How do other rat and hamster keepers say goodbye?
With a median hamster lifespan of 1.75 years[1], rodent owners face loss more often than almost anyone. These short polls let you see how others handle it, and add what you did.
- Anonymous, one tap to answer
- Questions written for rodent keepers
- Live results you can compare
Why we ask
Why we run polls for rodent owners
There's almost no published research on how people care for a hamster or rat after death. Big surveys ask dog and cat owners, then lump everything else into "other pets". Our polls are a small, honest way to fill that gap and to show you that however you handled it, other people did the same.
Each poll takes a single tap. You don't need to sign up, and we don't link answers to you. Browse them below, answer the ones that fit, then see the running totals on our poll results page.
We write the options the way people actually answer, not in survey jargon. If none of them quite fits, pick the closest, or skip that poll entirely. There's no score, no profile and no follow-up email because you voted.
Browse every poll
How people say goodbye to hamsters, fancy rats, mice, gerbils and degus, and what they keep afterwards.
Which little companion are you remembering or planning for?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
For a pet this small, which goodbye feels right to you?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
How many hamsters, rats, mice or gerbils have you lost over the years?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Is this a child's first experience of a pet dying?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Would you spend more on aftercare than the pet itself cost?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What would you most want to keep from your rat, hamster or mouse?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If your pet shared a cage, what did you do for the ones left behind?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
After losing a short-lived pet, what did you do next?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
The big choice
Burial, cremation, or still deciding?
This is the question we're most curious about. In broader research, US pet owners asked about future aftercare gave these answers: 40.4% cremation; 34.9% home burial; 1.9% aquamation[2]. UK owners in the Competition and Markets Authority's survey reported 27% home burial; 2% burial elsewhere[3] for pets that died in the previous two years. Our guess is that rodent owners lean further toward burial, but we'd rather measure it than assume it.
For a pet this small, which goodbye feels right to you?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you're weighing it up right now, the aftercare options comparison ranks each choice by what matters most to you, and our local pages cover rules on home burial where you live.
Over and over
How many small pets have you lost?
Rodent keepers often go through loss far more frequently than other pet owners. By our estimate, an average UK cat lives about 6.7x[4] as long as a pet hamster. We ask how many you've lost because it changes how people approach the next goodbye: some grow more practical, others find each one harder.
How many hamsters, rats, mice or gerbils have you lost over the years?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Families
Children, classrooms and first losses
A hamster or mouse is often the pet a child is given first, and so it's often their first brush with death. In the RSPCA's large pet-loss survey, 93.4%[5] of parents wanted better guidance on helping children cope. Our child-focused poll helps us see how many readers are handling a first loss, so we can write more of what they need.
If that's you, our guide on talking with children about losing a rodent is a good next read.
The awkward one
Is it strange to weigh the cost against the pet?
No, and we ask about it openly because so many owners feel guilty for wondering. A hamster might cost less to buy than a private cremation, and cost is a real concern for most people: one US survey of owners facing aftercare decisions found 61%[6] rated the cost of after-death care as a concern. Choosing burial or communal cremation for a small pet is a sensible decision, not a lesser one. Our services page lays out what each choice involves.
Would you spend more on aftercare than the pet itself cost?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you'd like a number to work with, the cremation cost calculator shows a realistic range before you speak to anyone.
Rodent-only questions
Cage mates, hammocks and what people keep
Two of our polls only make sense for rodent owners. The first asks what you did for surviving cage mates, since rats, mice and gerbils usually live in pairs or groups. Some keepers let companions see the body; others focus on company and routine for those left behind.
If your pet shared a cage, what did you do for the ones left behind?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
The second asks what you'd most want to keep. With so little ash from a pet this size, we suspect a favorite hammock, wheel or wooden hideout matters as much as any urn. Our memorial ideas for rodents include simple ways to keep those objects safe.
Reading the numbers
How to read our poll results honestly
- They're not a scientific survey. The people who answer are people who found this site, often in the middle of a loss.
- They're live. Totals change every time someone votes, so a result you saw last week may look different today.
- Small numbers swing. A poll with few votes can look lopsided; give it time.
- They describe, they don't advise. A popular answer isn't necessarily the right one for your family.
Every answer here belongs to someone who loved a very small animal a great deal.
The feelings side
Questions about grief and what comes next
Some of our polls borrow from our general grief questions, because the feelings don't shrink with the size of the pet. In the RSPCA survey, 66.9%[7] of bereaved owners were surprised by how intense their grief was. We also ask whether readers got another pet soon, waited, or chose a longer-lived species.
After losing a short-lived pet, what did you do next?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If your grief is catching you off guard, you're not alone. Our page on grief after losing a rodent talks through it, and our contact form is there when you're ready to think about aftercare.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
For a pet this small, which goodbye feels right to you?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Which little companion are you remembering or planning for?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What would you most want to keep from your rat, hamster or mouse?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Questions people ask
Are the polls anonymous?
Yes. We don't ask for your name or email to vote, and answers aren't linked to you. We use a simple check to limit each person to one vote per poll so the totals stay fair, but that isn't used to identify you.
Can I change my answer?
Once you've voted, the poll shows the running results rather than letting you vote again. That keeps totals from being skewed. If your situation changes, the other polls are still open to you, and your first answer still counts as a real experience.
Why are there no results shown before I vote?
We show results after you answer so that seeing other people's choices doesn't influence yours. You can still browse every poll's live totals on the results page without voting. None of the totals are pre-filled or estimated; they start at zero.
Can I suggest a poll question?
Please do, through our contact form. We're especially interested in questions about classroom pets, cage mates and the practical side of burying very small animals, since those are the areas with the least published research.
Do you publish the poll results anywhere else?
The running totals live on our poll results page, alongside published research for context. We may mention a trend in our guides, but we always describe it as reader poll data rather than a scientific finding, and we never present a live result as a fixed fact.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] Pet hamsters in the UK have a median age at death of 1.75 years. O'Neill et al. 2022, Journal of Small Animal Practice - VetCompass hamsters, 2022.
- [2] Asked their preferred future after-death care, 40.4% of US owners chose traditional flame cremation and 34.9% home burial; 10.7% chose cemetery burial and 1.9% alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation). Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [3] In the same CMA survey, 27% of UK owners buried their pet at home and 2% used a pet burial company elsewhere. UK Competition and Markets Authority - Veterinary services for household pets, Provisional decision report Part A (Oct 2025), 2025.
- [4] An average UK cat lives about 6.7 times as long as an average pet hamster (11.74 vs 1.75 years). Our estimate: 11.74 / 1.75. How we calculate.
- [5] 93.4% of parents in the RSPCA survey wanted better guidance on helping children through pet loss. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
- [6] 61% of US owners in the Cooney survey rated the cost of after-death body care as a concern (27.9% concerned, 33.1% very concerned). Cooney, Kogan, Brooks, Ellis - Pet Owners' Expectations for Pet End-of-Life Support and After-Death Body Care, Topics in Companion Animal Medicine (2020), 2020.
- [7] 66.9% of respondents were surprised by how intense their grief was after losing a pet. RSPCA — Pet Loss Survey Results, 2026.
Want help with your own pet's aftercare?
Tell us what you need and where you are. We'll reply by email with clear options and prices so you can decide in your own time.