The Hamster

Richelle brought home her little hamster today. It was a little traumatic getting it. We went in Saturday to get one only to find that they were sold out. How disheartening! Poor Richelle had to wait until the last errand was run before we went to the pet store to pick one out and, believe me, it was a long wait. We'd left the house at about 11:30am and we didn't get to the pet store until around 5:30pm (since it costs nearly two gallons of gas to get to town and back in the Explorer, I consolidate errands whenever I can). The store was completely sold out. There are two basic kinds of hamsters, normal size and pygmy, and this store also carries long-haired breeds of each but they were out of everything. Not one single hamster. We talked to a sales person who told us she was expecting a fairly large shipment early Monday morning and to come in after school.


Late this morning, Mike had an errand to do in town so we talked him into taking us with him. Richelle was antsy and shot to the back of the store where the small animals are kept (ferrets SMELL!) to be greeted by....................empty cages. Evidently, the shipment wasn't due for a while, maybe a couple of days. Richelle's frustration was evenly divided between the store in general and the sales person from Saturday in particular. They suggested, and we did, leave our name and number with the front desk to call us when they arrived. Mike told Richelle that she looked as if she'd just lost her last friend.

The store called at 2:30pm to tell us the shipment had arrived and the hamsters were ready for sale. There was no question in my mind; this called for a special trip into town. She went, she saw, she's happy. The little rodent's name is Sokki pronounced "Soak-ie". She's had the name for weeks now and is ecstatic to have the animal to go with it.

The first picture is of little Sokki climbing the tube from the living area to the exercise ball. It must have been quite a climb for him because after a couple of runs he fell asleep in the flat part of the tube between bends.

The second picture is of Sokki cleaning himself. Or maybe he's nibbling on something. The blue is the corner of the cage, the clear yellow is the tube leading up to the exercise ball, and the food dish is the green in the right corner. The colorful thing to the left is his little house made from his carry-home box with the flaps cut off and a hole cut for a door. There's a yellow chew-toy inside. She decided that a cardboard box was just fine for his house and she didn't need him to have a fancy-dancy igloo. Besides, that's a $7 savings for her. Good thing, too, if he's going to be sleeping in the tunnel. She's paying for everything at her own insistence and our encouragement. The only thing I bought was a $6 book on the care of hamsters.

Her allowance covers food and bedding but she's wanting to earn extra money to pay for habitat extensions and other fun stuff for little Sokki. So now we have clean windows, my plant leaves are dusted......