30 Days of June

[Miss kiwi]

Starting this thread a little late as the original person did not start a thread. So its now 24 days of June lol! Anyways, I'll just introduce my self and my girls a little bit as this will be my first post. I used to previously own 2 Syrian hamsters about 5 ish years ago. I was unknowledgeable and ignorant as to what these guys actually needed. In April I bought my first hamster in 5 years. I went into the petstore with a no its not happening attitude as I was taking my sister to get hers... Well lets just say that I didn't leave alone because a little female Russian Dwarf hamster stole my heart. I brought Kiwi home April 4th and I love her to bits. She is an absolute character and is a very loving and forgiving little hamster with my rooky mistakes. Then about a month and a half later I decided that I needed - yes needed - another little Russian Dwarf hamster. So May 22nd I brought my little Apple home. My plan was to get another female but I was told Apple was a male, I fell in love and brought Apple home anyways... Well turns out "he" was a "she"! So my gut that Apple was the perfect fit was actually right! Apple is still warming up to me but compared to not even being able to touch her at the store because she was so skittish to now being able to hold her and pet her she has come a long way! Anyways, that's enough of my babbling on! Here are pictures of my girls!

Kiwi -

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Apple - Sorry for the blurriness, she just doesn't sit still!

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[souffle]

aww thanks for stepping in and sharing your lovely furbabies with us :)
Great start and looking forward to the rest of June :)

[cypher]

Kiwi & Apple are both really cute! :)
Great start to the month :)

[Miss kiwi]

No problem I am glad to help! I hope everyone enjoys seeing my girls!

[Scarlett Empress]

Sweet little girls and their names are very cute too - looking forward to hearing lots more about them!

[Pebbles82]

Lovely girls - and nice photos too. Looking forward to your month. I'm sure things will just happen as you go along!

[DrKMcK]

Pretty, pretty Dwarfies! I love your little ones. Sweet faces and lovely little round fluffs. Nice start for June! :-D

[Vectis Hamstery]

Lovely. I look forward to learning more about your little ones :)

[Coco61]

Well done for stepping in for June. Lovely little girls. Look forward to the rest of the month.

[kyrilliondaemon]

Your girls look lovely, I look forward to seeing a lot more of them this month :)

[Dusty]

So cute! I especially love the second picture of kiwi :D

[Miss kiwi]

So I've been gone all day going out and about and I just got home and Apple and Kiwi came out to give me some snuggles. Apple is pretty much tame now, just hops right onto my hand when I put it in her cage and Kiwi is as lazy as ever. I swear she never leaves her nest until I go to bed and cannot disturb her. I even offered her a sunflower seed to try to get her out, she took it, went back into her nest, and ate the seed then went back to sleep. I think I'm going to wake her up after I write this post and put her in the playpen to force her to exercise haha!

Anyways here a few pictures from today :)

Sleepy potato as always...

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Little Apple exploring the outdoors that she has yet to experience

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[cypher]

The sleepy potato is just sooooo cute lol! So too is little Apple gazing out at the great big outdoors, lovely photos :)

[DrKMcK]

Ahhhhh! Love it! They are both so cute, but the looking out the window is stunning! Great shot! :-D

[Miss kiwi]

Today was an awesome day for the hams! Kiwi was in a great mood for the first time in forever she wanted to play and not sleep lol! I had her out playing in her playpen for over an hour and she was loving it, eventually I looked over though and she had fallen asleep.. as per usual lol. I have such a lazy little one! She loves it so much though when she's laying there sleeping and I sit there petting her softly she doesn't move an inch and she is so relaxed! Apple was just as wild as ever today, she loves running around and exploring new areas. I think she is pretty much tame for the most part now. She is still a bit wary on being forced out of her cage though, as long as it is her idea to come out she loves being held. She will just sit in my hand and not move unless I relax my arm and she will crawl all over me.

Today I figured that I would show you guys their cages and their set ups. They are both goofs though and don't sleep in their huts, they would rather make a nest for themselves. Kiwi has made a nest in the corner of her cage underneath her wheel. Even after multiple attempts of flattening her nest because it's quite noisy at night she just goes right back and remakes it so I let her have it and just moved the wheel over an inch. Then there's Apple. She's a very active hamster so recently I bought her a little climby puzzle thing figuring that she would love climbing on it... What do you think she did? Went and made a giant nest underneath it and doesn't climb it! Kiwi's cage is the blue theme set up and Apple's cage is the pink/red theme set up!

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Here's a few photos of the girls today as well :)

Here's Kiwi

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And here's Apple!

