I managed (finally) to take a decent picture of one of my Chinese dwarfs, Theo. He seems to be on the mend since his run in with his brother last week, putting on weight nicely.

Following the story on the Austrian incest case, I have wonder HOW the wife of the father could not have known what was going on in the cellar below her home, where her daughter and three children were being kept. Elizabeth had been in labour six times during those twenty-four years in captivity, raised six children, yet no one above heard anything?!?!?!

I can't even imagine what Elizabeth and her children must have gone through. When her eldest daughter became seriously ill, and her father "allowed" her to be taken to hospital, that is the first time in their lives that those children had ever seen daylight.

Every day on the news, we hear appalling stories of war and suffering. Hopefully, just this once, the plight of Elizabeth and her family will have a happy ending.

I was just thinking (dangerous habit, I know), I still haven't introduced my Chinese dwarfs Theo and Sky to the world. I'm afraid that getting Sir D settled in has resulted in a temporary lull in the attention my other boys have got. Theo and Sky are brothers, aged around 15 weeks (you can never be sure of the exact age when it comes to pet shop hams). They live in a nice sized cage, with 2 hours and 2 wheels. They both run from hand to hand, and explore arms and shoulders. I wanted to say they enjoyed doing these things, but I don't know if they do!

This is Sky. Sky is bit of a juvenile delinquent by all accounts. It seems one of his favourite pass times is to make Theo squeek.



This is Theo. Theo has a little fluffy piece of white fluff on his forehead. This makes it easy for me to tell them apart, as Sky doesn't have the fluffy bit. Appologies for the poor picture quality, Chinese hams move very fast!

Bought Sir D a lovely new cage yesterday from Wilko's. Was amazed it only cost 20 quid!! It's on 3 levels, with tubes connecting levels. Sir D soon got to work exploring - he now has a great love for climbing, much to my dismay. He monkey bars it across the wires across the top of the cage and uses his mouth to grip onto the side wires so he can get down. Apart from when he misses.....

He slept (and I use that term loosely) in my room last night. All i heard all night was *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *THUD*, as he fell. This morning, I noticed he had moved all of his bedding to the second level of his cage. I'm assuming to help cushion his falls.

Well, at least now he is out of that tiny Habitrail cage.

He has arrived!!!

Gus brought him round about 12 O'Clock, and got him out. He is gorgeous!! Straight on my hand, up my arm, and onto my shoulder. It struck me how much heavier he is than my two Chinese dwarfs. He is as big as my hand - four times the size of Sky and Theo!! All white, with a lovely light cream colour at the top of his shoulders and the top around his head.

Sir Dandelion is now asleep. I gave him some extra shredded toilet tissue for his bedding, and he spent a bit of time re-arranging it until it was just right, then he laid down on his side and closed his eyes. I watched him through the plastic, and he was facing me with his little paws drawn up to his chest. Adorable!!!

It's a lovely stewfor dinner today, so I gave all my hammies a little piece of carrot and swede each in their bowls to munch when they wake up this evening.

Will be getting him a lovely new cage soon, as the one he came in was tiny. It's one of those stupid Habitrail playground's - the plastic things only really fun for kids. He finds it a bit of a challenge leaving his bed to get into the main part of the cage because the tube connecting them is too small. I have my eye on a lovely huge cage on ebay, so here's hoping he won't have to live in the Habitrail for much longer.

I want to thank Gus for bringing him into my life. I want to thank Joe for rescuing from his previous owners and giving him a lovely Silent Spinner. Thanks guys, I promise he will be extremely well looked after, and thank you for entrusting me with him :-)

My New Obsession

Dear friends, I firmly believe I have gone hamsterifickly crazy. It seems for the past three months, my life has been filled with all things hamster (much to the annoyance of my dear dear other half). My obsession has grown to such an extent, that I am adopting THE most adorable, gorgeous little man EVER tomorrow. He shall hence forth be known as Sir Dandelion and he shall be lord and master of York. People shall bow to his every whim. I have a shopping trip planned for tomorrow to get him lots of goodies.

Exciting times indeed!

Yours

The not so grown up 29 year old but still brimming with excitement none-the-less

Bad Puppy