How to Understand Your Hamster’s Body Language
Hamsters make excellent pets – they’re fun, cute, and relatively easy to care for. Their cuddly credentials have made them popular pets all over the world. Hamsters bring a lot of joy to their owners, but how can you tell if your hamster is happy? Knowing how to understand your hamster’s body language will help you determine what your pet is feeling at any given time. Discover the wide range of emotions that hamsters can convey to their owners, and how to decipher their body language. Before you know it, you’ll be an expert in hamster habits.
Positive body language
A happy hamster is the result of good care, adequate nutrition, and ideal living conditions. If you notice these behaviors in your hamster, give yourself a round of applause for your excellent hamster husbandry skills.
Stretching and yawning
Yawning doesn’t just convey the desire to sleep — in fact, your hamster will yawn or even stretch when they’re feeling comfortable and relaxed. If you see your hamster stretching out in a wide-mouthed yawn, they are saying they’re perfectly happy and content in their environment.
Sitting up on back legs, ears forward
This perked-up posture is exactly what it looks like: something has captured your hamster’s attention. Hamsters will sit up on their haunches to get a better vantage point, and will point their ears forward to enhance their hearing.
Leaping
Hamsters might not be readily associated with acrobatics, but they can quite literally jump for joy, or leap during their active hours while scurrying around their habitat. These hops, bounces, or bounds stem from their playful natures, but also from natural instincts to hop over rough terrain. So, if you see your hamster bouncing around their enclosure, they’re either expelling playful energy, or exercising their natural instincts.
Grooming
Being the clean animals that they are, hamsters spend a lot of time grooming themselves. But in order to clean their fur, faces, and paws efficiently and thoroughly, hamsters need to feel secure in their surroundings. When you see your hamster grooming themselves, you know they feel confident and comfortable.
Ears folded back, eyes half closed
This is the look of a hamster who has just woken up. It could be during the day if they wake up for a midday snack or sip of water, or as they’re emerging from their daily slumber to begin their nocturnal active hours. It’s best not to disturb your hamster while they are sporting this squinted look — it’s the equivalent of talking to someone before they’ve had their morning coffee.
Neutral body language
Not all body language has a good or bad connotation. Some of your hamster’s body language is brief, or is the result of a reflexive response. These behaviors are all normal, and don’t indicate that your hamster is overly stressed or stimulated.
Ears laid back
This behavior communicates that your hamster is suspicious of something. It could be an unusual sight or smell, or as a reaction to a sudden change in their environment. Your hamster’s ears should return to their usual, relaxed state after a moment or two. It’s important to not approach your hamster while they have this posture to avoid startling or stressing them.
Freezing
You may see your hamster staying in one position — sometimes for even a few minutes. Their ears will be straight up and they will be stiff to the touch. There are lots of potential reasons for hamsters to stop moving temporarily: they can freeze both out of fear and surprise, or they can pause their movement so that they can listen more carefully to something that they’re unsure about.
Running
Running is a normal, important part of your hamster’s routine. In fact, in their natural habitat they can run up to 5 miles each night. It’s important to provide your hamster with an exercise wheel to fulfill their need to move. Not only will it keep them from becoming overweight, but it will also stimulate their mind.
Negative body language
Sometimes your hamster may need to convey negative emotions or experiences. Feelings like pain, stress, or illness can be expressed through body language. You may never see these in your pet, but it’s still important to recognize negative hamster behavior so that you can address it promptly.
Repetitive actions
If you notice your hamster wearing a path in their bedding from pacing, or engaging in a loop around their cage that consists of repetitive actions, they may be stressed. A hamster stuck in a loop of activity, like hopping on their exercise wheel, followed by a lap around their habitat and repeating over and over is experiencing mental stress. Hamsters displaying this behavior should be checked over for any injury, and may benefit from having their habitat rearranged, or from the addition of some enriching toys or accessories like hamster tubes, ramps, or platforms.
Chewing
Chewing on the bars or edges of their cage, toys, or food bowls can indicate that your hamster is stressed. It could also mean that your hamster’s teeth are overgrown, or that they’re bored. Make sure that your hamster has plenty of space in their habitat, and that they have access to Timothy hay or applewood chews to correct inappropriate chewing.
Biting
Hamsters can bite when they’re scared, stressed, or confused. If your hamster nips you, there’s definitely a reason behind it. Your hamster may be in pain, or in a state of mind where they aren’t sure how to react to you — usually when woken up from a deep sleep. It’s important to try to understand why your hamster has reacted by biting rather than being angry at them for doing so.
