Expert: Jedediah - 3/30/2008

Question
hi, I had two dwarf hamsters who were sisters and both the same age of approx 2 and a half years old, they both had lived together for this time and had not had any, major, fights. I understood that they were old and it was likely that they didnt have long to live, so i wasnt suprised when I found one of them had died. However, when i looked closer the live hamster had almost totally eaten the other hamster. I think that, because of the age, the hamster had probably died of natural causes, but surely it isnt normal for it to then be eaten, especialy as it had good sources of food and drink. There were no recent events that could have been stressful to them and i had witnessed no fights breaking out between them. Could you help?

Answer
Dear Lauren,
thank you for your question.
It's normal for hamsters and other rodents to eat others when they are dead. It's a valuable source of animal protein and it also protects their nest from predators that would be drawn to it by the smell of the decaying body. It's gross to find a half-eaten hamster, but it's absolutely normal and nothing to worry about.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer