Oh, how sad that the hamster died. I wish you the best of luck breaking the news to your daughter. Not knowing your daughter or her age, it's hard to me to give advice on how to break the news. It may even be too late in the day to give any advice anyway.

My DD has had many hamsters - every 2 years they died like clockwork. When it was getting close to the 2 year mark, I always explained to her that the hamster was getting old and pretty soon it would pass away and go up to hamster heaven.

She now has a "hamster cemetary" around the pine tree in the backyard. We put the hamster in a little box, sometimes with a tissue or a bit of his food as a symbol, then we have a little ceremony in the backyard.

Since she had so many hamsters die, she decided enough was enough and got a guinea pig. So I got hamsters for myself because I love them.

If you told your DD, did she take it well? What was her reaction?