If you google for the age of the longest-lived hamster, you might come across a few web sites stating that it was 7 years, and some even quote the Guinness World Records as the source for this information.

There’s even a book that claims to tell you ““How To Make Your Hamster Live For 7 Years Or More”.

That’s a really long time given that most hamsters live for only 2 to 3 years.

Recently, I found out that you could search the Guinness World Records online and naturally I wanted to verify if the hamster age record was true. I couldn’t find any information on it at all so I asked the Guinness World Records on their facebook page.

This was what they said:

It turns out the oldest hamster was from the UK and lived only for 4.5 years, not 7. So now you know 🙂 And I definitely won’t be getting that book.

My winter white hamsters are currently over 1.5 years old and I hope they have a long way to go.

How old is your hamster and how long did your oldest live? I would love to hear your comments below!

Hamsters are cute little furry animals that lots of little kids have as pets. They sleep during the day, run on their little wheels, and have a weird little habit….eating their own poop. You may wonder why on earth would they do something so disgusting but the answer is simple. Hamsters are coprophagic, this means they consume their own poop for nutritional reasons.

Due to the way their digestive system is set up, hamsters do not get all the nutrients they need the first time the food passes through their system. So once it comes out in poop form, they eat it again to receive the nutrients their bodies did not absorb the first time.

Although it does seem odd to us humans, it is very normal for not only hamsters but also some other animals to eat their own poop (rabbits do this too!)

Hamsters do not eat all of their poop though, only the ones that can get additional nutrition from. The other type — the ones that you see all the time in your hamster’s cage — is passed out and not eaten.

This coprophagic behavior most often occurs at night and the hamster eats the poop almost immediately when it is passed out. Most owners do not even know that their hamsters do this.

I’ve only seen it once or twice in a few of my hamsters although I’m sure it happens a lot more. Have you seen your hamster eat its poop?

Not everyone knows this but hamsters are not herbivores. Perhaps because hamster mixes look like they contain mostly plant-based food, some people think that hamsters eat only plants.

However, hamsters are really omnivores and they eat both plant and animals (mostly insects). In fact, if you look at the ingredients in many commercial hamster food, you’ll find animal proteins such as chicken, shrimp, fish, or even beef in them.

In the wild, hamsters may occasionally feed on insects, worms, and other creepy crawlies. As pets, they also enjoy a mealworm or two now and then.

Here are some non-plant foods that you can find in pet stores for hamsters

1) Dried mealworm

Mealworms are very high in protein and fat. They are good as an occasional treat. My dwarf hamsters go crazy for them but the Syrians completely ignore them. You can give your hamsters live mealworms too but I prefer using the dried ones instead because they might pouch the live mealworms and get bitten (yes, mealworms bite!) inside their cheek pouches. Also, I’m squeamish about live worms. You can get these from Amazon. The packaging says it’s for birds but hamsters can have them too.

2) Dried grasshopper

Grasshoppers are very high in protein although they do not contain as much fat as mealworm. Again, the dwarf hamsters go crazy for them while the Syrians are not interested at all. When I gave this to my hamsters for the first time, the winter whites went for the grasshopper immediately when I put it in their cage. However, the Roborovskis did not recognize this as food at first and only took a bite after I left it in their cage for a while.

3) Dried shrimp

I didn’t think the hamsters would like this since shrimps are probably not in their natural environment. But they did. Again, only the dwarf hamsters liked them and the Syrian hamsters avoided them (they actually looked away when I put it in front of their faces — I think this has a strong smell that Syrians don’t like). The ones I got were marketed for hamsters, but you can use brine shrimp for fish too.

4) Beef cube

This is a really weird treat that I got from a pet store in Japan. The ingredients show a mix of various meats including chicken and beef. There’s also cheese and some other stuff in it that I couldn’t translate. All of the hamsters including the Syrians love this but it’s not a very healthy treat so I wouldn’t get this again

Besides the above food you can get from pet stores, you can also give these to your hamster:

5) Cooked plain chicken

All my hamsters seem to really like this. It’s also a good treat for growing or pregnant hamsters since it’s high in protein

6) Cooked plain salmon

Again, another favorite food. If you give your pet salmon or any other fish, make sure there is absolutely no bones in them.

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Some things to note

• These are treats and should be given sparingly.
• Contrary to what some people think, giving your hamster meat does not cause them to bite.

For more non-plant food you can give your pet as well as fresh fruit and vegetables, check out http://dwarfhamsterblog.com/dwarf-hamster-food

And if you’ve tried any of the food above or have other suggestions on what you can give hamsters, please feel free to leave a comment below