Melissa and Noureen's Hamster Page
The Journal: The Secret Lives of the Popular Pets
The following is the detailed journal of our hamsters' lives beginning when we brought them home to the present day. Although they may seem to lead tedious days, they are truly amazing creatures who, with a little love and attention, will develop into friendly pets.
- On September 19, 2000, we brought our P generation male and female hamsters home. In actuality, we named them Mork (male) and Mindy (female) and soon became very attached to them. When Mindy was placed in Mork's cage, they mated. However, about two weeks later, when Mindy would have given birth to babies if she was pregnant, Mindy was still not pregnant.
- September 21: We cleaned the hamsters' cages and changed their bedding.
- September 25: We again changed the bedding. When Mindy was placed in Mork's cage, they fought with other. That led us to the conclusion that Mindy must have been in estrus on September 19 and that's why she and Mork mated. Today she was not.
- September 29: We changed the bedding. Again, Mork and Mindy fought when she was placed in Mork's cage.
- October 3: Changed the bedding. Mork and Mindy mated when we placed Mindy in Mork's cage.
- October 7: Changed the bedding. When we placed Mindy in Mork's cage, they didn't mate or fight.
- October11: Changed the bedding. Again, Mork and Mindy didn't fight when we placed Mindy in Mork's cage.
- October 13: Changed the bedding.
- October 14: Changed the bedding. When we placed Mindy in Mork's cage, they fought.
- October 15: Mork slept during most of the day. He is usually very active during the day. Mindy was very active. She ate almost all of her food. When we considered her behavior and the fact that her belly was beginning to swell, we anticipated the birth of her babies in about a week.
- October 16: Mork and Mindy were awake in the morning. Mork was very active.
- October 17: Mork was continuously trying to escape from his cage. Because his current cage was made out of plastic and he might have chewed through it, we transferred him to an aquarium. Mindy is constantly chewing on her wheel.
- October 18: We placed Mindy in Mork's cage. They slept next to one another.
- October 19: We placed Mindy in Mork's cage, but they didn't mate or fight. We transferred Mindy to an aquarium from her plastic cage. It is safer to raise hamsters in an aquarium than in a plastic cage. There is also more room for her to move with her babies.
- October 20: We cleaned the cages and changed the bedding. We placed Mindy in Mork's cage; they didn't mate or fight.
- October 21: MINDY GAVE BIRTH TO HER BABIES!!! One baby is dead; we think it might have been stillborn. Mindy has started to eat the baby.
- October 22: Another baby is dead; she now has 9 babies.
- October 24: The babies are growing. Their coloring is darkening.
- October 27: Changed the bedding in Mork's cage.
- October 28: The babies are ONE WEEK old today. There are still nine healthy babies. Their colorings and markings are becoming distinct. They are also starting to grow white hair. One baby wandered from Mindy, but Mindy carried it back to the nest.
- October 29: Mindy made a huge nest for herself and the babies. We can't tell if there are still nine babies. Some are squeaking.
- October 30: The babies are beginning to open their eyes. The babies aren't squeaking anymore. One baby is starting to look like Mindy.
- October 31: Mindy only has 5 remaining babies. One more died. Eight would remain, but there are only five left. Perhaps, Mindy could not care for all of the babies and ate some.
- November 1: The babies' hair is beginning to change color.
- November 3: Changed the bedding in Mork's cage.
- November 4: The babies are TWO WEEKS old today. One baby is very small; perhaps it is the runt of the litter. The babies' eyes are now open. One baby resembles Mork, three Mindy and one is dark gray. The veterinarian said that the babies might have eaten one another because they felt crowded.
- November 6: The smallest baby doesn't seem to be nursing; Mindy doesn't let it approach her. We tried to feed it some milk and the hamster likes it. The babies are starting to eat solid food, but aren't drinking water yet. The babies are beginning "squabbles" with one another; it may be a display of dominance. We put more bedding in Mindy's cage and gave her some lettuce, carrots, yogurt and egg.
