roborovski dwarf hamsters death

Question
Hello there. I bought 4 roborovski dwarf hamsters from a large chain pet store on thursday, and by fri night (within about 36 hours of them arriving) two had died, then another died on saturday night. I am completely at a loss as to why this has happened. I am keeping them in a large glass tank, plenty of food,water and well ventilated and at room temperature.

in the hours before they died, their symptoms were all the same. They would wake up from their sleep, but not seem very lively, and not really wake up properly. They would keep falling asleep in the food bowl and by the water, but not go back in the nest. Their breathing was also very fast and laboured. Eventually they would get slower and slower until they couldn't move at all. It was quite distressing to watch as you can imagine. Now i'm not looking forward to watching the last one die, which i can only assume it will.

they showed no signs of hamster diahorrea, which i am told is a common illness. Also, in the first few hours we had them, they seemed very lively. So now I am worried it is something that i've put in the tank that is not suitable, but i just can't think what this might be, because everything is hamster-designed products, except these two pieces of bog-wood i put in there for them to climb on. I also put a tiny piece of brocolli in their food bowl. Do you think it could be either of these things?

I am very disappointed, because i love animals. But because i can't see why these deaths are happening, it is rather effecting my confidence in owning them. I would love some more, but i don't want to buy them and kill them again. I thought they might have had a disease, but the pet shop worker told me that is very unusual.

Any advise you could offer me would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Answer
Hi Jessica,

    I'm pretty sure that is was not the broccoli, as this is a safe vegetable for hamsters. The bog-wood is concerning to me. I wasn't for sure what this was, so I did some research on it and found that it represents the first early stages in the fossilization of wood, with further stages ultimately forming lignite (which is brown coal) and coal over a period of many millions of years. This may have had something to do with the deaths. Another thing may have been the type of bedding you are using. Cedar and Pine bedding are toxic to hamsters, causing many different health problems and even death. If you are using one of these types of bedding get rid of it as soon as possible, along with the bog-wood. They have wooden chew sticks at pet stores and pet supply stores that are safe for hamsters and do not cost much.
    Do not let this stop you from getting more hamsters. Some things just happen. I would not put the bog-wood in again and use a bedding like Aspen or Critter Care.
    If you have anymore questions, please write again.

Thank you for writing and I hope the one that is left survives