Tag: Syrian Hamster

Little Miss Pitty-Pat’s Great Adventure

Remember Little Miss Pitty-Pat? She is the Syrian hamster that I adopted to be entertainment for MacKenzie after his “baby” and companion, Yellow Boy, passed away.

Yellow Boy was MacKenzie’s companion buddy, and MacKenzie really struggled after Yellow Boy died, so the hamster was a badly needed distraction for him.

Pitty-Pat is a big, companionable hamster who actively squeeks at me to hand over some fresh food when she sees me. She isn’t afraid of me, but won’t let me pick her up at all; I never handled her while MacKenzie was here, because… cat claws and teeth!!

Last night I gave Pitty-Pat some treats and headed off to bed to read for awhile.

I gave her some nice hay as a snack for the night.

Just as I was getting ready to turn off the light and go to sleep I noticed a little brown body slip into the space between the dresser and the wall. Oh, no… Pitty-Pat!! I was out of bed in a flash and the fun began. Here’s the timeline of the major events:

  • 1:45 am: I glimpse the hamster ducking behind my dresser in the bedroom.
  • 1:46 am: There is some door slamming and the emergency pillow containment systems are deployed.
  • 1:48 am: I found a flashlight and I’ve managed to pull out the dresser from the wall in a hamster-friendly manner while blocking all the exits with pillows. Whew! Why is this dresser so heavy?
  • 1:49 am: Pitty-Pat runs out to check on my progress. I think that she squeeked off a little hamster raspberry as she dove back under the dresser.
  • 1:55 am: I begin rescue operations using the flashlight and an old curtain rod to try to sweep Pitty-Pat out from under the dresser and into a box baited with apple slices.
    2:00 am: She went into the box!! I carefully uprighted the box and tried to get out from behind the dresser with her. Aww. She was so cute in there. I was thinking of taking a picture of her when suddenly…
    2:01 am: She decided to bail on the box. There was an explosion of squawking as Litte Miss erupted out of box, landed on a pillow,  and scurried back to her under-dresser playground.
    2:05 am: After searching the garage a box with a lid was located.
    2:11 am: I tried the “sweep the hamster into the box” trick again. Who knew a hamster could squawk so loudly? Finally she decided that she wanted the apples and I had her!
  • 2:15 am: Little Miss Pitty-Pat was safely returned to her cage. It looks like I didn’t latch the door correctly before.

  • Where are my apples!!
  • Pitty-Pat immediately demands that her apple slices be handed over!
  • 2:20 am: The exhausted hamster owner returns to bed. Little Miss Pitty-Pat also headed to bed with her apple slices.

How’s your stay-at-home going?