I am SOOOOO totally NOT sorry that we took all of these hamsters. They are the most HILARIOUS thing I have ever seen in MY LIFE. They get into these funny little battle-royales (just playing, not actually injuring each other) where the whole group just dog piles, rolling all over the place and running and leaping on each other and squeaking... It is like someone flips a switch and they all decide to just have at 'er. The girl's tank and the boy's tank are right next to each other, so what is REALLY funny is when all fifteen of them go into puppy pile mode.
The other day one of the boys was laying on his back in the corner, with his feet all splayed out like a little panda bear, eating a sunflower seed...
Then there are the WHEELS. Oh yes, the wheels are the BEST. The hammies reside in my two daughter's bedroom, and the wheels squeak quite loudly, so at night we take them out. Come morning, the wheels get put back and it is an immediate scramble to try to fit 7 hamsters all going the same direction in one wheel and 8 all going the same direction in another wheel. I have got to get video of this stuff. I about die every time.
Feeding time - I give them a big handful of birdseed, plus some hamster muesli with biscuits and larger grains, and some corn on the cob or other veggies... I have to extract several hamsters from each dish before I can clean it and refill it, and by the time I get it 2 inches from the substrate it is full of hamsters, pushing the big bits out of the way and vacuuming up seeds. Then they proceed to run around all top-heavy with their faces twice as big as their bodies.
EVERY time I enter the room, they all pop to the front, up on their little back legs being all nosy.
I watched 4 of the younger boys wrestle over who was going to drink out of the water bottle first. No reason, just because it looked like fun. The bottle was full, it had been an hour or more since I filled it, so no one was overly thirsty or anything. And the wrestling, it really truly ISN'T aggression. I watched very closely at first. No one gets hurt, and they aren't biting, just pushing and pouncing.
I could go on and on. But in conclusion, these little suckers should be kept in same sex colonies, if only for the entertainment factor. I can watch them for hours. They just kill me.
The other day one of the boys was laying on his back in the corner, with his feet all splayed out like a little panda bear, eating a sunflower seed...
Then there are the WHEELS. Oh yes, the wheels are the BEST. The hammies reside in my two daughter's bedroom, and the wheels squeak quite loudly, so at night we take them out. Come morning, the wheels get put back and it is an immediate scramble to try to fit 7 hamsters all going the same direction in one wheel and 8 all going the same direction in another wheel. I have got to get video of this stuff. I about die every time.
Feeding time - I give them a big handful of birdseed, plus some hamster muesli with biscuits and larger grains, and some corn on the cob or other veggies... I have to extract several hamsters from each dish before I can clean it and refill it, and by the time I get it 2 inches from the substrate it is full of hamsters, pushing the big bits out of the way and vacuuming up seeds. Then they proceed to run around all top-heavy with their faces twice as big as their bodies.
EVERY time I enter the room, they all pop to the front, up on their little back legs being all nosy.
I watched 4 of the younger boys wrestle over who was going to drink out of the water bottle first. No reason, just because it looked like fun. The bottle was full, it had been an hour or more since I filled it, so no one was overly thirsty or anything. And the wrestling, it really truly ISN'T aggression. I watched very closely at first. No one gets hurt, and they aren't biting, just pushing and pouncing.
I could go on and on. But in conclusion, these little suckers should be kept in same sex colonies, if only for the entertainment factor. I can watch them for hours. They just kill me.