[Hamster Tales Part 2]

Day 2
Thursday, 27 Dec 2007

They sleep through the whole day.

They sleep through the whole evening.

It’s worrying. I wonder crazily if they’ve died of trauma.

My pets have no name yet. They keep hiding in the basement and I can’t see them clearly enough to name them.

I cannot touch them, either, because all the hamster guides say I have to let them settle for three days before interacting with them. But I inadvertently rouse them at 9 pm because I need to change their water and open their wheel for business.

The Goonfather had said not to allow them access to their wheel until they’re toilet-trained because he doesn’t want them to poop in the wheel.

But I think what the heck. They need their wheel or they’re going to stay in bed for the rest of their lives.

For toilet-training, I had given them a little toilet hut and put toilet sand into it, supposedly to make them poop in there.

After one day, there’s no poop in the toilet hut. But there’s poop in the food dish. The Goonfather picks the poop pieces up and throws them into the toilet hut.

I hope they get the idea soon.

I let them get used to my scent by letting my hand linger in the cage for a minute. I try to tempt them with a tiny piece of dried fruit but they’re not interested, so I let them alone.

At 1 am, the Goonfather turns off the bedroom light to go to bed. I’m still at my computer doing stuff.

15 minutes later, I hear a sound coming from the cage. I get up to investigate.

Awwwww. My widdle hamster has discovered the wheel.

I do a quiet celebratory hop and dance, and squeal in excitement soundlessly so as not to wake the Goonfather.

I am choked up with joy and pride even though a hamster running on a wheel is about as unremarkable as kilometre-long Toto queues during Chinese New Year.

But I don’t think my reaction is all that melodramatic. After all, I haven’t seen them move from their bed for 24 hours.

I sit there and watch my cutie get used to the wheel. She start-stops every few seconds as if trying to learn how to manage the wheel. After 10 minutes, she gets tired and retires to the basement.

I go back to my computer.

At about 2 am, I hear another sound and rush to the cage.

Both of them are at the wheel.

I want to scream with happiness. I want to wake the Goonfather so he can witness it but he has to work tomorrow.

I sit there for an entire hour watching them share the wheel. It’s so cute I’m dying from cuteness overload.

I am amazed that I can just sit there and stare at them for over an hour without feeling bored.

Once in a while, one of them will come out of the wheel to sniff around, drink some water or groom herself.

I feel compelled to sit there and not ever go away because I don’t want to miss any single moment of cuteness.

But I finally reluctantly leave them to go to bed because it’s already past three in the morning and I need to sleep.

I guess there is always tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Squabbling Sisters

Categories: Hamster Tales
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[Hamster Tales Part 1]

Day 1
Wednesday, 26 Dec 2007

It’s 8:30 pm. I’m at the Goonfather’s sister’s home and I have a shoebox in front of me.

I have waited so eagerly all day to meet my new darlings, a gift for me.

I have a pretty pink cage all ready for them, with everything they’d need for the first few days, at least.

Anticipation makes me quiver. My new pets are inside the shoebox and I can’t wait to lift the lid and see what they look like. I open the box. Aww. My little pretties are scampering about in the box, cute as cookies. I hold one of them because I’m expected to.

But I put her back after a minute because I read on the net that hamsters need a few days to settle down after being moved to a new home before they’d trust their new owner.

I bring my princesses home.

I have no choice but to touch them again because I need to move them into their Pink Princess Castle. It’s difficult to pick them up because they’re so skittish.

Once in the castle, they start exploring. I speak to them softly, welcoming them to their new home. I offer them a milk cookie to make up for the stressful housemoving. One of them sniffs her way to me and starts nibbling on the cookie.

My heart melts instantly. I refrain from squealing with joy. I let go of the cookie gently because I think she has a grip on it. But she doesn’t. The cookie falls onto the floor. She skitters off.

I pick up the cookie and try again.

This time, the other one comes and takes a nibble. She puts both her paws on the cookie.

Awwww.

There is no sweeter thing on earth to experience than this. I let go because I think she wants to hold the cookie. Once again the cookie falls.

Doh.

This happens a couple more times and then they’re tired of the cookie and stop coming to me.

I think it’s time to leave them alone. I put the roof of the cage on and latch it shut.

My little babies explore their new home for 10 more minutes, then settle into the purple triangular dish I set out for them to use as a bed. I want to give them a covered bed but it won’t fit into the basement of the pink castle.

But I’m thrilled that they’re using the purple dish. They snuggle together into it and promptly fall asleep, remaining in that state for the rest of the night.

Coming tomorrow: Two Hamsters and a Wheel

Categories: Hamster Tales
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Wanted to blog about Christmas celebrations but was out all day today, so I think I’ll leave that for tomorrow because it’s late now and there are too many pictures to process.

Here’s a bit of irrelevant news for now.

Two days ago, the Goonfather and I went to his sister’s place for Christmas dinner and discovered that his niece and nephew had bought three Roborovski hamsters between them.

They’re so cute! And I kinda commented casually that I wanted hamsters, too (although I don’t really really want them, even if they’re cute, because pets are such a huge responsibility).

Later, we found out that the Goonfather’s sister was going to buy a new dog and the seller wanted to give her more hamsters for free.

So, it ends up that she’s going to take the free hamsters and give them to us.

OMG.

I didn’t decline the offer because — ZOMG — how could I resist baby dwarf hamsters???

Free somemore leh!!

We’re picking them up tomorrow!

So, today, the Goonfather took me shopping for hamster housing and necessities.

TMD LAH. Ends up my free hamsters cost me a total of $120 for initial set up.

But, never mind. I’m really excited! Especially since I just spent $120 buying cool stuff to welcome my new pets.

I’ve set up a corner for them in my room!

I even bought them a bathroom, a toilet and a sleeping cot! (But turns out I couldn’t fit everything into the house.)

The house is called Pink Princess Castle. SO SWEET RIGHT??!?!?!!

Even though it looks nothing like a castle, and I don’t even know what sex my hamsters will be, I had to buy it because the name is so cute lah. I’m a total sucker for marketing.

I can’t wait to see my hamsters! I bought yummy snacks for them!

Well, I hope my hamsters will find them yummy.

Categories: Hamster Tales
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