The story so far:
Dyson (hunter-cat) had managed twice to pull down the hamster cage. From his first try, Basil (male hamster) is still missing, but Rosemary and Lavender (the two girls) survived. Unfortunately, the girls died in his second attack, but Lewis (the replacement male was unharmed. The wire cage is still under the desk in the hope that Basil will be caught.
Snowball (superior furry-human cat) is annoyed that Dyson has not been punished, but he can't be held responsible for his feline nature.
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A week after Basil had gone missing, we found that the cage door was shut. We couldn't see him inside so assumed that he'd eaten, and tripped the door as he left. At this point we didn't see much point in re-setting the trap. We left the cage where is was. After all, it was out of the way, under the back corner of the desk.
At this point I should tell you something about Snowball's regular habits. Snowball isn't the most social of cats, but she does appear a couple of minutes after I've gone to bed and curls up to sleep next to my pillow. Then she taps me on the cheek at precisely 05:34 in the morning to let me know my alarm is going to go off in one minute; the only other time she tries to get my attention is when she wants food.
Except ... on the Saturday night, when Basil had been on the run for over a week, Snowball didn't come up to me. She stayed near Luc until he came up to bed, when he left her curled up asleep under the desk.
The same happened on the Sunday night. And on the Monday.
On the Tuesday morning I fed the two cats and settled down to check emails, etc., before leaving for work. Snowball tapped my knee. This was unusual as she's been fed and I was already awake ....
"Snowball, you've been fed".
Another tap, and she disappeared under the desk.
"Snowball?" I looked under the desk. She went to the cage and rattled the tray we had placed on top of it to make it darker.
"Snowball?" I knelt on the floor and she gently tapped the wire of the cage.
I looked closer, and came eye to eye with Basil, sitting on top of his house.
All we can think is that he must have been hidden in the bedding when we checked on the Saturday - he is a very small hamster after all. And Snowball had been standing guard over him (well, sleeping guard) for three nights.
Even though they are both male, we decided to try putting Basil in with Lewis in the hamster condo; it's plenty big enough for them each to have their own area and, since it was placed on top of the vivarium and we've made sure that no furniture is left anywhere near, Dyson hasn't managed to get anywhere near. Well, once he could a paw within six inches, and found himself showered with discarded hamster bedding ..... He hasn't even tried since.
There were a few skirmishes, and then the two of them settled down happily.
That was four or five weeks ago, and all has been well since then. Except .....
One evening, about a week ago, Luc said "Jane, you need to come over here!"
"Ok, what is is?"
"You need to take a look at the hamsters."
"Oh no ... what's wrong?"
"It's Lewis". A pause - surely Basil hadn't killed him? "He's had babies!"
Yes, it seems that Lewis is not male after all. So far we're not sure how many babies Lewis/Rosemary II has had as we can only see the outline of movement through the opaque wheel she chose as her nursery (Luc has taped it up so it doesn't revolve) and we don't want to disturb them, but there are at least three.
Dyson is working hard at ignoring them all. And Snowball has been named as Furry Godmother!
Happy New Year!
Sunday, 26 December 2010
Furry Tales (Part 2)
The story so far:
Dyson (hunter-cat) had managed to pull the hamster cage (temporary wire version because the smart cat-proof one was delayed in the post) off a five-foot high shelf. Rosemary and Lavender (female hamsters) were safe, if somewhat shell-shocked) but Basil (male hamster) was missing.
**********************************************************
Luc arrived home about five minutes after me, checked the girls over and declared them unharmed, and transferred them into their new habitat. If only it had arrived one day earlier!
We then started to look to see if we could find any trace of Basil. The good news was that there was no blood anywhere - but that doesn't mean much.
Then .... we caught sight of him scurrying behind the sofa for cover!
It quickly became obvious that we weren't going to catch him. (well, think about it - if Dyson couldn't, we had no chance), so our best idea was to try to trap him.
The wire cage was put on the floor under the computer desk, next to the sofa, with food and water inside. A tray was put on top to make it darker, and the door was wedged open with a cocktail stick in the hope it would break and snap the door shut if Basil went in. Yes, Luc used to watch the A-Team .....
Unfortunately the plan didn't quite come togther. Almost, but not quite. The following morning we had an empty hamster cage, door still propped open - and when I say empty, that includes the food and drink. Basil had obviously satisfied his nutritional needs, but then made (another) clean get-away.
Two or three more days passed. We didn't catch Basil. And since a male hamster was somewhat essential to our breeding plans, he had to be replaced. Suddenly, male Chinese dwarf hamsters seemed awfully rare ....
But then we found Lewis. Lewis was introduced to the girls in the smart, cat-proof hamster condominium (I'm not joking!) and, after some initial skirmishing, they seemed to settle down quite well.
Luc broke the bad news to me when I got home from work a few days later. He had come downstairs that morning (after I had left for work) to find the new cage on the floor, one of the girls seriously injured .... and the other in the process of being eaten by Dyson.
Dyson must have climbed from the desk on to the back of the chair and jumped, and managed to drag the whole set-up off the shelf.
We couldn't blame Dyson - he is a cat, after all, and we had put temptation in his path. Well, five feet above his path .....
The other girl hamster died within a few minutes. Lewis seemed shaken but unharmed, so he was put back in the hamster condo ontop of a vivarium, about six feet up. Procedures were put into place to make sure that no furniture was left where Dyson could use it to get at Lewis.
Snowball (the cat who doesn't believe in cat-like pastimes) looked rather smug.
And we were left wondering what to do with one male Chinese dwarf hamster.
