How Long Did The Oldest Hamster Live?

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!