tonyshuman
Well-Known Member
I am terribly sad to say that my hamster Munchkin died yesterday. She was running around on my shoulder the night before, and happily devoured some cereal before I left yesterday morning. When I returned she was dead and stiff. I have no idea what caused her to die. She passed a lot of poop right before she died (it was stuck to her bottom, but looked normal), but had been behaving normally up until the point I left for work. She was 5-6 months old.
I bought her as a friend for Petunia when Petunia's sister Ms. Piggy died (probably of genetic defect) late Aug/early Sept. They never got along. Munchkin would sit and squeak at Petunia and bear her teeth sometimes, and at other times she would gently groom her. Petunia didn't seem to care much either way about Munchkin, except sometimes when Munchkin made threatening faces at her she would lash out and bite. They ended up living in two separate cages. After Ms. Piggy's death I was very careful about removing wet bedding daily to stop mold growth (and of course I washed the cage thoroughly every week to week and a half. I have no idea why my little Munchkin died.
She had so much personality. She loved to make burrows out of the carefresh and hide seeds in them. She made little squeaking noises when she breathed. It was very funny to watch her and Petunia interact (of course not when they would fight, which was horrible). They would only fight when in the cage--I could keep them in the same temporary cage while I cleaned the main cage.
I feel like I have such bad luck with hamsters. I got really attached to Munchkin, much more so than Ms. Piggy. It was also such a shock to see her dead, her stiff little body sitting there unnaturally. I have no idea why she died or what I could have done to take better care of her, which is very frustrating. My only thought is that she had constipation of some kind and trying to pass that caused internal bleeding in her intestines. Maybe I fed them too much fresh food? I give them a tiny bit of fresh veggie--usually whatever I'm feeding the bunnies--usually every day. They absolutely love the veggies, especially the cauliflower and carrot they'd been getting lately. They also get oatmeal or cereal 2-3x a week in addition to their doggie treat (1/hamster/week, they usually don't eat the whole thing), rodent block and seed mix. I am of course going to give the cage a complete and thorough cleaning before I put Petunia back in it (she is in a temporary cage made out of a cooler right now). We buried her outside under a tree in the park.
RIP sweet Munchkin. I hope you are happily snoozing away in a soft burrow somewhere, with a giant stash of seeds under your pillow.
ink iris::sad:
I bought her as a friend for Petunia when Petunia's sister Ms. Piggy died (probably of genetic defect) late Aug/early Sept. They never got along. Munchkin would sit and squeak at Petunia and bear her teeth sometimes, and at other times she would gently groom her. Petunia didn't seem to care much either way about Munchkin, except sometimes when Munchkin made threatening faces at her she would lash out and bite. They ended up living in two separate cages. After Ms. Piggy's death I was very careful about removing wet bedding daily to stop mold growth (and of course I washed the cage thoroughly every week to week and a half. I have no idea why my little Munchkin died.
She had so much personality. She loved to make burrows out of the carefresh and hide seeds in them. She made little squeaking noises when she breathed. It was very funny to watch her and Petunia interact (of course not when they would fight, which was horrible). They would only fight when in the cage--I could keep them in the same temporary cage while I cleaned the main cage.
I feel like I have such bad luck with hamsters. I got really attached to Munchkin, much more so than Ms. Piggy. It was also such a shock to see her dead, her stiff little body sitting there unnaturally. I have no idea why she died or what I could have done to take better care of her, which is very frustrating. My only thought is that she had constipation of some kind and trying to pass that caused internal bleeding in her intestines. Maybe I fed them too much fresh food? I give them a tiny bit of fresh veggie--usually whatever I'm feeding the bunnies--usually every day. They absolutely love the veggies, especially the cauliflower and carrot they'd been getting lately. They also get oatmeal or cereal 2-3x a week in addition to their doggie treat (1/hamster/week, they usually don't eat the whole thing), rodent block and seed mix. I am of course going to give the cage a complete and thorough cleaning before I put Petunia back in it (she is in a temporary cage made out of a cooler right now). We buried her outside under a tree in the park.
RIP sweet Munchkin. I hope you are happily snoozing away in a soft burrow somewhere, with a giant stash of seeds under your pillow.
ink iris::sad:
