| Does Life Get Any Better Then This!? by Brian Kershaw Wow! What a place! Lots of food, mom is so warm to snuggle up to, and I see a whole bunch of hamsters that look just like me. Can life get any better than this?! The man who feeds us our yummy food gives us tummy rubs as well. Mom really enjoys that, too. I have 8 siblings, and we all have a great time playing with our paper tubes, chasing each other and just having fun. Today is the last time I am going to see our mom. We are all being put into a box. Where are we going? I'm going to miss you, Mom, but this is exciting and sad at the same time. I feel the bumps from the noisy machine we are in. Now that we have stopped, the man who feeds us is carrying the box into a big store. I feel safe as this is also the man who gives us tummy rubs. We are all put into separate cages, girls in one and boys in the other. I am a girl and get to stay with my sisters. It's a big cage, but the bedding smells different and kind of hurts my eyes and makes me sneeze. I like to climb up on the cage wire as it doesn't hurt up there. There are also no tubes to play with. Funny people keep looking at us. I'm not sure who they are, but they keep knocking on our cage and saying "Wake up! Wake up!" Don't they realize that I am so tired? I was up all last night playing with my sisters and checking out my new home. Today is our birthday, I am 5 weeks old today. Wow! This funny looking person and her two little kids keep looking at me and pointing, saying "I want this one! I want this one!" Their voices are so loud it kind of scares me. I am being taken out of my big cage and being put into this little dark box. I am so scared that I am afraid I peed myself. What is happening to me? I hear someone in a loud voice saying, "Yuck! It's all wet!" The little box is very bumping, and I can hear loud voices saying "I want to hold it! I want to hold it!" I am so scared--the loud voices, being bumped around, the loud machine that I am in, and I don't know who these people are. Finally, the machine stops but not the loud voices. The people put me into a smaller cage than in the big store and Mom's home. The bedding really smells and hurts my eyes. It's not like Mom's or the big store. It's red in colour. I hear the lady say "It's cheaper than what the pet store wanted to sell us!" The smell really bothers me, and my chest hurts. I don't feel good at all. All I see are faces looking at me saying "Wake up! Wake up!" I am so tired from my trip and feel horrible. All I want to do is sleep, but where? There are no tubes, no nice warm place at all. Just empty corners, but I am just so tired, and my tummy hurts. Why won't they leave me alone? Finally, I get to sleep but I am suddenly awakened when one of the younger ones puts in his fingers to poke at me. I was only scared. I thought he was going to hurt me, so I jumped up and grabbed his finger. "Sorry. You scared me!" The younger one yelled really loudly and was crying, "Mommy! Mommy! It bit me! It bit me!!" "I am sorry. You scared me", I was saying to myself. The younger one said to his mom that he hated me and that he was going to call me "Nasty". "Bad hamster", he said over and over again. I also heard his mother say, "Don't touch it ever again. Just look at it". Then she put me on a high shelf in the back room. What about my tummy rubs? I like tummy rubs! I like to play. Can I come out to play? I never did.
It was always very quiet in the room in which I was put, but I hardly ever saw the little face again, and, if I did, he would just say "Bad hamster!" I also heard him with a friend say "This is my hamster, Nasty. Don't touch it or go near it. It bites". I was only scared! Why have you forgotten me? I was only scared! Occasionally, the mother gives me some water and some food, but not very often. Sometimes I am hungry and just feel horrible. The bedding is not like my Mom's. My chest is hurting so bad, and I can't get away from it. My nose is running all the time, and my eyes burn. Today is my 1 year birthday. Nobody knows but me. Nobody comes to my cage anymore. Sometimes I get food; sometime I don't. My water bottle never gets new fresh water. The younger boy never comes to my cage, just his mother. I am having a hard time breathing, and my eyes are always shut. They hurt too much to open, so I sleep all the time. In fact, does life really get any better than this? I faintly remember good times, but I am so miserable. If I just sleep, maybe this will all go away............
(Footnote from Brian)
The only escape for this hamster was death. How many hamsters end up with similar stories? Some, I am sure, are very true. As a breeder and hobbyist, I am aware that every hamster we sell could end up like this one. Hamsters in the public eye are nothing more than disposible pets, cheap to buy, easy to forget, and easy to get rid of. Please make every effort to educate anyone (an individual, a pet store, or another hobbyist) who is purchasing a hamster of what is necessary for these little ones to have a good life. Nasty didn't. --- She wanted to, though! © 2004 Brian |
