My Pet Hamsters

Archive for the ‘Behavior’ Category

Tube space “battle”

It’s no secret that Peter likes sleeping inside the tube of their snazzy green home. Turns out, he isn’t the only one…

Peter’s new kids like staying inside the tube—sleeping, passing, or simply pushing one another upward and downward inside it. See the photo above? They love the tube so much that they’re fighting for its space even if the second floor of their home is off for cleaning

Why my sister’s hamsters are so fat

My hamster-expert uncle told me that hamsters have fast metabolism—they’re very active creatures. It’s either my sister’s hamsters just have a problem, or they’re just freaks of nature. I prefer to attribute it to the latter, for the simple reason that it’s really hard to find the underlying cause. I’m a bit new to hamster care, so I really wouldn’t know as much as I would about dogs.

The underlying cause is probably just weirdness.

And here’s Wendy posing for the camera.

Well, at least Wendy’s trying to make an effort to exercise. Peter is so lazy that he doesn’t even bother—the exercise wheel is just a makeshift hammock for him.

The jealous female

A few days ago, an uncle of mine came over for some design work. Before he got into dog breeding, he used to care for a bunch of hamsters. I think he got into hamster breeding a bit, until my great-aunt (his mom) decided that they needed to get a dog. But before the hamsters went away, he pretty much had a thorough understanding of their behavior.

My uncle said that female hamsters are the trouble-makers in the breed. They’re more aggressive than the males. He’s right, actually. I noticed the same in our hamsters. Ever since we started caring for Wendy’s babies, we were able to somehow get an idea of how hamsters interact in a group.

The female ones are indeed very aggressive. The females that we have are the ones who usually fight over toys, food, and territory. My uncle said it’s a good thing that these females grew up together, else, they’ll probably end up killing each other. It’s ok to have two males and a female, but never two females and a male.

Heh. Funny how this behavior is similar to humans huh? Women are usually more jealous than men

Thirsty?

Meet Peter and Wendy’s kid. There are actually four of them, and are quite grown up now. Since my husband and I probably won’t keep them all, we’re not naming them (did you know? Emotional attachment to pets actually lessens when you haven’t named it yet). This nameless little guy actually enjoys playing with their water bottle—it’s only one of the rare instances he’s actually drinking. He’s usually just playing and pulling on the water bottle (and makes a hell of a noise!).

Is he… dead?

No, he isn’t! That’s Peter, my sister’s white, obese, and uberly lazy hamster. Peter is so lazy he puts Garfield the Cat to shame. The one with him is Wendy—and she’s a tad bit more active than her lazy partner.