I have a female teddybear hamster, Hanna, who has a special place in my heart. My first hamster, May, also a teddybear, was the biggest sweetheart ever, surprising for a female. I should have bred her to try to get sweet babies, but I didn't, and now I wish I did. But she died a while ago and I got Hanna sometime later, about two years ago. I bought her at PetCo, and when the worker there went to pick her up, she put on a huge leather glove. I almost laughed; it looked like the type of glove hawk handlers put on to avoid the talons. All of the poor hamsters in the cage were terrorized by that glove, they all flipped onto their backs and trembled in fear or ran away. I asked if I could pick her out, and the lady let me; right after I picked Hanna up, she lept out of my hands onto the worker.
That was my introduction to crazy Hanna. She had bright red eyes, and we joked, saying she was possessed because of her eyes and the fact that she would fly across the cage if we touched her. But my sister and I worked with her, holding food on our hands in the cage; eventually she would walk onto our hands to stuff the food in her cheek pouches. It took some time, but she gradually tamed enough for us to pick her up. And with age, her eyes turned to a darker red, almost brown. She isn't "possessed" anymore, though she is still a little jumpy.
She is also a bit of a fanatic. She loves chewing on the bars in her cage; I have given her many a chew toy, but she doesn't do anything with them. I even tried giving her corn on the cob for squirrels; she took all the corn off in one night and left the cob.
All her life, she itched desperately; she would make a bare spot on her floor and roll and roll on it, so I bought her chinchilla dust and put it in one of those space station add-ons. She loved that, except she also used it as a litter box and pantry. And whenever I would give her any kind of wood chew toys or hay; the itching became worse. I finally realized that the poor thing was probably allergic to wood and straw, since I had checked her for mites and fleas, and she didn't have either that I could see.
Anyway; to bring a long story to a close; I finally came up with the bright idea of using shredded newspaper for bedding. No more itching! And she loves it; she pulls it all up around her when she goes to bed, and if she gets woken up during the day, she'll poke her head out through pieces of newpaper. So cute! I also gave her a bigger cage to give her more exercise since she didn't use her wheel. She still chews on her bars,though, but it has never bothered her nose. I used to feel sorry for her, like she was trying to get out, but she just likes to chew. I can imagine what goes through her mind: "Gotta chew, chew, chew. Gotta chew! Wee, what fun! Chew chew chew!"
Hanna is showing her age now; her fur is getting lighter and she is moving just a bit slower. But I think she is mellowing with age; she likes to sit and listen to us with her radar ears.
So, everyone, tell us about your hamster(s)! We'd all love to hear!
~~Colleen (aka SnakeQueen)