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[kyrilliondaemon]

That latest photo of Kiwi is fantastic! They're both clearly very lucky hamsters :)

[Miss kiwi]

Thank you! I love that picture too! She has her cute little tongue sticking out lol!

[Miss kiwi]

I feel like no one is enjoying these posts :( barley anyone comments on it, I figured more would!

I'll keep this post short though. I didn't get the chance to play too much with my girls today because I was at school and work all day (it's currently 11:50pm here). Apple is currently up and running in here wheel and Kiwi is still asleep which is somewhat unusual. Apple climbed right up onto my hand herself for the first time ever today. Usually I scoop her up but today she climbed on all by herself. But here are some pictures of them :)

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[cypher]

Awww super sweet shots! I love little hams in their food bowls :)
Great progress with Apple too, it's always so rewarding when they climb into your hand for the first time :)

[Vectis Hamstery]

I like the pic of Kiwi sitting pretty to eat her dinner! They both sound like real characters, but Kiwi is very like most of mine - they do love to nest in the most inconvenient place ;) I suppose under the wheel is better than under her water bottle.
Don't worry about the lack of replies. It often takes a little while for a photo month thread to gain momentum.

[Denisekay]

I've been silently watching this thread and last months too. I don't talk much. :p

[DrKMcK]

I have been keeping either gerbils or hamsters for over 50 years and I have yet to get a picture with a tongue out! That is just adorable. The setups look great. What camera are you using? Those are beautiful, clear, sharp photos. :-)

[Scarlett Empress]

Your little girls are so cute and their cage set ups look so pretty! I think my favourite picture so far has to be Apple gazing out of the window!

I'm really enjoying the pics and sorry not to have commented more - not getting much time on line lately!

[Miss kiwi]

I couldn't believe that she actually hopped on my hand and wanted out! Kiwi is very reclusive but doesn't mine coming out to play that odd time. She would much rather just run about herself. I think that picture of Kiwi is one of my favourite shots! That is true that sleeping under her wheel is better than under her water bottle... unlit she digs so much that when she runs on her "silent spinner" it's no longer silent any more and is tapping on the glass waking you up :( she has changed her nest back to her igloo thankfully! I was surprised when I got her tongue in the picture because they are so fast when they drink haha! My camera is just a little Sony Cyber Shot camera, nothing fancy. In the future I'm thinking about getting a Canon Rebel t3i. But it's not Kiwi gazing out the window it's Apple! :) Thanks for all of the replys everyone!

[Denisekay]

Apple looking out the window is just plain adorable! :)

[Miss kiwi]

So I don't have too much of an update on my girls today, I would just be saying the same thing as I did yesterday. I have been working like crazy this week so it has been really hard to spend the time that I normally do with my girls! Its currently 11:50 pm here and I've only just got home from work and can write this now. Only one more day of work this week for me and I can play with my girls a whole bunch again so there will be more updates! I'm very pleasantly surprised with Apple's taming, she will gladly hop on my hand now with no hesitation which is very new. I don't even think she needs anymore taming sessions, she's now a fully tamed ham! But because I don't have much to say I'll just show pictures instead!

So my cat (Oliver) knows that I don't realy like when he sits on the cage to watch Kiwi... I left my room for a second, when I came back in he was showing off that he was being a bad boy. Kiwi wasn't running about though so I let him have his way and lay there

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This picture was taken right before he jumped up... Sleepy cozy Kiwi

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Apple is soo little compared to Kiwi still :mad:

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Just took this photo now! I think Apple is a secret meerkat!!

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[cypher]

They are both such sweet hams, Apple does look really tiny too, I'm sure she'll soon be catching up with Kiwi though!
Can you keep Oliver out of the room where your hams are? I really wouldn't let him near the cages, even for a second if you can avoid it, he may not be able to get at the hams but it is still very stressful for them to have a big predator that close.

[Shannonmcn]

That's a cheeky cat! I know he's being very naughty but omg I want to just bury my face in the floof!

That picture of cosy kiwi is so cosy looking I actually feel like I need to yawn lol

[DrKMcK]

Kitty needs to find another place. As he's lying there Kiwi is getting tons of scent of this predator. Oliver's hair is likely drifting down into Kiwi's cage. Also, If he should roll over in a stretch and fall off the cage, he could very well try to grab the top of the cage lid to stop falling and wind up pulling the lid off the tank. One of my cats did that once. Scared me to pieces! I would put lid locks on the cover.

