After Janet passed away, since she had lived such a short mousey life, I decided to take our Vet's advice and bring Miles
Robo Hamsters home as his new pets. They are very tiny, weighing in at only 2/3 Janet The Mouse's highest weight of 36 grams. They are fast, cute, and very funny. But they are not holding types of hamsters. They're more of a view and be amazed kind of pet.
It's amazing that I even got this one clear picture. I must have taken over 100 of them... all grey blurs. That is, when the hamsters were in the lens at all by the time the mechanics of the machine worked and the aperture opened up. Yes, they really are that fast!
They didn't work out so well for Miles. First, after the initial excitement wore off, he was sad that he didn't have pets that were slow enough to hold. Additionally, Ralph-The-Cat was able to get hold of one that escaped it's cage (that's a story... the cage was locked up tight and there was no place for that hamster to escape, but I have my theory as to how it got out which will remain internalized until such time as I have some proof) and we were down to two.
Miles wanted a different kind of hamster... one that was slow enough to hold, and after we finished the Pizza Party for his Little League Football Championship Game, we went next door to
Kahoots to look at the animals. We looked at lizards and snakes, mice and rats, and finally the hamsters. Even the birds. But Miles was drawn to the pen that held the bunnies and Guinea Pigs. He was particularly transfixed by a very sweet Lop Ear Rabbit, and that's when he announced that he would rather have a bunny than a hamster.
I thought that was actually a good idea, and told Eric so! Bunnies are bigger and tougher than small rodents, and if you get the right breed, they're friendly, fun, and interesting. They can bond as well as a dog or cat, and again, if you get the right one, they will be housebroken and use a litter pan in their cage for their business. So Miles was estatic as we agreed that he would have a rabbit as his next pet, although a little disappointed that we would not buy him the lop. But as we saw it, there was no reason that we could not go to the animal shelter and get a rescue as soon as we bought it a house. We decided to look and see what they had at the store... and were astounded by this model:
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| Available at Kahoots but also on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Super-Pet-Rabbit-Hutch-2-Story/dp/B004E8MEDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322009014&sr=8-1 |
Thank goodness for our I-phones, though! We were quickly able to see that they charged too much for this particular model, as much as we were taken by it, and decided to pass at that moment. Miles, devastated, kept a stiff upper lip, but was shocked when I said that there was really no reason that we couldn't go to the pound and rescue one right away anyway. And even Eric was surprised at the solution.
We had found a wire dog crate at the side of the road in our neighborhood quite some time ago, and had never even finished cleaning it. It has been laungishing at the front of our property, and every time I saw it, I had a pange of regret and guilt because it was a wonderful cage that just needed a little TLC, and also it made the front yard look messy. I suggested we could quickly clean it up and it would make a fantastic temporary house for a bunny until we could settle on a final choice, and with that, Eric took Gabby home while Miles & I headed directly for the
West Valley Animal Shelter.
They had about 20 rabbits there, and Miles was mortified. After all, he is very sensitive and was quite aware - without prompting - that to take one of them was to risk the rest of their lives. He had a very hard time choosing one out, but finally made a 1st and 2nd choice. As soon as we learned that choice #2 had already been spay and could come home the same day, he changed his mind, and that's how Gigi came to live with us!
She is an English Angora bunny, which means that when her hair grows long, she will make a great fiber source for the spinning that I thought I had given up. In addition, they are very quiet and friendly bunnies, bred to be handled for their wool, and large enough to have a fighting chance against Ralph, who has become quite the hunter since his initial success.
We are being very careful with Gigi, but we let her outside of her cage to play a couple of times a day when the dogs are outside and the cat is locked up.
The funniest thing is that she is quite curious about her neighbors, the Guinea Pigs "Charlie (Manson)" and "Jeffrey (Dahmer)" - because anything that cute and sweet and harmless needed to be named after mass murderers, and the Pigges are curious about her too.
Miles is delighted by a pet that can play on it's on as well as be held and cuddled.
...and for the cage issue? We've found that the crate is working wonderfully as a temporary house while we consider our options. Gigi turns out to be fully housebroken and hasn't had an accident since we installed a littler tray in her house.
And we're puzzling over which house to buy her. We did some exploration on the internet after we came home, and knowing that she is just fine where she is at for a while, we're taking our time in making a choice for her permanent abode. Some of the homes which we are considering are:
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| http://www.amazon.com/Ware-01517-Premium-Penthouse/dp/B001AT9P2Y/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1322009014&sr=8-4 |
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| http://www.amazon.com/Trixie-62321-Natura-2-Story-Rabbit/dp/B000WFFZCG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1322009014&sr=8-7 |
Advantek High Rise Rabbit Hutch |
| http://www.amazon.com/Advantek-High-Rise-Rabbit-Hutch/dp/B004FN4AFO/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1322010488&sr=8-21 |
Ware Premium + Bunny Cottage
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| http://www.amazon.com/Ware-01535-Premium-Bunny-Cottage/dp/B002QT8I5W/ref=sr_1_55?ie=UTF8&qid=1322010727&sr=8-55 | | | | |
Expandable Hoppity Habitat Rabbit Cage
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| http://www.amazon.com/Expandable-Hoppity-Habitat-Rabbit-Cage/dp/B002J697IE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1322011099&sr=1-1 and yes, if we go this route, we'll get at least two to connect together and maybe three. | | | |
There were even more cages of interest, but they were just too big because we also need to re-house the Guinea Pigs and we have limited floor space available to all these animals. But who knew that there were so many options?
If anyone has any opinions of these different houses or better yet, has used one or another, we'd love to hear from you about it. And, of course, we always love hearing from you anyway!
But for now, Gigi already thinks she has hit it big, but doesn't have a clue what is in her future. :D
