Butterscotch

As much as we adore Butterscotch, well she’s a bit annoying at night. I woke up at 4:00 the other morning and heard her running in the wheel. I giggled and fell fast back to sleep. The giggling has stopped now! Not only do I NOT hear her, but now she’s in Riles’ room. This is probably NOT a good idea! I put her in there last night. I certainly hope she does not keep Riles up or we’ll have to move her again….or at least at bedtime.
She is a sheer joy though. I was raised with all sorts of animals; goats, chickens, dogs, cats, guinea pigs etc. (I want a pigmy goat soooooooo bad!!! Wayne won’t let me have one.) Wayne was not raised with any animals. I did not know how he would be with a hamster, but he was actually adamant about getting her one for Christmas! So we told Santa it was okay to bring her on Christmas Eve.

I am not sure who loves this little fur ball more…. Riles, Wayne or me???!!! Even Jake loves her! Jake wouldn’t hurt a fly. They’re both so cute together!

I did a little research today about how to control her biting of the cage and why in the world does she run in her ball for hours at a time even though she must know she’s not getting anywhere!! Here are a few explanations that I learned and some helpful hints of what to do.

• Chewing on Bars:
  They like the taste of the bars.
  Their teeth grow rapidly so they chew to stop the rapid growth.
  Purchase chew sticks.
  Throw them away when it gets small as Butterscotch can choke on it.
• 
  Why the Wheel?
  They need lots of exercise.
  In the wild, they run an average of 5 – 8 miles per day. Holy Mother of Pearl!!
  They are nocturnal animals.
  Sleep all day
  Play at night
  High metabolism.
  They come from the Syrian Desert and come out of their burrows at night searching for food while their predators are asleep.
• 
  Stop the insanity!!
  Place Vaseline between the wheels and pins.
  Let them run around in the ball for a while.
  Place paper towel rolls in the cage or toys for chewing.
  Play with her at least an hour outside of her cage each day.
  That’s definitely NOT a problem as Riles plays with her constantly!
  Wayne & I play with her when Riles goes to bed!
• 
  Silly Reasons or perhaps real answers from PETA folks:
  She’s trying to escape!
  How would you like to be caged up???
  She wants to go to a party!
  Buy another one..a male one..then you won’t hear annoying cage bite sounds anymore. There will be uh uh oh oh sounds.
  Let her loose NOW!!! Run Hamster, Run!!!