Blacky's Thread - The Black Spanish Syrian Hamster

[Thin Lizzy]

Aww Blacky's one very lucky ham with those gifts and his own Christmas tree! Has he had his walnut in shell yet?
I've never celebrated 'The Wise Men' but reading your Fab thread has convinced me to celebrate it next year! xxx

[Hamsterita]

Thanks Boris, cypher and SKB I still haven't put the new items on his tank, because I want to improve the lid before (I don't want anymore escapes with the new platforms hehe), but he's enjoying his edible gifts

pinkneon we also celebrate the three wise men on January 6th, the three wise men leave the presents under the trees in the early hours of January 6th (or if you prefer the 5th at night), so when the children wake up the 6th in the morning they discover the gifts there, and then some families and friends gather together to have lunch or something to give to each other the gifts that the three wise men left on their houses for them. But before that, some cities organize a three wise men parade the 5th in the afternoon, so the children can see them before they hand out the gifts.

Lizzy Nop, I didn't give him the walnut, because he just have had a pecan nut a couple of weeks before, but I'll give one to him soon. Actually, I shoot a video of Blacky fighting against his pecan nut, it's very funny. If I have time I'll post it tomorrow with the new chapter of Blacky's adventures.

You definitely should celebrate the three wise men (or Los reyes magos), it's a good excuse to receive gifts twice hahaha and we also eat "roscón de reyes"

(the photo isn't mine, is from pequerecetas' blog)
Gifts and sweets. Could we ask for more??

[Coco61]

A lovely description of celebrating Twelfth Night Hamsterita and what a hugely tempting looking treat in that photos-for the humans this time!

[Thin Lizzy]

I actually found myself licking my lips looking at that pic lol!
You must post that video of Blacky!

[Hamsterita]

CHAPTER SEVEN - VET VISIT

On December 19th Blacky went to the vet. He was ok, but I couldn't control his nail growth. At some point his nails were so long that the hemp was getting stuck on his claws. The rocks on his tank helped a little bit, and solved that problem, but his nails were still curved and after a while I couldn't see any improvement, so I decided to go to the vet.

Where I live there are two exotic vets, the problem is that they're close from each other and far away from where I exactly live (half hour by car). Obviously I wanted to get him a good attention, but I was thinking that maybe an hour by car (because I had to go and come back) could be an stressful and affordable trip, because in the back street there is a regular vet, so I went there to ask if they use to work with rodents.

They seemed very professional and they told me that they weren't used to diagnose them diseases and that obviously didn't practice rodent surgery, but they treated regular complications. I asked what they considered regular complications and they said some things like nail trimming and teeth trimming. After looking at his Facebook page and find some costumers with rodents satisfied, I decided to give it a go and I made an appointment.

December 19th was one of the coldest days of this winter, anyway the temperatures were about 13 dregrees, so it wasn't a cold day either. I grabbed my bag of seeds and I heat it (It's like a water bag but made with seeds) and I put it on my hand bag, and then I put Blacky in his carrier with tons of his bedding and the carrier inside my hand bag. I though that he was going to be more nervous, because his last contact with the carrier was terrible, but I was being using it on his playtime as a hide out, and maybe it made it more confortable to him.

In 5 minutes on foot we were at the vet. The first thing that the vet said when she saw Blacky was how big he was... I started to panic. Big? Seriously? Have you ever seen a syrian before? Nop, she hadn't. Here russians are more popular. We made some small talk before we started to trim his nails and it was obvious that she hadn't any idea about hamster races, basic care, and so on, so I wanted to run away from there. I was surprised that she knew about the quick, and even she explained to me that we had to be very careful cutting his nails and not cut the quick. That give me a little bit of reassurance. We started our task and everything went nice. She even thought me how to scruff him and check his teeth. She told me that they were fine. She was very gentle, and Blacky was an example of good behaviour. He didn't bite. He didn't try to bite. Sometimes I wonder If he knows how to bite. He was nervous and it was difficult to hold him still, but little by little she cut all his nails, and she did all of them right, no bleedings whatsoever. I really like how she worked. My only concern is that she spent 45 min doing it. Is it normal or is it too long?? As I said It was really difficult because Blacky was moving all the time, and when we were seeing him too stressed, we put him in his carrier for a minute to calm down a little bit. I wouldn't mind to go there again to be honest. She told me to leave him be that day because the process was very stressful for him (no sh**) and we went back home.

