Archive for January, 2009

Condensation

January 20th, 2009

One time, I noticed that the color of Baby Hamster’s Ovo Cozy Hangout was different. I looker closer & I noticed something … water droplets (look at the clear side of the Cozy Hangout. There isn’t any water droplets on the green side because the warm air must have escaped from the holes)! I keep my apartment pretty cool, about 70°F or 22°C so the chins won’t overheat. I guess the temperature inside the Cozy Hangout is so much warmer than the temperature outside haha! No wonder at times I find the bedding slightly damped, but no smell of pee. I read how hamsters hibernate, I wonder if BH and Daddy Hamster are doing this during the winter. I’ve noticed that they’ve slept longer (20 hours!!) and wake up later at night (at about 3 am).

BH condensation

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Coldest Day of 2009?

January 14th, 2009

It’s cooollldddd today!!!! It’s -12°C, but factoring wind chill it feels like -20°C. The cold weather even made it to the news.

According to the National Weather Service:

LIGHT SNOW COULD RESULT IN ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY UNDER 2 INCHES TODAY. HIGHEST ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ALONG THE INTERSTATE 94 CORRIDOR. THIS WILL RESULT IN SOME SLICK CONDITIONS ON ROADWAYS. WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 15 DEGREES OR LOWER ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR TONIGHT ARE POSSIBLE.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL BE ON THE INCREASE THROUGH TONIGHT. A BAND OF HEAVIER SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ONSHORE WITH ___ _____ … _______ … ______ AND _______ _________ COUNTIES TO BE THE HARDEST HIT AREAS.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE ON THURSDAY … WITH SOME LOCALLY HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE…MAINLY WEST OF HIGHWAY 131. DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES COULD OCCUR ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR ON THURSDAY.

ANOTHER STORM MAY ARRIVE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE.

The chinchillas love it & the hammies are hibernating .. as for me, I’ll be staying at home dressed like a penguin with some hot cocoa in hand.

The (slightly frozen) window from the chinchilla room, looking out to a pine tree

A close up of the frozen capillaries on the window .. this picture grosses me out (I’m one of those people who can’t look at close-up pictures of insects)

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Return After Holiday

January 12th, 2009

Returned to Stateside on Wednesday, but didn’t reach home until Thursday. It was nice to see all the animals again! I was busy cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, and more unpacking.

I bought a bunch of treats from the Tiny Island. I bought this lavender dust bath for the hammies, but they didn’t know what to do with it!! Instead, they just peed in it 0_o
They love the new treats though! I also bought this new wooden box where I put treats in it and the hammies have to figure out how to open it & get to the treats. So far, only Brain figured out how to open the box. The Robos only bit the wooden box and the Syrians are completely clueless. The (hired) petsitter didn’t know that my hammies like to hoard food. So, she kept refilling their food bowls thinking that they’re running out of food! But when I was cleaning their cages, I found food hidden inside the beddings .. that’s why Brain, Dee Dee, the Robos, and the Syrians all gained weight.

Sad news for Tubby though .. I think I’ve spoiled him with 30 minutes+ daily of out-of-the-cage playtime. When I was gone, he was down to 15 minutes for every 2 days. Even though I filled his cage with apple sticks & perches, lava ledge, lots of hay, & other chew things, he must have been bored out of his mind. He chewed off some of the fur on his tail, leaving a bald patch :-(

Tubby's tail1

I’ve been playing with him a lot since I got home and I’m not going to leave Tubby for that long again ..

ps: Winnie is fine and dandy though. Maybe because he’s used to not being let out at all from his days at the breeder.

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Pre-holiday Upgrade 4

January 3rd, 2009

And of course I didn’t forget my chinchilla!

I bought Tubby a large ferret cage, which originally was very unsuitable for a chinchilla; it had plastic ramps (that Tubby would chew and swallow) and the holes in the floor are too largely spaced out for Tubby’s tiny toes. So while I waited for shipment of wooden ledges and other accessories to make the cage more chinchilla-friendly, Tubby just couldn’t wait to hang out in his new house.

Upgrade 4 Tubby

“I want to get through!! Let me get to my new house!”

I don’t have a picture of the newly upgraded cage, but it’s now equipped with wooden ledges and bridges, a chewable lava ledge, lots of chew toys, and definitely a good view of the room from a very tall second floor.

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