Oliver is a gorgeous cat with that beautiful coat! Kiwi and Apple are just so adorable. :-D

[Snowz]

Adorable pictures! :)

[Miss kiwi]

Thanks guys, Oliver isn't normally in my room. When he is it is supervised and he is usually on my window edge not on the cage. All I did was leave the door open for a few minutes and came back and he was up there. I took him down after taking the photo though because I couldn't resist haha! The lids are pretty solid though, he cant fall through them and they don't move about when that are on top of the cage. He is a very sweet cat but he can be very aggressive too... I guess you just have to get hi on a good day lol! He does enjoy cuddles from time to time though. But like I said he is not normally up on the lid :)

[Miss kiwi]

Better late than never right? Anyways today was my last day of working for the week so I can finally settle down and spend some well needed time with my girls tomorrow. When I got home they were both waiting up for me it was the sweetest thing! I will hopefully have a lot more to post tomorrow because I'll definitely be spending lots of time with them!

Here are a picture of the girls that I took when I got home :)

Kiwi of course fell asleep before the picture haha!

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And Apple decided she was going to try to hide from the camera

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[Denisekay]

Wow, I never realized just how tiny Apple is! :p Or at least she looks it in the photo. :)

[Miss kiwi]

Oh she really is that tiny! I'll try to get a size comparison tomorrow from Apple to Kiwi

[Shannonmcn]

Sleepy kiwi! :3 I like her style.

[cypher]

Sleepy kiwi! :3 I like her style.

Exactly that lol! :)
Apple playing hard to get is cute too :)

[souffle]

they get cuter everyday :) Will be nice to spend some time with them and get lots more pics over the weekend :)

[Coco61]

Lovely photos you post each day Miss Kiwi. Thank for taking so much trouble. This thread is well worth the daily visit. Enjoy the weekend with your girls.

[DrKMcK]

Apple may be small, but she sure looks perky. :-D Look at those bright little eyes. Kiwi gets first prize for the best hammy couch potato! :-D

[Snowz]

So cute!! lovely pictures.

[Miss kiwi]

I think that 80% of my pictures of Kiwi are of her sleeping lol! I can never get a good shot of Apple because she is always moving! They are the total opposite when it comes to personality. Neither of them have a mean spirit in their body. But Kiwi is a couch potato and Apple is a hyperactive ham. Kiwi was actually sleep eating in that last photo haha!

[Scarlett Empress]

It must be a lot of fun that they both have such different personalities!

[Miss kiwi]

So here they are as promised! Today I got to play with Kiwi and Apple for a good amount of time and got to take some nice comparison shots! Apple is slowly catching up to Kiwi size wise now. When I got Apple she was literally 2 times smaller than she is now!

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Looking at them now they look almost the same size... But I kid you not Apple and Kiwi are not the same size yet! Maybe I'll try again tomorrow with different angles. Also sorry the photo of Kiwi is a bit blurry.. she wasn't as cooperative as Apple was haha!

[Shannonmcn]

That's a nice idea for a photo comparison, both girls looking gorgeous! Lovely fuzzy little ham spheres :3

[Pebbles82]

Lovely photos and hammies and hey they both go to the same hairdresser! Sorry! On the first pic for a moment I thought the straw house looked like an elaborate hammy hairdo! :D

They are both a lovely colour and very sweet and cuddly looking :)

[DrKMcK]

Miss kiwi...stop apologizing. They are both smooshable lovely.Those are great comparison shots and I just adore their coloring. :-D They make me happy just looking at them. :-D

[cypher]

Awww such cute little balls of fluff lol! They both look gorgeous in those shots & they do look a similar size now, I can never believe quite how quickly they grow!

[Snowz]

So adorable! where did you get that blue hide-away?

[Vectis Hamstery]

They just get cuter :) Hams are such tricky beasties to get good photos of. Black hams and white ones are just the worst to get in focus I find.

[Pebbles82]

I think those shots are good - you can see them clearly and it's a nice natural opose all curled up like that. Sometimes I just take lots - and lots are blurry lol but I also quite like some of the blurry ones as they can have a bit of character to them or look interesting or creative. Once I just put the camera on the level that Charlie was at and kept pressing the button - so he wasn't so aware of the camera and I had ham-level shots - some came out quite well!

