Lawrence's Thread

[SirLawrence]

I thought it was about time that I made Lawrence his own thread on here.

He is my first ever hamster and as someone in their late twenties who lives in an apartment in a city he has proved to be a great addition my and my partner’s life.

After doing some research and deciding on a Syrian hamster as the best choice for me, I popped into Pets at Home to see what options they had. When I talked to the assistant there he first suggested gerbils instead as hamsters ‘were not very interesting pets’. Thank god I ignored him! I had written a list of things I would need to get in preparation for bringing a hamster home and had even specific cage sized from here and the rspca. Of course I forgot my tape measure and on seeing the so-called ‘large’ wired cage, I thought it looked suitable at least for the time being. After finding another sales assistant who was more hamster positive, she said the wired cage would be suitable for a syrian’s entire life. She had three hamsters herself so I trusted her guidance. That afternoon I set up the cage and once my partner was home from work I gobbled down dinner and like an excited child hurried him out of the door so we could go and choose our new hamster.

York has two Pets at Homes so we ended up going to a different one to get our hamster. We walked up to the small animal area and crouched down to the syrians. There were only two; one brown and white fellow was curled up fast asleep and another ginger and white fellow looked up at us as if to say hello and then jumped on his wheel, running like mad and looking at us as if he was putting on a ‘pick me’ performance. I approached a sales assistant and met out Lawrence for the first time. After chatting to her and handing him I realised that he had one red eye and one black (actually a very deep red but it looks black). He was 11 weeks old, quite old for a Pets at Home hamster and she said some people were put off by his eyes. When asked if I wanted to see the other I immediately declined and knew I had found my boy.

And so began our first few days acclimatising him to his new surroundings. He made his little bed and hid but within two hours he was sitting at the edge of the cage peering out at us with perked up ears. Even after his first night he greeted me at the cage door when I went to feed him. I should have known at that point that he was not a quiet, shy or subdued soul!




And so began my role as slave to a 120g furry animal!

[SirLawrence]

For the life of me I can't figure out how to get the images to work!!!

Here he is on his first day with us!

He is now nearly 5 months old so I will have to add lots more photos and anecdotes on how he has been getting on!

SPOILER ALERT: he rules the roost!

[cypher]

Aww hello Lawrence

He looks lovely, congrats!

[Pebbles82]

Hello Lawrence! Look at that face You can see he rules the roost ha ha. Looking forward to hearing more about Lawrence.

[Thin Lizzy]

That is a face that melts your heart. I'm so pleased to meet you Sir Lawrence.

[Rads]

Yo Lawerence,
This is Pip just wanna say Hi and wave a paw
Pip

[badwolf]

Oh he's absolutely gorgeous <3 I would have taken him home as well. I don't understand how anyone can be put off by those eyes! When I was at the sspca getting mice the girl said nobody wanted the two pink-eyed white girls left as they looked "evil" apparently. Poor babies. They of course came home with me

You will want to upgrade the cage when he gets bigger. I have my four single male mice in one of them (each), but I'm getting an upgrade for Drake. He's significantly bigger than the rest and it's just way too small for him as he's so active.

I have a total mini zoo going on here. It can be tiring being a human slave to that many fuzzies, but it's incredibly rewarding Good luck with Lawrence!

[SirLawrence]

So I have finally gotten the images working so I can update you all on Lawrence!

As I mentioned when we first got Lawrence he lived in a Pets at Home large wired cage. From the beginning I knew that I wanted something larger as soon as possible. I ended up choosing the Alaska as I loved the idea of the large front door for interacting with Lawrence and moving things about. He has been in the Alaska for about a month now and I have been constantly updating and trying to find a set up that works for him.

[/IMG]

So this is the view from the front. As you can see Lawrence is in no way timid...
He is also a bar biter! Which is the reason for all the pegs. While it looks a little ridiculous, this has actually proved a very effective method. Last Wednesday I started putting a peg in the way every time he nibbled at the bar. He was obviously frustrated by this and I quickly ran out of pegs as he moved along the front door. However, after a day or two of adjusting and moving one or two as he tried his luck, he has pretty much stopped! Im planning on removing the 'peg wall' slowly over time but it seems to have really quelled the compulsion to chew!

This being said, while I was trying to get a photo in not great light, he got a little frustrated about being ignored and had a nibble to get my attention. I popped a beg in front of him and walked away so I'm hoping, while it may take a while this will improve the situation.

[IMG][/IMG]

So here is the left side of his cage. As some of you may have seen, Lawrence was not a fan of his 12inch silent spinner, preferring to run on his 20cm Trixie wheel instead. Following your helpful suggestions I upgraded to the 11inch Trixie and its been a success. I hadn't thought that it might be the enclosed style which he liked so thank you all (and especially Serendipity) for your detailed wheel suggestions.


[IMG][/IMG]

On the right side of the cage I have built a platform from a shelf I got in Homebase and some dowel rods. This is quite new and seems to be the preferred 'I just ran about a lot and now I need to lie down but I still want to be able to stare at you while you sit on the couch' position! He is also working through a whimzee which Im leaving in all the time as a distraction from the bars.

But where has the man himself disappeared to while I am taking the photos you may ask...?

[IMG][/IMG]

'I wasn't escaping through the open door honestly, I was just getting out of the way of your photos!'

[pinkneon]

Oh my goodness! How utterly adorable!! I used to have a ham that color!

[cypher]

lol! He looks so cheeky there!
The alaska set up looks nice too.