bonding?

Question
hi there!

i'd like to think i just had a little bonding experience with my syrian hamster, zoe...but it's never happened before so i'm not sure if i should be worried.  i just took her out of her cage (and i do so quite often because she's pretty tamed and very sweet) and i had her on my chest and started petting her head very gently.  she just laid there, completely still. her tail was up, and she even closed her eyes.  she stayed that way for a few minutes and at first i thought it was the cutest thing...but then i started to panic because she's never done that before...and was later slightly relieved when she started to get really hyper and wouldn't stay still again...

anyway, did my zoe and i just have our little moment?  or is that something i should be worried about?  thank you for taking your time to read this!  and thank you in advance for any information you can provide!

Answer
Dear Margaret,
thank you for your question.
It might be that Zoe was enjoying being petted, but I think it is more likely that she was ready to mate. Female hamsters are able to breed every six days and when they are petted during that time at just the right moment, they remain very still with their tail high up in the air to show any male hamsters that they are willing to mate now.
Some hamsters are more suspectible to this than others, I had one female that reacted to the slightest touch and then didn't move for several minutes no matter what you did with her.
I hope I was of some help
Jennifer