[Tazius]

Hello!

We got our hamster, Faolan (3 months old), on Monday. We went back to Pets at Home after having a look at their selection of young Syrians at the weekend and ordering a (terrible) cage. However, when we went back they didn't have any of the hamsters left that we had originally seen. When the shop assistant brought the other cage out we had a selection of a few little hamsters, Faolan was the only black one and they were all friendly and confident.Because he was so little and black we decided that we had to have him! We took him home in his little travel case and popped him in.

Originally, we had decided on the name Ruari but after getting him the name didn't fit at all. We had a long look at lots of different names but eventually decided on Faolan Asra, which means "little wolf travels by night" and he certainly does lots of travelling by night.

The first cage we got was entirely inappropriate (which we realised after watching some youtube videos!). It was a small, modular cage which we bought because we thought the add-on's would make it more interesting for him. It had an external wheel which was horrifically noisy and Faolan decided that he wanted to keep storing food in it so it would rattle around all night (causing us many sleepless nights). After doing much more research, we decided to build a more appropriate bin cage for him. It's still a work in progress, but we have lots of ideas for improving it in the near future, and Faolan is much happier in his new home. Since doing more research, we've discovered a whole new world of DIY hamster products and super excited about making tonnes of toys and treats for Faolan.

We are really amazed by how quickly Faolan seems to have settled in, and at how confident he is! He has been entirely unfazed by all the moving around we have had to do these last few days, although we have tried to keep our distance as much as possible to cause as little stress as we can! He quite happily listens to us when we talk quietly to him, comes over to investigate whenever we have to move something around in the cage (he kept knocking the water bottle over for a while and disturbing everything with his enthusiastic digging), and likes to sit at the front of the cage to watch us in our room (he seems as curious about us as we are about him).

We look forward to posting many more updates as we start the taming process in a few days. For now here are the few pictures we have managed to take of him and his cage.