Sugar was my second hamster . I got her when she was so young @ 2 weeks , she just turned 7 months last week. She had a large 120cm wide cage with a lot of enrichments , good food , sprays etc . She also got to free roam every day in my bedroom . She was the sweetest and gentlest little baby ever . Never bit me, Always came when called , took treats so gently from my hand and overall was the cutest face i have ever seen . ( We would joke about how she had such human expressions on her face lmao)
But no matter how much enrichment she got she always wanted to break out of her cage and run around. She would constantly relentlessly climb her cage and bite the top lid like 30 times a day . The opening lid of the cage was on top of the cage . She would always climb her box and push the lid up and jump out . We constantly tried changing up things in her cage so she was not able to but she still climbed on straight wood , i still don’t understand how she did that.
So for the past few 4 months i used to keep a soft drink can on the lid so she cannot lift it up . She never could even lift it up a little , so i was glad she was safe .
Today morning , like every other morning i heard climbing noises from her cage . I just brushed it off for 5 minutes because she always does this in the morning for food .her cage is right next to my bed . I went to check on her and there was , hanging lifeless . She tried to escape from the top of the lid by pushing her head through , because of the weight of the soft drink on top of the lid , she couldn’t get her body through and she couldn’t pull her head back either . She suffocated and passed away.
The regret is so overwhelming because if i just got up to check on her 5 minutes before she would have been fine . But at the same time she was never ever able to lift even the tiniest bit of the lid , but today she could fit her head through . I just wish i changed up her entire layout or just let her roam free , at least she would have been alive . The visual of waking up to her like that will haunt me .
If you own hamsters and if they are in cages with a top lid , please don’t make the same mistake i made .