The "Cowardly Lion Face" Captured!!

I got a picture of Sunny's famous "cowardly lion face!" Enjoy! (You can click on the picture for maximum detail of his squinty-ness.)

Screechy screech stuff

So Salvador the hamster has been the source of lots of hamster screech-screech lately. He joined us last month, and Sandy used to be my only screecher. Sunny would try to squeeze through a small space while Sandy was there and Sandy would be like "EEEE! EEEE!" And Sunny would just get all squinty. He gets that squinty face the cowardly lion gets, and that really looks funny, I should try to get his picture sometime when he does that. When Salvador entered the hamster family, HE was the big mouth! He's also the only hamster who's NOT an albino, so his eyes are big and black instead of red, and he has gray, brown, and black in his fur. Believe it or not, I think this has something to do with what's going on in that cage. I think he called Sunny "whitey" or something, because all of a sudden SUNNY had things to say! He was just laying on his back all squinty with his mouth open screaming at Sal! I went to pick him up so he would relax and he screamed at me and stayed on his back. Sunny is a big drama queen. Yes, he's a boy, but he's a drama queen. Sal gets like an inch away from him in the cage and Sunny goes "EE! EE! EE! EE!..." with his cowardly lion-looking face. Sometimes Sandy runs up to them and yells "EEE! E!" as if to say "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND LEMME EAT MY SEED?!" Matthew sometimes knocks their heads together and they say "E!" Forget the mice thumping around and squealing at each other in their 10 gallon tank. It's the hamsters with their little arguments that wake me during the night. It'll be 3:30am and I'll wake up to "EEEEEEEE!!!! EEEE!!" And it makes me so mad that I carry the cage into the kitchen so I can get back to sleep!

A New Home

So Sunny & Sandy live in a new cage now. I made the transfer a little easier on them by using the same bedding that was in their old cage so that their scent would be there right away and they would make themselevs at home. The reason they have a new cage now is because I gave their old one to the mice, although now just one of my mice lives in there by himself. He enjoys it though, he likes the wheel and the horizontal bars--they're awesome for climbing! Sunny & Sandy have a ball attached to the cage to go into and run. The only problem with this cage is the dumpy little water bottle it comes with, it's not only little but it's hard to get the water out of, so for now they either fight with the water bottle to get a drink or lap out of the bowl of water we provided. It also has places to attach those goofy brightly colored tubes, but I didn't buy those because Sunny & Sandy are too fat and lazy to climb around in those.

The "Hog Wild" Cause...

So I was at the pet store today with Matthew's mother because she's getting a kitten and she needed a leash. The pet store lady & the 2 of us were chatting about pets, and I mentioned that the hamsters were going hog wild and hyper and fighty and bitey, and she said it's breeding season. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE? Sheesh, well at least I don't have to wonder what the heck is up with them now, they're probably mad at each other for being the same gender and invading each other's space. Sandy's screeching is probably translated as "Get offa me man, I ain't gay!!"
Breeding season! So how long does this last?! How many more nights of "Hey redhead, why don't you buy us a girlfriend, we're not gay!!" must I endure? Sheesh!

Hog Wild (or Hamster Wild maybe...)

So the girls (which we actually discovered are boys!!) have been going hog wild lately. They have been digging like they MUST dig to China by sunrise, and they have been running in the wheel like they must RUN to China in the next hour. They have been running all around the cage, bumping into each other (making Sandy all screechy and rude), climbing the cage walls, chewing the cage bars, making lots of noise, sniffing like mad, drinking water like the only water that remains on Earth is what's in their little bottle, and they never stop moving!! They are constantly running around in that cage like they're trying to burn calories or something, and Sunny has been furiously using the wheel like she's escaping another hamster who's weilding a big knife. WHAT THE HECK?! What's up with those two? I'm watching Sunny right now and she looks like she's gonna bust right through the wall with that wheel! What is with them? Sunny keeps looking at me with a look of desparation while sniffing furiously. I thought it was my peanut butter breath at first because they love peanuts, but I don't really know what to think.

