We Have Hamsters
We have hamsters.
On Thursday night (14 Dec 2000) Jenn and I went to “For Pets’ Sake” here in Thousand Oaks and bought four “teddy bear” hamsters. I had been talking about wanting some for a while, and was up-front with the fact that my primary motivation was to build an increasingly elaborate habitat of tunnels and rooms for them to explore.
But I have fallen quickly in love with the little guys. They are such fun to watch, as they explore their environments and try to understand the world around them. Some websites I read warned that hamsters are territorial and that it is a bad idea to keep multiple ones in a single habitat. Other sources said that if they are of the same litter, it won’t matter (or won’t matter as much.) We are gambling on the latter for now.
Here is a picture: you can click on it for a full-sized version. At some point I will post pictures to the Pictures page.
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December 17th, 2000 at 5:03 pm
[...] Well, the hamster saga has turned out well, I think. The pet store was willing to take the two hamsters back, and gave us a half-hamster worth of store credit (about $7 total) for each. We went to Petsmart to purchase a second habitat so the two kept hamsters would have their own spaces. It seems to be working out. Both built nests from shredded bedding after they realized they were alone. [...]
June 18th, 2003 at 6:05 pm
[...] Note added 18 Jun 2003: OK, I heard back from the author of the hamster post. Apparently she was saying the hamsters are ‘zielig’ — ‘miserable’ or ‘pitiful’. I think it is because there are several in the same cage. And she is right! But in my defense, shortly after the picture was taken I moved the hamsters to individual, much larger habitats. Chronologically, here are the posts about hamsters: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], and [7]. The last link is about the hamsters’ deaths. Note also that “eulogies for hamsters” was one of the searches in my Two Years of Google Searches. [...]
April 26th, 2006 at 2:28 am
I know the hamsters look really pathetic in there. Too little space! This enclosure was intended to last a couple of days until I could build a much more elaborate Habitrail system for them. But then the events in the first pingback happened. We ended up with two hamsters in separate Habitrail enclosures. But, it turns out, hamsters can chew right through them. Who would have thought? Anyway, we ended up getting them each a large multi-level wire cage, which we stocked with cool stuff for them. They seemed a lot healthier in there. Probably better air circulation.
But anyway, a year and a half later and they were both dead. Which sucks. I still miss them, and someday I’ll write a post about this. I feel like crying whenever I think about it. I really loved them, little neurotic rodents that they were.
So, learn from my experience: get them separate cages to start with, skip the Habitrail thing, and only get them at all if you think your heart can handle their untimely demise. And think twice about getting them for children. I mean that. There is plenty of time to learn about death. You don’t need to give them a headstart by giving them a lovable and quick-dying pet.