One of the girls in our youth group (who I will call Shelby because that is her real name) received a hamster for a present two Christmas ago. The day after Christmas her hamster had 6 babies. There is no guarantee at a pet store that your hamster will not be pregnant. It's a chance you take. So Shelby, being the loving girl she is, took excellent care of the babies. After they were weaned she would hand feed them and bathe them and let them out of the cage and crawl all over her. They were the best hamsters.
About one month later one the babies had babies. So now she has 20 hamsters. She decides maybe it's a good idea to get two cages and separate the girls and boys.
Meanwhile, her mother can't believe all the rodents in her house! Especially when they gang up together and escape from the cage. So she starts giving the babies away at church. At one point about every kid in the church had a Shelby hamster. They were the tamest hamsters you've ever met (for the most part).
So we get snickered into two girl hamsters. My kids are so excited. They take great care of them. For the first week. And the hamsters got along great for about a month. Then hamster puberty must have set in and they start to get a little snippy with each other. Literally. One of the hamsters (Munchy) starts to get bigger because she is hogging all the food. And she chases the other one (Monkey) around if she tries to eat her food. I start to think about separate cages.
I'm a little concerned about the violence but have already forked out $30 bucks for these "free" pets. Until I hear what happened to my friend Carol's Shelby hamsters. She also had two girls that had a passive/aggressive relationship. One morning she wakes up and finds the passive one had eaten the HEAD off of the aggressive one! How's that for battered wife syndrome?!
I don't deal well with carcasses so I head to the pet store before my hamster loses hers. Head that is.
They live happily together in their side by side cages running side by side on their matching wheels for about 6 months. Then it comes to our attention that another little girl needs a hamster. We practically throw a cage in her direction because by now the girls don't even remember that we have a hamster and the back bathroom (now nicknamed the hamster bathroom) we keep them in stinks!
One down. One to go!
We kept Fluffy Angel Monkey until yesterday. The poor thing had a hurt leg and could barely walk. So we did the only humane thing we could think of. While the girls were spending night at my parents house we let her go in a field down the street. She scurried (limped) around for a while excited to be out of her cage.
Then a hawk flew down and snatched her up for dinner.
Rest in peace Fluffy Angel Monkey.
(I'll let you know when the kids finally notice that she is even gone.)
5 comments:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That is so hilarious, but so sad at the same time. Thanks for sharing
julie-
i am wheezing right now!! that is the funniest hamster story EVER! oh, my word! i would have loved to see your faces! :) gotta tell ya...hamsters can be gone for quite a while before kids notice. my oreo was gone for about a year and a half before i started asking questions. :)
That is one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time!
It is great to hear from you guys and yes that story.... you need to publish that!!! Hilarious. The girls are growing so fast. I can't believe it. I will keep in touch.
Julie,
That story is hilarious. I can just see little fluffy scampering through the field. Did you really see a hawk grab him??? Have the girls realized he is gone?
Thanks for sharing. It gave me the laugh that I definitely needed for the day.
Tina
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