Heat Hurts

So Sunny & Sandy were really feeling the heat. Sandy was doing more screeching than usual at Sunny, and they were getting in each other's way and fighting over every little thing. At one point they were all bitey at each other, and they stepped on each other's faces and stuff. I put our new air conditioner in the window, and that has seemed to help a little. They aren't all fussy and screechy and bitey. Although today they were pretty moody, I had to keep breaking up big fights, and at one point I had one in each hand, and every time I tried to get them face-to-face, Sandy would open her little mouth and screech and put a hand on Sunny's face and try to push her away. I could feel their little hearts racing in their ribs. I put them in the ball together to run around for a while, and when they seemed to be working together to get where they needed to go, I put them back in the cage, and that seemed to do it. Heat does this to humans too, but I think the pets of the world have more difficulty because they can't just look up at you and say "HEY! I'M FRIGGIN DYING OVER HERE!! GIMMIE SOME ICE WATER!!" Not like a spouse can, haha! And plus, they're furry (even more so than spouses). Well hopefully the air conditioning is just what they needed because it IS just what I needed.

Possible cure for the itch?

So a fellow hamster owner from www.girlalive.com gave me some advice. Could be lice--that rhymed! She says there is a lice remover that is meant for pets! I'm going to look into that and see how Sunny & Sandy are with their itching (or hopefully NOT itching). Thanks, Alana!

The Itch

So I think I know why Sunny and Sandy are so itchy. Matthew informed me tonight that yesterday while I was out shopping, he had been playing with the hamsters. He set one of them down (he doesn't remember which one) on the table in front of their cage, and she scratched, and he said that she had apparently scratched a little bug off of herself. He said it was a very tiny white bug and he knew it was a bug because it walked across the table. So apparently they have some kind of parasite in their fur. I had even examined their skin a couple weeks ago and saw nothing unusual, but I'm going to brush them tonight and see if I find anything. If you have ANY advice as to what I should do (BESIDES talk to a vet, we don't have that kind of money), please do let me know. You can send email to lianne@bobcartoons.com if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

Ball Issues

The other night when Matthew went to check on the girls when we got home, he told me to come look right away. I looked into the doorway of the plastic igloo in their cage to see them BOTH cuddled up in there sleeping! I was glad to see that. So yes, they do get along, regardless of how they reacted to each other when they met. Sometimes they're a team--Sunny will take a few pieces of the bedding in her mouth and bring them over to Sandy, who is working on digging an elaborate area. I happen to know they have seeds stashed in the little wooden house, because they go in there and start crunching. I have also observed that Sandy seems to be smarter than Sunny, and she also does not like the ball (Sunny does like it). I put Sunny in the ball to walk around the apartment for a while, and then I pop it onto the stand so she can go for a run, and then I put her back in the cage. Sandy, however, is smart enough to know how she got there, and how to get out. She'll walk around a little bit inside the ball, but she has trouble getting around because she's smaller than Sunny. She often stops to chew on the door to the ball. I pop her onto the stand to run, and she does more door-chewing than running. She knows where she needs to go to get in and out, so she figures if she chews, she'll eventually get out. After about a minute of walk-walk-chew, walk-walk-chew, I just give up and put her back in the cage. I can see she won't get much excercise. Sunny explores the WHOLE apartment (in fact, last week she finally made it over the tall piece of wood that divides the bathroom and the hallway, and she had been trying to for a long time), but Sandy never leaves the room. I guess she's just not a ball fan. At least she has been trying to use the wheel in the cage. She needs to get SOME excercise. Mostly what the weel is used for is a place to dig under and sleep, or they'll hop inside the wheel to scratch furiously at themselves. I don't get why they're so itchy.

Hello Sandy!

Sunny (on the left) and Sandy!

