Hamsters aren’t the most intelligent rodents, but they can remember certain things, such as how their owners smell, where food is located, and where they can find the entrances to their burrows.
However, as they have small, uncomplicated brains, they can’t retain information for too long and rely on their senses to navigate the world around them.
How Good Is a Hamster’s Memory?
Hamsters have poor memories. As mentioned, their brains are small and relatively unsophisticated, so their memory capacity is limited.
According to John Hopkins University, Siberian hamsters only retain information in their nervous systems based on how much daylight they receive.
Hamsters use this information to ensure their reproductive organs activate in the spring and summer, which is when they reproduce.
While hamsters don’t retain many memories, they can remember certain things, such as:
- Burrow locations.
- Owners’ scents.
- Owners’ sounds.
- How to find their way out of a maze.
- Where food is located.
The International Journal of Comparative Psychology describes how hamsters could remember where food was placed at the end of a maze.
Spatial memory is an integral part of their survival, as hamsters remember where they foraged and successfully found food. Of course, this awareness isn’t as vital in captivity as in the wild.
Despite that being the case, Animal Learning and Behavior explains how hamsters process the spatial cues of their environment using visual and olfactory (the nerves that pass from the nose to the brain) cues for information about their surroundings.
This means they rely on their senses, namely their sense of smell, to navigate the world. Memory only has a small part to play in comparison.
How Long Is A Hamster’s Memory?
It’s difficult to determine the length of a hamster’s memory span.
The above studies suggest that hamsters can remember changes in daylight for many weeks, which is vital for procreation and survival.
However, we must rely on anecdotal evidence for awareness of the length of a hamster’s memory. Some owners suggest that hamsters can retain memories for months, even years.
If you spend enough time with a hamster and don’t wear (or change) perfumes and scented products too often, it’s likely to remember you for the duration of its life.
Do Hamsters Remember Their Owners?
Due to their poor short-term memories, hamsters can recognize their owners, but they won’t be able to memorize people who don’t play a significant part in their lives.
So, if you introduce your hamster to a friend, it’ll remember you, but it won’t remember the friend.
There are many benefits to recognizing owners. The Journal of Neuroscience explains how identifying individuals is essential for social interaction and organization. Recognizing and remembering their owners keeps hamsters safe from predators and other dangers.
However, hamsters are colorblind and have poor eyesight, so they rarely remember faces through sight alone. Faces also change due to the makeup and hairstyles we wear. Instead, hamsters remember us through our sounds and how our unique pheromones smell.
Hamsters have such well-developed olfactory senses that they can remember their owners for a significant time. This is only possible with frequent interaction, though.
Do Hamsters Remember Their Siblings?
Hamsters aren’t social animals. Almost all hamster species are strictly solitary and will fight to the death if kept in the same cage once they reach adulthood.
However, this doesn’t mean they don’t remember their siblings.
Hamsters remember the odor of their nestmates for about 9 months after they’re separated. However, after this period, the hamster forgets the scent and can no longer remember its siblings.
That said, anecdotal evidence suggests that some hamsters can remember their siblings for as long as this. As a result, many sibling hamsters mate, so males and females must be separated when they’re around three weeks old.
Instead, should they ever meet, there wouldn’t be a reunion – they would fight like rival hamsters to gain dominance over territory, a mate, or food.
Do Hamsters Remember Each Other?
Hamsters can remember each other, but their memories don’t last forever. When exposed to other hamsters, they can use visual and olfactory cues to recognize and subsequently remember them.
The study by the Journal of Neuroscience explains how a selection of hamsters displayed recognition responses to hamsters they viewed across a wire mesh barrier and hamsters they fought.
Interestingly, the loser remembered the interaction and the victorious hamster and avoided the animal altogether. In comparison, subjects tested with familiar hamsters became attracted to them.
This study alone suggests hamsters do remember each other. As explained, they rely on their sense of smell rather than sight to remember each other.
Do Hamsters Remember Abuse?
Hamsters remember any abuse, especially if it occurred over a prolonged period. A hamster may not remember the abuse forever, but it’ll shape how it interacts with people throughout its life.
A hamster’s past trauma can also affect its behavior and temperament.
For example, many abused hamsters hide in their burrows where they feel safe and secure. Some also scream, hiss, and make unpleasant noises when humans get too close.
It’s common to see abused hamsters freeze and stare off into space, usually when they hear an unfamiliar noise or detect movement.
While hamsters may not remember specific details about their abuse, they can associate past trauma with certain triggers and, as a result, learn to avoid them to keep themselves safe.
This is also why many hamsters prefer to be left alone and become “ghost hamsters,” meaning their owners rarely see them because they’re always hidden away.
Over time, many rescue hamsters forget their abuse and forge bonds with their new owners. Unfortunately, many hamsters experience psychological damage long after the abuse.
While hamsters don’t have particularly good memories, that doesn’t mean they can’t remember things. They remember as much as they need to survive and increase their numbers.
Keep interacting with the hamster, and it’ll eventually come to recognize and remember you.
