New Boots

[primsong]

My youngest got a hamster yesterday, cute little guy all dark grey with "tuxedo" markings. Because of his white feet she promptly dubbed him "Boots." I told her any name except 'Hammie' or 'Squeaky' was okay with me.

Boots kept her happily occupied all afternoon and evening, running in his hamster ball, poking his head out of the holes in his hamster-house, etc. but this morning when I came out I found her sleeping on the couch. "He kept running in his wheel!" she said... *not-too-sympathetic snicker*... I told her what it would be like, but sometimes you just have to live it.

We got a super-quiet plastic wheel for him so it isn't the spinning, it's the thump against the cage bottom as it shifts, he runs so fast. We'll see what we can do to pad the bottom of it today.

Cute little critter. Going to drive the cat out of her mind whenever she discovers him over there.

I'm off to do some work on the overgrown flower-beds at the church, to do battle with the dreaded monster Morning-Glory. Grrrr! Behold, foul Morning-Glory, my Elven weed-popper and trowel! Behold the runes inscribed: "Morning-Glory Cleaver"!

Comments

[iorhael94.livejournal.com]

He sounds adorable! I am probably forever shunned by the hamster world for my job as a lab technician years ago that involved surgery on hamsters for American Heart Association research :o!

[solodancer.livejournal.com]

ppsssshhh!! Hey.....They're just rodents. Honstly. I love our hammie and wouldn't want you doing surgery on him, but in general, they are no different than rats, mice or any other rodent. And if it helped to find a cure or find out more about the disease, then that's good.

I for one, would not shun you and we love our hammie.

[iorhael94.livejournal.com]

thank you! :) Needless to say, once the surgery was over, that was the end of their young lives
:( Their cheek pouches provide an excellent way to study blood flow (or at least they did..this was back in the early 80s.)

And when I was saying the hamster world, I was thinking of the hamsters themselves LOL! ;)

[solodancer.livejournal.com]

ok, first, I know I've been seriously out of the loop lately, but why dont' you want the morning glory? I love morning glories and would love to have them growing in my yard. I guess it's true what they say, any plant you don't want can be a weed.

and regarding the hamster! Yay!! more hammie owners. We absolutely LOVE our hammie. As far as the wheel problem, she'll just have to get used to it. In my experience, there is no way to completely quiet the wheel. Anything you try will either make the wheel unusable by the hammie or just won't work. However, one thing I've learned is that if you take the hammie out and play with him enough in the evening, in other words, give him enough excersise out of the cage, he won't run in the wheel as much. The books we read said that the hammies can actually get addicted to the wheel and you don't want that to happen. Our wheel is one that we can easily detatch from the cage for periods of time. We would do that sometimes. Take it off so he'd learn to do other things.

There is a pretty active and informative hamster community here on live journal just called hamsters that I joined not long after we got Hurley. I hardly check there now as we feel pretty comfy with him, but in the early days it was a good group to be a part of. They have a pretty extensive FAQ section too.

Post pics of your little guy soon.

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Morning-glory is incredibly invasive - like English Ivy, it's nice to look at, but it will completely strangle and engulf everything around it and it's almost impossible to eradicate once it gets a good hold. Ironically, it is one of my favorite flowers, right up there with sweet-peas, but I prefer my silk ones to having it in my yard running amok. It is trying to take over two of the three raised beds we have along the preschool windows, turning all of the little flowering shrubs into one big tangle of vine. At least it isn't noxious or spiny, I'll grant it that. Beats blackberries anyday...I have to go kill more of those too.

Thanks for the 'wheel-addiction' info - interesting!

[estellye.livejournal.com]

"Morning Glory Cleaver" *dies*

I hope that little adventure went well and that life with Boots is entertaining and a little more restful.

(((Prim)))

[faramirgirl.livejournal.com]

Hamsters are cute little critter, I had one as a kid. "Boots" unsual name but it is really cute.