I get emailed a lot of questions, some I can answer privately and others I think hmmm other people might wanna read this to.
One of these emails was about what to do when you lose a pet hamster.
So to try and help, I have put together a little list of what I do when I lose a loved hammy.
I have lost lots of hamsters over my lifetime. Over the course of this blog alone, I lost my 3 hammy stars AND 13 beautiful baby hamsters.
If anyone can understand the grief of losing a pet, I can.
- Cry. Cry as much as you want to and feel the need to. Hamsters are little members of the family after all. They have been with you for years and when they pass away, it hurts! It is okay to cry and it helps to cry, so let it all out.
. 
Put all the pictures of your passed hammy up wherever you are. On your bedroom wall, on your school folders, on your work desk, anywhere!
I have my favourite picture of Casper snuggled up asleep inside my blanket as my mousemat at work and pictures of all 3 of them on my electronic photo frame so every 30 minutes, I get to see a happy pic of my fur babies.
Makes me smile every time. 🙂 ❤
.- Make a memorial for them. Every hamster since I was a kid has been buried in my garden. There is a row of ceramic toadstools along the back fence in the garden so I can see where all of my pets have been laid to rest.
Its a lovely reminder 🙂 They are all different colours so I can recognise which hammy lays where.
When the babies died, I planted an orchid for them in their memory.
It was a beautiful plant and I thought it a fitting tribute for them.
Plants and gravestones are a great way to distract you from the negative of losing a loved pet and a lasting tribute to their memory.
.
. - Get a new hamster.
It may seem drastic and the last thing you’d want to do but I promise you a new baby hamster is the perfect therapy. You get to have all the fur snuggles and a whole new personality to get to learn and love.
Whenever you are ready and have grieved for your lost pet, I cant recommend enough the benefits of getting that cage all cleaned and sorted ready for a new furry-face. You can relive the great times of your lost pet, with a new one.
Offering a pet a new home is the most rewarding thing ever and it will keep you smiling, guaranteed!!
You can tell your new fur baby all about their older brother/sister that has passed away. I found the whole experience of a new pet, the best remedy for a broken heart.
Banjo is now my little rock – I couldn’t be without him.
Nothing and no one will replace your lost hamster and it really is the worst pain you can feel. But this doesn’t mean your world should crumble and end.
You just have to start a new chapter as difficult as it seems.
❤ Things WILL get better and your heart will mend, I promise you. ❤
Feel free to comment below on your fur babies that have passed over the rainbow bridge. We can have a little tribute xxxx
HamsterDiaries 
My first hamster, Nibbles died in Febuary. When I was putting a memorial together for him, I very sadly realized that I had not taken any pictures of Nibbles in the year and a half we had him. We believe he died of dehydration, lack of food, and froze.
How in the world did he freeze!
everyone make mistake on there first hamster .I lost my best friend.
I love this post. Great tips – that will also work for the loss of a dog or any other pet. The orchid for the babies was my favorite – then and now. And as tough as it is, getting a new pet (not to replace, but to honor) is the thing that helped me heal the most.
My hamster, Pierre, passed the day before Easter. I was completely heart broken! I had him cremated and put in a pottery vase with his name on it so I can see him everyday. And within a couple of weeks I brought home his sister Olivia. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your tips! They are all great!
Thats a brilliant idea, how lovely. Pierre can live forever in your heart and your pottery vase too 🙂 Keep smiling!
Hi , I thought I would let you know.
Cookien Passed away this morning.
Absoloutly broken, every 10 mins or so i suddenly look around and cry again. We sat with her until her last breath and my partner made a little coffin for her, I decorated it and we burried her when the rain stopped.
R.I.P Cookie.
Hayley
I know its going to happen and Cookie has been so up and down recently…but I’m dreading the day when I come downstairs and shes gone to sleep and thats it. Im just… i have no idea how I’m going to deal with it as shes been so sweet and i dont know how to cope with that 😦
My beautiful baby girl of two years ‘bear’ died on 30/09/15 after having an operation. She had a tumour and I buried her with her mummy. I am absolutely distraught, I feel so heart broken n hurt without her. I just wish there was some way of letting her memory live on. I love you so much bear, daddy misses you every day xxx
Hey… I know and understand how you feel. My hammy Cookie died not too long back… she featured in a lot of the posts online that I put up. My partner made her a coffin and I decorated it. My mum then got me a RIP wooden plaque to put in the garden abovr where she is burried. Maybe you count plant a tree or bush or flowers where Bear is burried ?
Hayley
Does anyone bury them in the back yard, or is that just me?
Definitely not just you Samuel! Its a little ritual we had in our family. Have a little pet cemetery in the garden for our lost furries.
I know this has nothing to do with this post, but I was stalking your old posts and I read your story abut Eve’s baby’s, and I was wondering if you are planning on breed hamsters again, or if that was a one time thing… just wondering, thanks!
