Eberli, P.: The Influence of Predator Presence and Handling on Body Temperature, Running Wheel Activity and Behaviour of Golden Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

Eberli, Patrizia (2009): The Influence of Predator Presence and Handling on Body Temperature, Running Wheel Activity and Behaviour of Golden Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).
Dissertation, Vetsuisse-Fakultät der Universität Bern.

Link: http://www.tierschutz.vetsuisse.unibe.ch/unibe/vetmed/housing/content/e9361/e9372/e90449/e90479/files90486/DissEberliAug10_ger.pdf

Zitat :

1. Introduction

Although there is an estimated number of about 7-8 millions of golden hamsters kept as pets worldwide and an additional number of approximately 150’000 to 500’000 laboratory golden hamsters (Gattermann, 2000), there is still surprisingly little known about their needs and their appropriate husbandry. Some recent projects of our research group concerned the use of running wheels (Vonlanthen, 2003; Gebhardt et al., 2005), cage size (Fischer, 2005; Fischer et al., 2006), bedding depth (Hauzenberger, 2005; Hauzenberger et al., 2006), size and structure of shelters (Gerber, 2008; Gerber et al., 2009) and circadian activity rhythms (Hauzenberger et al., 2009a, b).
The present study deals with the effects of predator presence and handling on golden hamsters. Since stress can be an important factor decreasing animal welfare, we examined and validated three possibilities of detecting and measuring acute stress in golden hamsters.
For that reason we observed how golden hamsters behaved after the exposure to a predator and to handling leading to stress, and we measured their body temperature.
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