On Saturday 24th September I welcomed home a new female Syrian Hamster who I adopted from the Pets at Home Adoption Centre. Earlier that day I had arrived back from my holiday in Florida, USA and was trying to keep myself busy and to help reduce jet lag in the past I would do spot cleans of my hamsters cages and would spend time with them so I thought I would set up my cage in preparation to welcome home a new arrival home later that week – but there was one thing missing from the cage
. Therefore I went to some of my local pets at home looking for a female Syrian preferably one up for adoption – decided to try the store I bought Sherbet and Cookie from sadly no females and only males which I did consider but it didn’t feel right, so after contacting my local store who said they did have a female for adoption so after arriving at the store and looking in the adoption centre cages, no female Syrian and for sale where all males – so a member of staff said he would contact another store and check out the back. After a short while he returned saying the other store had females for sale but we do have a “bitey” female Syrian out the back – so I asked to see her, once he bought her cage out I saw this gorgeous face staring at me and knew instantly she had to come home with me. After talking to another staff member about her, she had considered adopting her herself, I found a bit more about her so she is around 2/3 months old and had only recently been returned and it looks like she was fed through the bars off the cage and she does bite if a finger touches the cage bars so they think she may have accidently bitten a child finger mistaking it for food which caused the child to lose interest. She didn’t show any signs of aggression or being scared just this confident, friendly and curious hamster who is absolutely gorgeous. When I adopted her she didn’t yet have a name - at the time I didn’t know what I wanted to call her so they called her Ginger for the adoption process but I have renamed her Pumpkin, which suits her colour and also as it autumn/nearly Halloween it seemed to be the perfect name for this sweet hamster.
After bringing Pumpkin home, she had so much fun exploring her new cage trying everything out; discovered her new wheel and been loving running in it and occasionally having a sleep in it, currently an 8” Trixie wheel but will be getting a 12” wheel soon as she looks like she will soon outgrow this wheel – looks like she going to be a big girl – I was going to use my bucket wheel but would prefer a wheel with a front panel so she won’t jump in and out whilst the wheel is spinning. Pumpkin has discovered so many new wood chews; some she has relocated to her nest where she chews on them and has been chewing on her whimzee alligator (she had one in her cage at p@h) and been chewing up a cardboard box – she definitely enjoying chewing. Pumpkin has definitely settled into her cage and been showing off her personality and she has mastered being cute and when she hears me coming in my bedroom she runs over to cage door and stares at me with her adorable face. Although she has one bad habit – bar chewing – although it not too bad only does it for a short amount of time but if she associates the bars with food and has been housed in a small wire cage with not much to do it is expected – but Pumpkin will soon learn bar chewing doesn’t get rewarded. I also bought some willow stick and have a huge stash of cardboard for her to chew instead of the bars – haven’t attached them to the bars yet as I don’t want to disturb her cage until I start with taming.
I have been doing the tissue trick with her, which seems to be working well she enjoys collecting all the shredded tissue and taking back to the nest – which is so cute to watch - she has made her own nest in the corner off her cage – the other day I left a few small pieces of treats in her cage with the tissue – when she found them she gobbled them up – I’m trying to get her to realise the she will find treats scattered around her cage and that they won’t be fed through the bars – as I have never fed any hamster through the bars as I don’t want they to associate that anything which touches the bars as food. I also have started talking to be quietly in which she runs over to the cage bars and sits there listening to me – she doesn’t show any signs of fear although when she hears a new sound she a little wary but is very inquisitive and once she realise its nothing she goes back to being her cute and confident self. I will be starting Pumpkin taming soon, but this will be done at her pace using the taming method I used for all my past Syrians – using the playpen which has worked well. Pumpkin is my 7th Hamster (5th Syrian Hamster), I am looking forward to spending time with her and getting to know her individual personality. Pumpkin is definitely happy in her new cage and has settled in really quickly – scent marking everything in her cage – so at least she approves of her new home. She has been keeping herself busy in her cage – she been digging in her Fitch – I think she has a tunnel between her cardboard box and the house (which she currently not sleeping in). Pumpkin never fails to put a smile on my face and it so funny to watch some of the cute things she does – she constantly up to something and has been waking up around 2pm so I can watch her in the afternoon.
Attached below are a few of photos I managed to get of Pumpkin these will be the only photos for a while until I start with taming. The first two photos show her adorable face – this show the reason why she just had to come home with me! I’m so glad I could offer Pumpkin her forever home, in which she is going to be well loved and spoilt with so many tasty treats, toys and chews – I’ve already been shopping for new toys for her and also brought back some from my holiday.
So here is Pumpkin my new troublemaker…