oldest hamster?

[acsnavely]

so whats the oldest hamster you guys have ever had

Comments

[shakeyourjunk]

the oldest ham i had lived to be almost four. not to freak you out though, by no means. is your ham still active and seem in pretty good health for his age? i would try not to worry, he'll probably be fine! ♥ *hug*

[acsnavely]

yeah- he seems normal enough.
he has slowed down a bit with age, as expected, but it definitely doesnt seem like "the death slowage".

[shakeyourjunk]

well, that's good! i don't think you have anything to worry about, hun.

also, i forgot to comment on the 20 year old hamster! that is WILD!

[veela_]

the oldest hamster i've ever had was 3 years old. he was the best hamster ever. he's the one i compare all the other ones to. lol the last month of his life i was able to save him 2 or 3 times from dying - i'd found him belly up on the floor of the cage, super cold and he peed all over himself, but i'd pick him up and warm him for hours and he would go back to normal. but the last time there was nothing i could do. =((( i cried like a little baby.
sorry about the depressing story. lol

[shakeyourjunk]

not to sound like a total idiot but i cried. <3 that is such a sweet/sad story. you are a good ham mom. i've been over emotional all day but awww lol. i'm such a dorrrk. i love your user pic! your white ham against that neon is so cute!

[veela_]

aww yeah i always get teary eyed when i remember that specific hamster. his name was tito. i alwasy remeber how i held him, all bundled up in blankets and stuff, for two hours until he died. =(( even my mum got sad.
i'll stop with the depressing storys now. lol

[acsnavely]

awwwh.
my first "grown-up hamster" i got, when i was like... 19 or 20... was one of my favourites.
i had her trained to do little tricks and stuff.

anyhow, she LOVED to run... so one day i got her this really neat looking cage add-on called "the revolution" or something (by critter trail). it was basically a cage that was encompassed by a giant hamster wheel.
she loved it hardcore.
she ran and ran and ran.

that night, i turned around to IM my friend about it and how much she liked it, and when i looked back at the cage, MY HAMSTER WAS DEAD.
it happened literally in like... a 15 second gap.

i think she got stuck on the wheel and flipped up and broke her neck.
im pretty sure this explains why i never saw this cage for sale again anywhere from that point on.
i wonder how many little hamsters it killed :(

[bone_dust]

i had one that was about four years old. i remember having him almost all through high school.
i wish they all lived for 20 years.

[lilacpetal]

Actually I'd rather they not live for 20 years.

Part of why they're all so special is because they have lived short but impactful lives with us. That's my opinion. :)

[sicpuppy]

Im honestly very skeptical of the 20 year thing. Rats have a similar life span to hamsters, and the oldest one of those was only 7 (which is still remarkable).
I just can't see something as small as a hamster, and with all the related small animal issues, living to 20. The reason small animals die sooner than big ones is because they basically wear their bodies out, particularly the heart. It beats so fast in little animals, and everything in their body is much faster than ours, that they do essentially just wear everything out.
We do too, but we do it over the course of 80 years or so, they do the same aging but in about 2-3 years.

I mean, it would be amazing to think a hamster had ever lived to that age, but until I see some proof of that I'd have to go with it being one of those urban myths!

[kaysuiko]

It would be awesome if they lived that long, hehe.

I love your icon. It's so friggen cute, hehe.

[sicpuppy]

Thats simultaneously sad but funny :o

[dream_chaser023]

My brothers oldest hamster was 4yrs. but that was like 10 years ago when they probably didn't have as many poor health issues due to poor breeding (anyone notice the number of years that pet store animals live goes down as time goes down?)