My hamster just reached her second birthday. In hamster terms I think that means she's a fairly old lady. Recently I noticed that her bum was....browner than usual and she smells more than she used to. I know it's not wet tail because my sister's hamster had that (poor little thing) and even though she smells more it's not that horrid, distinctive smell that goes with wet tail. Also her droppings are fine. Normal in fact in quantity and quality, and she behaves like...Pebbles really. She eats all her food, attacks my brother's Xbox 360 and hip thrusts sawdust on to my head while I clean her out. Just more slowly than usual. I need to know from other people who have hamsters or had them, if she's ill or old, because I don't know - she's the first hamster I can remember having who has reached the big 2 milestone. I might post a picture if that helps, there don't appear to be many on the internet of hamster bums (good or bad).

Even if you're not sure I would still like to hear from you because I could really do with some advice right now...

2 is pretty old for a hamster, yeah. However there's no real need to get very worried if she's keeping up her normal habits, especially eating and drinking. You might look into vitamin water drops or something if you don't use them already.

I haven't had a pet rodent in years and years, but I think the bum/smell problem may just be because she's getting older, too. Small animals spend a lot of their time grooming themselves, but when they get older they're less flexible and don't have the energy. It's probably just too much work for her to clean herself as thoroughly as she used to. She'd probably appreciate a soft cloth dampened with warm water to help clean her up Don't dunk her in a bath or anything though, that would be pretty stressful.

2 is very old. I've had many and none lived that long. With small animals like that you gotta know from the start they won't be around forever and her time might only be a few more months away. But really, she just sounds old.

Yeah, just like they said; it's old age.

The normal hamster lives about a year and 5 months to about 2 and a half years. (Possibly more or less, I don't know.) My hamster died when it was about 2. I don't know any hamster diseases, so I wouldn't know if the bum problem will get to her. Good luck with that.

Heh, it's not size, but species

But yeah, that sounds like an age to be proud of for a hamster.

Actually, maximum age of hamsters varies by species as well as diet and care. My beloved Harvey (I think he was of the syrian breed) lasted an impressive 3.6 years on the dot even while I was told he would only live to see three. My second hamster, Mhiji, (a russian dwarf) lasted two.

That's what I meant. I know small dogs live a long time since we got 13 pomeranians here and one is 12 years old. I meant all the small housepets types like Hamster. or Algernons.

Care is a major factor too.

Heh, Sidwarrious, a pet parrot is smaller than a dog and could well outlive you.
Generally rodents don't live all that long though. That's the main thing.
But one of my guinea pigs managed to outlive a couple of my rabbits!

I have a 25 year old African Grey Parrot. I know. Well had him. Had him all my life, but when my grandpa died we gave him away. We fed him chicken. He LOVED chicken.

You don't want to know what I think the problem is with your hamster. It's just not civilized.

...OK I'll say it. I think she had diarrhea. Hamsters can get that, right? Poor little thing. She didn't have any toilet paper to wipe her little bum with. Just take a baby wipe to her and poof some baby powder on her...and she'll be good as new.

I was just kidding of course, but then again, who knows. Maybe that is the problem. I mean, come on. Brown, stinky bum? If I had that, I would be like "hey, I gotta wipe my ass."

It is either a stress, diet, age issue, or a combination. (My rats sometimes get similar troubles when they are older.) A change in diet and use of wet tail medicine (you can find it in pet stores) might help. I've never had a hamster (little monsters hate me), but I am a general small pet/rodent nerd, so I know a bit of info and plenty of places to find info.

Here are some:

http://www.hamsterific.com/IllnessGuide.cfm
http://www.hookedonhamsters.com/hamsterhealthcarechart.htm
http://www.harry-hamster.co.uk/hamster-health.html

Good luck with your hamster. It's true that many/most hamsters don't live past two years, but some do. Lifespan can be quite variable in rodents (like any other animal). I have 25 rats right now, and a few are active and vibrant approaching 3 years old while others are "old" and frail at under 2 years.

