keeping with that mentality, it’s better to avoid giving your hamster treats that might shock their system or cause it to spike too far outside normal ranges. Things like fruits, seeds, and other highly sugary or salty foods should be minimized, and the goal should be to get back into a state of peace.
5. Contact a Vet if It Has Been More Than a Few Days
Regardless of the situation, torpor or any unexpected changes in your hamster’s behavior should be taken very seriously. Mood swings can only account for so many differences in normal routines, and your hamster remaining in a state of torpor for several days can not only be dangerous, but it can also be detrimental to its overall health, even if it does manage to pull through.
It goes without saying that veterinarian visits or calls can be rather expensive, even with simple checkups or call-in exchanges, but their ability to accurately diagnose what is going on with your pet and advise a proper solution is invaluable in the long run.
6. Be Patient
Despite these situations being incredibly upsetting for both you and your hamster, it’s better to take things into consideration and be as patient and understanding as possible. If the cause of torpor is something that can be fixed, like getting an extra lamp or adjusting the room temperature, don’t beat yourself up over it.
Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s more important to learn from them and overcome them than to let fleeting circumstances define how you approach the rest of the situation. Keep a vigilant eye on your pet, look for changes, and remember to seek help from a vet if you think things are getting out of hand.
How Long Do Hamsters Hibernate?
Once again, typically speaking, domesticated hamsters do not hibernate at all, but wild ones will hibernate for several months in order to outlast the harsh conditions of the winter season when weather and food are at their worst in terms of survival and scarcity.
Is Your Hamster Dead or Hibernating?
Unfortunately, nature does run its course sometimes. Suppose you are uncertain whether your hamster has passed away. In that case, you’ll need to check whether it is breathing, utilizing the above-mentioned spoon or mirror-to-the-nose methods, looking for fog, or gently touching your hamster to see whether its body has become slightly rigid.
If your hamster feels slightly hard to the touch, there is a good chance it has already passed away and has begun to enter rigor mortis, where muscles begin to harden and body temperature plummets dramatically.
There is very little chance that a domesticated hamster has entered a state of hibernation, so if your hamster is unresponsive but hasn’t become stiff, it’s likely in torpor, and you’ll need to act quickly. Otherwise, you may very well lose it.
Should You Wake a Hibernating Hamster?
Assuming we are referencing a domesticated hamster, yes, if the hamster itself has become lethargic, unresponsive, slightly cold, and displays slowed breathing, you need to do your best to gently wake it up while gradually increasing its temperature and ensuring it has ample food and water to take in when it does start feeling better.
How Much Food Should You Offer Your Hamster After Being in Torpor?
You’ll want to go with very small portions, usually around a fourth of what it normally has, to keep it from gorging itself and potentially going into shock. Instead, opt to increase the frequency of the meals you offer in lieu of gigantic ones to make up for lost time.
Water, on the other hand, is a different story. All you need to do on that front is guarantee that it is clean and ready, perhaps even moving the location of the water to make it more easily accessible, but otherwise, no real changes are needed here.
Is It Possible to Prevent Your Hamster From Hibernating?
It is definitely possible, as it shouldn’t be possible for your hamster to hibernate in the first place. A better interpretation would be, “Is it possible to prevent your hamster from going into torpor?”
Rephrasing the question as such, it is possible to ensure that your hamster’s diet is balanced, the temperature is correct, and that it isn’t undergoing any extreme changes in its living arrangements. These are all it truly takes to prevent your hamster from going into torpor.
Final Thoughts
While the concepts of torpor and hibernation can easily be confused, the biggest takeaway should be that hibernation occurs only in nature and typically in wild animals, whilst torpor is generally a poor state of health and often your hamster’s final defence against an otherwise inhospitable environment. This clearly indicates that you, as a pet owner, need to make changes in order for your pet to thrive.
