Abstract

This experiment investigated the effects of photoperiod changes on dwarf hamster food and water consumption. Three Roborovski dwarf hamsters were obtained and placed in three separate cages with 10g of food and 120ml of water in each cage. Roborovski dwarf hamsters are small, fast, have a high metabolism, and are active in evening hours. At the start of the experiment, the lighting was controlled by a lamp and a light timer where the amount of light was first increased three hours every three days then decreased three hours every three days. At the end of the experiment, there was an observed increase in amount of  food consumed when the photoperiod increased light and no observed pattern of increase or decrease for water consumed. Although there was an observed increase, there was no significant difference between the amount of consumed food and photoperiods. This result may be due to water leaking, hamster food spilling, and food storage that occurred throughout the experiment. A follow-up experiment will be needed to test if there is a definite relationship between the amounts of food and water consumed compared to photoperiod changes.