This post is purely for my kids to remember their pet hamster, Hammie, who passed on earlier this week. A friend had given us 2 hamsters back in 2007 and they've been our family pets since then. Hyper died earlier this year, probably due to her over zealous love for food and unhamster-like disdain for exercise. She died peacefully in her food bowl, true to character till the end.
Hammie was feistier and livelier, which made her more fun to watch and play with. As she aged, she grew mellower and would enjoy being stroked, even licking my hand. Here's a short video we took of her earlier this year.
Hammie lived to a ripe old age. Dwarf hamsters typically have a life span of 1½ to 2 years but Hammie lasted a grand total of 2½ years. Every time we thought the end was near because she started to look frail or drop fur, she would miraculously rejuvenate. I attribute her longevity to the fact that we fed her lots of fresh food. And I'm not talking just vegetables or fruit - we gave her prawns, cheese, eggs, fish and even yoghurt. Hamsters are omnivores, they even eat chicken, just make sure that the food doesn't have sauce on it or strong seasoning. Our hamsters really lived it up! Well, if your life span is that short, make the most of it, right?
We're not sure if we'll be getting new pets. Losing a pet is sad, even a hamster. I can just imagine how traumatic it must be if it's a dog or a cat. Andre wailed, "I'm so sad about Hammie!" even though he'd barely played with her for months.
So the hamster cages are going into cold storage for now. Goodbye Hammie, you were fun to have around. Hope you're enjoying fresh prawns and eggs in Hamster Heaven!
Friday, October 16, 2009
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8 comments:
RIP Hammie :(
Is L-A okay?
Yeah she's ok, thanks! They're just all a little mournful when they see the empty table where the cage used to be but don't see then forget already :P
Hey! You have the exact same hamster cage as we do! *grin*
Yes, and one of our hamsters died a tragic death recently (escaped, climbed up pail handle then fell in, found infested with maggots...) but oddly, the children weren't too emotional about it. My youngest felt sorrier for the still alive one, cos she (the hamster) no longer has a playmate.
And the sad thing is that we can't get another playmate for Ivory (the surviving one) because they are territorial (? or so we were told) so she will fight any new hamster that we introduce. Ah well.
Glad the kids aren't taking it too badly though. :)
I found it ironical though that Hyper was named "Hyper" when she was the opposite... heh.
Really? You fed your hamsters all that?! Didn't that make the cage stink to the high heavens? *@_@*
JPB: Maggots, EWWW!!!! Yup, hamsters are extremely territorial, they won't share unless they came from the same brood. We had to split ours into 2 cages.
Yep, Hyper was mis-named! We named her before she revealed her true colours, hehe.
When you feed hamsters fresh food, have to remove anything they don't finish. Don't put it out in a food bowl, will definitely go bad and stink. For Hammie, we just give a teeny portion each time (smaller than a finger nail), she usually finishes it :)
Sorry to hear of the demise of Hammie. We have never reared hamsters but we have hermit crabs. Typically any death of the pets will affect the kids, hope they are ok by now. When the first hermit crab died quite shortly after purchase, my child was quite upset so she put up a notice on the tank to indicate to everyone on "How to look after the hermit crabs" because she found out that there was some mishandling of the crab. Subsequently, she wrote a story about it. That was her way of mourning for her loss.
qx
QX: Your dd is truly unique lah! And you're the first family I've heard who have hermit crab pets :)
Mon, I suppose is because the flipside is she has no peers to talk to at home, thereby resorting to writing notices and stories. When upset, she writes notes to me instead of throwing tantrums.
Hermit crabs are easy to maintain compared to many other pets but just need to know its idosyncracies.
qx
I also had a hamster like yours too! it was like your hamster hyper..... eat too much!(but he still exercises) but he lived for quite long.... about 3 years, a bit lesser than that...
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