- November 8: The smallest baby's eyes don't seem to be open yet. The babies cry when one pushes the other away from Mindy. The babies are beginning to drink from the water bottle. We gave Mindy some more vegetables.
- November 10: We separated the unbanded, umbrous, short hair hamster (whom we named Jay) and the unbanded, golden, short hair hamster (whom we named PB) from the other three hamsters. Another unbanded, golden, short hair hamster (whom we named Mindicus) had been fighting with Jay and PB. Because they were all aggressive with one another, we initially though that they were males. They were still to young to identify their sexes. However, Mindicus (whom we eventually identified as a male) cared for the banded, umbrous, short hair male hamster (Little Morky) and another unbanded, golden, short hair hamster (Parvissima), who were the smallest of the five hamsters. During the night, Jay and PB were placed back with Mindy and their siblings and they all fell asleep.
- November 11: During the day, Jay and PB were placed in the same cage. Mindicus, Little Morky and Parvissima were also placed in a cage of their own. We cleaned Mork's cage and changed the bedding. Because Parvissima was the smallest hamster, we placed her with Mindy during the day and supervised them. Mindy carried Parvissima around in her mouth, but wouldn't let her nurse. We put Parvissima back with Mindicus and Little Morky.
- November 13: We think that three hamsters are males and two are females. Parvissima has finally opened her eyes.
- November 15: The baby hamster don't like to be held yet.
- November 17: We changed the bedding in Jay and PB's cage. We now think that they are females. We changed the bedding in Mindicus, Little Morky and Parvissima's cage. They are so scared of being held if we lay them on their backs. We changed the bedding in Mork's cage. He has grown more accustomed to being held. We changed the bedding in Mindy's cage.
- November 20: Parvissima is getting bigger; her hair appears to be light gray. Instead of trying to pick the hamsters up, we put our hands in their cages and let them sniff us. They climb over our hands.
- November 22: We changed the bedding in all of the cages. We transferred Little Morky to his own cage. He is definitely a male.
- December 1: We placed Parvissima in her own cage. She and Mindicus (who is a male) were attempting to mate. However, we do not wish to duplicate their traits. They are both unbanded, golden, short hair hamsters who display dominant traits. Cleaned Mindy, Mindicus, Little Morky, Mork, and PB and Jay's cages and changed bedding.
- December 9: Cleaned PB and Jay, Little Morky, and Mindicus's cages and changed bedding. Changed bedding in Parvissima's cage. She begin to scream, but when I left her alone she stopped.
- December 17: Cleaned Mork and Mindy's cages and changed bedding.
- December 19: We separated PB and Jay; Jay continuously attacked PB. Jay let us hold her for a while. Each of the hamsters is now in a cage of his or her own.
- December 20: Changed bedding in Little Morky and PB's cages.
- December 29: It seems that the hamsters have been hibernating although it is warm in the room. They have been sleeping frequently and burrowing into their nests. Mindicus came out of his den, stuffed food into his cheek pouches and returned to his nest.
- January 6: Cleaned Mork, Parvissima, Jay and PB's cages and changed bedding. Parvissima has been snippy; she screams. Jay likes to burrow and climb. While researching on the Internet, we realized that she is an umbrous hamsters, which is grey coloring over a golden hamster.
- January 8: Cleaned MIndy, Little Morky and Mindicus's cages and changed bedding.
- January 17: We have decided to breed Jay and Little Morky because they carry recessive traits that will be displayed in the F2 generation.
The next two months consisting of still caring for the hamsters and breeding Little Morky and Jay. However, each time that that Jay was placed in Little Morky's cage, they fought and Jay was removed from the cage. Unfortunately, we were unable to successfully breed Little Morky and Jay. We have made potential crosses of the F1 generation in order for you to get an idea of what an F2 generation would have looked like.