wee beastie!

[jazzfish]

I, um, seem to have inherited a hamster.

I came back from a meeting yesterday and my boss was complaining about her hamster. "The cat is really upset-- there's this snack, right there, already caught for him, and he can't eat it! He's started peeing on things."

So why does she have a hamster in the first place? Because her son's girlfriend W. is tender-hearted. There was a woman in the pet store where W. was buying dog food, trying to return a hamster. Seems the woman's daughter had bought a hamster, after being specifically told she couldn't have one, and had kept it in the pet-store box for several weeks until Mom found it.

"We can't take it back," says the cashier. (Perfectly understandably.) "Well, then," says Mom, "I'm just going to go let it go in the parking lot. I'm not taking it home." After a round or two of this, W. said "Fine, give me the damn hamster," and bought a cage and various hamster accessories to go with it.

Anyway, $boss isn't sure what to do with the hamster. (I'm not sure why W. can't keep it, maybe she's in a dorm or something.) And I've been sort of kicking around the idea of a small pet for, oh, over a year now, and I used to have hamsters when I was in junior high. So I said "You know, I could take it."

So I'm now the proud owner of a robo-hamster. She's about half the size of the Syrian hamsters I used to have. Hamster miniaturization technology has come a long way. She's also extremely fast, fast enough that I couldn't make out her feet when she was running on the wheel. She comes in a cage with a wheel and a loft, and has a small hamster-ball and a decent amount of extra food and bedding and chew-toys. She also has an opaque plastic tube, but no hamster-house on the main level. I may have to fix this.

According to $boss she's very skittish and squirrely, and doesn't take well to being held. We shall see about that. I have carrots and red peppers to bribe her with, and may see about getting some variety of unshelled nuts for chewing purposes. (Not almonds, I know.)

This is my first experiment in solo pet ownership in, um, ever, really. On the other hand, I figure that if I can take care of a lucky bamboo plant through four years and three moves I'm probably ready to move up to small mammals.

(Pictures, and a name, will be forthcoming.)

Comments

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

In my experience, the little ones are mean. The only game you can play with them is "How long can I hold you before you bite the fuck out of me?"

[jazzfish]

Oh well. They're cute, at least.