Don't do it!

" Don't do it! they are nasty little things that bite!" That's what my friend Sherry said to me in an e-mail when I mentioned to her that I was thinking of getting a hamster. I have to admit, her warning did give me pause for thought, but it was a little too little and a little too late. I had by that time pretty much decided to do it. I am glad I did. Mr. Humphries is a delightful little thing, and I can say she has never bitten anyone. Hamsters have bad eyesight and so will feel things with their mouths, and she has done that a time or too, and I can see why people might mistake it for a bite, but its not really. She never clamped down and was as surprised to find my finger in her mouth as I and we both withdrew immediately...no harm, no foul. I have learned to wash my hands before I handle her so she will not mistake them for any sort of food. I imagine a peanut in its shell looks to her blurry hamster eyes not unlike a finger and vice versa, so why confuse the issue with the smell of food on my hands? One of us after all is working with a hamster brain, and so I should always do my best to insure its not me. I read up on hamster husbandry before I got Mr. Humphries and one author mentioned that the one down side to Hamsters is their short life span. That they are gone all too soon leaving a hamster sized hole in your heart. I thought that was a bit much when I read it and thought to myself that their life span seemed just about right to me, after three years or so, I would be tired of cleaning the cage and would be ready to move on. Now that I have had the pleasure of Mr. Humphries company for the past 9 months, I am starting to think there will be a hamster sized hole after all.