This past July I was convinced into acquiring a pair of dwarf hamsters. My friend S wanted one but didn't want to make the full commitment, so she suggested that we buy a couple and then switch off weeks - timeshare hamsters, if you will. I knew she wanted one, and I didn't really care one way or the other, so we went to look at a new litter this lady had and picked out these two:
S decided to name hers (the black one) Audi and I named mine Kleenex.
We ended up getting them about a week early - the mom had died unexpectedly and they were urgently in need of care. So we took a small box full of cotton bedding and picked them up. They were hilarious! They were seriously narcileptic their first couple weeks of life. They would run around for maybe 20 seconds, then they'd all of a sudden curl into a ball and sleep for 8 seconds, run around for 20, sleep for 8, repeat. I guess though that when your lifespan is only 2 years then an 8 second nap must seem like a few hours!
Like I mentioned, these are dwarf hamsters, and we got them at a couple weeks old, so when we got them they looked like little colored cotton balls running around. They stopped growing after a couple months and now they are about the size of my palm. Unfortunately S is very sick now due to pregnancy, so I've got permanent/temporary custody of the hamster babies instead of switching off weeks.
Funny story: My little sister watched the hamsters for us while I was on vacation in Florida, and when I went to my parents' house to pick them up I decided to clean out the cage. I left the top off the cage while I was washing all the play tubes because usually the hamsters don't jump out if they can see that it's a long drop to the floor. Well, half an hour later I went to go put the cage back together, and Kleenex was missing! (It's always Kleenex, the scoundrel) I became very worried very fast, because:
1. My parents live in a 3-level 1900s house with lots of nooks and crannies, and there were a lot of places a tiny hamster could get lost, versus the security of our newer 2-bedroom, one level apartment.
2. Hamsters are nocturnal, so wherever she was, if she was safe, she was probably sleeping. So I couldn't even depend on hearing her squeaking or scurrying around.
3. My dad is not fond of the "rodents" as he calls them. I knew that at the end of the day, if I had to tell him that there was a lost hamster somewhere in his house, I would surely die. I was prepared to search for 8 hours straight before (if) finding her.
Fortunately what could have been tragic turned out okay - I found her after only about 45 minutes. Apparantly she had done a death drop from the kitchen table and run to the dining room, where she had squeezed under an overturned pot and settled down for a nap. When I picked up that pot and saw her I almost thought I was seeing things, because it was way easier than it should have been! But not only had she run off - she had taken food with her! There were seed crumbs everywhere! She must have thought she was going on a little picnic. Yeesh.
S decided to name hers (the black one) Audi and I named mine Kleenex.
We ended up getting them about a week early - the mom had died unexpectedly and they were urgently in need of care. So we took a small box full of cotton bedding and picked them up. They were hilarious! They were seriously narcileptic their first couple weeks of life. They would run around for maybe 20 seconds, then they'd all of a sudden curl into a ball and sleep for 8 seconds, run around for 20, sleep for 8, repeat. I guess though that when your lifespan is only 2 years then an 8 second nap must seem like a few hours!
Like I mentioned, these are dwarf hamsters, and we got them at a couple weeks old, so when we got them they looked like little colored cotton balls running around. They stopped growing after a couple months and now they are about the size of my palm. Unfortunately S is very sick now due to pregnancy, so I've got permanent/temporary custody of the hamster babies instead of switching off weeks.
Funny story: My little sister watched the hamsters for us while I was on vacation in Florida, and when I went to my parents' house to pick them up I decided to clean out the cage. I left the top off the cage while I was washing all the play tubes because usually the hamsters don't jump out if they can see that it's a long drop to the floor. Well, half an hour later I went to go put the cage back together, and Kleenex was missing! (It's always Kleenex, the scoundrel) I became very worried very fast, because:
1. My parents live in a 3-level 1900s house with lots of nooks and crannies, and there were a lot of places a tiny hamster could get lost, versus the security of our newer 2-bedroom, one level apartment.
2. Hamsters are nocturnal, so wherever she was, if she was safe, she was probably sleeping. So I couldn't even depend on hearing her squeaking or scurrying around.
3. My dad is not fond of the "rodents" as he calls them. I knew that at the end of the day, if I had to tell him that there was a lost hamster somewhere in his house, I would surely die. I was prepared to search for 8 hours straight before (if) finding her.
Fortunately what could have been tragic turned out okay - I found her after only about 45 minutes. Apparantly she had done a death drop from the kitchen table and run to the dining room, where she had squeezed under an overturned pot and settled down for a nap. When I picked up that pot and saw her I almost thought I was seeing things, because it was way easier than it should have been! But not only had she run off - she had taken food with her! There were seed crumbs everywhere! She must have thought she was going on a little picnic. Yeesh.
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