We have had a lot of changes in the Sanctuary since our last update in June. The sanctuary has seen several tragic events over the summer. By far the saddest was the loss of Parker and Laki. Both were unexpected deaths and they are both still missed greatly.
Parker passed way October 4th after a brief illness. The grief that filled the house was unexplainable, even the ghosts grieved Parker's passing. It has been almost 4 weeks now and Guine and Sasha are still not acting their normal self. It just seems some of the fun has left the remaining hamsters. I had the hardest time even holding Guine because she was Parker's twin in all ways except personality. Guine is slowing coming around and getting out of her cage. Sasha just wants to stay in or run on the table. She does not really want to be in her ball anymore. So I respect her desires and let her be.
Laki passed away from during what we are referring to as the Epidemic. We took in several dwarf hamsters at the same time. We knew that many of them were in-breed, which means that as litters came about they were not separated properly and continued to mate and have more babies. Most of the hamsters were separated immediately upon arrival at the sanctuary due to fighting and personality issues. Many of the hamsters were successfully adopted out. However, the few that were left quickly started showing signs of illness. With hamsters and all small critters once the symptoms start appearing you have to act quickly in order to save them and in some case we found that no matter how quickly you act and no matter what care you give some die anyway. During the epidemic we lost Emma, Sophia, Ava and Laki. At this point we still did not know what we were dealing with. The next to show signs of illness was Lucy and Raja. Both started out the same way the only difference was Lucy developed sores and Raja started losing his hair. It was determined that a parasite had in fact caused the previous death and the illness of Lucy and Raja. However, it did not affect the Syrians, gerbils or mice; only the dwarfs. Lucy and Raja both survived their illness and show no last effects except that Raja now has a bald spot. No matter how nasty and bitchy Laki was he I loved that little guy so much. Raja has taken Laki's spot as our hamster with the nasty personality. Just like Laki, Raja does not want to be touched, messed with or even looked at. He does not attack you like Laki did but he will bite you if you touch him to often. So I just talk to him and try not to piss him off.
The newest additions to the group are 4 rats Rissa, Lisa, Millie & Billie. Rissa is a naked rat (seriously her fur is so sparse she looks naked), the others are sisters we adopted from the city shelter. They belong to Josh and will go with him and Dorian when he returns to Wyoming.
Finally after a year and a half I got Tommy 2 baby boys. Tommy is a new gerbil all together since becoming a daddy. Tommy adopted Eli and Elijah and is so much more outgoing. He is very protective of his boys and takes such good care of them. Once the boys arrived we had to create a safe place for them all to play. We quickly discovered that the fenced in yard that Tommy had was not appropriate for the babies. Being youngsters they quickly found a way out. We solved the problem by getting a large guinea pig cage and attaching it to their existing cage. They now had a fenced yard that they could not get out of. Our task now is finding ways to keep them entertained. Eli and Elijah came to us by a very unconventional way. I purchased them from a local pet store. I do not usually advocate buying animals but I have been looking for infant gerbils since Tommy arrived. It is very difficult to know the age of gerbils when they are at the pet store, but this store just happen to have a breeding pair. Unfortunately they removed Eli and Elijah from mom at 3 weeks old and they should have stayed with her until at least 7 or 8 weeks. But, they did well adjusting to us. I kept them separated from Tommy until they were 4 1/2 weeks old and I knew they were healthy. One odd thing about male gerbils is that they help raise the babies and they will accept baby gerbils without any problems at all. Unlike the females. Once I introduced Eli and Elijah to Tommy there was no turning back. He is a wonderful daddy to his two baby boys. He nurtures them, protects them and grooms them. He has taught them to climb up into their nest, he goes out ahead of them to check their play area before they get to go out. They have a very large and safe playground that Elijah has figured out how to squeeze out. So we had to fix that problem but other than that they are a great family with a very loving daddy.
I am going home for Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years and while there I am picking up a new hamster. This is a young white teddy bear that I have named Lucian. I figure I usually pick Hindu names for my babies but since this is a southern hamster he got a Cajun name. I am hoping he will help fill the spot of male hamster and things will return to whatever is normal.
