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 behaviours 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 behaviour 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 fulfil 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 recognise negative hamster behaviour 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 behaviour 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 behaviours 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

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