All About My Pumpkin

[dreamtree1234]

SKB, I am just catching up on your truly lovely thread. I absolutely adore gorgeous, endearing, photogenic Pumpkin. I love, love, LOVE her so much. She is so funny how she has a special place for absolutely everything. I totally love her magic tricks, too! She is so brilliant and tons of fun to hear about. Every time I see her lovely photo collages and hear about all of her wonderful adventures with you, I can't help laughing. She truly is an amazing hammy, and I love the special bond that the two of you share. I also love that she made sure that you were thoroughly cuddled for you very special birthday. What a sweetie she is! I am in total amazement of your incredible and enriching cage layouts, DIY projects, and truly one of a kind photos of your precious hammy. I am so inspired by all that you have shared with us on HC. You are truly talented, and Pumpkin is such a lucky, LUCKY hammy to have you as her mum. I can't wait to see you you do for her special one year birthday and adoption anniversary. I know that you will make it spectacular for her.

BTW, I truly adore seeing Pumpkin every single time I go to the Home Page of HC. She surely knows how to brighten everyone's day with her utter cuteness and charm. What a talented hammy she is - and so helpful, too! I also love the sentiment behind your choice of HOM theme. I know that Sherbert will be so pleased to know that you created it in her honor and memory. What a lovely tribute to your beloved hammy. Hugs to you, SKB!

[SKB_Hamsters]

Thank you cypher, Drago, AprilPearl, Thin Lizzy, BorisPasha and Dreamtree123. Pumpkin has been throughly enjoying her home-grown fruit and veg these last weeks.

Originally Posted by cypher

... you must have a very different climate in your part of the UK, mine will be lucky to have home grown blueberries by the end of July! ...

It could be due to the different climate as I am in the SE of England. Also my dad has 3 plants of different varieties in his allotment which fruit at different times - the one that's almost ready is an early fruiting blueberry.

Originally Posted by AprilPearl

... Not sure what to suggest about peeing in the house. Maybe you could try moving some of the soiled bedding to her sand bath? ...

I did try this last week when she started peeing in her house - when I returned her to the cage she peed in her sand bath but then stopped and went back to doing it in her house. Although today Pumpkin came out during the day and had a pee in her sand bath so I praised her and gave her a hazelnut as a reward. Hopefully she will continue to do this!


Dreamtree123, thank you again for you really lovely reply!

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Pumpkin Photos - Eating, Grooming and Mess Making

As promised in my last post here are a few photos I had planned to share.

This collage shows a series of photos I took of Pumpkin the other evening. Initially she sat enjoying a piece of her food before deciding to wash her feet. Then once she had cleaned up her paws she was sitting nicely next to her stackable bird chew - however my camera was a little slow at focusing, so when I was ready to take the photo she had moved and the rest of the photo was focused and she was blurred but I thought the photo still looks cute and shows of her inquisitive personality!

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These photos show the cooling tile which belonged to my guinea-pigs before they went to the bridge. I had been meaning to use it for my hamster for years but couldn't fit it in their cage - but I have enough room in Pumpkin cage. This evening I noticed that Pumpkin was lying on it keeping herself cool. Pumpkin hasn't been to bothered by this warm weather - she still sleeping in her house although she has not been blocking of the entrance.

Also tonight I manage to spy on Pumpkin asleep in her grass nest - normally I try to quietly go and spy on her but when I get near her cage she would wake up but tonight she stayed asleep - it was very sweet seeing how cosy and comfy she was!

Recently when I was out shopping I found a ceramic salt pot on clearance for 50% off - for £2.50 - I thought this was a good price and was just about big enough for Pumpkin to sit in and help to stay cool in the summer. I also bought matching set off small dishes ideal food bowl sizes which were also half price.
This week I decided to put the salt pot in her cage with some sand inside for her to use if she wanted to cool down. Although this morning I noticed that she had decided to kick sand out - which is a little surprising due to how tidy she normally is - obviously she knew this was a salt pot and not a sand pot (silly me!). I don't know how she manage to kick the sand out as she just has enough room to sit in it!

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[cypher]

Really sweet photos of Pumpkin
The salt pig was a great find, I'm sure she'll enjoy that.

