Pictures of my furry family!

[anyjen]

Well, I promised pictures of my furry family, so here they are:


Some of the babies, enjoying a snooze in my hand.


Just the white babies this time. There are four of them, and while their fur is still growing, they look a very soft shade of pink. :3
The picture is blurry because my camera doesn't have a good definition for such close-ups. The babies

Comments

[anyjen]

Hamsters are pretty bad-tempered as a rule (it's not strange for a hamster to bite if they're not used to people, and trust me, it hurts like hell when they do), and when they've just had babies... well. "Fiercely protective" is one to put it, I guess. A hamster mommy needs to be isolated and you have to be very careful that you don't show much interest in her babies, or she may resort to cannibalism... as a primitive defense mechanism; that's why it's important they don't feel threatened at all. Domestic mice and rats are much calmer and they don't mind it so much if you handle their babies; within reason, of course. I always make sure to distract Cathy and Michelle (treats work swimmingly) before taking any babies out of the tank, and I try not to take them all at the same time, so that they don't notice they are missing some babies.
Small rodents are very cute as pets, but it does take some effort to bond with them and they won't ever be as affective as, say, a cat. It's really all a matter of how badly you want a pet and how much you can spend on them, and I don't mean only money. A mouse may not be as good a companion as a cat or a dog, but it requires much less attention, space and care to keep.

It's the problem of animals that come from pet shops, unfortunately. They aren't handled nearly enough so they usually aren't tame by the time you get them home, and you have to start from scratch. The older the pet, the harder it is to get them to trust you. Cathy and Michelle were fully grown when I got them, so it may take a while to get them used to me... and I don't have very high hopes for Cathy. She is very jumpy and twitchy and she doesn't let me touch her at all. The only times she will get near me (and very carefully, at that) is when I'm holding a treat for her to take from my hand.
Michelle is responding better to my approaches... she really is a sweety. :3

*pats pats* Don't cry, popkin; I'll post more piccies of the babies so that you can at least see how cute they are. ^^