Family tragedy!

chillidoggy

One of my son's hamsters, Saunders, died last night (the other one is called French, by the way).

I'm waiting to see when the minute's silence will be held, proposing a day of national mourning, and expecting a memorial service at Westminster, as it seems to be de rigueur these days.

Teetonetal

Sorry, that's in pretty poor taste.

CloudNine

What was the cause of death? Poor felching technique? You might be better starting out with gerbils.

boogieman

Urgh, hamsters, hate them. My daughter had three over the years when she was little. Furry little wankers, what a PITA they are as pets. Sleep all day when you want to play with them, then they run round their wheel all night. Make your room smell funky too. Get to three years old and then peg out. 

chillidoggy

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, it was so fucking hot. And yeah, they smell pretty funky, too. He's buried in the garden, but he's worried cats might dig it up.

Do cats dig up dead hamsters?

Flanging_Fred

chillidoggy said:

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, it was so fucking hot. And yeah, they smell pretty funky, too. He's buried in the garden, but he's worried cats might dig it up.

Do cats dig up dead hamsters?

Yes. That's cats dug ours up.

chillidoggy

Flanging_Fred said:

chillidoggy said:

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, it was so fucking hot. And yeah, they smell pretty funky, too. He's buried in the garden, but he's worried cats might dig it up.

Do cats dig up dead hamsters?

Yes. That's cats dug ours up.

Shit, I'd better tell him. His other half will be in bits if she sees a cat dragging the recently-deceased Saunders corpse across the lawn.

Ravenous

chillidoggy said:

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, it was so fucking hot. And yeah, they smell pretty funky, too. He's buried in the garden, but he's worried cats might dig it up.

Do cats dig up dead hamsters?

Are you sure it's dead?

I've heard tales of hamsters looking dead but reviving hours later... though I don't know why they sometimes do this...

chillidoggy

Well, no, I'm not sure! Hopefully he hasn't buried it alive!

Do they hibernate?

Dominic

chillidoggy said:

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, 

Doubt it; they originate from Middle Eastern Deserts ......notably Syria
We had a dead Hamster .......it was dead for about 2 days then came back to life and lived another 2 years -quite a common thing for Hamsters -a kind of Coma that they self induce

chillidoggy

So you left it 'dead' in the cage for two days? How did you know it was still alive?

chillidoggy

http://www.wikihow.com/Cure-Your-Not-Moving-Hamster

Ravenous

chillidoggy said:

http://www.wikihow.com/Cure-Your-Not-Moving-Hamster

Yeah some of the info there sounds familiar.

I had heard about it being more likely in colder weather, not hot as it is now.

So the bad news is the poor wee creature may well be dead after all, and the good news is it probably wasn't buried alive!

Anyway I'll be having a minute's silence at lunch, in honour of all the dead hamsters out there and all the kids trading up to a bigger pet

TheBlueWolf

Ravenous said:

chillidoggy said:

I reckon the heat killed it. We were in his flat last week, and even I was flagging, it was so fucking hot. And yeah, they smell pretty funky, too. He's buried in the garden, but he's worried cats might dig it up.

Do cats dig up dead hamsters?

Are you sure it's dead?

I've heard tales of hamsters looking dead but reviving hours later... though I don't know why they sometimes do this...

No that was Zombeavers......

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2784512/

ESBlonde

If you bury it deep enough the cats a) can't smell it. b) won't dig that far. Thats why people are put 6ft under.

Octafish

ESBlonde said:

Thats why people are put 6ft under.

What, to stop cats digging them up?

richardhomer

When my son was about 4, 'Dave' his hamster died suddenly. I managed to keep the boy from going in to the room where Dave was kept - and drove round 'many' pet shops the next day, in order to source the most similar replacement possible. 

Though easily two inches shorter than original Dave, Dave 2 was never detected by my son - a deception I will no doubt take to my grave....

crunchman

You might have to dig quite deep.  I had a dead cat that was dug up by a fox, and then the remains were left in the middle of the lawn.  My daughter saw it and asked me what it was.

ESBlonde

Octafish said:

ESBlonde said:

Thats why people are put 6ft under.

What, to stop cats digging them up?

Anything (or anyone)!

axisus

My pal had a cute little russian hamster, his name was Uuuugghhhh? (pronounced like a zombie making a gutteral questioning noise). At night time he would open the cage (the whole top and sides was a metal grille that came off), put some food in then put the top back. He came home late one night, and not wanting to disturb his flatmates he thought he'd do it quickly without putting the light on. The top didn't feel quite right when he put it back on, but he managed to latch it down all the same. In the morning, he glanced over to see that poor Uuuugghhhh? had popped his head up over the base at exactly the wrong time and his poor little neck was squashed flat. It was a sad day, but every time he recounted the story people would laugh!

proggy

My hamster died recently.

The silly sod fell asleep at the wheel.