kyrilliondaemon
02-25-2014, 05:31 PM
Once again I'm a little late with memorials, but I'm sorry to say that we've said goodbye to both Whizz and Geiger.
Whizz
Whizz was one of the first hams we got, joint second with Skip. She was a very, very nervous roborovski. Believed to be six months old she'd been in the P@H adoption centre a while after her previous owner handed her in.
She was very, very nervous. For weeks we lay awake at night listening out for her - because there was no way on earth she was going to leave her nest when she knew we were awake and the lights were on. We were patient and eventually she started to leave her nest as long as we stayed right on the other side of the room and completely ignored her. Then in the end five months after we'd got her, we dropped a treat into the cage and she finally decided to let us watch her eat it.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/p180x540/320154_2567288631368_1267793820_n.jpg
Eventually she got used to us and decided that as long as we didn't interact with her she supposed she'd tolerate us... Then she got unhappy, she'd spend time every day just scrabbling at her cage and nothing we could do would make her happy. We tried a bigger cage, different layouts, everything we could think of. In the end we found what she wanted - Muffin. They didn't stay together for too long before they fell out (luckily for us as Muffin got a visit from the testicle fairy a few months later), but it changed Whizz forever. She still didn't want human company but she was a lot more confident and a much happier hamster after she met Muffin.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/p180x540/404221_3161108916504_2130504342_n.jpg
In the end she lived out her days alone in her Alexander, happy and content knowing we wouldn't interfere. If she was feeling brave she'd take a big treat from really, really outstretched fingers, but she didn't want to know us beyond that and we were happy to respect her wishes. She wasn't afraid to be near us and we had an agreement with her - if we really, really needed her out of the cage we'd offer her a jar and she'd walk into that for us. She had playtimes that way when she wanted them and she had healthchecks that way when she needed them.
Whizz was a nervous girl but a lovely one, she holds the record for most escapes (three in our care and possibly one in P@H when waiting for adoption) and what a ham to make those escapes... Talk about a difficult ham to recapture lol. Definetly a memorable lady, she stayed with us for over two and a half years and at our best guess was 37 months old when she passed.
RIP Whizz, thanks for everything you taught us
https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/p180x540/299508_2567288911375_749924122_n.jpg
Geiger
Geiger has a very different story, she was one of four pups born to Petree the foster ham - the pups known as the Peeplets because Daddys name (Peep) was permanent and Petree's might have been changing when she moved to her forever home (she has stayed Petree in the end).
We first saw Geiger at 10 days old, when she and her siblings finally left the nest. I got this photo a little later in her life.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/p180x540/429555_10200118799362594_1719153009_n.jpg
Raising the pups led to a few very stressful weeks to say the least, but those weeks were well worth it. This is the best pic I ever got of all four pups.
https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/p180x540/537541_10200134808722818_2005445349_n.jpg
At four weeks the pups were separated, the male went to live with Dad and Mum had a break until she went to her new home. We planned to rehome the girls too... But we were being really fussy with homes and in the end Geiger named herself - by showing us her perfect geiger counter impression. Her sister Boo named herself the same night, and the day after we decided to keep all three of them. We chose the name for the third girl, and the three stayed together. They had the odd squabble, but we learnt what they did and didn't like (four wheels was a big no-no for some reason) and they stayed together. They seemed to enjoy the company and were often found snuggling together or running or playing or climbing... They were busy girls.
They had a family tendancy towards diabetes and the three girls did develop a dietary deficiency which required them to be on a vitamin supplement for life, the surviving sisters are still on it, but despite that they were happy, healthy hams.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/s720x720/312343_10200348288819687_1596649170_n.jpg
Geiger loved to be out and about and she'd always click happily, sometimes it'd be the geiger counter impression, othertimes not, but whatever the exact click she was always reminding us she was happy to be out and about. Unfortunately she got sick very quickly and unexpectedly, we don't know what happened. One minute she was fine, the next she was very ill and shortly after that she'd passed.
