Saturday, May 5, 2012

Hamsters

This post is for me.  It is so I can remember dates later on down the road.  You wouldn't believe the number of times I come back to my blog to try to find out when something occurred.  Well, if you do it too, then I'm sure you can imagine.

This week, Violet's hamster, Squeaky died.  It was on May 1st, sometime in the early morning hours.  Squeaky was about 3 years old.  Quite elderly for a hamster.  He'd been very active right up until the end.  Then that evening, he dragged himself along the bottom of his house (we never call them "cages" here) and curled up.  He couldn't move very well and couldn't open his eyes.  He fell asleep and didn't wake up.  Isn't that all we can all hope for?

Today, Violet and Mr. I stopped at the pet store next to their comic book store.  They went to the comic book store for Free Comic Book Day.  The pet store had 2 male teddy bear hamsters, brothers.  They'd lived together all their lives.  They seemed to get along and the woman from the pet store said that litter mates generally make good house mates.  So they bought both.  Did I mention they were on sale?  Yep, $2.99 each.  Their sisters in another cage were $9.99 each.  According to the pet store lady, more people want female hamsters than males.  I don't know, Freddy and Humphrey are pretty darned cute in my eyes.

Squeaky's house had been cleaned and the "For Rent" sign hung outside the door.  Freddy and Humphrey took one look at it and moved right in.  (Okay, first they were purchased, then they drove home in a cardboard box - note for Mental, Mr. Incredible drove them home in his Jeep, the hamsters rode home in Violet's lap in a cardboard box, they didn't actually drive the box down the road, I know you were wondering.) 

After exploring the house, they decided that yes they would live there (like they had a choice).  They crawled into a tube and fell asleep nose to nose.

We've never had more than one hamster at a time.  I've always heard rodents don't get along in multiples.  But so far Freddy and Humphrey seem to like being roommates.  Freddy is named for the main character in the book I, Freddy and its sequels by Dietlof Reiche.  Humphrey is named for the main character in the book The World According to Humphrey and its sequels by Betty G. Birney.

While we are saddened by the loss of Squeaky, we are comforted knowing he went peacefully after a long, happy life.  And Freddy and Humphrey are already bringing us joy and entertainment as they try to figure out their new house.  But I think they may need a room addition sometime soon.  That house may get a little crowded.



4 comments:

Ami said...

With a hamster at least you don't have to worry that Freddy will turn out to be Freida... those little guys have big balls.

Or maybe I'm thinking of rats.

And I'm still seeing a cardboard box headed down the road, ala Fred Flintstone, little hamster feet sticking out the bottom running like hell.

Mel said...

Congrats! They sound cute. I've had mice, gerbils, rats, guinea pigs, a bunny, and tons of other small furry critters but never once a hamster. I thought it would be cute to try one sometime as I guess they are lower maintenance than some other rodents. Gerbils so far for us were the easiest to keep although they are too hyper to hold, at least mine were and they were handled since birth. Sigh. I just miss having a rodent. Maybe I should have kept one of the house mice we caught...LOL

Gail said...

First of all, this is exactly why I blog -- to have dates on things.

Sorry to hear about Squeaky. We had a rat die on Tuesday, too. Rats are very social, and now we're a one rat household, so we need to figure out if we need more rats to keep this one company.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for Violet's loss. It sounds like Squeaky had a good, long life.

Freddy and Humphrey sound precious. I hope they are happy in their new home. :)