Category: Cute

I’ve been feeling bummed without any animals around to take care of other than the dog who isn’t a cuddler, so I started thinking obsessing about getting another hamster. There’s a huge Petland by the IKEA we like to visit which has all kinds of hamsters in open cages which means they are handled often and tend to be much tamer than the ones at Petco (where the notorious Oreo came from), so we made plans to go there this past Saturday with E. That morning he woke up with a tummy ache so we didn’t go. I didn’t feel too great on Sunday myself, but I wasn’t going to let that stop my mission, so we got to IKEA when they opened to partake in some seriously cheap breakfast, walked around the store to kill some time, and then arrived at the pet store just as they opened. This little guy was the first hamster we picked up.

He was so soft and cute – I knew I had to have him! Plus some little girl was eying him in my hand and I wasn’t about to lose him to a 9 year old.* He’s my first male hamster and even though his face looks a lot like Oreo’s he doesn’t suffer from her bitchy personality. Sticking with the food names I decided to name him Nougat because he’s a sweet teddy bear hamster, but his official name, since it’s hilarious, is Ted Nougat. For only $9.99 you could own your own hamster too. ;)

So far he’s loving the wheel in his 20 gallon aquarium. I don’t think he had one in his cage at the pet store so he’s making up for lost time by running in it constantly when he’s awake. Bella is fascinated by him and will lay and watch him when he’s in his play pen. It’s so cute! She’ll also follow him around in his hamster ball but if he starts coming her way she’ll quickly move as if scared of him.

* The girl was really sweet, though; I helped her and her mother learn a bit about hamsters as they were going to buy two since they didn’t know they couldn’t be housed together, among other things.

Last Saturday we adopted two rats via Petfinder from a local couple who were moving to an apartment that doesn’t allow pets.

Shortly after bringing them home, we noticed the white and cream colored one had a weird held tilt and slept a lot more than the other. Wednesday we took both rats to the vet and she gave us antibiotics (as well as probiotics) to give the one rat. Since then he’s been more alert, although he scares me a bit with his unpredictable behavior and over-excitement where food is concerned. Hence he was dubbed Nutter Butter because there’s just something a bit off with him. We named the dark one Templeton after the rat in Charlotte’s Web since he’s the explorer.

I have to say, I’ve been doing research on different small animals (rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and rats) for awhile, including checking out books from the library, but it wasn’t until after we got these two that I found out male rats have a distinctive odor and it’s not all that pleasant. The first day we had them it made me lose my appetite. We went to Petsmart and picked up a better quality litter/bedding called Yesterday’s News which helped a lot, plus threw out an edible log that they had in their cage that was stinking to high heaven and replaced it with a piece of PVC pipe that we can easily clean, but we still have to change the cage every couple of days to avoid the stink.

The thing is, I’m not 100% sure they are going to stay with us since they are making me really itchy. The kids really liked them, but we told them we’re babysitting them for a friend of ours just in case we have to get rid of them. I’m committed to nursing Nutter Butter back to health before finding them a new home if that’s what it comes down to, however.

I don’t want people passing judgment on me thinking I’m not a responsible pet owner – I feel bad about the possibility of having to find them another home but it’s going to be at least another 10 days since the round of antibiotics Nutter Butter is on is a 14 day regimen. Perhaps by then I won’t be so itchy.

Ugh. Life would be so much easier if I could just get a cat. At least being itchy would be worth it, but for these guys, I’m not so sure. We’ll see what happens, though, as it’s only been a bit over a week and they are more entertaining than Oreo.

Here’s two videos I took of the little rascals today.

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Funny side note: Nutter Butter’s original name was Professor Dickweed (taken from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby) since that part always cracks us up, but we thought better of it since we couldn’t have the kids calling him that. That’s his nickname, however.