Darwin

It's been a few days since I've been able to post, and this one will be a short one, but I made a new friend this weekend...

His name is Darwin, and he's a Winter White/Siberian Dwarf Hamster. Again, pictures would be forthcoming if I had a camera. On Saturday I went to Petsmart to get climbing logs for the hermit crabs, but I walked past the rodent cages and he caught my eye.

I first noticed this especially active hamster with really big eyes and ears that perked forward in the most endearing way, so I stopped to take a look. Not only was he interested in meeting me through the glass, but after he'd finished with me, went back to the purple plastic igloo in which everyone else was sleeping, flipped it over (nearly crushing the other hamsters in the process) and shoved it up against the wall. This was a hamster I could respect. On top of that, though, he did this to use it as a ramp to get to the upper half of the cage wall where there were more air vents which he used as climbing holds. He climbed around up there and made it up to the ceiling, where he ran around upside down for a few minutes.

"This is some sort of mutant genius hamster," I thought. "He must be mine."

I didn't buy him right there, because I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to take care of him the way he needed. So I went home and slept on it, and went back the next day to get him and all of the finest hamster accoutrements. $85 later I have a hamster who continues to entertain me.

He doesn't seem to play in the wheel very much, but he does play with the wheel. I've never seen another animal do these things:

One activity I've seen him do pretty frequently so far is what I have to call "upside-down running." He crawls under the wheel, flips over, and spins it with his paws. The other way I've seen him play with the wheel is to crawl up to the second story, sit on the edge, and spin the wheel with his front paws. Strange.

I thought for the last 24 hours that he could be deaf, but it looks like he was just ignoring me when he wanted to. I found him asleep today, and as I was talking to him, he flinched with my vocal modulations. Which is another strange thing...

He was asleep at the bottom juncture of the tall tube, where it makes a 90 degree turn upward. I found him all spread out in there, not moving, and I imagined him falling from the top and dying, or worse yet, paralyzing himself. So I rudely awoke him. He obviously didn't want to get up, but I didn't know that at the time and thought he was really dead or quadriplegic or something. Then he started flinching to my voice. "Well he's not deaf, but now he's paralyzed." He finally got around to moving which was a relief.

That's all the time I can afford to take now. Hamster aside, I feel like I've been doing nothing but working the last four days, and only fallen further behind. The forecast is for another hell week. If it weren't for the backing tracks, life would be easy. Then again, if it weren't for the backing tracks, I'd be destitute...

C'est la vie. Summer can't come soon enough.