Our current setup

Part 1

Herby and Gerby live in their own tank. They have a cardboard toy to chew up (we bought it from Pet Lover's) which is in the shape of a doll house thing. It has a back porch and a front yard and fences and an upstairs balcony. Sorry we don't have any photos =( Now, the whole basement has been chewed up and it's kind of lopsided. But nevertheless, our gerbils continue to sleep upstairs and in the rooms.

Cookie lives in our smallest tank; she has a dino for her house, and she really loves fluffing the fluff =) she is rather minimalistic, having only a wheel for company. But hey, she runs pretty fast! Cream lives in our orange cage, and she has a wooden house for sleeping under. However, she prefers to fluff up the fluff and bury herself underneath it all. Sometimes we have difficulties spotting her!

Cotton lives in our blue cage, which is identical to the orange cage, except for it's colour. Haha. He has his big green house (our first house we bought) and loves it. We can often hear him scrabbling around and arranging the fluff inside the house. Neurotic!

Watch out for Part 2 over the next few days! =) it will contain details about Fatty, Butter, Salt & Pepper! =)

The Munchkins...have been revived!

With a bang!

Cookie & Cream still live separate. Both are really really old. As of the time of writing, they are 14 months old! Closely following behind is Cotton, at 13 months. Our 3 oldest hamsters. Guess who's our oldest gerbil? Well, that's easy. We only have 2 old gerbils. Herby and Gerby! And they keep giving birth like crazy. Maybe the saying 'breeding like rats' have some truth to them. But hey! Don't call them rats; they don't like it. 'Gerbil' is a better word for um...a better rat =)

Anyway, Herby and Gerby are officially parents to 23 babies! One died, so there are 22 of Herby and Gerby's kiddos out there! Imagine...22 of Herby and Gerby's replicas running around, eating, sleeping, chewing, hanging around... Cool eh? If you add the numbers (refer to the 'Babies' section out there), it's only 21! The last 2 are part of the new litter! =) Only 2 yeah...as 3 others died due to unknown reasons (perhaps due to immaturity at birth). Hope these two survive! It's one lighty (who's fat) and one agouti (who's active).

Cotton is as friendly as ever, he always wants to make friends with Cream and Cookie, but they respond differently.

Cream is quite receptive to Cotton; she will snuggle up with him, but if he tries to get too close, she'll squeak. Cookie will squeak as long as Cotton is within 5 cm of her. In fact, she may even SQUEAK and back off and fly off your hand. Sometimes, when we wake her up for dinner, she'll squeak really loudly and fly out of her dino house and try to bite you. I guess that's what you get for trying to wake a hamster!

That's all for today! Look forward to...

(1) Our current setup

(2) Our current food regime

the votes are in!

And it just proves that this blog has no visitors. Haha.

Cotton 1 vote.

Fatty 1 vote.

So it's a tie for now! Vote's still open =)

Some cute photos =)

Updates! Fatty, Gerby, Cotton and Butter are vying for the cutest rodent award. Please vote!

Well, technically, Gerby is just...pregnant. Or rather, was. She's given birth to 4 healthy pups now, who are not as active as previously but still...suckling well!

Cotton loves that corner between his food dish and the cage. Sometimes he even munches on a bit of food over there. How cute!

Fatty loves being carried. Here, she's supporting herself in Hammiemummy's hand, and staring at the camera. She actually looks like she has a pig snout. Haha.

Butter loves sleeping in a ball! He makes himself a nest amongst the fluff and goes to sleep, with his legs drawn towards his body and his back bent. Nice ball!

 

So now, vote!

Gerby
Cotton
Fatty
Butter

If the button does not work, send your response to bensing_AT_gmail_DOT_com =)

We are glad to receive your response!

the hammie house

Finally, an update for the month of August! I shall not make any empty promises, but I'll try to update at least once a week!

The pet shop at Bukit Timah Plaza sold us rotten pet food a few weeks ago, so we went back to exchange it, and got a new nut mix in return! The mix is rather unhealthy though, it consists of plenty of sunflower seeds, and oats! That's the good part. The oats is like organic food, and it took a while to get the hammies to eat the oats (they only ate the sweets!). Cookie proved to be the toughest of all; she starved herself whenever we refused to top up her food. Until a few days ago, where we looked in her bowl and...all the oats were gone! She's been eating well ever since =)

 

Anyway...here's Herby being naughty and sleeping through the day =P

And just as I tried to get a closer shot, he flipped over and lay on his side.

Aww...

Here's Butter under his wheel. He's as small as ever, and he's still scared of our hand...not sure what else can help but just a lot of patience and care! At least he doesn't go flying from our hands often!

And here's Butter pondering over his overturned food dish.

And in his specially prepared nest!

I think he's really awesome. A little worried about him now as he's losing fur over his right back leg. Perhaps it's the (1) new bedding, (2) new food, or the (3) grass. The first photo shows our new bedding. We decided to try it as it's cheaper. It's paper, and seems to absorb well. No major complaints!

Presenting...Cookie!

She's really flat.

And Fatty, of course. On the lookout!

