When I had my first hamster, I always had this question. Is it a good or a bad idea to wake up a hamster?
The answers I found online at the time were quite wrong now that I know what a hamster routine is and the fact that they are solitary animals and not social animals.
Many people, like me, want a pet hamster to be able to play with, but they quickly realize that their schedules don’t align since most hamsters are crepuscular or nocturnal.
Now the question is, do you wake up your hamster to play with it, or do you let it sleep?
Before getting to this topic, check my article about the hamster’s routine, especially if you don’t have a hamster and are thinking of getting one.
Table of Contents
Can you wake up a hamster?
You should not wake up your hamster, it is stressful for it as it is for us or for any other pet.
You better think twice when you want to play with your hamster, and if this is the only reason you want to wake it up. Your hamster might be grumpy, and biting you is possible in that situation.
It is rude to wake up a human to have someone to play with but at least we are social animals, so we like spending time with others, hamsters are not.
So, when you wake up a hamster to play with, it is like waking up someone that doesn’t like you to hang out with. It might sound harsh what I’m saying here, but even if you see a small cute furball, you have to remember that they don’t like company, even yours.
There are some hamsters that look like they enjoy playing with humans, but in reality, they are just less afraid and want to explore, not play.
And this happens especially when they are active already, not when you wake them up.
Before getting discouraged, it’s important to know that they are waking up from time to time, even during the day. They don’t sleep continuously, so you might get a chance to play with them.
Should you wake up your hamster to feed it?
You should not wake up your hamster to feed it. I’ve heard and seen some people that wake up hamsters to feed them. You can imagine how bad of an idea that is.
Again, imagine someone waking you up in the middle of the night to give you food or tickle you.
I had this experience once with my mom, me and my wife were visiting my parents and we took a short nap in the middle of the day.
The funny part is that we just ate before going to sleep so we were kind of full, you know like you are when you are visiting your parents. My mother decided to wake us up after an hour to come and eat. I told her that we just ate, and I feel hungry when I’m hungry, not sleepy.
Don’t understand me wrong, I know why she woke us up. She was doing her host and mom’s job, it was the wrong moment, though.
So don’t wake your hamster up for food, they can eat when they wake up naturally.
However, if you have to wake up your hamster for whatever reason, trying to wake them up with a treat is not the worst idea.
Here is an entire article about what treats you can safely give to your hamster.
How to gently wake a hamster if you have to
There are some moments when you might have to wake up your hamster. In my case, I clean his cage on the same day when I clean the house so I have to wake him up when I’m cleaning, I can’t wait too much.
If you have a good reason to wake up your hamster, here is a good way of doing it.
Offer your pet a special treat or food item that he loves. Tap lightly on the side of his cage and talk to him while he is waking up.
You will hear rustling as he stirs, then his nose will appear as he sniffs to check out the situation. Keep the treat close by so it is easily detectable by your pet.
He will slowly come out, sleepy-eyed and ears tucked back. Your pet will move towards the treat and you can then pick him up.
I saw some articles recommending gently blowing on the hamster when you want to wake them up. I would not do that, but if you do, make sure you don’t blow in their face, they hate that.
Can you change your hamster routine?
Changing your hamster routine is stressful and unhealthy. If you love your hamster, you should not think of doing that.
Before buying or adopting a hamster, you should make sure your schedule suits their routine if you want to play with them.
Of course, as I said, you will have some moments when your hamster will be awake during the day, but there are not as many as at night.
One thing I noticed about the hamster routine is that they seem to be way more active when I leave the house for a few days. When I come back, they are still active, even during the day. But not nearly as much as evenings and nights.
It always felt to me like he was waiting for me to leave so he could throw a party, and I caught him by surprise when I came back. My guess is that hamsters feel safer when it is quieter, even during the day.
Waking hamster by mistake
If you worry that you will wake up your hamster unintentionally by making noises around their cage, it is important to know that they have good hearing, but they will notice you only if you are quite close to their cage.
All the hamsters I had slept well even when I had music going in the room, but if I made sudden noises around their cage, they would wake up.
It’s almost impossible to have a room only for the hamster cage, so this is unavoidable that you or your kids will make noises around the cage, and it might wake up the hamster every now and then. Make sure it is not too often.
All my hamsters had this habit of waking up to drink some water or for a small snack during the day, I know there are humans that do this during the night, so it’s easy to understand why. I’m saying this to clarify that you are not waking up your hamster by mistake when they are active during the day, it is just their routine.
Can hamsters sleep in the dark?
Yes, hamsters can sleep in the dark, hamsters don’t sleep like humans, they are intermittent sleepers if that is a word, so they will have short bursts of sleep.
As you might get to see your hamster active during the day, you can see a hamster sleeping during the night.
You don’t have to think too much about how is the light in the room for the hamster, just turn it off when you go to sleep and you can turn the light on when you are in the room.
Hamsters have poor eyesight, they don’t use it too much. However their eyes are quite sensitive, so make sure you don’t direct the light to their cage. Even direct sunlight might be harmful to their small sensitive eyes.
Conclusion
Before you get a hamster as a pet, it’s very important to understand their habits and routine not to be surprised.
They have a very specific routine that doesn’t suit most of our lifestyles, especially if you have a regular daytime schedule at work.
Waking a hamster up just to play with it is pretty rude and stressful for them, so you should avoid doing that as much as possible.
I hope this article helped you and your hamster will be happier and less stressed.