• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pets Overload

Pet Care Tips, Reviews & Stories of our Pets

  • Betta Fish Care
  • Cat Care
  • Chinchilla Care
  • Hamster Care
  • Our Family
    • Betta Fish Stories
      • Blub
      • Flub
    • Cat Stories
      • Avery
      • Beau
      • Kalista
      • Walker
    • Chinchilla Stories
      • Gary
    • YouTube Videos
  • Reviews
    • Cat Products
      • Cat Food
      • Cat Grooming
      • Cat Litter
      • Cat Toys, Feeders & Misc.
    • Chinchilla Products
      • Chinchilla Toys & Chews
  • Instagram

What is a Dwarf Hamster’s Lifespan? How long do they live for?

May 23, 2018 By Johnny Salib 8 Comments

dwarf-hamster

Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,

As mentioned in a previous article asking how long Bettas live for, I talk a little bit about the importance of knowing the lifespan of an animal you are hoping to adopt as it may heavily impact your choice to adopt the animal.

The same can be said for hamsters, especially because their age is so connected to the care you give to it.

Now, every breed of hamster lives for different lengths, so today I’m asking… what is the length of a dwarf hamster’s lifespan?

Short Answer

Different breeds of dwarf hamsters will live different lengths, but their average lifespan ranges from 1.5-3.5 years.

Oldest Dwarf Hamster Documented (Guinness World Records)

When doing research into this, I kept finding posts that stated that a dwarf hamster lived for 7 years, but once I did a bit more research and fact checking I found out the oldest dwarf hamster on record was actually 4.5 years old which was documented by the Guinness World Records Book.

Average Age Breakdown by Dwarf’s Breed

Campbell’s Dwarf Hamster 1.5 – 2 years
Siberian Dwarf Hamster 1.5 – 2 years
Chinese Dwarf Hamster 2 – 3 years
Roborovski Dwarf Hamster
 3 – 3.5 years

Wild Hamsters tend to Live Longer

It’s odd to write this, as most wild animals don’t outlive household animals, however, this isn’t true of hamsters.

Unfortunately, a lot of hamsters aren’t properly taken care of, and they actually get a much better diet in the wild.

Food Matters!

If fed a properly balanced diet, you can really expand the lifespan of your hamster.

It’s up for debate, but feeding mixed seeds tend to be worse for you hamster than feeding pellets. This is because some hamsters pick and choose which seeds they want to eat and actually often don’t eat the ones that are best for them.

For example, our dearest Twitch was a sunflower seed fiend! She would avoid all of the other seeds until we took the sunflower seeds out of the mix and was forced to eat all of the other seeds!

Make sure your hamster is also eating all of the seeds provided in the mix, or you may want to choose to feed them pellets with some seeds on the side as treats.

When feeding your hamster, you can supplement fresh fruits and vegetables to make sure they are getting the nutrition they need.

Some of these include carrots, bananas, lettuce, spinach, apples, however, do this in moderation.

I’ll actually be covering individual foods you can feed your hamster and what the benefits of each are. Check out the hamster section of the site for more examples!

Water should be changed daily, and fresh food should be given every third day (if not every other day.)

hamster-bin-step-9*Photo from DIY: How To Make A Cheap, but Durable Hamster Cage

Think about getting a bigger enclosure

If given a big enough space to play, dig and run around hamster’s lifespans can be increased.

I would highly suggest doing some research into good enclosures for hamsters, making sure that they are bigger than the ones you would usually get at the pet store.

I actually created my own hamster enclosure that worked great for our little one! You can check out how I made it here. Although, I would do something differently if I was to get another hamster, which is to build different layers for the hamster to go up and play on.

Your hamster needs lots of exercise!

Relating to the larger cage, it’s really important to encourage your little one to run around and play. This is one of the main reasons smaller cages aren’t the best for hamsters.

When hamsters have larger spaces, they have more room to run and will actually clock in more exercise time.

Our dear Twitch wasn’t a huge fan of using her wheel so we decided to buy her a hamster ball and gave her 30-minutes outside of her cage a day. The one tip I give you if you’re going to get your little one a hamster ball is, make sure to check on them regularly.