What to do about negative body language
If you see your hamster exhibiting signs of stress or discomfort, it’s time to perform a hamster health check. Depending on your findings, you may be able to resolve the issue and help them feel more comfortable right away. If you find anything troubling, like signs of illness or injury, contact your veterinarian for advice, or to schedule an exam.
Omlet and your hamster
Knowing that your hamster is healthy and happy is one of the most rewarding feelings as an owner. Our hamster habitat and accessories have been designed to foster your pet’s needs and behaviors so that they can live full, happy lives. We’ve also crafted all of our hamster products to bring you and your small pet closer than ever with the accessible and easy to clean designs. Enjoy a lifetime of understanding and enjoyment together when you choose Omlet for your hamster’s housing needs.
This entry was posted in Hamsters
13 replies on “How to Understand Your Hamster’s Body Language”
I have only hamster for a few weeks I feel like he likes me but I’m just not too sure she has only bit me twice and I fully understand the reason she did not want to come out of her kids but I met her because she had been in there for a while today I had just come out of school and went to come get her out she was out of her cage and in my hand while I was walking to the living room to sit down with her and watch TV as I usually do we’re having a good time until she walked over to my hand and bit my finger without me even doing anything but now she is lying by my side asleep so I’m unsure if she likes me or not
yes she definetlty likes and loves you some do this to getting to know you mines done the exact same thing its there way of getting to know you she will stop doing the give her time hope this helps you nice chatting to you xx
So I only have had my teddy bear hamster for 3 days but i’m not to sure if he is comfortable yet. I bought him chewing toys and I can tell he plays with them because it’s chewed on and scrap and the blocks moved around and i seen that the tissue i left with my scent was in his clubhouse but he buries his self under his bedding a lot and i get nervous because when i’m able to start taking him out i don’t want him to panic
My Hamster Henry has never really bitten me before but lately all of a sudden he has! This morning he bit me super hard! I dont know what to do? Im trying to train him but of course its harder than training a dog! What do I do?
Weçve had two hamsters that have died at a young age. They both we’re very active at various times day and night. They have tubes, a wheel, we put them in a ball for exercise. They both constantly climbed back and forth across the bars of their cage. They seemed agitated. We don’t know why. Do hamsters easily have heart attacks? My son just got this one for Christmas two weeks ago.
I have a Russian dwarf Campbell hamster. He is 1month and 10 days old. Suddenly I noticed he keeps jumping at night. He jumps too much and scratches the walls. He keeps jumping on his hind legs more.
In day time he is normal. He sleeps a lot and eats and play with me. can you tell me what’s wrong with him or it’s normal.
In my area there is no good vet/vet for hamster. Please help me what can I do for him?
I have a Robo dwarf hamster, I’ve had him for about half a year and he keeps biting me. I try to warm myself up to him and even though I try to use the food it doesn’t work, so can I get some tips you know hamster owner to hamster owner
I have a hamster that’s about a year and four months old, He used to be very energetic, and wanted to play all the time, However, Since about Christmas, He’s been lazy and I haven’t heard his wheel ever running, I’m concerned about him, Is he just getting old? Or is it something else? Please help!
Keep this going please, great job!
I’ve only had my hamster for nearly two months but she just recently love to crawl up my arm and I don’t know why big I think it’s because we like me or getting comfortable around me
Biting
Hamsters can bite when they’re scared, when they’re stressed, or when they’re confused. if your hamster bites you, then there’s almost certainly a reason for it. Maybe your hamster is in pain, or simply uncertain how to react to you. Never get angry at your hamster but try to understand the reason behind his behavior.
Mt hamster is really tame she knows my voice she is 3 moths old now and I know when she wants play time every time she starts to bite her cage then I know it is her play time and I play with her and she loves going under the saw dust and we play peek a boo she loves it it is my first hamster and I love it she calms me down because of my mental health she makes me laugh and she is learning to sleep through the night and not to sleep during the day it is so interesting
I. Am concerned that tiger my hamster won’t drink I feed it to her to get her to drink other wise she won’t do it she relies on me alot I’m scared she is going to get dydrated and I don’t want that for her she is a lovley hamster she helps me alot but this is the first time of experience of my hamster not wanting a drink and especially in this heat I don’t know if I should take her to the vets to be looked at because there could be a reason why she isn’t drinking water and I love her so much I will help her in any way I can but I am just concerned