Bad Luck With Hamsters
She was a clever, friendly, and social long-haired cream-banded Syrian. After her cagemate was euthanized, Sugar began to stare at Sucrose and imitate him. She even learned how to open her exercise ball and escape.
Unfortunately, as fall arrived, Sugar showed signs similar to Spice’s before her death. The vet prescribed medicaiton for her pneumonia. As the week passed, she improved, but developed a prolapsed organ, and had to be euthanized on September 13, 2004.
Two days later, I bought a long-haired dove-banded male Syrian at Petco. He was always afraid, hiding, and running away from me. Almost immediately, he developed wet tail, and perished in a week, so I returned to Petco for a refund. That was the beginning of a string of new hamster problems. A few days later, I bought another dove-banded male Syrian, but the same problem occurred. Unsure what to do, I took him back to Petco so the workers could help him. The next few days, I stopped by a Petsmart, but the Syrian hamsters there had wet tail.
I then found another male of the same color and coat at another Petco. When the problem happened again, I took him to a vet who confirmed wet tail, and suggested returning him and disinfecting the cage. After following his directions, I waited a week before getting another hamster at Petco, but had to return with the same problem, then disinfect the cage. With four new hamsters becoming ill, I felt like an animal killer.
As the cage remained empty, I decided to e-mail a hamster breeder from the California Hamster Association (CHA) for suggestions, show information, and hamster purchase at the next CHA show. After a week of no replies and e-mail technical difficulties, I sent her another e-mail. She soon replied rudely, falsely accusing me of harassment by repeatedly e-mailing her, and making me sound like an animal killer. I replied with my explanations, hopefully settling things.
The hamster show took place at a Petco, and I never brought up the e-mail subject. I enjoyed the show, and Sucrose won second place for Mellowest. After the show, I did a liitle shopping for pet supplies, and saw two dove-banded male Syrians for sale. They appeared cute and healthy, but I didn’t buy any, because I wanted to quickly get Sucrose home and back into his cage. I also figured that the way home would be too long for a new hamster in a cardboard box.
The cashier informed me that lately, there had been many new hamsters being returned for refund because of wet tail, and that morning, the Petco workers had to remove a hamster for that deadly contagious disease. I was glad I decided not to buy a hamster.
"I think they’ve been breeding too much," the worker had concluded. As the week passed, I visited different petstores and examined hamsters. On November 22, 2004, I wandered into a different Petco and saw a long-haired dove-banded male. The workers let me hold him, and informed me that he had been there for two months without health problems, so I decided to buy him. A month has passed, and he is still active and healthy.