Chinchilla Nation

Venting

12th April 2010

I was watching a video about Gohan-Chan (a hamster who was supposed to be a meal for a zoo snake, but snake decided to befriend it) on Youtube. Youtube has a list of related videos on the right side of the page, so I clicked on one. Not good! It happened to be a video of someone’s pet snake eating a dwarf hamster (one that looks like Brain mind you!). The instant the snake attacked the hamster, I was grossed out. What’s even more disturbing is that there are more amateur videos of other pet snakes having hamsters as meals In my opinion, these kinds of videos are not funny nor they are entertaining. I really enjoy watching documentaries, especially ones about animals & I don’t mind watching (with 1 eye closed) a lion attacking a baby elephant because even though it’s cruel, it’s recorded for educational purposes & that is how mother nature balances order in the wild. As for pet snakes, I am sure that pet owners do have a choice on what to feed their snakes. I used to keep 10 piranhas and despite popular beliefs, feeding them frozen mice or feeder goldfish isn’t always the healthiest thing for them (not to mention the cleanups I’d have to do). In fact, that’s how diseases are transferred from one species to another.

Ok, enough venting for now.

Tags: hamster, snake
Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health, Other animals, Rants | Comments (0)

Whisker Craziness!

8th April 2010

Check out those whiskers!

Tubby robe sleeve

Winnie whiskers

In memory of Baby Hamster

DH sleepy whiskers

And those long whiskers are not for looking cute only, according to Live Science:

Most rats have poor vision, but they make up for it with the “whiskers on their snouts. They use the long hairs, also called “vibrissae,” in the same way that blind people use canes. By whisking the hairs across objects the come across, rats and other rodents form mental pictures of their surroundings.

Tags: chinchilla, hamster, long whiskers, rat, rodent, vibrissae, whisker
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla pictures, Hamster adventure, Hamster pictures | Comments (1)

Happy Easter!

3rd April 2010

From Tubby!

Tubby easter 2010

Here’s a picture from behind the scene that didn’t make it onto the blog.

Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla pictures | Comments (5)

Better?

30th March 2010

After 11 days of treatment (cleaning the area with hydrogen peroxide & applying antibiotic cream twice daily), this is how Joy’s stomach looks like:

Joy bleeding3

I’m not sure if this is an improvement. I felt that the area & it’s hard (feels like a scab), but at least it’s clean & there’s no more blood.
I know that in the picture she looks really dirty, I think it’s because her bottom side keeps rubbing against her flying saucer, which she always pees on no matter how many times I wash it.

I talked with the vet over the phone & he said that there are 2 possibilities: (1) that it’s a scar tissue, or (2) it’s a tumor.
He told me to keep an eye on her for a couple of weeks to see if the scar gets smaller or not. If it gets smaller, that means it’s a scar tissue, if not I will definitely bring her in to have the tumor removed if the vet thinks that she can handle the surgery.

Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (0)

Possible Skin Tumor?

16th March 2010

Earlier this year, I noticed that Joy had something that looked like an abscess on her tummy. She had probably popped it herself & it was already scabbing up by the time I saw it. I cleaned the area, applied some aloe vera & thought nothing much of it.

Joy bleeding1

Just last week, I noticed that the abscess has returned & it’s bigger. I cleaned the area again, applied more aloe & waited for a couple of days to see if it would get better.

Joy bleeding2

Since it didn’t scab up, I took her to the vet today. Vet suspected that it’s skin tumor because he felt a lump. He wanted to be conservative, so he just prescribed Joy with some antibiotic cream. For a week, I’m supposed to clean the area twice a day with hydrogen peroxide & subsequently apply the antibiotic cream. If that doesn’t help, vet said that he could surgically remove the skin tumor & it won’t be a difficult procedure as the tumor is in the skin layer, no need to open her up.

So we’ll see how she’ll do with the antibiotic cream for a week.

Tags: abscess, antibiotic cream, hamster, hamsters, hydrogen peroxide, roborovski, roborovskis, skin cancer, skin tumor
Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (3)

Tubby Loves Carpet

28th February 2010

The chinchillas have their daily out-of-cage playtime. When I put Tubby back to his cage after his playtime was over, I discovered this:

Tubby's jizz

Yeaaaaaa … I guess Tubby got a little too excited and relieved himself on the carpet. Mind you I discovered this a little after the deed was done, so the substance was already hardened. Not to mention this is carpet! How I cleaned the mess: I poured hot water and vinegar over it, let the solution sit in the carpet for a little while, then soaked the liquid with paper towel until it’s all dry.

Posted in Chinchilla adventure | Comments (1)

Valentine’s Day 2010

14th February 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Winnie Valentine 2010

ps: Winnie is supposed to be holding a heart-shaped paper.

Tags: chinchilla, valentine's day
Posted in Chinchilla adventure, Chinchilla pictures | Comments (4)

Pointy Nose

4th February 2010

I was looking through old photos & came across this:

Robo pointy nose

It’s part of a larger picture & I didn’t notice the girly’s pointy nose until I zoomed in on her

Posted in Hamster adventure | Comments (2)

Peek-a-boo

25th January 2010

Silly Winnie sure loves hiding!

Winnie hide

Posted in Chinchilla adventure | Comments (2)

2010 Calendars

17th January 2010

A bit slow on my part, but my hamsters have been featured on this year’s calendars

The calendar comes in 2 colors: pink & blue.

In the pink one, Almond & Joy are featured on my birth month; in the blue one, Baby Hamster is featured in the month of January.

I’m so happy that Baby Hamster is featured. That way, even though he’s gone (& missed much), I feel that he has been commemorated by being featured on the calendar.

With that being said, I’m going to a professional printing shop to print both of the calendars & have them laminated