 

The Hammie House.

Food time

Now, when the spoons are up and the bowl is filled, the hamsters come running. We recently got some CAT FOOD for our hamsters. It's 26% protein, and it's meant to make them fat.

Anyway, here's a video of Cotton who is eating in his food dish.

How cute!

split pen failure

I regret putting Cotton and Pepper together in the split pen. Pepper jumped from my hand and they formed a fatal hammieball.

Cotton got injured; I gave him arnica, and now he's sleeping (albeit a little ruffled up and sigh....hurt).

He's less receptive to my hand now...shies away when I reach into his cage. So I just gave him a bit more fluff and one ikan bilis (he finished his previous once). I also gave him a wooden toy clipped to the side. But for now, he's just sleeping. Poor him.

Get well soon, cotton.

splits and divides

Cookie and Cream split cage:

We swap their sides once every day, in order to get them to be used to the other's smell. This arrangement has been going on for 2 weeks already, but Cream is still aggressive towards Cookie, and Cookie keeps screaming when she sees Cream.

Cotton and Pepper temporary split playpen:

I placed the both of them on either side, and observed them. Pepper made aggressive noises like Cream, but Cotton was unfazed. This behaviour is unlike Cookie's cower-and-run tactic. Perhaps Cotton has more man in him than we thought he had! The video shows the both of them standing down each other for 2+ minutes. Observing the other. Weighing their chances. They probably know that they cannot get at each other through the bars (before this, they were jumping and squeaking and boxing through the split!).

I hope to build the split tank (shall go take measurements now) soon, and as soon as salt gives birth (probably anytime soon), I'll move Pepper and Cotton into the split tank.

I am optimistic about that arrangement, and I hope that the split tank will be of great use in future.

broccoli!

Broccoli is a healthy vegetable which most children are picky about. But not our babies. In fact, they love it.

Presenting...

Herby!


Fatty!


Cotton! He looks half asleep.


Butter!


Salt and Pepper! Umm...I think they have finished eating...


Cookie!


Cream!


They are fed fresh food (broccoli, carrot) once every few days. And they sure look forward to it each time! Well..apart from cream, who only ate one small piece today. She turned her nose at the other pieces. Pepper, on the other hand, grabbed two pieces from me. Salt got another piece, but she ate less.

Herby and Gerby wasted theirs today. Ate half and threw it on the floor. I picked up the stalk and put it in their food dish.

Let's hope they are not getting sick of it already!

kablazam

Look out! Here comes cotton, climbing out of the playpen in less than FIVE seconds.

Watch out!

photo album of yet another wash day

Cookie Cream Cotton
The preggy the not-so-preggy and the impregnator (um, should this be censored?)

Cotton sure looks pretty ugly when he's woken from his sleep! =P

He stands upright and observes my camera. Curious curious cotton!

Meanwhile, cookie tries to grab my attention. Way to go cooks! But uh...be careful of that preggy tummy? I can't really tell which way's up.

In the playpen......

They mingle, cotton keeps smelling them. Sigh cotton, they are ALREADY pregnant!

Never gives up. Even when cookie is obviously fat. Cotton looks about as fat but it's an illusion! =)

After placing them in, cookie goes to her favourite corner and sits down on her butt.

Meanwhile, cotton leaves a big mess...yes, that's from his skinny-looking cheek pouch......

......and curls up to sleep. Guys will be guys huh. Sleep anywhere =(

I didn't want to disturb him (at least he won't be climbing out).

So here comes some photos of cookie and cream in the hand!

Watch out! No no that's cotton's cage below you! (yeah, photo taken before wash I think, order a bit mixed)

Cookie in the direction of the computer. When is mummy coming on again, sighs the cute little fat hammie =)

Bumshot and sideshot. Cookie's patterned coat is really really obvious! =) Must be stretched a lot =D (ps I think I'm getting better at this photoblog thing =P)


Last but not least, hey there cookie!!! =) (post-wash)

the cute one

Disclaimer: if we did not have two pregnant hamsters, this post would be...the cute ones =)

Say hello to cotton!! *Stares at daddy*

Please don't let go daddy...I'm trusting you here...

Phew. I feel so much more secure like this! =)

Gimme a boost here, will you?! I'm trying to sit down!

cookie, cream, and cotton (Part 2)

Washing Day
Part 2

Cookie, Cream and Cotton

Don't you wonder why all the AFTER photos are all of cookie and cream?

It's because our grand stag, cotton, has decided to retire to his humble abode. Tiring climbing all that fence!

Cotton gives the "WHO WOKE ME UP" face.

Finally, annoying camera in my face. Now I can go to sleep...

Eyes start to close...


Ah man cotton cotton...sleepyhead! But ain't he cute? Curled up in that fetal position. Aw so adorable!

Meanwhile, cookie and cream are still exploring everything, including...

The gnawing block...

The food dish...

Cookie creamy! So curious!

But finally...eventually...they settled down =)

Long long wash day...wish I can line them up to take a group photo. But they go berserk everytime my hand goes near. Haha.

Part 1