so since in Canada, it's already decided to snow and bring cold weather I thought
it would be a good time to do a how to keep your hamster warm in the winter
video now with hamsters you really want to keep them in temperatures between 65
and 75 degrees Fahrenheit anything below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15C) can actually cause
your hamster to go into torpor. Torpor is a survival tactic used by many many
animals when cold weather comes it is a little bit different from hibernation
but if there's suddenly cold weather the animal requires them to reduce their
overall body temperature, their breathing rate and their heart rate and this helps
them survive any cold weather that comes their way
now unfortunately hamsters in captivity cannot survive going into torpor so if
it is not caught soon enough unfortunately, your hamster can pass. Keep
in mind your hamster will not likely go into torpor unless temperatures inside
your home or where their cage are ,are below 60 degrees Fahrenheit anything
above that would not cause a hamster to go into torpor so if your hamster has
passed or appears lifeless torpor may not be the cause if the temperatures are
above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. if you found your hamster in torpor they will
appear lifeless you will see a very faint heartbeat as well as you can also
see their whiskers twitch a bit as soon as you find to them like this you are
going to want to pick them up they're not going to wake up when you pick them
up they're going to appear in a very heavy deep sleep they're going to be very
limp so you're going to want to as soon as possible when you see them in this
state take them out of their enclosure and start to warm them up as quickly but
not too quickly if you warm your hamster up too fast they can go into shock and
die so you want to slowly start putting them against your chest or if you have a
heating pad that that can work as well and start massaging their body to get
the circulation flowing once again it might take a couple of minutes before
your hamster starts to become a little bit more active they may be a little bit
more wobbly this is common just give them more time to wake
themselves up because they just went into a pretty deep sleep so they're
trying to get their circulation and everything back up once your hamster has
fully become awake you are going to want to offer food and water to them. So to
ensure that our hamsters stay warm this winter we are going to want to make sure
that the location of their cage does not have any harsh drafts that can cause
them to get cold you also are going to want to include a lot more bedding try
to give them a lot of nesting material that way they can build up a nice warm
nest toilet paper is a great safe option as nesting as well as any paper-based
bedding as long as it's not scented you are going to want to avoid giving your
hamster things like cotton fluff or any fabrics because if these are ingested
they can cause internal blockages they also can easily get the fibers wrapped
around their limbs which can cause it to cut off your hamster circulation if
your hamsters cage is in an area where it is colder in your house and you are
unable to move their cage to a warmer area in your house I would recommend
looking into some portable heaters of course be careful with portable heaters
don't keep them plugged in all the time and make sure they're only plugged in
when you are home because you can easily start a fire so you just want to be very
careful with them another thing that can help is just taking a heating pad or a
reptile heating pad and attaching this to the bottom of one side of the cage
make sure it's not on the whole enclosure
and you also want to make sure it's on a low temperature that way it has one spot
in its cage that's going to be warmer so if your hamsters feeling a little bit
cold they can go to that area but as well as if they get too hot they can
move away from that area another thing is that you can put a blanket around
your hamsters cage if your hamsters cage is up against a wall putting a blanket
in between the wall and the hamster cage can kind of help insulate it a bit more
I know this was a short video but it is an important topic to talk about because
keeping your hamster in ideal temperatures is very important. So yeah
guys thank you for watching bye