Good and Bad News

I've been avoiding anything hamster related for a few months now but I'm now back in the fold, full of enthusiasm and thought I'd do a quick post as to what I've been up to.

Sadly, on September 6th, my little madam Luna passed away. Her age caught up with her within a couple of days and she passed away peacefully some time in the early morning. A lovely man, Ray, from Animals at Home collected her and took her to be cremated. He said he'd never seen such a big hamster! My partner and I miss her so much but take comfort in knowing she had a wonderful and full life. She was our happy little lunatic.

A couple of months after Luna passed I felt that we would both be ready for a new little Syrian in the near future and contacted Harry at Hammys World who had a few litters on the way. I was hoping for a relation of Luna but ended up falling in love with a Golden Banded female from a different line. Harry was exceptionally kind and brought her round for us when she was ready as I'm still housebound. He gave us loads of stuff as well which was amazing! He said that it was from Luna, made me bloody cry!

Well, this little Golden Banded has been named Evey and oh my she's a terror! Completely different personality to Luna but just as much of a madam!

This is Evey after I woke her up, poking her bum because she'd scared me going to sleep with her bum sticking out of the substrate -

 

She's really confident and has a love of burrowing. She's been awkward and made her nest under her Flying Saucer though which is a nightmare because she can't run on it anymore (it's half buried). I've temporarily put a medium Savic Rolly in her cage but will be replacing it with either a Trixie wheel or a Savic Orbital. Her Flying Saucer can go into her playpen then so she'll still get to have a run on it. 

I'd like to upgrade her cage and get her an Alexander and a wooden wheel but it all depends on whether or not I can save up the cash in all honesty. I'm thinking if I can save up £100 I can get her a new cage, wheel and some new toys. Or save up £150 and get her a 100cm Falco ;) I think she'd love the burrowing it would allow!

Hobbes is doing great, he's now got both his Kios and Combi and I'm seeing if I can pick up a cheap Kora to attach to the set up as well. He's stopped burying his Flying Saucer since I got him his Silent Spinner. Typical! He's nice and confident now and will take treats from us, no luck on the handling front but in all honesty I don't hold any expectations. Would be nice to have him sit on my hand one day though, so far I've just had a paw on my finger!

Hobbes is such a happy little guy now, he's really taken to my other half too. He always comes out to say hello whenever he hears us talking (Hobbes that is, not my OH!) and demands treats.

I'll post some more updates regarding Evey's taming and potential new cage (which is looking more and more likely) as and when. If you'd like to read Luna's memorial it's posted on Hamster Central - Luna 9/12/2010 - 6/6/2012

Introducing Hobbes

Hobbes is my teeny tine Roborovski. He's about 7 months old now and has been with me for a month or so. I found him after looking for a dwarf hamster to adopt on Gumtree, Preloved etc. I had no idea what species he was - I was hoping for a robo - but got in touch with the owner and a couple of days later she brought him round. His old owner was moving into student accomodation that didn't allow pets so she wanted to rehome him. Well, she was stood by the boot of her car which had a tiny Ferplast Combi 1 in it and the smallest nose I have ever seen poked out of the little plastic house. I fell in love before I'd even seen the rest of him ;) She handed him over and left... No goodbye or anything. Quite sad to be honest.

But anyway! Took him up to our flat and put him into the spare bedroom, my mind going a million miles per hour trying to work out what cage I can afford to get him. No way was he staying in the Combi! I later saw that he had that awful cotton fluffy bedding stuff, removed that, replaced it with tissue and put a wooden log in there for him. He spent the rest of the day sleeping with his chin resting on the wooden log. I put a sand bath in for him too as he looked really greasy. Within a few hours he looked much, much better.

Oh! Just remembered - he was called Stevie, not Hobbes when we got him but we changed his name after a few days of having him.

Anyway, here's his first video which shows his tiny cage -

We ended up ordering him a Ferplast Kios which is much, much larger than his tiny Combi and so far he seems to love it. It took him a few days to realise that he could dig in there (he had hardly any substrate, 1cm thick at best, for the first 6 months of his life) and subsequently covered my floor in wood shavings >.< I don't mind though, as long as he's happy! Here's his Kios -

He's settled in really well in there thankfully. I think he's enjoying his new home with us anyway :D

Bonus videos!