Oh dear, the sixth memorial I have had to do this year, I was so hoping my little Rolo would hold on into the new year, but the pull of the bridge was too strong for my little old man, and he went to join his pompom hamily, health and vitality restored.
Two years, four months, and one day ago precisely, on the eighth of August 2011, I wandered into the hamster room at six in the evening to see how everyone was doing. I had paired Dasher my lovely husky boy with Daisy a beautiful pure Agouti from Wessex hams, about six week before hand. Dasher was from my second generation, and Daisy's pure Agouti line stretched all the way back to the first robos to come into the UK in the early 90's.
I knew Daisy was heavily pregnant, and had removed Dasher a couple of days before as she was getting a little tired of him. Although he was doing his absolute best to be an attentive dad to be, his attentions, the heat of high summer, and carrying a litter had seen Daisy chase him off a couple of times, and make it clear she would take things from there!
For the first time, and the only time so far, I saw a litter born. Daisy chose to give birth out in the open rather than in the nest she had prepared, so at a safe distance I sat in complete silence not even breathing in the same direction as her, and watched eight new little lives enter the world. Daisy was sat upright, she would contract, out would pop a tiny pink pup, she would sniff it, make sure it was ok, and gently move it to one side. She did this eight times, then when she was done, gently moved each one into the nest. It was the most amazing thing to witness, and I still feel so lucky to have done so.
Sadly one pup was lost on the first day, but the remaining seven stayed in the nest for nearly two weeks, with my anticipation at seeing them growing by the day. Even in the heat of August Daisy make such a huge nest they were completely covered no matter how far they wiggled!
Finally on day 13, out they came, including this gorgeous little guy
The litter were just beautiful, I'd watch them for hours, playing, giddying about, and snoozing away. Daisy was a very relaxed mum and happy for me to interact with them, she was attentive to them and always kept them well groomed, well fed, and in check. You can just about see all seven here with Daisy sat while they all snooze. They used to pile in this bowl which was one of their sand bowls, all squishing together
Rolo got his name as I knew I was only keeping one from the litter, to me the babies were like the most adorable little chocolate buttons, when I gave them millet they would all line up along it and look like a packet of Rolo's, my little guy was my last Rolo, and I didn't love anyone enough to give them my last Rolo.
At four weeks old it was time to leave mum and move in with dad Dasher for a while. There were four boys, and their cousin Billy who was just three weeks older, another six weeks later they were joined by Billy's younger brothers so for a while there was a colony of eight, you can see seven of them here, three Agouti, three husky, and a white.
One of the boys had always been very shy, he stuck to Dasher like glue, and it led to me getting one of my favorite pics as I managed to get Dasher, Billy, and Rolo in one shot. You have Dasher snoozing on the left, Rolo glued to his side as usual, and Billy launching himself across the top hehe.
I had already decided to keep Billy with Dasher, so when the time came, I decided to pair Rolo with Whizzbit who was his uncle, as you can see he was still quite small still when he went in with him at three months old
However that didn't last so long, as you can see by pancake day in February, at six months old Rolo was rather large!
He had also started to change colour, Rolo's colouring was a source of fascination to me through his whole life as he went from chocolate brown to looking like a red toned husky, I even made a thread about it!
The Evolution of Rolo ( a look at Agouti dilution)
Rolo adored Whizzbit, he was actually completely obsessed with him. Everywhere Whizzbit went Rolo was, his little shadow, then his huge shadow, grooming him, snuggling up to him, following him about. He'd sit patiently by the wheel while Whizzbit was wheeling waiting for him to stop so he could follow him about again. Uncle Whizzbit was the most laid back relaxed happy little hamster so it didn't bother him at all, I think he was probably the only one that could have coped with such all consuming affection! Rolo was however painfully shy with people, he often had to decide between his love for Whizzbit and his terror of me, Whizz was like all the other poms, bouncing up when I put my hand in the cage hopping on for cuddles, Rolo would go back and forth, not brave enough to approach me, but not wanting to be so far from Whizz, he ended up going in little anxious circles till Whizzbit hopped off again, and Rolo would subject him to a particularly drawn out groom!
They lived happily together till Rolo was just over a year old, Rolo had got braver and was just about able to come and take food from me, but he still mostly just enjoyed hanging out sharing things with Whizzbit
Inevitably Whizzbit was getting older, and started to have a few health issues, including a tumor which would eventually see the bridge call him on. Rolo had sensed there was something wrong, and he would constantly groom Whizz where the tumor was, the more time passed, the more relentless with his grooming he became. In the end it was making Whizzbit sore, and was stressful for him so reluctantly I removed Rolo and put him on his own.
I wasn't surprised that he took it very badly indeed, any confidence he had gained was gone, I would see him shoot off as soon as I approached, he would never come out for treats, he lost a huge amount of weight, and was sadly very unhappy for quite some time. Finally he settled a little better, still very shy, but able to take a treat, and be out and about while I talked to him.
So different from my normal confident poms, I adored this quiet little guy, and every step he took toward being more relaxed was so rewarding. A lot of the time our relationship looked a lot like this
but I felt he was happy, and therefore I was happy too.
In January this year, Billy and Tallulah produced a lovely litter of eight pups, two of the little boys fell out at seven weeks, so although he wasn't originally staying, Paddington became a permanent pompom. I decided to see whether Rolo would like a little friend, I carefully introduced them as Pads was on that cusp age for baby introductions, but Rolo was thrilled with his new little friend.
Paddington helped Rolo become even more confident, he was more relaxed than ever, and back to the heaviest he's been since leaving Whizz. Pads didn't stay small for long, he was soon second only to his dad Billy in size, and him and Rolo made a beautiful pairing.
Rolo Pompom
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