[Miss kiwi]

Ahh sorry guys! I just realized that I was never on here yesterday so I didn't post! Apple is still a tiny bit smaller than Kiwi but not by much anymore! Snowz I got the blue hidy house from my local Petsmart they sell a green one as well. I was so busy yesterday that I never had time to update anyone. Well today I went to Petsmart to get a few things, got an attachment for their playpen, papaya treats, mealworms, and 2 new huts! So far Apple seems to have no interest in the mealworms but Kiwi loved them. Apple is currently playing in the playpen with the new attachments that I got which consist of tubed, a look out, a wheel, and a toilet :) I got the bigger huts as Kiwi went and made another nest behind her wheel and its just so noisy at night so I'm hoping that she will like the bigger hut and stay sleeping in it. I'll post a picture of what I got :)

*pictures yet to come, they are on my phone and I am on my laptop*

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Apple eating some Papaya

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[Miss kiwi]

I spot cleaned both Apple and Kiwi's cage today to get them on the same schedule. I don't think I ever realized how much of a blessing the potty's were until I went to clean Kiwi's cage and realized that she was not using hers... Apple's cage was almost spotless other then poop piles in her hut at the corner... Then there was Kiwi's cage... Poop everywhere and she will not stop peeing on her wheel ](*,) I clean it almost everyday because it just smells so bad! Oh well hopefully she will start using it again. They both love the mealworms that I bought. I don't think they last 1 second in their bowls. Apple truly enjoys her time in the playpen running around like a nut. Kiwi on the other hand would rather find a night place to curl up and sleep. The personality differences are almost the complete opposite its hilarious! I didn't manage to get any pictures of Apple today because she was running around so fast but here are pictures of sleepy Kiwi!

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[cypher]

Aww sleepy Kiwi is just so cute, totally chilled ball of fluff lol!
One of mine pees in her wheel all the time so I sympathise, it is a bit of a pain but they are what they are & you have to just love them regardless! Luckily mine doesn't seem to smell, try not to over clean her wheel though, just a wipe down with a damp paper towel daily should be enough, the more you clean the more they pee generally!

[Pebbles82]

Lovely photos! They look like adorable little furballs!

I was going to say the same as Cypher! About leaving the cleaning as long as you can - otherwise they just keep re-marking their territory and peeing everywhere again! Not sure if you have deep substrate in but if you have you can just pick out the odd handful or the top layer and leave some of the lower layer behind so it smells familiar and just add a couple more handfuls and mix them in.

I would try spot cleaning every few days instead of a full clean, even if it's a wee bit stinky and see if she starts peeing less.

[Leila0420]

Hi Miss Kiwi (and Apple and Kiwi), I've just caught up with this thread and it's lovely :) All the sleepy photos of Kiwi!! My favourite so far is the picture of Apple gazing out of the window (I also like the one of her hiding from the camera, she looks so tiny, bright and energetic :D ) I look forward to seeing more of your girls!

[Miss kiwi]

I did do just a spot clean yesterday which was well needed. I never realized how much they poop lol. Literally had hoards of poop in the corners of where they slept under the aspen. I was shocked honestly and felt a little bad for letting it get that bad... But now I know to check haha. I clean the wheel then put the dirty bits in her litter but I think Kiwi is just going to be one of those hamsters that wil not use it. Unlike Apple who will get out of her hut to use it. I never wash Kiwi's wheel with soap, just hot water in hopes that her scent will stay enough for her not to use it but she does anyways. When I put the new aspen in I hand mixed it so that all of the clean bits weren't just on the top so maybe that will help. I think I've caught Kiwi sleeping in her potty more than I've seen her use it...

[Miss kiwi]

Sorry guys that I haven't posted lately! I had a whole bunch of tests and homework to do for school and it was best for me to not get distracted from it! I haven't gotten the chance to get any new photos either because I don't have the time to upload them to my computer. I've been so so busy lately ugh. The girls are doing great, I haven't gotten one single nip from Apple since the day that I brought her home so I think she has fully warmed up to me :) All I've been asking for lately is nice weather so I can take the girls outside but there hasn't been a nice day :( hopefully I'll be able to get the chance to get some new pictures to upload! Kiwi is becoming more and more reclusive and it's making me sad. I just want to play with her but she gets up soo late! Anyways I'll post some old photos of the girls tonight and hopefully I'll have some more new ones tomorrow!

Dedicated towards Kiwi today :)

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[Pebbles82]

That's a lovely photo! She looks so cuddly! Hope the tests went well. :)

[Miss kiwi]

Oopsies I didn't mean to upload the same one twice!!

[cypher]

So fluffy! And still sleepy lol! She is a real cutie that one :)

[Shannonmcn]

Sleepy kiwi, best kiwi! :3

[Miss kiwi]

I really need to get more pictures of Apple I feel bad but today she slept all day which is unusual for her. Then Kiwi was actually awake for once. I took Kiwi outside for a change and she loved basking in the sun :)

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[Pebbles82]

Ooh that's a lovely photo! Very detailed. And a nice background too! How did she like being outside?