[SKB_Hamsters]

Thank you cypher. I was very pleased when I found the salt pot reduced as I had seen it in the same store a while ago before it was reduced and was contiplating buying it - but I'm glad I waited.


Burrowing

I didn't plan to share more photo this soon as I only just posted photos last night but Pumpkin gave me a great photo opportunity this morning - typically when my SD card is full! But I couldn't pass this opportunity up to get photos of her so had to use my tablet instead whilst using the light in my phone to illuminate her enough to get a good photo.

This morning I awoke to Pumpkin making a lot of noise when she was chewing the willow sticks in the back corner of her cage - so I could hear these banging against the edge of the cage. So I went over to Pumpkin's cage and decided to watch her. As I was watching her she decided to go into her grass nest - I thought to have a nap or a groom - but instead she started digging down into the Fitch. Pumpkin dug down to the base of her cage and then burrowed/tunnelled her way along the front of the cage against the acrylic. At one moment I thought she was going to curl up and go to asleep however she burrowed her way from her grass nest to her house on the other side of the cage. Once she had reached her house I thought she would return to the surface but instead she tuned around and burrowed her way back to her grass nest when she returned to the surface. It was so fascinating watching how she was digging!

Here are the photos I had managed to get (I was taking photos when she reached her house and then turned around to go back to her grass nest)

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[cypher]

Great photos! I love to see them burrowing like that, Pumpkin really seems to be enjoying herself there
The one thing I don't like about barred cages is that I never get to see them like that, all the noises just leave me guessing

[AprilPearl]

Lovely grooming photos. I am impressed that everyone seems to be able to get clear photos of their hamsters grooming. Even when using the bust shot option, my grooming pictures always end up at least a bit blurry. Maybe I have always had speed grooming hamsters!

That salt pot looks brilliant. Wish I could find something similar for Quigley.

Pumpkin digging is very cute. Like Cypher, I am left guessing with Quigley, because he has a barred cage. I can just see the substrate moving on top and sometimes a little nose poking out.

[Coco61]

Some lovely photos of Pumpkin there. Great salt pig. I found something in a similar style when Mocho was young. He did the same thing with the sand. Loved it! Now I have removed it when it was clear my elderly boy no longer had the energy/inclination. Pumpkin should have a lot of fun with it.

[dreamtree1234]

SKB, Pumpkin's pics are SO great and I love your narrative, as well. The salt pot is so darling. I wish that I could find something like that here where I live, too. Isn't it funny how some hammy's have the uncanny talent to "read"? Eros seems to know what items are actually made for and often thinks I'm funny for having her make use of it in a different way. LOL, the sand outside of the pot is priceless. I love all of your grooming and burrowing pics, too. Luckily for me, Eros is in a bin cage so I can often see her burrowing if she does it in the front, but sadly the bin isn't as clear as the glass so her burrowing pics never turn out as well. You are so lucky that you captured Pumpkin's excavating through her tunnels. They are such lovely photos. I think that my favorite one though is Pumpkin looking so intensely on inquisitively at the colorful bird chew so I am glad that you included that one also in your collage. BTW, never, EVER be concerned about including too many pictures of your gorgeous Pumpkin. The more of her cuteness shared the better!

[Hamsterita]

Catching up with Pumpkin! Wow I really have missed a lot! I usually read all the posts when they're posted, but I can't see your pics without logging in, so it's like read a new post when I log in.

Pumpkin photos grooming are so beautiful! I don't know how you guys do it! I tried to take some good shots of Blacky grooming and they were all a blurry mess. But you really did great capturing Pumpkin cuteness.

I'm glad that you had a lovely birthday and a great day. You deserve it!! It's nice to hear that Pumpkin gave you extra cuddles!

She is being very spoiled with all those home grew fruits! I've never tried blackcurrant or loganberry

I love the granite tile. I wanted one, but I can't find an affordable one, so I suppose that I will have to make an order to rodipet or something like that.

She looks utterly cute digging. I'm glad you shared it. I think she is doing that trying to stay cold and that's why she is so close to the glass. She is adorable!

[Thin Lizzy]

The fourth pic in the first lot of pics is my favourite! Princess Pumpkin's expression is so adorable and it made me giggle.
I love the pot, its so cute and Pumpkin burrowing is so cute.