Btw, random trivia. It isn't size but rather heart rate that shows the most correlation with the lifespan of mammals. Among non-hibernating mammals, there is a great consensus in the number of heartbeats (roughly 1 billion) every species has in its lifespan. Mice have much faster heart rates than dogs or elephants. (Human beings have considerably more heartbeats in their lives, but we used to have the same number as other mammals when we lived fewer years.) -- This rule doesn't apply to non-mammals. Many birds are notoriously long-lived. And exothermic creatures' lifespans depend strongly upon temperature and activity levels.

usedbooks that scared that hell out of me. The only people with 25 pets are planning on doing something such as experimentation on them. Trust me I know. I have 15 dogs. And soon my dog cannon will be ready.

lol. I've been breeding rats as pets for 6 years. They don't need much space/money and eat better and have cleaner living space than I do. My last landlord said we could only have "caged" pets, so I took advantage of that. (I'd go crazy without critters.)

Plus, I'm amassing my army. I know which side is going to win in the apocalyptic war and plan to ally myself with the victors. (My mom keeps giant hissing cockroaches <<< true.)

Then your mom is more prepared.

When that happens, put a video on youtube and show it to me. I must see it.

I will. It will be labeled "Exhibit A". Oh what fun.

Yes. Awesome.

I don't know what advice to offer, I was gonna say wet tail, until I read further. Two of the hamsters I've kept developed tumors in their nether regions. So I'd watch for increasing size of her bum. I don't recall any change in color though.

Regardless, I've had 11 hamsters in my childhood, and most of them lived to be 3 or 4. Did I have freaky mutant hamsters?

Freaky Giant Space Hamsters good person sir ma'am.

I'd say Pebbles smells less than usual. It's been at least a week and I haven't had to gag myself when drawing when she gets up for a pee. But I digress, I'd say she's just old, seeing how senile she acts. Heh.

She's always been stupid confused soul just... more so recently. Thanks to every one for the helpful advice. Salsicoruc: that's going to be difficult as she, like so many British females, has a pear shaped bottom.

Sigh... wish I could help you, but all I've got is a millipede and two cats -_-

I had two hamsters before.

One got pregnant,had babies,and ate most of them...so we sent that one back to the store and got another one that had red eyes and turned out to be evil. We let that one out into the wild...by "wild" I mean my backyard.

So, ive never been able to see a hamstere grow old, sry.

Pebbles passed away in April this year. She was two years and four months (approx). Thank you for your comments, I did try some of your suggestions but I'm afraid she was just old. I can only hope that she enjoyed me being her owner as much as I enjoyed her being my hamster. I will never forget feeding her mini milks and fingers. My friends fingers. I'm just glad she went in her little log cabin rather than at the vets. He is such an a**hole! Tried to persuade my mum to put the rabbit to sleep when he had wry neck rather than the treatment (which was cheaper!) I wouldn't want any animal to die in that vets, where they are injected like pieces of meat >

I have two hamsters in seprate cages that connect to eachother. They're over a year old now and are reaching two. One's aboromally large while the other one needs to put on some weight. Just recently their poop started to smell worse, so I don't know...

Walrus: I would say that's just part of old age. I mean- my dad stinks! Seriously though, from what I learned with Pebbley Webbley, it's when they get a brown bum that you need to be worried. She went a bit tired after she reached the age of two (much less bouncing up and down on her wheel) and towards the end she just kept falling asleep in her ball. But she never stopped eating... damn hamsters refusing to show when they're ill! You could try vitamins if you don't already (the face they pull when it's in their water is ADORABLE). They seemed to perk my hamster up a bit (that and chocolate drops). Try not to worry or you'll start getting paranoid and that's not a good thing ^_^

P.S. I had a huge hamster as well. But I have tiny hands, so she was impossible to pick up.

Age for hamsters partially depends on the care they get and the species they are. I've had two Syrians in the past and they both lived past 2. One died at 3, and the other one was put to sleep at 3. My sister's 4th hamster died recently. That was her longest living one. That lived to about 3. However, she now has a Roborovski That's about a year old, and they're supposed to live longer. (Can't handle the poor guy, though. He's too fast. I'm afraid I'll do a Lennie on him if I pick him up, so I don't. I talk to him a lot though, not that that's a substitute.)

I'll need to know what species it is before I can give any advice.