Dyson (hunter-cat) had managed to pull the hamster cage (temporary wire version because the smart cat-proof one was delayed in the post) off a five-foot high shelf. Rosemary and Lavender (female hamsters) were safe, if somewhat shell-shocked) but Basil (male hamster) was missing.
**********************************************************
Luc arrived home about five minutes after me, checked the girls over and declared them unharmed, and transferred them into their new habitat. If only it had arrived one day earlier!
We then started to look to see if we could find any trace of Basil. The good news was that there was no blood anywhere - but that doesn't mean much.
Then .... we caught sight of him scurrying behind the sofa for cover!
It quickly became obvious that we weren't going to catch him. (well, think about it - if Dyson couldn't, we had no chance), so our best idea was to try to trap him.
The wire cage was put on the floor under the computer desk, next to the sofa, with food and water inside. A tray was put on top to make it darker, and the door was wedged open with a cocktail stick in the hope it would break and snap the door shut if Basil went in. Yes, Luc used to watch the A-Team .....
Unfortunately the plan didn't quite come togther. Almost, but not quite. The following morning we had an empty hamster cage, door still propped open - and when I say empty, that includes the food and drink. Basil had obviously satisfied his nutritional needs, but then made (another) clean get-away.
Two or three more days passed. We didn't catch Basil. And since a male hamster was somewhat essential to our breeding plans, he had to be replaced. Suddenly, male Chinese dwarf hamsters seemed awfully rare ....
But then we found Lewis. Lewis was introduced to the girls in the smart, cat-proof hamster condominium (I'm not joking!) and, after some initial skirmishing, they seemed to settle down quite well.
Luc broke the bad news to me when I got home from work a few days later. He had come downstairs that morning (after I had left for work) to find the new cage on the floor, one of the girls seriously injured .... and the other in the process of being eaten by Dyson.
Dyson must have climbed from the desk on to the back of the chair and jumped, and managed to drag the whole set-up off the shelf.
We couldn't blame Dyson - he is a cat, after all, and we had put temptation in his path. Well, five feet above his path .....
The other girl hamster died within a few minutes. Lewis seemed shaken but unharmed, so he was put back in the hamster condo ontop of a vivarium, about six feet up. Procedures were put into place to make sure that no furniture was left where Dyson could use it to get at Lewis.
Snowball (the cat who doesn't believe in cat-like pastimes) looked rather smug.
And we were left wondering what to do with one male Chinese dwarf hamster.
Furry Tales (Part one of several)
Firstly, and apology: I'm sorry I've blogged so rarely in 2010. It will be one of my resolutions for 2011 to do so much more regularly.
So I started to think what I should have blogged about .... And here's a multi-part story involving a number of animals. It's sad in some places, happy in others, has mystery, suspense ... has it all.
**********************************************************
In the autumn, we decided to start small-scale breeding of Chinese dwarf hamsters. If you think about it, it would have to be small-scale - they're dwarf. We ordered quite a smart habitat but, as it was delayed, got a second-hand wire cage for starters. We also bought our first hamster, a male.
We don't have that much experience of naming pets (and yes, they are pets as we well as a breeding programme) - both cats were named before they became part of our family - but Luc remembered Basil the Siberian Hamster from Fawlty Towers so, even though he's a Chinese dwarf rather than Siberian, Basil it was.
We do, however, have experience of cats. Although Snowball doesn't seem to think she's a cat (I think she believes she's some sort of superior furred human), Dyson is very much feline. It's in his nature to hunt. The cage was put on a shelf five feet off the ground.
Basil was soon joined in the wire cage (the posh habitat still hadn't arrived) by two females. As they couldn't both be called Sybil, there were named Rosemary and Lavender. After a few little skirmishes, they settled down quite well together.
Then one Friday evening I came home to find Dyson trying to look very innocent (which is not something he's terribly good at). Hamster bedding was strewn across the computer chair, and the wire cage was smashed open on the floor. Dyson must have climbed on to the desk and jumped, hooking his claws round the wire of the cage .....
A quick check showed Rosemary and Lavender were still in the cage - they had sought refuge in their house - but Basil was missing.
Oh, and the smart habitat had finally turned up.
So I started to think what I should have blogged about .... And here's a multi-part story involving a number of animals. It's sad in some places, happy in others, has mystery, suspense ... has it all.
**********************************************************
In the autumn, we decided to start small-scale breeding of Chinese dwarf hamsters. If you think about it, it would have to be small-scale - they're dwarf. We ordered quite a smart habitat but, as it was delayed, got a second-hand wire cage for starters. We also bought our first hamster, a male.
We don't have that much experience of naming pets (and yes, they are pets as we well as a breeding programme) - both cats were named before they became part of our family - but Luc remembered Basil the Siberian Hamster from Fawlty Towers so, even though he's a Chinese dwarf rather than Siberian, Basil it was.
We do, however, have experience of cats. Although Snowball doesn't seem to think she's a cat (I think she believes she's some sort of superior furred human), Dyson is very much feline. It's in his nature to hunt. The cage was put on a shelf five feet off the ground.
Basil was soon joined in the wire cage (the posh habitat still hadn't arrived) by two females. As they couldn't both be called Sybil, there were named Rosemary and Lavender. After a few little skirmishes, they settled down quite well together.
Then one Friday evening I came home to find Dyson trying to look very innocent (which is not something he's terribly good at). Hamster bedding was strewn across the computer chair, and the wire cage was smashed open on the floor. Dyson must have climbed on to the desk and jumped, hooking his claws round the wire of the cage .....
A quick check showed Rosemary and Lavender were still in the cage - they had sought refuge in their house - but Basil was missing.
Oh, and the smart habitat had finally turned up.
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