Just Bailey and me...and Tucker makes three

In October I did something really spontaneous. I went and bought a hamster. I'd been contemplating it for awhile; I had two hamsters as a teenager and thought they were pretty neat. My first hamster was named Scooter, and he was a sweetheart. He knew his name, would sleep in my shirt and loved chocolate chip cookies.

Well, one day in October I was hanging out with Jodi and Olivia. We went to Petco to get Jodi's cat some food. I had mentioned to Jodi about wanting a hamster so we went to look at them, just for fun. We took one look at a handsome cream-colored one and instantly fell in love. I just knew he was the one. I immediately bought him. Jodi, who is the pet-naming guru thought he looked like a Tucker. And, he did. I named him Tucker.


Tucker was tame right from the start. I gave him a couple of days to get used to his new home, let him use pieces of an old t-shirt that had my scent on it for his bed and then slowly started touching him more and more. He never bit me once. From the second day I had him I could reach in and pick him up and give him kisses on his nose. He loved to climb the bars on his cage and unfortunately he loved to gnaw upon them as well. This is not good for hamsters and can actually break their teeth, cause brain damage and can be fatal (hamsters' teeth grow their entire lives; if one breaks, they grow unevenly and can prevent the hamster from being able to eat). So, I bought him a huge aquarium and put tons of toys in it to keep him entertained. He was a happy little guy.


Then, sometime in February, I noticed he was sleeping later and later. And he started getting fat. I just thought he was lazy like his mama. :0) But, one day in March it dawned on me that I wasn't seeing a whole lot of droppings (ahem...AKA hamster poop) so I thought, "Wow, maybe he's constipated and that's why he looks so fat!" I took him to the vet the next day (Jodi referred me to the vet she used for her guinea pigs). In the back of my mind I knew it wasn't just constipation and a lazy hamster. I was right. The vet confirmed that Tucker had a tumor in his abdomen. The vet also assured me that he did not believe Tucker was in any pain. So I took the little guy home and expected to be able to spend at least a few more months with the sweetie.

Nine days later, Tucker died. I watched him take his last breath. He was a special hamster. I know it may sound silly to mourn the loss of a rodent, but he was such a cuddly, sweet, gentle creature. And he was my pet. I didn't have him in my life for long, but he will always be in my heart.