Hamsters are so small, fast, and flexible that sometimes they make you question whether they have bones or not.
Even when you handle a hamster, you don’t feel its bones and all you feel is a small fluff ball with its fluffy paws touching your hand.
In this article I will talk more about the hamster’s anatomy, what you should do when they are injured, how to handle them when you prepare your little hamster to get to the vet, and other interesting facts about this incredible pet.
Table of Contents
Do hamsters have bones?
Yes, hamsters have bones and a skeletal structure that includes a spine. A hamster has about 124 bones in their body, it is not the same number for all the species, but there are not many studies available. You get the idea, they have bones; they actually have a lot of bones.
Even the hamster’s tail is a small bone, I had a friend that asked me if hamsters have a tail and I found that very funny at first until I realized that the tail is so small and they usually keep it under themselves that you can’t clearly see it.
I have an entire article about hamster tails and what you should know about them
Are hamsters’ bones fragile?
Hamsters’ bones are quite flexible, which helps them do all the acrobatic tricks and also makes them a bit harder to break. Since the bones are so small and thin, they would break easily if they were a bit more rigid than they actually are.
That doesn’t mean that a hamster can’t break his bones, it is possible so you have to make sure you handle him gently and that the cage is safe, more on this later.
Can a vet help a hamster with a broken bone?
If you hamster broke a bone in an accident, you clearly see it that is in pain and does not move properly, you have to get it to a specialized vet as soon as possible.
But you have to do it carefully since your hamster is in pain it will have the tendency to bite anything in its way.
So here are a few things to pay attention to when transporting your hamster to the vet.
- Don’t try to pick it up with your hand, if you can make it go into a transport cage straight from its bigger cage, it would be best. Or you can use a small container and then place it into a transport cage. Place some treats inside the container or the transport cage and also enough bedding to make sure the surface is soft.
- Use a thick rubber glove when you want to touch it since it will most probably try to bite you.
- Ensure food and water on the way and a chew toy if possible to distract it. Hamsters don’t like being moved around, so that will be a stressful process anyway, but you can make it more bearable.
When you get to the vet, they should know what they have to do and protect themselves and the hamster properly. The thing is that not all vets handle hamsters, so you better call first or check their website before getting there.
It is also important to know that any anesthetic or painkiller the vet may use can pose a significant risk to your hamster’s health. This is why not many vets want to work with such small animals, the risks are too big in some situations and it is hard for a pet owner to accept that it wasn’t necessarily the vet’s fault for what happened.
Do they need more minerals in those situations?
Yes, hamsters might use some extra minerals during the recovery to help the bones fix faster. I usually don’t recommend mineral chews but in this situation they might be helpful, the calcium and the other minerals can help as they do for humans as well in this specific circumstance.
Hamsters get enough minerals in normal circumstances from their pre-made mix that you can find in most pet shops.
How to avoid this kind of accidents
Well, in order to avoid ending up with a hamster that broke a bone, you have to pay attention to two things.
1. How do you handle your hamster
It is important to know that hamsters are very light and fluffy, you almost don’t feel them when they are in your hand, especially if you have a dwarf hamster. A Syrian hamster is a bit heavier, but still, they weigh about 100-150 grams which is not much.
You need to make sure that you don’t squeeze your hamster when you hold it in your hand, so keep your fingers around your hamster if you don’t want it to escape but don’t apply any pressure.
If you take your hamster out of the cage, make sure you pay close attention to it all the time since they can run and jump from heights without realizing. They are quite bad at estimating the distance from where they are to the ground.
If you want to know more about how to tame and handle your hamster check my guide, there are 13 steps to tame your hamster.
One more thing before getting to the cage, hamsters are not good pets for kids. It might seem like it, but a hamster is way more delicate and hard to handle properly than a cat or a dog.
A kid will not control their strength when they handle the hamster as well as an adult, and that makes it dangerous for the hamster.
2. How safe is the cage
Having a cage that doesn’t allow your hamster to jump from heights is super important. I learned this with my first hamster, the cage I had for it was a two level cage. Luckily for my hamster it wasn’t a very tall cage, and the bedding was more than enough to attenuate the fall.
I saw my hamster going up to the second level, getting to the edge and simply jumping from there in the bedding, and that was the moment when I realized that they really have bad eyesight.
So it is better to have a bigger cage that doesn’t have any levels. My hamster was safe, but seeing that behavior made me get rid of the second level since he could have moved the bedding around the cage and fallen onto a hard surface the next time.
Another thing to pay attention to, make sure the cage does not have narrow places where your hamster might get their arms or legs stuck, especially if they are not movable objects.
Facts about hamster teeth
Maybe the most important bones in a hamster’s body are the teeth since those little animals are rodents, they use their teeth a lot.
They need to chew on harder things all the time since their teeth are continuously growing and not having where to sharpen them can be dangerous for the hamster’s health.
So make sure you give your hamster chewing toys, made of safe wood for the hamster.
Hamsters have a total of 16 teeth, even if you don’t see all of them except when they are yawning. Talking about yawning, have you ever seen a little hamster yawning? If not, look for videos online, those little furballs transform into aliens when they are yawning, it’s scary.
Hamsters don’t have milk teeth and adult teeth like humans, they have only one set of teeth for their entire life.
Hamsters can also break their teeth, it is not often since their teeth are quite strong but if it happens, you should get it to a vet as fast as possible since this is a more dangerous problem for a hamster than for a human.
Conclusion
While a fun topic, hamsters having bones is actually a good question, and there are some important things you should know about their bones in order to keep them safe.
Make sure your hamster has little to no chance of breaking any bones in their body since treating them can be dangerous, and it is for sure not a pleasant process.
I really hope this article answered your question and was helpful for you and your little hamster pet.