[Miss kiwi]

Kiwi loved it. I let her crawl through a bit longer grass and she ended up falling asleep in it (typical Kiwi) Lol!

[Snowz]

Haha, lovely photo. I can't take my hamster outside because of my mums dog (also because the dogs pee on grass)

[Miss kiwi]

I finally got a new recent picture of Apple! She never sits in one place and is always moving so it's hard to get a non blurry picture of her haha! I was gone for a day and when I came back my sister said she was checking on the girls for me and Kiwi but her. Didn't draw blood but Kiwi isn't like that at all. She's got me once because u smelled like food. My sister didn't smell of food at all and didn't even scare Kiwi. Just put her hand in so Kiwi could crawl on it to be picked up and she randomly bit her. My sister has a hamster of her own so it's not like she didn't know what she was doing. I wonder what went through Kiwi's mind to bite :(

Here's that picture of Apple I finally got

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[cypher]

Sounds like Apple is a happy healthy little ham if she never sits still & poses for the camera lol! Well done getting at least one cute shot of the speedy girl :)
Has your sister handled Kiwi before? If not it could just have been an unfamiliar scent that caused her to bite, or if she just woke up maybe she was feeling a bit grumpy!

[Miss kiwi]

My sister handles Kiwi all of the time so I really don't know why she bit her. Maybe she was just waking up like you said

[cypher]

I guess we all get out of the wrong side of bed some days, even hamsters lol!

[Miss kiwi]

I'm just realizing now that I haven't posted in a week 😳 so sorry about that guys. I've been really busy with school and work lately that I haven't had the time to sit on hamster central. The girls are doing fine. Kiwi is a bit of a mess right now. But that's nothing that a nice sand bath can't fix I hope. Also, her nails are starting to get quite long so they are due for a trimming soon. Her nails grow like weeds and she doesn't wear them down for some reason. She has lots of things to scratch on but nope. Apple's little nails haven't grown an inch which I'm happy about because at leat I only have to really worry about on set of hamster nails. I think Kiwi has finally lost some weight. She looked like a potato when I first got her and now she looks like a normal sized dwarf! I haven't got a weighing scale but I think she appears to be the right weight after some research. I'm also planning on switching what seed mix she and Apple are on when the 2 bags that I've got going are done. I don't know if anyone can answer this but how much is too much corn/peas for dwarfs? I know that they are very sugary so I keep them to a minimum but would a piece of corn/pea a day be bad? The mix that I am looking into has a higher amount of protein in it and is over all more healthy then the mix that they are on now.

Here's some pictures to make up for my absence. I've just realized that I only have pictures of Kiwi on my new phone! Time for a nice little photo shoot with Apple!

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[cypher]

She's just so fluffy!
Love the sleepy one :)

[Pebbles82]

Ooh those are lovely photos! Especially the first one - she is looking up at you! Adorable little fur balls!

[Miss kiwi]

Went out and bought Kiwi a flying saucer in hopes that it will reduce the amount of times she pees while she is running. My room gets so smelly after even a day without washing her silent spinner so I'm hoping that the saucer will minimize or even cut out peeing on her wheel all together. Right now she has both in her cage so she can figure the saucer out but I will be taking the silent spinner out for a bit soon. I did a full clean of their cages today because I've only done spot cleaning for the past few weeks. Neither of them were stressed with having all new bedding and a rearrangement so I think they were great full for the clean cages lol. I also put sand in Kiwi's litter box instead of litter so she will start using it again. Then eventually fad out the sand and slowly add in litter.

Some Apple
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And a Kiwi

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[cypher]

Cute photos as always!
Good luck with the flying saucer, not sure she'll pee any less but it might be a bit easier to keep clean!

[Pebbles82]

Lovely! I like the one with her mouth open - it looks like she's talking to you!

If you can stand it, it might be an idea to try and not clean the Silent spinner so often as if you wipe it clean it might make her want to re-scent it and pee in it more. Might be worth a try? Say every 3 days just give it a wipe rather than a full wash.

[Coco61]

Thank you Miss Kiwi for all the cute photos this month. You stepped in at the last minute and did a great job even when you had a lot else going on. Apple and Kiwi are a cute couple of hammies and it's been great getting to know them both.

[Vectis Hamstery]

Thank you for a lovely month of sweet photos. It's been great to see more of Apple and Kiwi :)

[Miss kiwi]

Thanks everyone! :)

[Thin Lizzy]

What a beautiful month of June.
Apple and Kiwi are so adorable and so damn cute!

[DrKMcK]

I just came back and saw the rest of this thread. These two are just so, so cute. Good job stepping in at the last moment. :-)