Wednesday 26 October 2011

Gledwood has pups!! . . .



Hamper G + 22 Roborovskis
 
The latest arrival

For those of you who don't know, I have anything between 20 and 30 Roborovski hamsters at any one time. A long story that began roughly a year ago when I bought two "male" Roborovskis. Reginald & Anchovy. Yes two males. It's these little swines who originally drew me to Gledwood's blog as in "Hamsters and Heroin". When I discovered it was specifically Roborovskis that he loved, well I was hooked. Meantime Anchovy & Reginald had pups and try as I might to keep the whole thing under control, there were accidents!
Fast forward a year . . . having kept most of the pups from most of the accidents, I had  (until Sunday) 17  Robos left. Each one an individual character. Each one with his/her own story. Some that live happily together in pairs, some in threes. One cage has four. Others have had to be separated and live alone.
I have eight cages of these beautiful little "people". Having had no pups appear for a few months I thought I'd finally mastered  the somewhat hit & miss "art" of sexing them. Until Sunday night when I heard the unmistakeable tweeting of babies. Checked the suspect cages. Nothing. Followed with my ear. Laddio & Gledwood's  cage . .  Ahhhhhh They are so cute.
*Gledwood was orphaned at four weeks (a story involving next door's cat) . After showing definite "male" behaviour towards his cousins Bianca and Lily, although he was sexed as a female I thought it best to judge him on his behaviour and see if Laddio would adopt him as a younger "male" friend.
Laddio is one of the "Old boys" from the first surprise litter. He had been living alone for some time after "bullying" other males of similar size. As Gledwood was still a young lad I hoped Laddio might accept him and he did . . . (well of course he did ;-) Little did I know. Until . . .
So here we are five pups of very varying sizes. Possibly four to five days old. One of Geeksters friends has been waiting for two. That leaves us three . . .  Hamper G  has already named them, regardless of gender,
Billy. Herbert & Stromboli. .
She has learnt at a young age that gender means nothing with these lads :-)
As soon as Geekster is home from school I will borrow his phone to take and post some  photos. Having said that I wonder if I could use the webcam to show one??? This could be fun.

* (The Gledwood did give me permission to name one after him)
YAY!!! Success . . .Ok we have the technology! Now I will try to get a better shot!! with some kinda size comparison. He is the biggest of the five. Not too clear with the webcam. Will swap these later when I can get some close ups.
Top photo  "The Whole Shkaboodle + Hamper G"

8 comments:

  1. Must keep photos like these away from my daughter or the whole - "we need another pet" discussion will start again ;-)

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  2. Jeannie; Aint they just! . . .This is me "resting"!! I think I need a straight-jacket :-)

    Furtheron; Hi. But of course you NEED another pet . . . They are small and cute . . . Just one? ;-) free postage & packaging!

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  3. Oh girl so sorry eye'm not doing a very thorough read/comment today. (feel SO SO SO guilty bc read everyone else's in depth -and boy! everyone decided to post pretty much!- before 2 things started to become unbearable) Gotta run to the bladder dispensary then off to the hour + bus ride home to "reset normalcy." Only 1 class tomorrow, will have endless time to catch up with yours. Just wanted to say "h'eye."

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  4. Eyelick; No worries, will catch up later . . . Have a good "reset & rest" tomorrow (today) will "see" you later. Beye x

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  5. I knew I liked you, but now I like you even more! I think there are a lot more people in the UK that can appreciate small furry pets like hamsters and rats. I used to be on a pet rat forum and most of the folks were from UK! Congrats on the new litter :) I am a rat person and they are very, very easy to sex!! I've only had pups intentionally. I admire you for keeping all of them and giving them a good home where they are appreciated for their unique personality. I am still grieving the loss of my last girl, Katie. I didn't replace her so am ratless for the first time in 20 years. What is the lifespan of a hamster? Rats only live 2 - 3 years. I would be thrilled if you checked out my rat pics :)

    https://picasaweb.google.com/BarbaraLegere/RATZ?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMLE_7PN-P3aZA&feat=directlink

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  6. Little animals are the best! It's like when newborn kittens are smaller than your palm! But your little baby looks half the length of your finger!

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  7. Barbara; I replied over at "your place" . . . Still trying to work out why it wont let me link up to your rats.

    Eyelick; Aren't (furry) newborns just the cutest? He's the biggest of the 5. I've got my sons phone/camera tomorrow and a day off (ish) So Hamper G & I have plans involving the pups, the decent camera and a few props from the dolls house . . .

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