[Little One]

Hello! I am new to hamsters, though I've owned two little mice in the past and am therefore not all that new to rodents in general. I also have a five year old house rabbit who is disgustingly spoiled and well cared for even though she's my first rabbit (the vet told me she never would have guessed she was five!).

Without going into the whole long "I caved when I saw her and bought a hamster from Petco and then had a horrible experience" story, suffice it to say that after having to bring her back after a few days of owning her with early signs of wet tail (good thing I am neurotic, bad thing I brought her back to Petco because they didn't seem to care much) I did finally get her back having been treated and having survived miraculously. I actually was very angry at first because I thought they gave me a different hamster, but they might not have been lying -- she was a darker color (she was initially quite blonde) than when I brought her in and the skin on her ears wasn't that tinge of gray it had been and her eyes even looked like they had a slight red tint -- though she did behave as if she recognized her cage and even me and was now completely fine with being picked up. It's been about a week and a half and she's becoming blonder, her ears have a tiny tinge of gray again and her eyes look blacker and less glassy, so I actually do think she is the same hamster. Unless it's impossible for such changes when they are young and sick?

My husband (who thought I was crazy when I noticed she was sick and then when I brought her home feeling like she wasn't the same hamster) is convinced she's the same and now I am, too, but!! She's awfully sleepy... I know that she is awake a bit (because I've woken at least once a day once it's past 8 p.m.) and I see that she does move all the food and bedding around, but I hardly catch her awake - and we have both been up at 4 or 5 in the morning and we have each only caught her awake (not on her wheel or anything) once unless she's been woken and let out onto my desk. She likes her tummy to be rubbed when she's curled up and we poke a finger in and will hug your finger. But why is she sleeping so much?? Shouldn't hamsters be awake more and for longer than a few minutes here and there? I know they can wake up sometimes during the day to munch and maybe drink but I never see her particularly active. She does make herself a fort and move bedding around, but once she's decided on a spot, that's the spot and she only redoes things a bit to fall back to sleep. Is this all just because she's survived the wet tail? She is really sweet and doesn't mind being held or petted (though if she's on my desk checking out the little puzzle gym thing I got her she can't be bothered!). She's going to the bathroom, not in her little litterbox yet but I'm not expecting her to be fast at it (my bunny was super fast, I doubt my karma is THAT great!), and I do catch her drinking (and then right back to sleeping).

I can find lots of information about how wet tail kills and all the signs and symptoms, but I can't find much of anything relevant to how a hamster should behave after wet tail and what kind of care she will require. In lieu of finding helpful info in the past few days, I've taken to waking her at least once a day and having her out on my desk and interacting with her for at least 40 minutes to an hour and I found some vitamin drops to put in her water. I've also found a decent looking "lab block" to mix with the Hazel Hamster I have been feeding her because the store told me they were just feeding her lab blocks (which is funny because when I first got her they seemed to have a few seeds in her bowl and never bothered to tell me what they fed their hamsters). I bought that Mazuri brand and she was elated to take that food from me. She ignores the black block type parts of the Hazel Hamster and will eat and stash everything else. I hear hammies are picky so I'm not sure of my strategy yet for that. My first priority is just seeing if anyone knows what I should/could be doing to make her a happy and healthy hamster.

Also, on a lighter note, I had originally planned on naming her Yazhi (which I found online - a Navajo female name meaning "Little One" which had seemed fitting) but since I've gotten her back I didn't feel like that fit. My husband says he's going to just call her whatever and is the worst for input (he has named a cat "Kitty") but I kind of like the name Sunshine. Anybody have any ideas for this little sweetie? ^_^ (I think I've attached two pictures?)

Thanks a ton!!!