I am will post new pictures of everyone soon. If you have facebook add me as a friend and you can see pictures.
Parker passed way October 4th after a brief illness. The grief that filled the house was unexplainable, even the ghosts grieved Parker's passing. It has been almost 4 weeks now and Guine and Sasha are still not acting their normal self. It just seems some of the fun has left the remaining hamsters. I had the hardest time even holding Guine because she was Parker's twin in all ways except personality. Guine is slowing coming around and getting out of her cage. Sasha just wants to stay in or run on the table. She does not really want to be in her ball anymore. So I respect her desires and let her be.
Laki passed away from during what we are referring to as the Epidemic. We took in several dwarf hamsters at the same time. We knew that many of them were in-breed, which means that as litters came about they were not separated properly and continued to mate and have more babies. Most of the hamsters were separated immediately upon arrival at the sanctuary due to fighting and personality issues. Many of the hamsters were successfully adopted out. However, the few that were left quickly started showing signs of illness. With hamsters and all small critters once the symptoms start appearing you have to act quickly in order to save them and in some case we found that no matter how quickly you act and no matter what care you give some die anyway. During the epidemic we lost Emma, Sophia, Ava and Laki. At this point we still did not know what we were dealing with. The next to show signs of illness was Lucy and Raja. Both started out the same way the only difference was Lucy developed sores and Raja started losing his hair. It was determined that a parasite had in fact caused the previous death and the illness of Lucy and Raja. However, it did not affect the Syrians, gerbils or mice; only the dwarfs. Lucy and Raja both survived their illness and show no last effects except that Raja now has a bald spot. No matter how nasty and bitchy Laki was he I loved that little guy so much. Raja has taken Laki's spot as our hamster with the nasty personality. Just like Laki, Raja does not want to be touched, messed with or even looked at. He does not attack you like Laki did but he will bite you if you touch him to often. So I just talk to him and try not to piss him off.
The newest additions to the group are 4 rats Rissa, Lisa, Millie & Billie. Rissa is a naked rat (seriously her fur is so sparse she looks naked), the others are sisters we adopted from the city shelter. They belong to Josh and will go with him and Dorian when he returns to Wyoming.
Finally after a year and a half I got Tommy 2 baby boys. Tommy is a new gerbil all together since becoming a daddy. Tommy adopted Eli and Elijah and is so much more outgoing. He is very protective of his boys and takes such good care of them. Once the boys arrived we had to create a safe place for them all to play. We quickly discovered that the fenced in yard that Tommy had was not appropriate for the babies. Being youngsters they quickly found a way out. We solved the problem by getting a large guinea pig cage and attaching it to their existing cage. They now had a fenced yard that they could not get out of. Our task now is finding ways to keep them entertained. Eli and Elijah came to us by a very unconventional way. I purchased them from a local pet store. I do not usually advocate buying animals but I have been looking for infant gerbils since Tommy arrived. It is very difficult to know the age of gerbils when they are at the pet store, but this store just happen to have a breeding pair. Unfortunately they removed Eli and Elijah from mom at 3 weeks old and they should have stayed with her until at least 7 or 8 weeks. But, they did well adjusting to us. I kept them separated from Tommy until they were 4 1/2 weeks old and I knew they were healthy. One odd thing about male gerbils is that they help raise the babies and they will accept baby gerbils without any problems at all. Unlike the females. Once I introduced Eli and Elijah to Tommy there was no turning back. He is a wonderful daddy to his two baby boys. He nurtures them, protects them and grooms them. He has taught them to climb up into their nest, he goes out ahead of them to check their play area before they get to go out. They have a very large and safe playground that Elijah has figured out how to squeeze out. So we had to fix that problem but other than that they are a great family with a very loving daddy.
I am going home for Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years and while there I am picking up a new hamster. This is a young white teddy bear that I have named Lucian. I figure I usually pick Hindu names for my babies but since this is a southern hamster he got a Cajun name. I am hoping he will help fill the spot of male hamster and things will return to whatever is normal.
I am will post new pictures of everyone soon. If you have facebook add me as a friend and you can see pictures.