why do people always think hamster only live two years?

I suppose it’s along the same lines as

“Fish have a 3 second memory”

“Cats have 9 lives”

I’ve had hamsters since I was a kid and have noted as I’ve got older the hamsters have lived longer . . . mainly because I know how to handle them and care for them properly. So maybe its about the age of the owner . . . or parents only want them to last 3 years :o)

Many hamsters do only live 2 years, and it has nothing to do with how well they're cared for. Yes, a poorly cared for hamster has a good chance of not making it to old age, but just because a hamster only lives 2 years doesn't mean that it was poorly cared for.

A lot of this is due to poor breeding. Mass-producing hamsters for pet stores has led to unhealthy hamsters with shorter lifespans. For Campbell's dwarf hamsters, 1.5 years really is a very realistic estimate. They have lots of health problems. I've had quite a few over the years, and I definitely provided great care, the best food, spacious and clean cages - and they still never lived 4 years.

If you get a hamster from a breeder who focuses on breeding healthy, long-lived hamsters, the hamster may very well live far beyond two years.

Realistically, though, with pet store hamsters, 2 years is more common and it doesn't always reflect on the quality of care.

2-3 years is the average. So even if you find the average you seen that many hamsters end up dying young in there life due to disease. Then most i have had 7 hamsters. Here are the ages

1 year(died from eating carpet when he escaped form the cage) he was my first hamster

4 years(died of old age)

8 weeks (died from wettail day after i brought him home from the petstore)

6 months (died from sticking his head throught the bars and suffacating (this was my fist dwarf and i didnt realize that he would do rhis so i admit tis probally my fault and i feel bad about that))

5 month old robo (still alive)

5 month old robo (still alive)

2 years syrain (still alive)(dif cage)

So if we say tomorrow my hamsters die then my average hamster age would be 1 year and 2 months. So this really revovles around experience and luck. Some hamsters just manage to die faster between sickness and your experience. So wheb the experts average thing out it ends up to 2-3 years. Also different hamster breeds have different averages. Like Robos are more likely to live 3-4 years as opposed to blackbear hamsters which are 1-2 years. Each type of syrain usually also has its own life expectancy. This is because they are using selective breeding making certain types have weaker immune systems and genetic disorders because of the gene pool used. So i know this is a bunch of ramblingness, but i hopes it makes sense. I also noticed the longer i keep hamsters the longer there life. The more expereince i have and the better behaved they are. So well i hope this helps you understand it better.

It really depends on what type of hamster folks have. Many folks give generic answers because many askers don't give enough information on what species of hamsters they have. Or answers assume that everyone has the same type of hamster (how many times have you seen some well-meaning, but misinformed person responding to the owner of a dwarf hamster that hamsters are solitary and can't live together or you have to remove the male after breeding?) and answer based on what they have - possibly not realising there are species differences.

There's a pretty big difference in average lifespans for the different species. Most folks will see

Winter Whites and Campbells - 1.5-2 years

Chinese - 2-3 years

Roborovski - 3-3.5 years

Syrian - 3-4 years

Obviously, things like good breeding and care will make you see lifespans on the high end or above the averages and poor care or ill-bred hamsters (bad genetic pool - often meaning hamsters from pet stores buying them from hamster-mills, instead of purchasing through a reputable breeder) will result in lower ones.

It's just an estimate. It's not like they're saying the day it turns 2 it's just going to keel over for no reason. It's like saying the average life span for a human is 75. It's just that, an average. Some people live to be 100, some don't make it to see their first birthday. There are so many factors to determine it. Breeding, quality of life, diet, exercise, diseases. There's no way to predict how long anything will live, it's impossible. Two years is just the product of a mathematical equation to give a general life span. That's all there is to it. Congratulations on having such healthy hamsters, keep up the good work!

Due to their size and their habit of having respitory problems most people only give small animals a couple years. Also, small animals like a hamster are considered to be "exotic animals" when you take them to a vet ( I took a guniea pig and hamster to the vet and it was classified as such) because they are small and hard to operate. Many parents won't spend $100+ on an animal they got for less than $20. That's really awesome that your's lived to be 5 !

I honestly though it was 2-4 years because I read that in book called “They Don’t Have to Die”.

My only guess is that the life span is probably referring to wild animals not pets. Pets have a more relaxed lifestyle and therefore live significantly longer then their counterparts.

Just my guess.

THATS THE AVERAGE AGE HAMSTERS LIVE TO BUT YOU GETS HUNDREDS WHO LIVE TILL 4 AND 5 AND HUNDREDS WHO ONLY LIVE TILL 1

umm i dont think they live 4 2 years, y do u think they only live 4 2

well becuase penrts dont want to get the pet for there kids and tell them they die soon so it would change the kids minds thats been going on for while