Thursday, August 30, 2007

Endings & Beginnings (An Image-Heavy Update)

When we came home from the rescue on Sunday, we found our little old Pandora curled up as if asleep. Unfortunately, she would never wake up again. Our Pandy passed away sometime between late Saturday afternoon and early Sunday evening. Here's a photo of her from her first day home.

It broke our hearts, but I think Chris took it a bit harder as the girls are his babies. He decided he wanted to adopt the hamster we are fostering. So sorry to see you go so soon Pandy. We'll miss you, and were glad to finally give you a permanent home filled with love and care. Good night sweetie.

My good news is that I've decided to start fostering guinea pigs for the rescue. This weekend we picked up two boys to help Carla out. Their names are Walter and Logan. If you're interested in either of these two adorable boys, contact Carla of the North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue for an application.

Walter is friendly and affectionate 1.5 year old chocolate, beige, and white American. His family gave him up after deciding on getting a dog. They felt that there would be no room for their guinea pigs once they did. I have my opinions on that, but I'll just be polite for once and keep them to myself.

Anyway, our wonderful Walter has taken to begging for attention and treats, which is just too adorable. He's going to make such a great little friend for someone.

Logan is our resident tough guy. He's a black, gold, and white American Crested. At six months, he doesn't weigh much more than our little Bobby, but he's got a lot of courage. He's a curious boy and likes to sniff around for adventures.

Lo-lo and Bobby often call out to each other, while Walter and Phin seem to talk among themselves from their respective cages. It's funny to see the young bucks and older boys forming little piggy cliques. I've never heard of such a thing.


I woke up at 05:13 this morning with an idea for a name for the baby (I didn't want to wait on Chris anymore). So the baby is now called Ursa.
The idea hit me when I remembered the day we picked her up from the shelter; as I held her she began to roar at me. I thought of calling her Leona, but then thought better of it. I gave the task of naming her to Chris, but we were still calling her the baby.

Aside from her little roar, I thought about the ad Chris found in one of his old comics about hamsters which referred to them as "little bears." So Ursa seemed perfect when I thought about her little roar.

As for the boys and Amora, they're all doing well. I'll end the entry with photos of them taken earlier this week.




An amazed Amora poses for the camera.








A fattened Phin after a snack of strawberries, sitting in his favorite place in the world -- his pigloo.










A bigger Bobby, safe and snug in the back of his cozie.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A Quick Update

Our apologies for being M.I.A. for so long. The Bear and I have been busy with work, home, and family issues. Things seem to be settling down, so hopefully this will mean regular posts in the near future.
The boys are doing well, as are their new "sisters" -- our hamsters Amora and Pandora. They are from Phin and Bobby's shelter.
Pandora (photographed on the left) was supposed to be a foster, but she was just too adorable to let go. She was surrendered by a student, and was named due to the fact she was trouble that came in a box labeled "Something Greek."

Both seemed to have suffered from a bit of neglect. Poor Amora (photographed below) had sores on her feet. Originally named Olympia, we renamed her Amora because of a heart-shaped pattern on her backside; amor in Spanish is love.

We'll be picking up a foster hammy this Saturday, and are still discussing whether or not to foster a piggy. Hopefully we'll be able to. In any case, there's plenty of pictures to come.

The shelter has been busy busy busy. Two of the three hamsters that recently came in gave birth and twelve guinea pigs arrived from Jersey City. So if you know anyone interested in adopting a hammy or guinea pig, drop a line or contact the North Jersey Guinea Pig and Hamster Rescue.