Comments | paper_jam11: please let Alfie go to sleep soon...

paper_jam11

please let Alfie go to sleep soon...

Nov 23, 2007 00:57

I'm looking after a friend's hamster this week, and I have a question for my flist:

He has been running on his plastic wheel for almost half an hour. What is it, do you think, that prompts the little critter to run and run and run in a circle incessantly? Is it for fun? The need for exercise? The desire to drive me batshit insane?

I just don't know ( Read more... )

dear flist, pets

Comments 8

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paper_jam11 November 23 2007, 09:17:24 UTC

It seemed like he was really pissed that I locked him up, so he went for a run on the treadmill. But maybe they are like goldfish, and don't recall the contents of their bowl/cage from one moment to the next.

Erg. I used to have a pet mouse and he was super predictable and calm. And did not bite me for fun.

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paper_jam11 November 24 2007, 00:42:28 UTC

Maybe he thinks he's getting somewhere, until he stops to see where he's arrived at only to find the same old cage. But by the time he's had a look around, he completely forgets he was running in the first place. And then he's like: Oh! A wheel! Cool!" and starts all over again.

Biting = Hey! What's this? Food? Nope.

dawn_xx November 23 2007, 12:34:22 UTC

Hamsters are nocturnal. Mine was all over the place at night, all night. I had to buy him a non-squeaky wheel and when it finally started to squeak too I just tipped it over at night right before bed and put it back up right when I got up early for school so he still had a couple hours to squeak to his heart's content.

During the day he was pretty dopey, lazy, and sleepy.

Also, what does it say about me that I first read "please let Alfie go to sleep soon..." as "please let Allie go to sleep soon..." and I was thinking, "how does she know I've had a hard time sleeping the past few days?"
It probably says that I really do need some sleep.

paper_jam11 November 23 2007, 19:51:19 UTC

I don't really mind the nocturnal thing, once I fall asleep, I just ignore it. But it freaks me out that he can run for hours on end without stopping. It's unnatural. I worry that he'll get dehydrated.

*sings Allie a lullaby and wishes her sweet dreams*

dawn_xx November 23 2007, 19:52:29 UTC

Yeah it is kind of fr- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

angryhaiku November 23 2007, 23:22:12 UTC

It's actually really good that he's running in the wheel so much, because if he runs he wears down his tiny little toenails. Most rodents have continually-growing toenails, which means if they don't wear them down enough through exercise, you have to clip them, which = no funsies.

I totally owe you an email. I keep starting it, then going, "Oh, I'll just finish up this draft and send that to her too," and then the draft is a thousand words longer and I still owe you an email.

paper_jam11 November 24 2007, 00:38:57 UTC

Funnily enough, I'm really good with/know a lot about animals. I suppose I'm just not a hamster person. Every little thing he does is... not magic.

Haha. Hamster pedicures. I cannot imagine holding one still long enough to try.

As for that email, I just figured you'd eaten all your fudge and I was leaving you be. Nice to know I have a nice long one coming to me, though. And yes, that does sound dirty.

I'm going to go stare blankly at my Olive/Ned/Chuck until they start doing things besides clearing their throats awkwardly.

angryhaiku November 24 2007, 01:32:01 UTC

I never really got hamsters as pets. They aren't as clever as rats or as adorable as chinchillas, so why get one? But it's very nice of you to save the unfortunate creature from its fate.

I saved some of the fudge and ate it before I got on the airplane this morning. Needless to say, it made the Spongebob marathon on Nickelodian a lot more entertaining.

I hope "throat clearing" is also an euphemism!