All animals have some really strange habits, and hamsters are no different. One of the strangest is the fact that hamsters like to store food in their mouths. Why do they do this?

Hamsters don’t actually store food in their mouths. Instead, they gather food in their mouths to transport it somewhere else. In the wild, this was extremely important. It’s a bit like a squirrel burying nuts. Hamsters pack their cheeks with as much food as they can find and then bring it all back to their burrow.

Domestic hamsters still have this instinct. You’ll likely catch your critter hiding food in his pouch and putting it somewhere else in the cage. There’s nothing to worry about. This behavior is completely normal, so there’s no reason to be alarmed!

To learn more about normal and abnormal hamster behaviors, contact your veterinary clinic Cy-Fair.