Has she found the secret to long life?

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We have had a series of dwarf Russian hamsters as pets. I first got one as a student, and that led to a whole string of hamsters in different colours and patterns. Then when the girls wanted a pet a dwarf Russian hamster seemed like a good choice again. If they lost interest or didn’t do the necessary work, I wouldn’t mind doing it. And a hamster is cheap to keep, doesn’t need a lot of time or expensive equipment, and only lives for about 2 years (this latter point is both good and bad). So altogether I must have had about 70 pet hamsters over the years. They are very cute pets, they like to interact with their owners, and like all animals they each have their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Our latest hamster is called Oreo. We can easily remember exactly when we bought her, because we got in the car to drive home from the pet shop, I put the radio on, and the presenter was just announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II. That was 8th September 2022. So then she must have been around six weeks old, probably born in late July. These dwarf hamsters normally live two years or so (the pet shops say two years, but almost all ours have lived longer than that), but not many make it to three. I did have one old boy who was three years old but by then he was rather hunched and arthritic, poor chap. But Oreo doesn’t seem to realise how old she is. She still scurries about the same as usual, runs on her wheel, enjoys a good range of food, and likes to run about the kitchen. The only real difference I can see is that for the past year or so she has chosen to go back home of her own accord a bit sooner than she used to as an adventurous young hamster! So what’s her secret I wonder? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.