If your hamster ever dies, think of a good cover story before you tell the kids. - Page 2

[LookMommy!]

Ds's gerbil died yesterday. Yeah, he had forgotten food and water for a few days, and while I'm not sure that was the cause of death, ds (11) certainly feels guilty. He was so sad. We had said prayers for him when we saw he was sick (I think there was something wrong with his leg, but the vet said she didn't have much experience with gerbils), but I was so grateful he held on until morning when #1) DH was home to bury him and give him a funeral #2) it wasn't bed time, so he could process it, draw a picture of gerby, make a little tombstone, talk to me, etc. without it keeping him up for hours (we let him be late for school). I wouldn't lie, but it's good to be prepared, and to have it happen during a non-stressful day.

[CallMeMommy]

I think someone needs to gift Ruthla with a "Resident Hamster Expert" DDDDC...

[channelofpeace]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I think a better PSA is "never buy pets unless you research them, and if you end up with an unexpected litter, do even more research about their care before they reach maturity! Male hamsters can never, ever share a cage, unless they're litter-mates and the cage is adequately large. In the wild, the sons would have "staked out their own territory" when they were old enough to leave mama, and never would have co-habitated with dad. Hamsters aren't "fathers" they're alpha males defending their turf.

If they'd researched basic hamster care before removing the boy hamsters into "dad's" cage, this could have been prevented.

They did research. Now, that might have included talking to the guy at the pet store that told them they had two girls

Originally Posted by Liquesce

Coupled with this thread, I'm beginning to think hamsters are just not the best animals to have around kids.

Yeah, i think we might skip hamster ownwership

[elizaveta]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

When I was about 6 or 7 I had a hamster that ate her own young. When I was in the third grade our class had a pet hamster which got out and was accidentally fatally stepped on by one of the other kids.

Coupled with this thread, I'm beginning to think hamsters are just not the best animals to have around kids.

I had rabbits in hutches outside that my dad built. I was a farm girl and I was learning how to take care of them and breed them and I understood that they had to be separated. But then a snake got into the hutch and ate the babies. We got him midway and it was just gross. Though it was a good experience on seeing how a snake digests. We killed him of course and all of them were dead. I was hoping that I could save one! Then I tried again and I put my first rabbit Thumper, the father on the other side of the hutch (there were four or five good sized compartments) and he somehow managed to find a way into the cage with the babies and killed them! I didn't mess with rabbits after that because it was too traumatizing!

I never had a hamster, but I did have a gerbil I loved. He wasn't very gentle, but he was so much fun and I loved taking care of him and he loved to go into his ball and roll around the floor. We had a cat (this cat is still around at my mothers) that was given to us declawed, but that did not stop her from catching mice and if she got a mouse we'd tell her she was good and she'd get happy. We didn't have many around the house, so every once in a while when she would find one she had a habit of displaying it where we would see it and then meow until we would come over to tell her how good she was. And one day there she was meowing over my gerbil. I was so upset, but I didn't want to punish her for it because she thought she did the right thing, so I didn't get another gerbil after that. He had escaped from his cage and she saw him and thought that he was fair game. She never bothers anything in the cage: birds or otherwise.