Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Hibernating Hamster

As the family grave keeper, it is my duty to dispose discreetly of any pet that meets his end at our home.

Most recently it was feared that our hamster Chewy had come to the end of his days. Unusually however, I soon discovered we were mistaken.

You may ask yourself, "How can you not tell if an animal is dead?"

To which I would reply, I'm sure one could tell, but in this case it wasn't particularly obvious. He was curled up in his food bowl, which has about a one cup capacity and is roughly the dimension of a typical metal measuring cup.

When I pulled him out of his bowl he as very stiff. And he didn't wake up from the relatively rude handling.

Moments later, I had the hole dug. I even went so far as to drop him into it before I noticed him begin to faintly twitch.

Brief observation was rewarded with signs of life.

I scooped him back up and replaced him in his home where he has resumed normal activity for the past several weeks.

3 comments :

Great Grumpy Z. said...

VIVA LA CHEWY!!

Are you sure you are keeping warm enough this winter? At least, are you sure you are keeping Chewy warm enough?

Momsie said...

That is so funny! For future events you could hook up a bell at the foot of the grave, and affix a little string to the appropriate creature :)

Glad you have honed your observation skills!

The Campbell's said...

A hamster who is a heavy sleeper huh? It's January, maybe he was thinking he was a hibernating breed.