Hoarding in hamsters with systematically controlled pretest experience.

Abstract

To verify the importance of pretest experience for hoarding, 40 golden hamsters, 10 per group, were reared from birth such that their experience with manipulatable food and/or nonfood objects was limited. Five-minute hoarding tests in an open field were begun at 43 days of age and continued daily for 30 days. All groups showed evidence of learning to hoard. Animals reared on hardware cloth were generally more efficient hoarders than those reared on shavings, the most efficient group being those reared on hardware cloth and given experience with food pellets used in the tests. The results are tentatively explained in terms of the canalization of an esteroceptive drive to manipulate".