David's Blog

Hamster Adventure

Joy has been wanting to get a pet for about two years now, and today she has finally gotten her wish. Four times over.
Here's the story...

Joy decided that since her fish, July, died about a week ago that she needed to get a new pet. She was considering turtles and dwarf hamsters. I wasn't into the whole turlte idea, but I told her to research both animals and find out as much as she can about pet ownership.
Notes: Having a pet is a big deal to me, because they are a responsibility. Pets are living things that should be treated with some respect, and they are also a part of your family that you need to care for constantly. I wanted her to be sure that whatever pet she got would fit in well with her lifestyle, her living situation, and time restraints. End Notes.
So she looked up hamster and turtle information, and decided to go with the dwarf hamsters. She had even found a breeder that was less than ten minutes away.
So Joy, Lana, and I hopped in my car and headed over to PetSmart to get a home for the hamster, because Joy said that you need to have a home ready for them when you get them. When we got to PetSmart we spent a little over an hour just debating the different cage setups and their various prices. The cheapest cage was a small wire cage that cost $18 and change. I was completely sick of the whole process so, I took a seat on the floor and waited for it to end. Finally, Joy took my advice and we went to talk to the breeder about cages.
The breeder's place was pretty fun. They had tons of hamsters in nice, clean storage containers from Target, with freshly shredded office paper as the bedding. The hamsters were all so great that Joy had another hour's worth of trouble trying to decide what to do and which one(s) to get.
I had to talk Joy out of getting a full-sized hamster, and I really wanted her to get more than one, because some hamsters are social and I wanted them to have some company. Finally, I told Joy that if she'd get two famale dwarf hamsters that I'd get two too. That was an easy sell, so we paid ($25) and left with some free supplies.
Wal-Mart: I was in a hurry by this time, and I had a legitamate excuse -- there were hamsters in the car. So, we ran in, grabbed a $2 water bottle for them and the "cage" -- a 24" x 16" x 8.75" lavender Rubbermaid "Roughneck" container -- under $4.
PetSmart: Still in a hurry, but losing focus. I lost my excuse too, because we could bring the hamsters inside. We managed to get a $5 ball for one hamster to run around in, and a special "safety" running wheel. It was purple too and all plastic so that they're little feet don't get stuck. Also, it is cool because three (and maybe four) of them can run on it at once -- $6.
We finally got back to Joy's place and I set up their home. It was pretty cool. The home was all purple and white, while the ball was neon yellow/gold. So, the stuff looks good together.
Oh, I named my hamsters already! One of mine is really, really hyper. She jumps around a lot and has about a four inch vert. She also really seems to like me because she'll jump in my direction for the most part, and always wants me to hold her. Anyway, I was trying to think of a name for her because she hops around so much like a rabbit, and I was thinking... What's Barbie's little sister's name? Lana knew. My first hamster is Skipper.
The next hampster has a purplish sheen (I like purple, by the way) it is noticable if you hold her. I was thinking violet at first, but that was poorly received. My second hamster is Iris.
Joy's hamster names are pending as are the pictures of the four of them. You can see the pictures of the parents now though, and you can know when our hamsters were born too --> August 11th, 18th, and 30th, 2003. (Two of them are sisters)

Smokey. She is the mother of the twins -- Iris and nameless(so far).

Skipper's Dad. I don't know this guy's name, but I do know that he is Skipper's father.

Kelly. This is skipper's mom.

Chocolatte and Monstoro. These are the parents of Dove -- the $10 dwarf hamster that Joy got.

Bandit. Bandit is the lucky father of the twins.

I'll put up the pictures of the four hamsters when I take them. Hopefully Joy names the last one by then.
UPDATE 11/20/2003: I still haven't taken picture of them yet, but they have all had names for a long time so I edited the entry and included them. So, the names are... Skipper, Iris, Olivia, and Dove. Dove also goes by the name "Chubber" because Joy thinks she is so cute because she likes chubbiness, and well... Dove is chubby.

Posted by David at October 12, 2003 10:22 PM