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texchanI got a hamster for my daughter. Well, really, it's for the kiddo and me together, as I'll be the one who has to clean the cage and stuff. After hosting the class critter for a couple of weeks, I realized they are not terribly hard to take care of. I did quite a bit of research, as well as talking to several friends who have hammies. So, I felt comfortable taking the plunge.
I returned Scooter (the class hamster) to my daughter's teacher today. Then headed to PetSmart, thinking I could take a look at and possibly invest in the cage. Then, when the timing was right, I could find the hamster and add it. You know, once everything was together. Uh ... yeah. Best laid plans and all that. >.O
Kiddo had her heart set on a particular type of hamster: a Snow White / Winter White Dwarf. This is the type of hamster Scooter was, and she thought he was just so, so cute. There were a couple of this type at the store, and I looked at them. They were pretty skittish, though. One of the "Small Animal Specialists" was helping me pick out the cage and stuff, and he also showed the hamsters to me. He's the one who feeds them every day and such, so they are used to him. And still, they ran away from him and tried to hide when he picked them up. Which was not surprising -- they are small animals, after all -- but still a little disappointing. Then he told me one of their breeders had sent a Russian Dwarf who was pregnant. She had her pups after she arrived at the store, and he had been raising them. He said they were about 5 weeks old and available for adoption if I was interested. I took a look, and one of the little guys let me pick him up. He sat on my hands and kind of stared at me, but he seemed really pretty friendly.
So, I took him home. Gah. I'm such a sucker. -.<
I put the cage together, bedding inside, etc. And he seems quite happy in there. I got him a wheel, a little look-out tube, a hay hut, and a little food dish. He runs around a lot and chews on everything. And he's super-duper cute.
Kiddo was surprised and really excited over it. I didn't tell her about it. I put it all in her room, and then told her (after school) to go in there and put her coat away. And she saw the cage and all. It was great. We watched him for quite a while today.
And named him ...
Harry Potter.
Heh.
I returned Scooter (the class hamster) to my daughter's teacher today. Then headed to PetSmart, thinking I could take a look at and possibly invest in the cage. Then, when the timing was right, I could find the hamster and add it. You know, once everything was together. Uh ... yeah. Best laid plans and all that. >.O
Kiddo had her heart set on a particular type of hamster: a Snow White / Winter White Dwarf. This is the type of hamster Scooter was, and she thought he was just so, so cute. There were a couple of this type at the store, and I looked at them. They were pretty skittish, though. One of the "Small Animal Specialists" was helping me pick out the cage and stuff, and he also showed the hamsters to me. He's the one who feeds them every day and such, so they are used to him. And still, they ran away from him and tried to hide when he picked them up. Which was not surprising -- they are small animals, after all -- but still a little disappointing. Then he told me one of their breeders had sent a Russian Dwarf who was pregnant. She had her pups after she arrived at the store, and he had been raising them. He said they were about 5 weeks old and available for adoption if I was interested. I took a look, and one of the little guys let me pick him up. He sat on my hands and kind of stared at me, but he seemed really pretty friendly.
So, I took him home. Gah. I'm such a sucker. -.<
I put the cage together, bedding inside, etc. And he seems quite happy in there. I got him a wheel, a little look-out tube, a hay hut, and a little food dish. He runs around a lot and chews on everything. And he's super-duper cute.
Kiddo was surprised and really excited over it. I didn't tell her about it. I put it all in her room, and then told her (after school) to go in there and put her coat away. And she saw the cage and all. It was great. We watched him for quite a while today.
And named him ...
Harry Potter.
Heh.