Matthew & I had the day off today, so we went to the mall, and while he sat on a bench to get off his feet for a while, I wandered into the pet store and looked at the hamsters. I found one that looked a lot like Sunny, and I asked the pet store lady if she could let me see the hamster's belly so I could see if it was a boy or a girl. If we were going to get another hamster, we decided we wanted a girl because we don't want any babies. We bought the hamster, and when we brought her home to meet Sunny, Sunny slapped her and she screamed and screeched and they knocked each other down. We worried they would continue to fight, but we eventually got them to get along in a box while I cleaned the cage. I figured if I washed the scent off everything, that would probably help, and I think it did. They're sharing the caged peacefully now, and we named the new one Sandy because she is about the color of sand. Sandy seems to be learning things from Sunny. Sandy copies what Sunny does, just like a little sister copies her big sister! Now she knows everything she needs to know about how to dig in the cage and run on the wheel and stash food away because she was taught by the best!

Itchy Sunny

Last night we found some peanuts that were roasted but not salted. Matthew said the label said 0g of sodium! We had to buy them to see if Sunny would like them, and she loved them!
One thing that I wonder about is why she seems so itchy. She's always scratching furiously. I doubt she's allergic to her bedding, she would probably be in worse shape then. Something is making her itch, and I wish she could tell me what it was.

Water Bottle & Food Preferences

So while I was at work yesterday, Matthew showed Sunny the water bottle and told me he got her to drink from it. I was so pleased! He tried to show me last night but she wouldn't do it. Today, however, I witnessed her grip the stick with her little hands and eagerly lap at the end of it! Hooray! I'm so glad she knows what to do when she wants water now. She also WILL eat the black seeds in her food (which she had originally rejected). She likes them very much. She also accepts plain Cheerios!
Our landlord told us when we moved in that we could get an aquarium or whatever as long as we told her about it. She never said anything about hamsters, but I called her today to let her know we have Sunny, and she said that's fine. I'm glad, because we really love Sunny. She's messy, but I can keep up with her messes with things as simple as a broom and vacuum.

New Items

I got Sunny one of those balls to run around the apartment in. I feel MUCH safer sticking her in the ball and letting her run free than just letting her run free without being inside the ball. She seems to enjoy exploring the apartment inside the transparent pink globe. It came with a plastic stand so I can pop it on there so she can run in place with it. She ran VERY fast once she figured out what to do! Once I put her back in her cage, she ran on her regular wheel for a long time! I think I got her started on some serious exercise. I can't get her to drink water from the bottle mounted on her cage. I hope she eventually figures out what it is and how to use it. I had to stop letting her drink from a bowl because she kept filling the bowl with stuff and not being able to drink. I'll let you know how that develops.

New Food Items

Results for previously unknown food items:
Egg white no
Uncooked pasta no

Results for new food items:
Strawberry no
Saltine no
Popcorn no

Current Food Habits

Sunny's eating habits seem picky! She has food that contains different components, and we have also read online about what is and isn't okay to feed hamsters, and we have tried some of those things. Here's what's happening so far: (whether or not she liked it is indicated in bold)
Food: Kaytee Forti-Diet (Hamster)
Componets:
Sunflower seeds yes
brown chips no
yellow chips no
green pellets no
brown seeds no
small seeds no
black seeds no
lentil things yes
dried corn no

We have also tried some other items, here are the results:
Item:
Cheese no
Uncooked pasta don't know yet
Apple (granny smith) no
Army worm sometimes
Pancake batter no
Cooked pancake no
Egg white (boiled) don't know yet
Hamster treats no

The next thing I'm going to try is singling out each food component so that maybe if it's the only thing in front of her she'll eat it. Hopefully.

Sunny the hamster

This is Sunny! Matthew & I got her on Tuesday night for my birthday, and this whole blog is all about her and what I do to take care of her. Comments from fellow hamster owners are more than welcome, you folks may be able to help me keep Sunny happy!