Several weeks ago; somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I adopted a new pet. I really should not call him a pet because he is more of a loner kind of animal. Either way, I adopted a hamster from the dog pound. Did you know you can adopt hamsters from the dog pound? Neither did I. But here is how it happened.
It was a cold and snowy morning and my boss, Steve, called and said that before he left town the dog pound had a guinea pig there. He wanted me to go online and see if the piggie was still there so he could go and get it. He runs the Guinea Pig Rescue here in Abq so he gets them from the pound and rehabilitates them and then finds them homes. I digress, back to the story, while I was online I saw a posting for this adorable like fuzzy white hamster. When I asked about it at the pound they said people get them for snake food. I was horrified so needless to say I had to rescue him. After paying my adoption fee of $2 I went in search for my newest baby. Only to be told he was sent to the store front at the mall. So off to the mall I went to rescue my darling. I get to the mall and they give him to me in a contact lenses box (minus the contact lenses). I wrap him in my coat and set off to the office.
Well my baby spent the 20 minutes it took to get back to the office escaping from the box. I was able to get him under control and put him in a more secure box at the office. People would stop by and look at him and oh and ah over him. And then he turned psycho, and when I say psycho, I mean psycho. He stood on his back legs and hissed at people. He ran in circles and made very odd noises. Until I threw a blanket over him and he buried himself under bedding and went to sleep.
On my lunch I went back out in the snow to go to Walmartto find a cage for my psycho baby. They had 2 to choose from so I picked out one that looked fun for me, I got a bowl, food, chew toys and what not. I had to work at the funeral home that night so he went with me. At this point his name was PB short for Psycho Boy.
I got home and immediately went work building the habitat for my newest child. Only to find out that I could not put the thing together to save my life. So at 10pm I am off to Walmart to return it and get another one. Since they only had 2 to pick from my choice was easy. I got the new cage and went home to try again. This time it was a success, PB had a new home and was slowly settling down. At least he stopped hissing at me.
I tried to be polite and introduce Tau and Kali to their new rodent brother but it did not go well. Much like their introduction to their fish brother Shark Bait, they were disturbed. Every noise they heard they barked, they cried, they growled, until I finally hid him under a blanket. After having him for a few days I decided on a better name since he was no longer psycho. His name is Franklin and he is adorable. He has some serious mental health issues, such as, he does not like to be touched by people. He will stuff himself anywhere in his habitat that he can to get away from anyone touching him. So I leave him alone. We finally settled on a quiet place for Franklin to live and that is in the extra bedroom.
I don't see Franklin alot. He like his adopted mom seems to like people to leave him alone. I did see him for the first time for longer than 2 seconds last night. He seems to have gained a bit of weight but looked happy. He grabbed his nuts and took off to his condo above his cage. One of these days I will get him to stand still long enough to take a picture and I will post it for you.
So out of the living beings in my home now the only one that seems to be mentally stable is the fish. I have two neurotic dogs, a hermit for a hamster and me their crazy human companion. What a family we make.
Up next...my adventures on my first real date.