I left him be and the next day he was his own self. I was so proud of him.

I saw him too slim, so I weighed him and... horror! He was only 196 grams. He was 8 grams down. I suppose that the escape and the vet visit were too much for his little body, so I decided that he deserved some special treats.

I give him a pecan nut and he devoured it in one day...You can see him here struggling with it. I'm a bad person, because I found it very funny, specially when he tries to grab it and it squeezes from his fingers.


This is how the nut ended, my little vacuum cleaner made of fluff.


I spoilt him a lot. Here you can see mr pouches in action.



He had a lot of sunflowers seeds, so I was able to shoot him peeling one (several times). I love when he does it, it's so funny to see him spitting the shell. This is one of the videos that I shoot.


Now he's 208 grams. 4 more than before, so I'm cutting the amount of treats again.

And with this thread I finally catch up with the recents events. There isn't anything else to say for the moment. I want to talk about his taming process, but I have many doubts to ask you so maybe I will open a new thread to discuss it separately.

[Pebbles82]

Ooh Blacky is so adorable and sweet! I love the way his little pink paws contrast with his dark fur when he's eating He actually looks quite tame there.

I sometimes think these vet visits are as stressful for the owner as for the hamster! Glad he got his nails done and the vet took care. I don't know how long it's supposed to take!

[BorisPasha]

Oh have to say the roscón de reyes looks very tasty, might have to have a go making that sometime

Blacky is looking as adorable and handsome as always, he's a very determined ham with his pecan nut lol. Loved the video of him with it and the sunflower seeds. I love watching mine fighting with walnuts, especially when they try to take them somewhere else and they can barely lift them but they manage it somehow.

Glad he got on ok with getting his nails trimmed too At least you'll know what to expect if you need to get it done again.

[cypher]

Aww bless! He looks so sweet & so determined with his pecan nut I love watching them peel their seeds too, it's just so cute.
He really is a lovely boy & looking nice & healthy, good to hear he put the weight back on after his stressful events & he soon got back to his normal self after the vet trip.

[Hamsterita]

Serendipity thank you! I also think that he's very sweet, but I'm his mum, It would be strange if I didn't think so hahaha. I think that Blacky is very tame but the problem is very insecure, I don't know if he really want out of the cage time, and he doesn't like to be hold or poke. At this point I think that I just have to accept it.

And yes, the vet visit was stressful for me too, I sweat all my t-shirt.

BorisPasha Yes, it's tasty, but tbh it's not my favourite spanish sweet and it's a pain to make because you have to leave the dough ferment for a long time and it's hard to get a moisture texture (I don't like the ones that are bread alike I like the kind that are like brioches and without orange blossom essence). If you really like to try spanish sweets I would recommend you to start with other easier and tastier recipes as "arroz con leche" (rice with milk) or "bica" (that's a cinnamon cake of my region, Galicia), or "sobaos" (that are like little butter cakes from Asturias) and so on...

I have to give Blacky his walnut and try to shoot it too.

cypher thank you!! here's another video of him peeling a sunflower seed

The problem was that the angle wasn't awesome so It's hard to see him spitting the shell, so I tried with another one and....

The little rascal decided that the show was over and pouched it for later But it forgave him because he immediately came to me for some cuddles.

[Thin Lizzy]

Blooming fantastic videos of Blacky, such determination and those little paws make me go Aww!
I so love your little guy Hamsterita, melts my heart.