8 Responses

1. naturegrrl

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   1

   Well, I hope your little fuzzy is not sick. Hamsters are usually nocturnal, meaning they are active at night. Maybe your hamster runs on his wheel at night……..or maybe your hamster is protesting because he doesn’t want to be part of an animal experiment (haha).

2. goose

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   2

   the answer could be in how you were measuring the distance he ran

3. ratluvr

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   3

   Hamsters sometimes go through sudden mood changes like that. It sounds like an unfortunate time for you. You could try not waking him up.

4. Kriztofer

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   4

   Hamsters are naturally nocturnal animals, if i was a hamster i wouldnt want you poking and prodding me during the day, maybe he is running at night when you sleep.

5. ♪♫♪Mrs. Nick Jonas♪♫♪

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   5

   My hamster has done the same thing. One day he’s running on the wheel and never stopping, and the next day he’s sleeping and refuses to get up. Hamsters go through sudden changes like that. It depends on how you are measuring how far he runs. One good way is wait until he’s awake, don’t wake him up yourself or else he will not run because he is to tired. Here’s what I would do. Wait until he’s awake, creep up slowly to the cage, then measure him while watching him.

6. watchmaker91

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   6

   Did you change it’s bedding slowly? Or did you just clean it’s cage one day and put the other kind of bedding in? That might be your problem. You should change a hamsters bedding slowly. Start by adding a little (about a third) of the new bedding to the old bedding when you change it’s cage and then next time add two thirds of the new stuff and the time after make it all new.
   Also if you could email me and tell me how you can tell how far your hamsters been running that would be cool, because I have been looking to do a similar thing but I don’t know how.

7. Jj

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   7

   Hamsters are nocturnal animals, they wont run during the day much.

8. vanilla

   July 6th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

   8

   1. maybe it’s the bedding? He might have liked the old bedding more.
   2. your hamster won’t hate you for waking him up once or twice =P
   3. Doubt he’s sick. If he’s sick he wouldn’t be even moving an inch, or eating! Even while you were on vacation.

   4. There could be a possibility that he doesn’t like you, or that he feels intimidated by you somehow? Because you went on a ski trip and left him alone for a while, maybe he’s not used to seeing you again?
   5. you could kind of force him to walk/run first by putting him in an exercise ball (do this at night when he’s most active).

   Good luck to your project, and your hamster!!