Thread: Meet Pearl
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Old 05-05-2022, 06:27 PM  
ilguy
Hamster Pup
 
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: IL
Posts: 230
Default Meet Pearl

Hey guys, I'd like to formally introduce you to my little ball of fluff Pearl. She's a female Winter White hybrid. Thanks to your tips in other threads, we've had a pretty successful start together!



After failing to find a dwarf hamster breeder in the area, I came across Pearl in my local PetSmart. She was "on sale", and I learned it was due to her being in the store's display for two entire weeks. She was pretty curious about me at the store, came up to me cautiously, and seemed interested. I took the plunge, and picked her up.

Everyone that passed on her for other hamsters missed out on a one in a million sweetie. She got used to my presence and hands pretty quickly, but attacked my thumb twice the first week. While it did draw blood, with the tips from helpful people on here our next interaction was great. She never bit me again!

She's fallen into a good routine, and we've learned a bit about each other in the two weeks I've now had with her. I mistook her initial interest in me for wanting to explore, and found she actually was just trying to get my attention (and hand in her bin, with treats).

Without fail, she is always up like clockwork at 3 pm my time for a snack. She will wait for me to come over and lower my hand in with the goods, it's her preferred human time She's also started a new thing the past few days where she gets up earlier each day to say good morning to me. Now I always see her pawing at the bin and searching for me once she hears me get up.

Outside of that time, she prefers to sleep and loves getting her wheel time in overnight. It will be interesting to see how we grow together. She's totally comfortable in my hands when stationary, and keeps hanging out longer each time. Today she got pretty vocal, and was telling me some great stories in little clucks and happy bruxes.

Petting and free-roaming time are currently no-go's, I've slowed down to her pace and she seems to be one happy ham. A lot of the content I have of her is in the corner she looks to interact with me in. It's where I started taming her, and she's also come to see it as a play/treat zone. She's moved toys into that area a few times, and also created a new tunnel for easier hand access.

I can't express enough the joy she's brought into this home! Here's a collection of videos and pictures of our time so far.

The last bite, and incorrectly blowing on her:
Ouch!

Our first day without bites, and curiosity galore:
Coffee Break
Coffee Break 2

Sometimes us humans are too clumsy and noisy, spooked ham:
Hey, keep it down!

Attempt at free-roaming, hamster taxi worked but she didn't care for it:
I think I'll just hide
Beam me up Scotty!

Forgiveness for the scary outing:
All better!

An actual midnight snack:
Sometimes, this is okay too

Her favorite ritual, albeit a little peeved in this one. I was studying and a whole 20 minutes late for her snack time:
Oh boy, 3 am!

We made up, and she chilled for 10 minutes and talked up a storm:
Story time

Submarine S.S. Pearl:
This works too!

Last edited by ilguy; 05-05-2022 at 06:30 PM. Reason: Epic fail with formatting
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