RIP Geiger, your clicks will always be missed
https://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t31/p180x540/1486001_10202774069822696_25184939_o.jpg
Whizz
Whizz was one of the first hams we got, joint second with Skip. She was a very, very nervous roborovski. Believed to be six months old she'd been in the P@H adoption centre a while after her previous owner handed her in.
She was very, very nervous. For weeks we lay awake at night listening out for her - because there was no way on earth she was going to leave her nest when she knew we were awake and the lights were on. We were patient and eventually she started to leave her nest as long as we stayed right on the other side of the room and completely ignored her. Then in the end five months after we'd got her, we dropped a treat into the cage and she finally decided to let us watch her eat it.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/p180x540/320154_2567288631368_1267793820_n.jpg
Eventually she got used to us and decided that as long as we didn't interact with her she supposed she'd tolerate us... Then she got unhappy, she'd spend time every day just scrabbling at her cage and nothing we could do would make her happy. We tried a bigger cage, different layouts, everything we could think of. In the end we found what she wanted - Muffin. They didn't stay together for too long before they fell out (luckily for us as Muffin got a visit from the testicle fairy a few months later), but it changed Whizz forever. She still didn't want human company but she was a lot more confident and a much happier hamster after she met Muffin.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/p180x540/404221_3161108916504_2130504342_n.jpg
In the end she lived out her days alone in her Alexander, happy and content knowing we wouldn't interfere. If she was feeling brave she'd take a big treat from really, really outstretched fingers, but she didn't want to know us beyond that and we were happy to respect her wishes. She wasn't afraid to be near us and we had an agreement with her - if we really, really needed her out of the cage we'd offer her a jar and she'd walk into that for us. She had playtimes that way when she wanted them and she had healthchecks that way when she needed them.
Whizz was a nervous girl but a lovely one, she holds the record for most escapes (three in our care and possibly one in P@H when waiting for adoption) and what a ham to make those escapes... Talk about a difficult ham to recapture lol. Definetly a memorable lady, she stayed with us for over two and a half years and at our best guess was 37 months old when she passed.
RIP Whizz, thanks for everything you taught us
https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/p180x540/299508_2567288911375_749924122_n.jpg
Geiger
Geiger has a very different story, she was one of four pups born to Petree the foster ham - the pups known as the Peeplets because Daddys name (Peep) was permanent and Petree's might have been changing when she moved to her forever home (she has stayed Petree in the end).
We first saw Geiger at 10 days old, when she and her siblings finally left the nest. I got this photo a little later in her life.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/p180x540/429555_10200118799362594_1719153009_n.jpg
Raising the pups led to a few very stressful weeks to say the least, but those weeks were well worth it. This is the best pic I ever got of all four pups.
https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/t1/p180x540/537541_10200134808722818_2005445349_n.jpg
At four weeks the pups were separated, the male went to live with Dad and Mum had a break until she went to her new home. We planned to rehome the girls too... But we were being really fussy with homes and in the end Geiger named herself - by showing us her perfect geiger counter impression. Her sister Boo named herself the same night, and the day after we decided to keep all three of them. We chose the name for the third girl, and the three stayed together. They had the odd squabble, but we learnt what they did and didn't like (four wheels was a big no-no for some reason) and they stayed together. They seemed to enjoy the company and were often found snuggling together or running or playing or climbing... They were busy girls.
They had a family tendancy towards diabetes and the three girls did develop a dietary deficiency which required them to be on a vitamin supplement for life, the surviving sisters are still on it, but despite that they were happy, healthy hams.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/t1/s720x720/312343_10200348288819687_1596649170_n.jpg
Geiger loved to be out and about and she'd always click happily, sometimes it'd be the geiger counter impression, othertimes not, but whatever the exact click she was always reminding us she was happy to be out and about. Unfortunately she got sick very quickly and unexpectedly, we don't know what happened. One minute she was fine, the next she was very ill and shortly after that she'd passed.
RIP Geiger, your clicks will always be missed
https://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t31/p180x540/1486001_10202774069822696_25184939_o.jpg