Hamster eating habits.

Question
I feel like my hamster eats so much all the time and for the first
time i noticed that whenever she eat she doesnt chew and she
just swallows everything. It looks like she is storing the food in
side pockets of her neck i can feel the food when I touch her
swollen neck is this normal or what should i do?

Answer
hi ruby,

this is completely normal. hamsters have pouches in the side of their cheeks to store large ammounts of food to take back to the nest in the wild, in a house your hamster is probably taking her food to her bed and emptying her pouches then.

hamsters dont need to chew the food to store it away so dont worry shes not acctually eating the food she puts in her pouches, she will probably empty it when ur not looking or somewhere u cant see her, making it look like shes eating it whole.
hamsters like to hoard things, which is why people think they are like bears, hamsters hibernate in the wild so they store food in their nests.
when a hamster empties her pouch, she will simply push the food forward, out her mouth with her front paws, it may look like shes being sick but shes not, shes just empting the pouch so dont worry if you see this either, she is not throwing up whole food.

hamsters  also do not just store food they also fill their pouches with bedding, so again dont worry this is normal. however if ur using fluffy bedding, get rid of this straight away and use paper sheddings. fluffy bedding can get stuck in the pouches, in the stomach or around limbs causing them to die. so please use paper bedding.

thank you very much for your question, i hope ive helped, and ask again if u need to.

joanne :)