Hibernation

Question
I have a male Syrian who, after a cold snap, has gone into hibernation. He has lots of bedding, sawdust, food and water, and lots of toys to keep him awake once i warm him up! I was just wondering if you had any suggestions on how else to keep him warm?

Answer
Hi Michelle

I've never actually known a Syrian (or any other hamster) to hibernate in captivity.  How cold did it get?  They usually don't hibernate unless it gets below 5 degrees Celsius.  

Has this happened before?  I'm curious to know if this is a one-off or something that happens often.  What part of the world do you live in?  Whereabouts do you keep his cage?

You can bring him out of hibernation - but this must be done gently.  You need to warm the body up - if you can put the cage in a room where the temperature is about 30 degrees Celsius for a few hours.  If you can't do that you can put the cage on a covered hot water bottle or heat pad - but be careful it isn't directly under the hamster otherwise you could bring him round too quickly and he could overheat.  Keep a close watch while you're doing this.

Once your hamster is awake, he will probably need rehydrating - this can be done by giving him plenty of fluids.  This will help reduce the risk of kidney damage.  If necessary you can give him human oral rehydration powder - you mix it up with water as per the instructions on the packet and using a dropper get him to take some of it.

With regard to preventing this from happening again - the problem is that if the temperature drops suddenly, then hibernation can occur.  During cold spells, even though the house is kept warm during the day, more often than not the heating is turned off at night which is when the hamster is out and about and subsequently their body temperature can drop suddenly.  Is there anywhere warmer you can keep his cage in the night?  Do you have a heater that you can leave on in his room.  The temperature in the UK doesn't drop that low, but in the really cold spells I usually keep my heating on 24 hours a day, very low, just to keep the hamsters warm!



Good luck with waking him up.