phew!

[herbi7]

I'm in the middle of a 10 day hol on a caravan park and came home at half time to check on willow. I was worried about leaving her behind as she needs her exploring so much but decided to keep her at home would probably turn out less stressful for her than taking her with me. I have a lovely neighbor who is feeding her each day and checking on her plus a friend of mine who is very experienced with hamsters came and played with her but I was still worried about her as she isn't the most laid back of hamsters and likes her routine. After a slow start... She has been under the wardrobe for an hour chewing the carpet... Not my fav thing she does but oh well she obviously needed to! she is now bombing around on her usual route, slightly more cautiously than usual but not nearly as subdued as I feared. Very relieved! It was really sweet seeing her creep out of her house when I arrived and watching her eyes brighten when she realised it was me. Phew I feel I can relax on the rest of the holiday now! The only sign I could see that she has been a bit bothered is she looks like she has overgroomed her face a bit and her scent glands but it doesn't look drastic

[bbbarker]

I'm going away in August for 2 weeks to Great Yarmouth and am having to leave both my hammys at home which I'm not looking forward to My nan is going to feed them everyday and my Aunty has agreed to come once or twice to play with them for a bit because she is experience with small Hamsters. I have noticed lately Tibbles (my hamster) is aging and depending on how she is closer to my holiday I may end up cancelling it. I'm spending everyday with her like its her last and because I don't know how old she is it makes it even harder to leave her. So I completely understand what your going through, have a lovely holiday and make sure you spoil willow rotten when you get home, I'm sure she misses you just as much as you miss her

[herbi7]

It's such a worry leaving them isn't it. I think they r better at dealing with it than we are! When I first got willow I thought of hamsters as animals that don't bond that much and wouldn't mind if u went on hol but now I know her I know its totally not true! Although I think all animals live in the moment more than we do and its more a case of 'can I do what i need to do NOW' rather than thinking back or ahead or anything. 2 weeks isn't ever so long for ur hams but it will seem like ages to u if ur worried about them! I think it would be great to have hamster-cam like on spring-watch so we could check on our hammies! I always find once I see my pets its ok and i don't worry any more. I always felt really bad leaving my cat too, he used to pine for me and try and move himself in with whoever was feeding him, as he was a people-oriented cat who needed a lot of fuss. animals cause a lot of happiness and just as much worry!

[velma]

Good to hear.

And I actually do have a webcam on one of mine.... my boyfriend set it up as an experiment but it's great to watch. It's also got a motion trigger so when she moves it emails me 5 pictures Mine are off to my brother's & my friend's while I'm away in a few weeks as I don't really have anyone to pop in everyday. Wonder if they'll let me set up my cam....

[Fluffagrams]

I've always been a little apprehensive about leaving mine and last year I sent my hamster-sitter a couple of texts asking how Meat and Stitch were because I was so worried about them. They were two and a half at the time but thankfully they were fine. They were totally un-phased by it all.

I'm going away next week and May will be going to my sister's for a week. She'll be keeping me updated with texts and photos of my girl so I know she's behaving herself.

[herbi7]

Velma that's so cool about the web cam! I would be torn if I was away wanting to see but not wanting to if she was frustrated and wanting to get out and I couldn't help her!
Fluffagrams I wonder if dwarfs are less needy than Syrians as my boys hardly notice if I am there or not! Perhaps it depends on the individual hamster too. Hmm, dare I set up a webcam for next time? !

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by herbi7

Fluffagrams I wonder if dwarfs are less needy than Syrians as my boys hardly notice if I am there or not! Perhaps it depends on the individual hamster too. Hmm, dare I set up a webcam for next time? !

I thought about doing that once because I wanted to see how my hamsters played when I wasn't there.

Meat and Stitch were Chinesey's and were pretty easy going. I'm going to be interested to find out how May (also a Chinese) behaves in my absence.

[CPalmer]

I have a tenvis web cam, it has a lovely app on that can pan and tilt the camera to see everything. I have it trained squarely on the side so I can see everything without moving it.

I'm off on hollybobs on Thursday. I too am worrying about Freya, she's not a young pup anymore and i've noticed her struggling to climb places where she had no problems before.

Thankfully our next door neighbour is an animal friend and comes in to feed freya and let her run about every day.

It's so difficult to leave fluffbutts

[herbi7]

Sorry for slow reply CPalmer! Back from hol now and been getting sorted and playing with Willow... she seems fine altho she is a bit more affectionate then usual (in her style, which is to launch herself up me as if she is training for the marines . Your webcam sounds so cool. Would a technophobe be able to work one??