Anonymouslysecret

55

I wanted to write an entry about my Frank, the hamster. No one in my life is particularly interested in hearing about him and I like to talk about him because he brought some joy back into my life.

I’ve always been an animal lover. I actually prefer them over humans. If I could, I’d take in every animal and take care of them all. I grew up with a house full of animals and during my adult life I’ve wanted to get a pet but never did. Until I tried to have a baby and at the end of last year I decided I’d get a hamster to fill that void because pregnancy wasn’t happening and a hamster is small enough to keep in a rented property.

I didn’t realise they needed such huge cages. So Frank was upgraded to a 100x50 pretty quickly. He’s got an amazing enclosure. He’d have free roam time too if he wasn’t so nervous. Hopefully that comes with time.

He was an extremely nervous thing when I got him. If I was in the room and I moved too quickly, he’d jump out of his skin and at times he hissed at me. He’s never bitten me, even when scared (apart from a couple times when he thought my fingertip was food and that was just a little nip).

Sounds crazy but I began getting reiki treatments for him so he could be calm and less nervous about… life. Everything scared him. And it worked. He’d calm down a lot after his treatments. I just wanted him to have a happy life and not to be afraid all the time. Recently I was able to actually hold him for the first time. Huge hurdle. Some days he doesn’t want me. Other days he will sit in my hand for a few moments before walking off. It’s slow progress.

I got him a huge wheel to run on. He’s got every treat you can think of. I’ve got a camera in the cage because he’s nocturnal and I wanted to see what he does when I’m not around. Some nights he’s running for hours, other nights he just potters about.

He’s got a real personality. He LOVES food but he’s also a very clean little thing. Until recently, he would pee in a way where he’d be doing a handstand in the corner of his cage so that the pee would go outside! It was funny until I found it up the walls. So I put some barriers up. He’s not too pleased about those. He also buries his poo’s. I found them outside his burrow. And he will throw them out if they’re inside his burrow. I find a little mound of them at times and carefully take them away….

He has no idea how much he saved me. And I’m sad that his little life is so short. So I’m trying to make it a good one. And I hope that soon he’ll be more comfortable to experience more things with me.

I love my Frank.