My son wanted a hamster for two years. Finally let him get one. Did great for the first week - all over the house in the hamster ball. Kids playing with him. Monday morning, its dying. Took it back to the pet shop. They were pretty cool about it and just said it happens sometimes and it needs to be put down (they took care of it) and gave us another one.

They let this one sit the first day (did the same with the original hamster). Day 2 (Tuesday) is first day of school, so just cleaning and feeding. Wednesday morning its doing its thing. Last night when the kids came home from school - its cold. Been dead for a while.

With the first one, I can buy bad luck. With the second one - especially given how quick it went, it screams environment.

All recommended equipment and food from the pet store with the exception of a piece of carrot. Fed the first one meal worms Wednesday and Saturday. Second one got meal worms on Monday when we brought him home.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Not sure if this helps...
https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014 ... guinea-pig

That's odd that it happened twice like that. I had not heard of feeding Mealworms to Hamsters either. Were they Live or dried? What did the Pet store feed theirs?
My past experience with them was they ate a combo of grains/nuts and such in a package from the Pet store.
Any way they could have been eating something else you don't know about?

I would start by questioning the place you got them from. Maybe they have a virus/parasite/bacteria running through their hamster population? Or their supplier might have iffy health practices. I don't think hamsters are the most robust little creatures around but 2 of them in a row sounds very odd.

You're supposed to wrap them in duct tape.

The hamsters are probably from the same, so if the breeder had a disease breakout it's possible it affected both. Could also be their meal worms.

I was thinking that that is the problem. He might not know to leave a little opening at the end to let air in.


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I was wondering about the meal worms myself. They recommended then at the pet store - just once a week or so as a treat. Said they eat all kinds of bugs in the wild. Don't think the pet store feeds them meal worms and they recommended the shop where we bought them (different pet store that specializes in fish).

My plan right now is to not buy another one for a couple of months, then to go to a different pet store this time. Mostly to avoid a breeder/store issue.

Mostly, I just want to make sure we didn't do something and definitely don't want to make the same mistake again.

I’ve never heard of feeding them mealworms. I’ve had pet rats and all they got was rodent chow (hard pellets) or vegetables. Carrots should be more than fine.


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Yep...had a Leopard Gecko.

Are you killing the worms first?

If not they may eat through the hamster belly if not bitten dead by the hamster.....or at least that what they'd do to a Gecko.

Here are all the instructions:

https://www.petmd.com/exotic/care/evr_e ... ur-hamster

From the mouths of experience I presume?

We did everything on the list - didn't have enough time to do anything else.

On the meal worms, they bite them in half and chew them. But I won't discount that the mealworms had some sort of parasite.

My daughter’s lived past 3 yrs old. She never fed mealworms. Never heard of it for hamsters. The first couple of days should be left alone to acclimate. We made that mistake with #1 and it didn’t last 24 hours. We got ours at petco.


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You haven't been letting Richard Gere into your home lately?