Good night, little guy
Jul 24, 2008 Pets & Animals
Good night, Wibbles.
Shawn was handing me things to put up on the shelves that used to hold the billion hamsters we once had. We’ve moved the two cages the three little ones shared down to the huge head board we have (we have one of those ancient water bed head boards that doubles pretty much as storage/shelves.)
That’s when I noticed Wibbles laying on the bottom of the cage right near the tube to go up to the nest and wheel. I knew something was wrong right away because these little guys never lay on the bottom. They come down to run on the wheel, sleep IN the wheel, and occasionally will nap on the shelves, but NEVER directly on the bottom of the cage.
I told Shawn right away I thought something was wrong and opened the cage door. When I opened the cage door I did not get a single reaction. These guys are pretty jumpy, that’s when I told Shawn I think he might have died…I was right as I reached in and pet him and he didn’t move.
He was still warm.
I won’t go into details–it was pretty obvious what had killed him once I lifted him up and out. Or at least, it wasn’t as if he laid down and died.
We put him in a lil’ box and buried him with the alarming amount of other lil’ guys we’ve had to bury.
It’s never easy with rodents, huh?
Night night, Wibbles. You were soft, so amazingly dumb and cute. Sleep well.
Tags: Hamster
The squeaky sounds aren’t from the hamster.
Apr 21, 2008 Pets & Animals
They’re from me. Yes, I admit it–alright? I have the high-pitched-pet-owner’s voice. You know, where every time the pet does something cute the owner’s voice raised in octaves until people in the next country are wincing and wondering what the hell is going on.
At any rate, ignore the commentary and enjoy the teeensy wheensey chinese dwarf hamster action.
That’s not the hamster squeaking. from M. Pence on Vimeo.
Tags: Hamster
Say Hello to my Little Friends — Chinese “Dwarf” hamsters. And maybe name them?
Mar 31, 2008 Pets & Animals
So in between writing my first article for Triond, submitting my second article, an image, and finally falling into a coma for sleep–it occurred to me in that dream like state of peaceful drifting off and drooling into my pillow that it was terribly quiet.
There’s no rrrrrrrrrraaaaKA KA KAKAKAKAKAKAKArrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWHIRRRR of a single seed being jostled about by a tiny little body running in a wheel. There were no melodious strains of teeth coming away from a metal bar they’ve been chewing on for six hours straight, no rattle of wood chews being dragged through a plastic tube. No, alas, our nights were missing such things.
We decided to change that today with the addition of three little boy Chinese “dwarf” Hamsters.
If you’re curious, here’s a little wiki entry about the general breed: Chinese Hamsters@Wikipedia.org
And an excellent Dwarf Hamster site for other breeds: All ABout Dwarf Hamsters
These little guys claim to be the most affectionate, less bitey of the hamsterian legion of awesomeness. So far, what I’ve seen of them appear true. Instead of biting, they’re more prone to sniffing and/or running away. They’re more social than Siberian hamsters and can often live together. Siberian hamsters, of course, should never be homed together as they will fight each other to the death over food and territory.
I originally was set only to have two in our lives, but as fate saw it, there were three and I did not want to break them up. The third would have been kept alone and would have been unable to acclimate to another little herd of hammies, as we all know since I am made of squishy goo-ness in the middle I couldn’t have that happen. So we brought all three of them home.
So far we’ve brain stormed on what to name them with some help from the people I know and love on my Live Journal. Here are the suggestions so far:
Nibble, Chew and Squeak
Captain Jean-Luc Rattard, Commander William T. Rattker and Lt. Commander Ratta
Huey, Dewey and Louie
Abe, Baker and Charlie
Many, Moe and Jack
Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms and Ned Nederlander
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis
We’re looking for more suggestions to name our hamsters–what would you name them?
Tags: Hamster
