Ted wanted a chinchilla, EVERYONE in 7th grade was getting one and he would do ANYTHING to have one of his own. He researched from were they come from, how to care for, what they eat and do not eat, and most importantly they have the softest fur of all animals in the world. He printed pictures of them and taped them up all over the house. He had names picked out and where and how much they cost. He had all his bases covered except he did not tell us the life expectancy of a chinchilla.
30 to 40 years.
I'm sorry but I do not have that much time in my life to dedicate to a small caged rodent that Ana and I will be taking care of.
Ted begged , pleaded, and swore we would never have to lift a finger for this new pet. I stood my ground as a mean and nasty Father and said NO.
Ana and Ted went to the local pet store to get some dog treats and to "look around". They came across a big open pit area were they had Dwarf Hamsters. The young man working there talked to wide eyed Ted and off balanced Ana that they were all males and they are clean, quiet, soft, and only live for 2 to 3 years.
SOOOOOOOOO Ana and Ted purchased a small cage, some food and 3 Dwarf Hamsters at $1.35 each.
What a deal, right?
About a week or so passed and I was starting to get used to the nasty smell and the nocturnal running in the squeaky wheel when a fight/quarrel/ruckus broke out. Peanut was fighting with Puablo and Puablo ended up with one and a half of his legs chewed off. It is a Saturday night, I have a stumpy and bloody $1.35 Dwarf Hamster in my hand and teary eyed Ted wants me to take it to the emergency Vet.
No No No No way.
I went online to do a little research and found that Dwarf Hamsters will get a "bad smell" from one another once in a while and will fight to the death. Nice.
We kept them separated and went down on Sunday and picked up a new cage and all the extras. Now we have 2 cages with wheels, food, and smells.
A few days pass and Ted is poking around cage #1 and says Dad look Peanut (the male) had babies. Six pink little babies. I was stunned, we now have 9 critters. We read on line we need to remove the male from the litter because they may harm the babies, and we don't want that do we?
Off to the pet store to get cage, wheel and everything else needed. Now we have 3 cages.
We watch as the 6 grow for about 5 or 6 days and one of the little ones is the runt. He always seems to be behind on the feedings and the cuddling and what not. Again Ted calls me over in the morning and says "Dad were missing one".
A little research and it comes to find out sometimes the Mother will eat the weakest one after a week or so. Nice.
Ana called the store to complain about males having babies and the Manager said, we will take the babies off your hands at 4 weeks and this is a once in a lifetime deal to "help us out"
Three more weeks pass and the little babies have fur on them and squeal and eat food on their own. Thank God it is time!! We load the 5 in a little box and take them to the pet store and the Manager takes them. All is well in the Hessing household again, except we still have 3 cages with 3 hamsters and one that is missing one and a half back legs. Pualblo is the lame one , but as the weeks went by his "stumps" healed and he ran around like a madman, actually running faster, and louder than the others. Go figure.
The next morning, I kid you not, Ted says "hey Dad, we have more babies" I laugh at Ted and tell him he is a funny guy as I look in the cage and yes we have 4 more.
After about a week Mamma Peanut eats a weak one and we are down to 3. We raised them for 4 more weeks and the pet store Manager says no to our breeding of Dwarf Hamsters. I tried to explain to the gentleman that we are not breeding them and we needed to rid ourselves of these damned rodents. He again declined but was kind enough to tell us that these cute little furry pets can start breeding themselves in about 3 weeks and we should separate them in cages to prevent more litters.
Oh My God is all I could say.
We left with 3 more cages, wheels and what not.
Now we have 6 cages with 6 Dwarf hamsters smelling, and running in those damn squeaky wheels all night long. I hope you didn't forget they ARE nocturnal. Also it has been about 2 and a half months and Ted isn't so keen on feeding and cleaning them as he was in week one. In fact Ana and I are taking care of our "grandkids" all the time now.
We did find a few homes for some of them so at this time we are down to 3. Peanut the male that gives birth, Baby one from litter number 2, and Puablo the 2 and half leg marathon runner.
The moral of this true, sad, and hard to digest story is if and when our children ask for a small caged animal, give them a stuffed toy and just say NO!
Workin overtime for hamster food,
Tim
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