hamster update
This is Lita with two of her pups, who turned two weeks old early Friday, in the chow hall of their new tub house. That's actually Oliver's old cat dish. But I was thinking how hamsters like to sit in the dish while they eat, and I figured a big ol' dish would keep that from being a problem in a mulitple rodent situation. Also, Lita's not apt to get nervous about the food supply if she has a ton of it.
At last count, on Moving Day, there are six remaining pups, out of eight. Two are runty. One T-Moth has called Speedy, because it's always zooming around, always on the wheel. The other I am calling Algernon, because honestly I believe it's developmentally impaired. It can walk, and eat, and all that...but it rarely walks, and I rarely see it. I almost removed it from the cage a week ago because it was so lethargic, I thought it was dead. But when I petted it, it blinked. I hurried and put it back, sure it would die because I had touched it too soon, but when I moved them to the tub, Algernon was still with us.
If s/he lives, I'm keeping that one.
On hamster moving day, I sifted through the nursery bedding over and over and over and over. I didn't want to risk missing anyone.
It feels wrong to have hamsters living in a tub, but I didn't want the pups squeezing out through the bars, and I understand breeders often keep them in tubs. In fact, the woman from whom I got Zandy and Lita had them in a tub. I like the free-standing wheel, and that I can just reach in and remove it for cleaning. That's only one day of hamster mess in the video!
The water tower is a combination of an idea I had, and T-Moth's misunderstanding of that idea. I really like it, but the hole needs to be up about another ince to keep the bedding from wicking away water. I used one of those side-cut can openers, so there are no sharp edges.
I'm not wild about the brown bedding in combination with the brown-and-gray critters, but it came free with Zandy's cage, so you know I'm not going to waste it.
They sure got big fast.