Both of us love animals and were really keen to get a pet. As we are only here for a short time getting a cat or a dog wouldn't be a wise decision. So we decided on a hamster. They are cute and small, and easy to take care of.
We did some research on pet shops in Amsterdam, and found one near our house that sounded good. So, one Saturday morning a week and a half ago we set off to the chosen pet shop to buy our hamster!
At the pet shop the guy spoke broken English, but was happy to show us the hamsters. We initially thought we would get 2 so they would have company, but the owner said they'd fight and may even kill each other! We then settled on a little grey and white dwarf hamster. Princess chose him because he was alert and cute; Toolman liked his grey racing stripe! We got a cage, with all the other bits and pieces and jumped on a tram headed for home.
Our new pet is in the box on top of the cage. He definitely didn't seem to like been stuck in the little carry box. All the way home he was furiously scratching the bottom of it trying to make an escape!
We finally got home and started to prepare the hamster's new house. Inside the cage is a wheel, food bowl, drink bottle, hamster kennel and a mezzanine floor with a ramp that goes up to it. We've covered the floor of the cage in a thick layer of special wood chips, as hamsters love to burrow.
You'll have noticed we haven't introduced him - we've have been teasing you since the title.
Princess chose the name Heikki (pronounced high-key) when Toolman was talking about Formula 1 racedrivers (see Heikki
Kovalainen). Heikki the hamster has a nice ring to it! He is very cute, but hard to photograph as he doesn't like to stay still for long! We are trying to make him tame at the moment by taking him out of his cage every night and letting him run around getting used to us. He's definitely getting more confident, he's quite happy to crawl around on us and isn't too hard to get out of his cage.
You can see his grey back with race stripe. He even has McLaren colors like his namesake. Hamsters have such cute stocky little bodies, and they only have a tiny little fluffy tail.
This is his little doghouse box. We bought special hamster fluff for inside it so he can keep nice and snug throughout the colder months.
If you look on the right corner of the laptop you can see him. We also got him a exercise ball as shown. He rolls around but our floor is very uneven and he has to work hard to go uphill. The ball is heavier than Heikki so he really has to work to run about, and sometimes he can't slow it down and gets tumbled about. He seems to enjoy his time in the ball though, and is always happy to hop inside it. Hamsters have a lot of pent up energy, so the hamster ball is the perfect way to use some of that up.
He is getting spoilt a fair bit! We have bought him special sand that he has in a dish in his cage so he can play in it. He absolutely loves it and spends lots of time rolling around in it! We also try and keep him entertained but putting cardboard tubes and things into his cage for him to explore. We are also trying lots of different types of food out on him. He is quite fond of bread and also raisins.
He is nocturnal, so doesn't tend to make much of an appearance until night time. Princess woke him up yesterday morning to show her family via Skype and he was most upset, squeaking and carrying on!
We will post more pictures of him as we take them :)
No comments:
Post a Comment