Mimi
A good way to keep cool on a hot day is.........
....to lie on your back and air your stomach. Especially a full stomach.
2 mornings ago when I checked on my hamsters, I found Mo inside Mimi's tank. His wheel had somehow fell on its side and he managed to climb out and into Mimi's home. The first horrifying vision in my head was I would have to cope with more hamsters in the future. The really horrifying reality was that a piece of Mimi's ear had been bitten off and there was bleeding around one eye. My poor Mimi! Mo got a good scolding from me.
The same evening I realised that Mo had also suffered injury. One of his legs had apparently been bitten by Mimi. Poor Mo was licking his bleeding leg for a long time but he still struggled to run on his wheel. They seem to be recuperating well although Mimi has been spending a lot of time sleeping.
A hamster knows where to piss, needless of any training/instruction/yelling/hair-pulling, and saves you a lot of work. The (stupid) dog pisses all over the house.....:(
Several days ago I saw AnAn and Momokuai tugging at the pillow, one at each end. Both were trying to grab it from the other. To avoid another stomach-biting episode between the two, I threw in another pillow. "Nah, nah, nah!" I said. "Don't fight over it, both of you can have one each." So they went back to sleep, 2 hamsters and 2 pillows while Mimi slept outside, pillowless, under the tunnel. After a short while I saw Mimi sneaking into the igloo and drag out both pillows to her sleeping spot. One after the other she dragged them out with her mouth while the other 2 slept on unaware. How did she know about the new pillow? She was sleeping soundly under the tunnel when I put it inside the igloo.
While Mimi snuggles up to AnAn, Momokuai sleeps in isolation. Oh, so sad. The black spot on AnAn's stomach is a bitemark about to heal. Now there are several more. So sad, so sad. It's like 2 of your children fighting - your heart goes out to both. There's no favoritism and instead of spanking Momokuai, all I want to do is comfort her. But being a hamster who doesn't understand a human, she runs away and refuses to let me touch her. Instead of letting me wipe her wounds, she licks them herself. At that instant, I thought to myself, is that how God feels about us when we hurt each other? It's not so much He getting angry with us but rather aching for us and longing to take us in His arms and wanting to wipe away our hurt. And most of us won't let Him.
I finally threw out the old pillow/blanket which stank like my hamsters, or worse. Didn't have time to sew them a new one until yesterday and no sooner had I placed it inside the cage, Mimi and Momokuai were tugging at it trying to claim ownership. My sister's hamsters (which actually used to be my hamsters) are more loyal to their possessions. Father Momo still keeps the one I sewed for him last year, the first pillow he owned. When Ping and Lele pissed on it my sister gave it a new case. She told me that Momo threw it out of his window. My sister went, "Ungrateful @#*!%# hamster".
My pet of choice would be a dog but since my living conditions does not permit I decided to choose a hamster instead. Mimi is like a little doggie whenever I put her inside the hamster ball. She'll run after me wherever I go. To my room, to the kitchen, to the toilet - everywhere. The most delightful thing is she comes when I call. When I am taking my shower she'll be knocking against the door and when I call her from inside, she'll knock louder. Amazing. I once reared rabbits but they were timid and shied away from me all the time. I thought hamsters would be like that too. Eat, shit, let me out, don't come near me.....well, most of the time that's the way they are. But they transform into little doggies when you put them inside the magical hamster ball!
My hamsters aquired awful body odour after weeks of not bathing. Since sand irritated their noses I tried wiping them with a wet cloth but that awful stink persisted - a kind of skunky, salty smell. They scratched themselves all day and watching them itch made me itch all over. That's that - last night they were bathed with soap and water and they looked absolutely comfortable after that. Or rather I felt absolutely comfortable. Try not washing your hair for weeks and then go wash it -- ahh, it is THAT kind of comfort and relief I am talking about.
Good hamster owner that I am, I refrained from dipping them in soap and water and instead poured "hamster bathing sand" onto a new tray for them. They sniffed at it suspiciously and ventured a paw inside and then turned away. The previous day they even pissed in it. Hmmm - seems like they are just not interested in sand-bathing. My vision of 3 hamsters frolicking and rolling gleefully in desert sand crumbled. What went wrong? They don't like the lemony scent? Like me, they hate sand on their bodies? Or was it plain folly to place the tray too near that hole in the wall? Mimi was tugging at the plastic so forcefully that I feared her teeth would fall out. Her breathing became heavy and I finally had to cradle her in my arms to calm her down. As an extra treat she was allowed on my computer table so there she was snooping and sniffing and wondering what would happen if she leaps off the edge of the table.
The label said "extremely appetizing", with "extra vitamin e" and with "more than 20 kinds of ingredients" so I bought it. Seems like the 3 hamsters do find it appetizing. My gigantic jar of hamster food is still two thirds full but bugs have been appearing and what I fear is bugs getting into their ears. Good grief. That's worse than half-eaten bugs. There was a good suggestion on a hamster forum - freeze the food and chances are the bugs will die. Will do that later. Advice - don't store too much in future.
Mimi was still sound asleep when I had to clean out her igloo so I had to airlift her to the porch. Poor girl, she was still groggy when she landed. This incident confirms the fact that hamsters have jolly good memory because within minutes she was near THE HOLE in the WALL and unlike Momokuai's failed efforts to get at the plastic, well, the pic above says it all. She was determined, single-minded, displaying unusual strength! Usually she loses out to Momokuai in their daily tussle inside the cage but I now have a suspicion that she just lets Momokuai win. You know how mothers are - they dote on their babies.
I was trying to look for some good hamster blogs when I chanced upon information about bathing hamsters (with soap and water). Most advised against bathing as it can cause them to catch a chill and die and there I was bathing them diligently every week! To think that I have been subjecting my poor hamsters to such an ordeal......I blame the petshop owner for this. When I asked her if hamsters can be bathed she answered me vehemently that they OF COURSE could and should be bathed and proceeded to sell me a shampoo for that purpose. According to her they just LOOOOVE to be blown dry by a hairdryer - something which I gave up doing because they looked absolutely terrified when I turned the hairdryer on. Her hamsters were thrown inside a glass case (which looked suspiciously like an aquarium) and the bedding looked as though it hadn't been changed in a long, long time. They looked too comfortable - that can only happen when they are sleeping in their own filth. A lot of filth. Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing much hamster dung in that tank. They were probably so starved that they ate up all their own dung.
Mimi was bought with reluctance. She wasn't the color I liked, she was scrawny and didn't do cute things like sleep on her back. Her face is so black it's difficult to make out her features. But as time got by she compelled me to love her. She was adventurous and didn't think twice about venturing into new areas, unlike her partner Momo who had to sniff things out for an hour before he would step outside. She liked getting close to me and was a good, caring mother to her babies. She is the one who follows me everywhere in her hamster ball and looks at me and comes running when I call. And the best of all - she rarely shits/piss in her hamster ball! That rhymed - Mimi has made a poet out of me. The pet and the poet. Move aside Margaret Thatcher.
Mimi : That.....@@#&!!??@#*!!!!!....hole!
Momokuai : Aw......! That's mean!
Momokuai : Mom, I think I smell a hole here.....
Who needs a hamster ball when I can get onto your lap and down your leg and onto the floor?? Mimi is the only one who loves climbing up my trousers and as far up as my neck. She doesn't shun human touch like her babies do and loves using me as her stepping stone to freedom. Well, that's what she thinks.
