Some months ago, Sherm and I purchased a pair of hamsters which we initially thought were of the same litter but found out soon after that Miyagi (aptly named) was the older, thus was the one who was more in control of Diggy, and apparently bullied him. We separated them because of the conflict and although Miyagi was initially with Shermy, she couldn't seem to contain him in the new cage that I bought. Ever the escape artist, Sherm nicknamed him Hizbollah Hammy after his 3 escapades.
I ended up with Miyagi as the cage I built seemed more escape-proof. He's been at the foot of my bed everyday. Always waking up with me in the mornings for his first feeding of the day, and when I arrive back home in the late afternoons/night for his second one. My sis would pop by some nights to disturb him, or play with him, and my dad would check on him everyday and report his activities to me - either slept all day, or ran his wheel a lot. And run his wheel he did; he was very fast! And he never made the silly Hammy mistake of letting the wheel do a loop de loop on him - he always knew to slow the wheel down before stopping or getting off.
The favourite thing to do, Sherm discovered this, is to feed him one of the flavoured chew-bite thingys. Just give him one of those over-sized chew things and see him lift it in his open mouth, running around and around his cage as though "Look at me, I've got a prize! I've got a prize! See See!" oops.. dropped it. Pick it up again and wheee around and around. He could do this for a good 5 mins before finally starting on the meal. >_<
He was the cleaner of the two hamsters, by far. He pee'd in the sandbox and hid his food safely in his house or in a corner of the sandbox, always making sure to cover it with bedding so I wouldn't steal it. And he never smelled bad nor did he dirty his wheel, unlike Diggy. He was however, always looking unsatisfied in his house. He always wanted to escape or look "over the edge".
Well, one morning recently, I woke up and was a little surprised as to why Mi wasn't awake as usual, looking excited for breakfast. I checked on him quietly and he looked like he was still sleeping, there was slight movement from his inert form, so I had thought he just exhausted himself that night on his wheel. I came back that afternoon to find him still in the same spot. Lifeless and cold.
Sherm and I gave him a burial fitting of the escape artist, in the corner of my garden trough, he has gone on to his heavenly escapades. I was quite shocked as to how his life came to such an abrupt end, it seemed so short. He was ever the vigorous and zesty one. Our grief lasted several days, aided by a quick cleanup and full attention on Diggy.
The previous night, I had a dream - I had Diggy in my hands and I decided to put him in what I thought was a hamster cage. I turned away to do other stuff and when I looked back, I realised in alarm that the occupant of that cage wasn't a hamster but an orange-banded tarantula! I saw, in horror, as the tarantula leaned over in slow-mo and bit the distracted Diggy on his neck, and the hamster then went limp. I remember shouting in exasperation in the dream, waking myself up, unable to sleep for a good 1/2 hour after that.
And I can't believe how affected I am by his death. This little hamster that was close to me for so few months. I'm already thinking of another 2 hamsters to replace Mi, after I'm done making the cage more fun with a new tube-setup. Hamsters are replaceable that way, but they do leave little hamster pawprints in your heart.
