In February, I lost my hamster Nutmeg. I'd had her for a year and a half since she was about 6-months-old. In hamster years, she was 75 when she died. It was a quick process, as are most rodent deaths. One minute, she was completely normal, and the next I was feeding her water every few hours through an eye dropper for three days, sleeping on the floor beside her cage at night. On a Tuesday morning, I pulled up her plastic igloo house for a water feeding to find her gone to a better place. My former boyfriend and I buried her out by the fence in the backyard. I put one of her chew toys in the shoe box with her.
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| Baby Nutmeg - the day we brought her home |
The ache of losing a pet is a difficult one to process. You can't express your goodbyes in a way they understand. Nutmeg probably thought being roused from her exhausted sleep throughout the day for water was torture. So, what can you do? For a hamster, you hope that he or she isn't suffering or in pain and watch them fade away. For dogs and cats, you are usually left staring at them, going back and forth in your mind about how much longer you'll wait before taking them to the vet and saying good bye. This past week, I watched my current boyfriend struggle with that decision when he learned the horrible news: his sweet yellow Labrador Honey at 7-years-old had pancreatic cancer, and there was nothing the vet could do.
Personally, I have a connection with animals shown through a deep respect and love for them. I grew up in a household where Steve Irwin was a hero because of his conservation efforts. Now, his methods were a bit extreme, although entertaining, but his message was clear: Animals are worth protecting. Since I was little, I surrounded myself with wildlife and pets. My mother raised monarch butterflies and saved baby bunnies from the outdoor neighborhood cats. She was my personal Steve Irwin, teaching me about ecology and biology. The family dogs and cats were rescues. Piddy Paws and Remington came from kill shelters. Sanibel needed a home because the neighbors couldn't care for him. Sparta was found under a car at a gas station in the rain. Candy was adopted from a humane society. Only Luca was taken from a pet store after my mother lost her beloved Sanibel to feline leukemia. She always had a soft spot for long-haired cats, and an adorable black and white, long-haired kitten sat in a cage at the pet store where we purchased turtle food. In reality, he, too, was a rescue. The pet store did not purchase puppies and kittens, but sold those brought to them because their owners couldn't care for them.
Like my mother and Luca, I, too, have an urge to fill the hole left by the death of the previous pet. At the time of Nutmeg's passing, my former boyfriend and I owned two cats - Binx, who was abandoned and walked up to our porch one day, and Sparta, who I mentioned earlier. I wanted another pet to add to the family, but my landlord hates dogs and I couldn't handle a third cat. I began researching other small mammals like Nutmeg the hamster. We'll start with just the hamster for this post.
Hamsters:
Pros - The joys of having a hamster, for me, fell on the vast variety of food Nutmeg could enjoy. She, of course, had her normal blended hamster diet from the store, but I enjoyed feeding her all the extra goodies she was allowed as well. Carrots. Willow branches. Apple slices. Kiwi. Cucumber. Sweet peppers. Broccoli (her favorite). Corn-on-the-cob. It was a plethora of fun to watch her stuff her cheeks and enjoy her different snacks.
It was also simple to own a hamster with cats. That may sound like a ridiculous notion, but by using a hamster ball, Sparta and Binx took little notice of the giant plastic rolling ball after about a week. In an aquarium tank, Binx and Sparta couldn't get their claws through any holes. Now, I do not suggest putting a hamster in an aquarium unless absolutely necessary (like owning cats with no safe place to keep the cage out of their reach). This is because hamsters need air flow. To fix this problem, I bought a high rise, also known as a "habitat expander." This incredible contraption sits on top of a standard aquarium with two clamps. Press in the clamps, and the high rise (which adds two climbing levels for your little hamster) provides air flow and more play space. The cats learned through the power of the water bottle that Nutmeg should not be touched when in her high rise. During the day when I wasn't home, I took out the ladder that connected the tank to the high rise. This way, Nutmeg couldn't leave the safety of the glass, and I didn't have to remove the high rise and replace the tank lid every day
Finally, hamster care is easy to learn. The hardest part about owning a hamster is cleaning the cage.This takes time to do, and if you use a tank, it means heavy lifting. It needs to be cleaned at least once a week, if not more depending on the cage type. Hamsters love, love, love being clean, and their cage is part of that. And, it must be done in a way that doesn't shock them when they return to a clean cage with all their belongings rearranged. The first task Nutmeg would perform after her cage was cleaned was put her snacks back in their preferred corners and tidy up her igloo. She was very meticulous that way! Otherwise, care is simple. Since hamsters never recognize their owners as playmates, although they can be clicker trained to do simple tricks, there is no need to spend hours interacting with your hamster. In most cases, they don't want to be handled in the first place. Instead, make sure they have a safe place to roll around in their exercise ball, provide them with fun toys and snacks and buy a hamster wheel. A hamster is set to go. Every so often, I'd provide additional exercise and mental stimulation buy building mazes and obstacle courses for Nutmeg out of toilet paper rolls, books, cardboard boxes, her wooden log toys and other safe objects to keep her entertained. Cage boredom is a horrible thing to suffer from. Think of when you were a child stuck inside the house for three days of straight rain. By the time the sun came out, you're ready to run like Forrest Gump. In the same way, sitting in a cage all day and night is not an enjoyable experience, so make sure to stimulate a hamster with both physical and mental activity. Hide their food. Let them crawl across your shoulders. Decorate the high rise with dangling chew toys and fluffy bedding.
Cons - Hamsters live for a short amount of time. I knew that beforehand, but when looking for a new pet, I knew I couldn't handle the trauma of falling in love with a new hamster and losing it after only a year. To me, that's the only con.
If you have children, however, that's a different story. When I was a child, I went through three different hamsters before my mother decided that children weren't meant to handle hamsters. And, she was right. Young children and hamsters do not mix. However, according to Paw Nation, hamsters are known as "starter pets" for kids because they require significantly less work. I would recommend that if you choose to use a hamster as a starter pet, have your child wait until at least 10, 11, 12-years-old. With the right amount of supervision and instruction, your son or daughter will learn the proper and safe way to handle the delicate animal.
If you're not a night owl, then most small mammals are not in your best interest, including hamsters. They are a noctural mammal, and the squeaking of Nutmeg's wheel was enough to drive me mad. I had to vigilantly keep the wheel oiled with vegetable oil in order to get a good night's sleep... and that was when the cage was kept in another room and I had a fan blowing all night. Also, the sound of their sharp teeth grinding against the metal of their water bottle could wake the dead. So, be sure to consider how important your sleep is or if you have a place to keep your cage where you wouldn't be disturbed.
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| Nutmeg in her exercise ball |
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