Hi there, As all of the babies died (all 13) it really put me off trying again, it was devastating and I felt like the worst human being ever for putting the mommy hamster through it as well as the pups. In the future maybe I shall yes, lots more research to be done etc. however right now I don’t have time to take on a female hammy let alone monitor her have babies!
I got my first hamster this year and she was a really great friend to me. The day she passed I panicked and didn’t know what to do with her. But once I calmed down that night, I got her special towel I used to wrap her up in and I wrapper her body in that and got a small colourful container to keep her body safe. I don’t like the idea of cremation when a person or animal dies so I thought it would be best. I buried her the next morning next to this chocolate labrador who I used to play with as a kid up at my grandmother’s house, and she’s been there ever since. I bought her a little monkey on a swing, and some other little trinkets to put on her grave until the ground started freezing over this year. I even painted this seashell I had picked up off the beach and painted her name and tried to pretty her shell up and glued a fake sunflower on the top of her shell. Since she had a really creative and kind mom taking care of her I thought it would be a nice momentum.
I just wanted to share some of these ideas to your group just in case you wanted to make your hammies feel special after death. So don’t feel too much distress. It’s a hard topic but this happens to all hamster lovers unfortunately, but I know for a fact that we all loved them to bits.
Hi there Amber, Thank you for sharing. This is some beautiful advice. Love the idea of painted seashells, so touching and special! Do you think you will get another hammy?
Your advice really works either way my hamster hasnt died but my friends hamster died and I told her what you had said and well it helped her she has it in her front yard burried and she got a new cuddly hamster she hasnt forgotten about her other one though!
Hi Angelica, That’s great to hear! Sending you and your friend hammy-hugs!
Is this the last blog post? it was august and now its December o.o
My hammy died this evening and I haven’t had time to bury him yet, his name was Joey and he was just undesirable; he was the best thing I ever had until tonight.
*still crying*
I wish him all the best of luck wherever he goes next and I shall make a plaque with his name on it. It’s a real shame that he missed what would’ve been his second Christmas!
Daddy will love you forever and ever, hugs, kisses and all the best for wherever you travel to next Joey xxx
R.I.P Joey the hamster – 18.07.14-14.12.15…merry Christmas Joey, from the bottom of my heart xxx
Awww we are sorry to hear this. RIP Joey! Lots of love, HamsterDiaries xx
I miss my hamster
I boys a syrin hamster my girls a teddy bear there names are Ted and teddy teddy pregnet how much
Should isell the baby’s for she got pregnet Monday 12 2-3-16
Your hamsters are cute!!!
My hamster named Angel passed away Saturday night in her cage but it was a shock cause I was playing with her during the afternoon and bought her a new cage but she felt kind of strange being in the new cage
Me and my mum were thinking of getting a new one this week but we can’t decide on a name for it and we wanted to name the hamster something to do with Christmas but we are hoping to get a female hamster short haired
I’ve had many hamsters these are their names:
Cinnamon
Thunder
Bonkers
Moka
Shadow
Spirt
And shadow died last night 28th of October
My little brother’s hammy, Rolly, died about an hour ago. I felt so bad, and I loved him too. He was really cuddly, and loved to roll around in his ball. We put him in a little box for tonight because it is too hard to bury him in the dark, but tomorrow right after school (or before if we have enough time to still make it special) we will bury him. We think that he died of old age because he died in his favorite sleeping spot. He was probably sleeping and his heart stopped. It was a traumatizing way for him to die because we didn’t notice (He buried himself in bedding when he slept), but it was the best way to die because he wasn’t in any pain. If I can find any seeds I am going to plant a tree in his memory and put either a little bit of his fur or a little bit of his bedding in the soil. I am also going to paint a memorial stone to put over where we bury him (as well as one for my chick who died recently). He’s going to be buried next to a chick that we lost this summer, and it’s right next to a little pond with a bench and a hammock. Once it’s ready, the tree that I am going to plant with his fur/bedding in the soil will be planted right next to that spot.
His name was Rolly because my brother named him when he was about to turn six, and I named him his middle name, Polly. (Not Polly as in Polly Pocket, Polly as in Rolly Polly). He was Finn’d hamster because I already have a dog and a bird that are mainly mine, and Finn had been wanting a pet for a really long time. (Of course, all of the pets that belong to us are also taken care of by our parents, it’s just that we give them the most attention, and we are usually the ones who feed them.) He picked him out out of a ton of other hamsters. At first I was disappointed because I had been hoping for one with longer fur, but it turns out he was the perfect match.
We loved you, Rolly Polly Purvis.
My sweet hammy Suzu passed away today. I took her out of her cage and held her because I saw she was barely moving, and then her body had a spasm, relaxed, and then her final breath came out. She’s been with me through hard and happy times for a year and a half and I feel really sad. She was an innocent little creature that didn’t deserve to suffer. I miss her so much and will always continue to love and remember her.
Sorry fro your loss Juliet…. Suzu sounds pretty special, she must have waited to have you there for a cuddle before she let go.