The TikTok sad hamster meme, explained

Whether it’s the sought-after act of going viral or the new meme-able flavor of the week being displayed on the For You page, TikTok is a social media cauldron chock-full of pranks, gags, tutorials, recipes, and most importantly, memes. So when the latest mind-blowing meme is heavily on display throughout the platform, it’s only a matter of time until users start asking questions about its origins.

This time around, the meme in question refers to a particularly sad hamster that is quickly making its rounds all over the interactive platform. Such an inclusion in videos is hardly a huge surprise, of course, seeing as TikTok is home to an overabundance of meme images and sounds that are often depicted in various types of videos. Then again, it surely wouldn’t be TikTok without a silly meme being used as content to attract a wider audience for a profile.

So before you jet to the social app in a hurry to create your own video using the sad hamster meme, let’s dive in and explore exactly what the sad hamster trend is and how it initially got started.

The TikTok sad hamster, explained

If you’ve been scrolling through the For You page aimlessly like most engaged users on the app and interacted with a few sad hamster videos, then the algorithm has likely kept you in the loop and kept the train rolling. Breaking it down, the sad hamster meme is the latest craze on the platform, with a small, gray hamster with large teary eyes being used in a plethora of videos to push forward a relatable situation, or to express sadness or cuteness. Basically, it’s the “I’m baby” phrase put in hamster form.

To accompany the sad hamster looking, well, sad, most users are also including the “world’s smallest violin” sound snippet from SpongeBob SquarePants to allow the punchline or relatability to really hit home. And, if you don’t believe us, check out several of these examples of the aforementioned meme below:

As for the origin, the sad hamster meme first started after X user @Doguindolin shared the video to the platform of a singular hamster with the large eyes as the familiar violin music played in the background. From there, it only took a matter of a few weeks for the meme to go absolutely viral all over the social platform. But when you consider how cute that little hamster truly is, he does deserve his fifteen minutes of fame.