Squeaking?

[hotglue01]

Hey guys!

So last night I threw a small Gotcha Day party for my dear Butters, who has been home for a whole year now. I'm so happy! It was mainly just two people, lol, but we wore party hats, ate cupcakes, and I made a little hammy-safe cake for Butters.

I think he was overwhelmed by the attention of having more than just me looking at him, because when I gave him his cake (he dragged the whole thing into his coconut shell hide, lol, and I had to get it out because he could only have a little piece at a time!), he was SQUEAKING. Like, all of his breaths were little squeaks. I assume this means he was stressed (I left him alone after this), but what do you guys think? What does it mean?

I checked on him a little while later and he wasn't squeaking anymore, FYI...

[hamsworth]

I've seen my Syrians squeaking with the same loud 'woob!' sound because they're happy or stressed, so for that sound it depends on the context. And my hamsters haven't squeaked often at all. They've seemed very quiet.

An example of squeaking from stress was when I was making too many changes to the tank while he was in it. He made a few squeaks and retreated to the unchanged part of the tank.

An example of happy squeaks is when a Syrian saw me at a certain time of the day and realized I was going to take him out for play time. (In the same situation, another Syrian never made any noises.) I've also seen some Syrians happily make these squeaks while in a play area with different things put out or rarely when they get a new food that's very yummy. Maybe that was it for you? He had a yummy food (happy squeak!) but then you were taking it away (panicked squeak!)?

These are like... loud 'woob' or 'queak' sounds. I can't describe them. I hear them as 'woob! woob! woob!' But they are a different sound from pain squeaks, which I've heard a hamster make in its den throughout the day from some illness.

[hotglue01]

Ah, thank you so much! He DID eat something new for the first time (organic yogurt, which frosted his cake!) and I know my Butters loves food so much... he eats an enormous amount, I've never seen anything like it!

I think it was probably a combination of excitement and nerves. He has been around other people before but I never heard those cute "Woob woob"s before. And that's a good way to describe the sound!

Thanks again He is so loved!

[bella33]

Hey guys!

So last night I threw a small Gotcha Day party for my dear Butters, who has been home for a whole year now. I'm so happy! It was mainly just two people, lol, but we wore party hats, ate cupcakes, and I made a little hammy-safe cake for Butters.

I think he was overwhelmed by the attention of having more than just me looking at him, because when I gave him his cake (he dragged the whole thing into his coconut shell hide, lol, and I had to get it out because he could only have a little piece at a time!), he was SQUEAKING. Like, all of his breaths were little squeaks. I assume this means he was stressed (I left him alone after this), but what do you guys think? What does it mean?

I checked on him a little while later and he wasn't squeaking anymore, FYI...

I would love to see the pics of the party! so cute!

It sounds like he was just stressed out and that why he squeaked. When I first got my hamster and would try to touch him, he would also squeak because he was scared. Now he doesn't squeak anymore, but I hear the occasional squeak when he is sleeping. I think hamsters squeak to show they are stressed/happy/curious, etc.

[hamsworth]

Aw, I'm glad he's doing better again.

My hamsters have never made much noise. There was one Syrian who would make the woob woob sounds half the time when I went to take him out for play time... but the rest were quiet and I'd maybe hear woobs once a month or sometimes never. It's normal if they don't make a lot of noise. On a related note, whenever I've heard a constant pain noise (maybe a few times a night or once every few minutes or seconds), it's usually been an illness they've had. It's a different sound than a squeak. It's usually been shorter and sometimes came with a hiss.