Rufus, Nelly and newbies

**kyrilliondaemon** · 05-23-2015, 05:27 PM

Its been a while since I posted many ham pics and I thought I'd start to rectify that today

First up we have Rufus Barney Fruitbat Swiftwaffle!

Next is a quick pic of Nervy Nelly Nibble, no longer nervy or nibbly but still more than capable of living up to his "Nelliphant" nickname. He's getting older, getting balder, but still friendly, happy and absolutely adorable too

Now its time for the newbies... We've only had these two a few hours, they're what can safely be called "proof that I'm too soft" but that said, assuming you could provide a home for more hamsters... How many of you'd leave a ham with health problems to live out its life as "too old for anyone to want it" in a pet shop with no toys, bedding or anything better to do than circle her tank? And how many of you'd want to leave behind the other "too old for anyone to want it" ham with nothing to look forward to but another day scrabbling at the wall of her near-empty tank?
We wouldn't normally buy from a pet shop but we saw them yesterday, my OH left furious about the standards of animal care there in general (they've gone downhill a lot lately) and I left really worried about the one hamster. We returned today, found out they weren't planning to do anything with the girls but'd sell them if we wanted them despite their ages, got the two hamsters and now intend to avoid the shop completely in future.

With that said, please meet Calypso and Dove!
Calypso is about a year old, very jumpy when being picked up, but an absolutely lovely girl once she's on your hands. Unfortunately she has what we fear is neurological damage, but that may yet turn out to be an ear infection. When she moved to her new tank here she was unable to run in straight lines for long, had a head tilt when running and leaned to one side when standing on her back legs. She's started to run in straighter lines and seems to be circling less, so we're hoping these issues are down to sheer boredom at the pet shop. We plan to keep a close eye on her and see the vet if things don't clear up, just to be sure it isn't an ear infection. She also has the most prominent nipples we've ever seen in a hamster and as the shop does sometimes breed its own stock we suspect she's been bred from in the past, we just can't confirm if this is the case or not.
Dove is a little bit younger, she may be a little bit shy, she's fairly good about being picked up... And she has a tendancy to randomly jump like a flea when being handled, one second she's on your hand, the next she's landing 2ft away and you're left wondering if she's hiding springs in her fur or something. She seemed bored senseless in the shop and we didn't feel it was fair to leave her to a future of no toys, no wheel and nothing to do but scrabble at her tank.

This is Calypso

And this is Dove

Hekomi · 05-23-2015, 07:32 PM

Lovely to see some familiar faces and some new ones! Both girls are lovely and you two did a wonderful thing taking them home. X

Erin.R · 05-23-2015, 07:40 PM

Awe they are both so beautiful, I have a huge soft spot for the darker hams. I can see Calypso's head tilt in a couple of the pics. I hope it does turn out to be an inner ear problem but if not I am glad to see she will have a lovely home with you.
Your words are all to perfect for my situation. I really did not want another rob, I have 3, but there is one at a store near me that has had a male there for over six months. He only has a house and a wood chew and is in a container that is about as big as a shoe box but taller. He has cuts on his nose from climbing the water bottle holder as he has nothing else to do at night

So although I won't have tons of time to spend with him, he will have the biggest bin I can find him and plenty of toys!
Anyways I love stories like these, it really does show the kindness of true animal lovers

Nancy's Hamsters · 05-23-2015, 09:04 PM

What lovely Hamsters and so glad you could help them live out a much happier life then what they were headed to. Don't let Erin fool ya she is holding back sharing her beautiful rescue guy she collected a few Thursdays back who if left behind would have surely died being he is a WW Hybrid who the store dumped in with the Male Syrians which at that store are all ages and all housed together.
Imagine one Hybrid in a big cage but full of about 25 Syrian Hamsters

Piebald · 05-24-2015, 01:30 AM

Oh bless they are lovely. Poor head tilting girl I hope she gets better. xx

cypher · 05-24-2015, 01:39 AM

Rufus is too adorable for words lol! & Nelly is totally gorgeous too!
Congrats on the two new girls, it's wonderful that you've given them the lovely new forever home they so deserve.
I hope Calypso's head tilt does turn out to be nothing more than an ear infection, whatever her problems at least she'll be getting the bst of care now.
She & Dove are both lovely & I'm sure they're going to be really happy hams now!

racinghamster · 05-24-2015, 07:22 AM

kyrill you have liberated these girls from a life of solitary hell and we all know that they will both want for nothing now and be given the care and attention every hamster deserves. The poor lass with the tilt, well it could be infection or it could be behavioural because she was pacing or got OCD from nothing better to do, but hopefully she will straighten up given time. If not your vet can try appropriately targeted drugs for this type of thing.

Your wee robos are making me smile!

I miss my robo hams. x

Coco61 · 05-24-2015, 08:22 AM

Kyrill I am glad to be introduced to your long term residents. They are both so sweet.
As for Calypso and Dove they look lovely. Their care at the pet shop just makes any animal lover so cross. Now they have all the love and care they will ever need in your experienced hands. So glad you both agreed about it. My husband keeps a careful eye on me in p@h- just in case!

**kyrilliondaemon** · 05-24-2015, 08:59 AM

Thanks everyone, we hope whatever is causing Calypso's head tilt is easily resolved. She is definetly getting better about not circling as often when she doesn't mean to, we haven't seen her yet today but late last night she sat up a bit without leaning at all so we're hoping thats a good sign

You can definetly see the head tilt in photos, I was hoping to get a photo of her standing on her back legs but I was always just a second too slow with the camera. Tonight we'll spend more time with both the girls and start getting them more used to handling, they only had a minute while moving from carriers to cages yesterday as we didn't want to stress them out.

Wow Erin! Its a really, really good thing you got that hybrid out of there! I dread to think how that'd have gone for him if you didn't. I'm glad you're clearly thinking of getting that poor robo too, it sounds like he really needs a home that cares now

Coco61 - If you want a long term resident you should see Nut the chinese, he's been with us longer than any of our other pets at the moment (two and a half years so far). Unfortunately he's not speaking to humans at the moment so I'll only be getting new photos of him if I remember right after a health check. Hes normally a lovely lad but recent vet trips and treatments have stressed him out a bit and he's having a few days with less interaction while he remembers that we're not normally a bad thing.
Luckily our pets are all shared so we always agree in the end, we just took a while talking it over with Calypso and Dove so that we were both sure getting them would be a good idea for us, them and our other pets.

Scarlett Empress · 05-24-2015, 09:37 AM

That's such good news that Calypso seems a little better, I hope it does turn out to be something that can be helped, but whatever happens, she is in very good hands now! She's very pretty and Dove is just lovely too, they are lucky hammies! Love the pics of your other two and their names are so funny!