Twitch used to poop in her ball all the time, and if your hamster is similar to her you’re going to want to take them out of that ball as soon as they poop and give it a good clean. It was usually around the 45-minute mark that she would start to poop.

As soon as they are back in their cage, they will commonly run to their water bottle and start drinking away from the workout they just had!

CONCLUSION

Though hamsters have a fairly low life-expectancy, it doesn’t mean that the time you spend with them has to be cut short. There are plenty of ways you can help improve your hamster’s life.

The first step you want to take is to always make sure that your hamster is living in a place that is suitable for them to thrive in.

Contrary to popular belief, hamsters need much more space than we think they do.

The easiest way to frame this is, imagine putting a cat in a room. While it is doable to give them a good life in that room, if they are given access to a few more they will thrive faster and longer.

Hope that helped you all out! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

Filed Under: Hamster Care, Hamsters, Pet Care

Related Posts

  • A Litter Box UpdateA Litter Box Update
  • How Long Can You Leave Wet Cat Food Out? How Long Can it Sit Out?How Long Can You Leave Wet Cat Food Out? How Long Can it Sit Out?
  • Our New Cat is Home! (Cat & Chinchilla Photos)Our New Cat is Home! (Cat & Chinchilla Photos)
  • SUPAWCUTE ROUNDUP – September 2018SUPAWCUTE ROUNDUP – September 2018

About Johnny Salib

Johnny is a twenty-something-year-old pet blogger and the proud pet parent of two cats and a chinchilla. He also writes music directly aimed to help keep cats chilled out and stress free.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs says

    June 4, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    I had no idea about their lifespan…thanks for the great info. I never had any small critter other than goldfish growing up…but ages before I wanted any pets of my own, my dad raised canaries and budgies…but he had to stop…I was terribly allergic to their presence. Sheesh, they were so pretty as I recall…and they sang so cheerfully!

    Reply
    • Johnny Salib says

      June 4, 2018 at 3:05 pm

      Oh man! I’ve actually never heard of an avian allergy! That sucks so much! I’ve always wanted birds, but I know Beau would go nuts over them because he used to hunt them and still tries to hunt them from the window… so maybe in the far future when we don’t have kitties in the home… or have enough space to give the birdies their own room.

      Reply
  2. Ellen Pilch says

    May 23, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    It amazes me that hamsters have such short lives and guinea pigs live around 10 years.

    Reply
    • Johnny Salib says

      May 23, 2018 at 7:56 pm

      I agree, I found it odd when I first learned about their lifespan.

      Reply
  3. da tabbies o trout towne says

    May 23, 2018 at 11:43 am

    dood….10,000 yeerz ago when ther waz hamsterz in trout towne, they seemed ta live bout 2 ta 3 yeerz …..tho we troo lee due knot noe if they waz dwarf ore knot ~~~~~~ ♥♥☺☺

    Reply
    • Johnny Salib says

      May 23, 2018 at 11:52 am

      Ah! Very glad to hear they lived that long! You guys must have been such a happy family!!

      Reply
  4. Eastside Cats says

    May 23, 2018 at 10:33 am

    We had a gerbil when I was a child; loved Petey! Never thought of having one (or a hamster or a bunny) as an adult, but you’ve got me thinking…!

    Reply
    • Johnny Salib says

      May 23, 2018 at 11:04 am

      Hahaha! Do it!! Let me know how your kitties are with them 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

About | Friends | Advertise | Contact
Pets Overload is a personal blog run by a twenty-something year old pet owner from Toronto, ON.

LIKE WHAT YOU READ?

You can use the form below to receive an e-mail whenever we have a new update.

What interests me about feeding Freeze-Dried Primal Pet Food

REVIEW: PetSafe Bolt Interactive Laser Cat Toy (Laser Cat Toy)

Nature’s Miracle, Does It Make Stains Smell Worse and How Do I Get Rid of the Smell?

© 2016–2022 Pets Overload.
Written by Johnny Salib brought to you by Kispow OÜ

Privacy Policy.