![]() Hibernation is a physiological phenomenon, but depends on external conditions. However, the conditions of a wild environment are very different from those in a cage at home. Like many small mammals, hamsters can hibernate, in fact, hamsters hibernate in their natural state. Additionally, this serves as an insulator from the cold. The energy necessary to maintain basic vital signs is generated by the fat reservesthat the animals have previously accumulated. ![]() Thus they don’t have to go out to look for food in times when it’s scarce and temperatures are very low. This allows many species of mammals to spend the whole winter “sleeping” in their burrows or shelters. As you can imagine, they’re preparing for the dark times ahead. The inner biological clock is involved in this phenomenon, preparing the animal to hibernate in response to certain environmental conditions, such as drops in temperatures or food shortages.īefore winter, when the climate is favorable and food is abundant, animals consume great amounts of food rich in calories and store the excess as fat in the adipose tissue. This means that the animal spends more time asleep than awake per year. As surprising as it may seem, this species remains dormant between 150 and 210 consecutive days. In this phase, these animals don’t eat, drink, urinate, or defecate, because they remain immobile and some of them -like the brown bear- stay this way for long periods of time. Likewise, the respiratory and heart rate, as well as the temperature, also decrease. During this period, the animal’s metabolism drops to minimum levels. Hibernation is a state of continuous lethargy that some animals undergo during the winter season. Therefore, it’s natural for a keeper to wonder at some point if his or her pet will hibernate during its lifetime. ![]() The Syrian hamster, the Russian hamster, and the Roborowski dwarf hamster are some of the most popular as pets. These animals are the most popular rodents among domestic pets. They don’t need to decrease their metabolic activity to save energy, as this is the optimal environment for them. This can be explained by the stability of the temperature and the abundance of resources they have in their artificial environment. In the wild, hamsters usually hibernate, but as pets they don’t. ![]()
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