I had no plans to adopt a third hamster, and I planned on my next hamster (whenever I adopted one, likely in a year or so) to be a Robo, so I could gain experience with all the species, but then I got a call today. I live in a rural area and there are not a lot of small pets that come into the shelters, nor even the pet shops, so I was thrilled to find Beatrix when I did. I adopted my dog Jolene from a local rescue, and am friends with several people who work there. I told them to let me know if they ever get hamsters, because they have a really hard time placing small pets, even though they rarely get one. The last hamster they had up for adoption lived its entire life at the shelter.
So when my friend called me today saying that just last night two baby "short haired" hamsters had been dropped off, I decided I'd just go and take a look. She was told that they were dwarf hamsters because they were shorthaired, but I'm pretty sure she's a Syrian. She looks just like my childhood hamster, Algernon. Same exact coloring. There was a male and a female, 2-3 months old, they said, the product of an accidentally litter. Apparently a woman had adopted a hamster from a pet store and there were 11 babies, so she has distributed the weaned pups to rescues and pet stores all over the area so as not to overwhelm one place. She was in such a tiny cage, with the smallest flying saucer I've ever seen--maybe it was 4 inches--and nothing else. It's a good shelter, but they just weren't prepared to have her, though they did assure me they were going to get better arrangements for them tomorrow.
Anyway, my heart melted, and I decided I had to take her home. I have a place to put her, I have an entire room to keep my hamsters in, I already have food, and plenty of extras of everything, so better I adopt her than someone who doesn't know what they are doing. (Not that I'm an expert by any means, but I am an adult who cares enough to research and learn!) I chose the female, though both were sweet, since I already have a female at home. I didn't want any risk of babies, even though I obviously won't keep them together, I'd hate for an escape to happen and more unexpected pups in the world.
That has been a long preamble, but all that is to say, here is Anya!
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She is very tame already. My friend at the shelter says the woman who dropped them off was very responsible and tried to handle them and take good care of them. Anya climbed up my arm so fast and cuddled right into me! So different from Beatrix and Emoji! She's so small, and the name she was going by was Runt, so I'm assuming she earned the name by being the runt of the litter.
She is all set up in a temporary cage, an extra tank I had, and on Tuesday, a large cage I originally ordered for Emoji is arriving, so I'll move her into that. I think it's important for the Syrians to have the biggest cages first, because Emoji is really happy in his big bin cage, so I don't think he'll mind staying there a little longer.
She is so cute and now I'm even more motivated to get the "hamster room" all set up.
Is there anything I need to know about caring for a hamster her age? She's the youngest hamster I've ever had, and she does seem so small.