I love animals. And growing up, we always had pets. We had "normal" pets like cats and dogs, but we also had hamsters, rats, mice, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Not necessarily all at the same time, obviously, but I've owned each of those animals.
When Jerbs and I moved in together (in our dorm room) she mentioned she'd never had a little fuzzy animal, but had always wanted one. Eventually we decided we were going to get a hamster because they were easy to smuggle into the dorm room and . . . y'know, why not? So in the years we lived together we had a number of small animals.
Chuu
Chuu was our first hamster, and he was a panda bear. We got him through our friend Betsy, whose panda bear hamster, Mushu, had had babies with another friend's hamster. Betsy was trying to find a home for Chuu when his older brother Totoro started beating up on him pretty badly, so she gave us Chuu and his cage and food and some bedding for like $15. Chuu's full name was Chuuregard, because we just thought it sounded funny. And his full full name was Chuuregard Nathaniel Bastian Tomko Giffin Weed. He lived with us from January of 2006 until he died in June of 2008. He's buried in Kingman, in Jerbs' mom's rose garden (we take our pets seriously). He was a great little hammy. Once he escaped from his run around ball in our dorm room and we had to cut a hole in the closet floor to get him out . . . fun stuff. That story could be a sentimental Sunday in and of itself.
Pye
Our second hamster. She was a golden bear with grey ears, and she was incredibly fluffy. She was bigger than Chuu and looked more like a hamster (Chuu was pointy like a rat). She was a good hand hamster and she used to sit flat on her butt on your hand and clean her feet. Her full name was Pye Olympia Giffin Weed. We had her from March of 2006 until April of 2008, when she died of URI. We actually took her to the vet and got medicine for her for it, but it didn't work. She's buried beside Chuu.
Davidbowie
Our third hamster. She was a dwarf hamster with a BIG attitude. If you tried to touch her sometimes she'd act like she was boxing, and it was adorable. When I was living with Theresa, Theresa's dog, Riley, almost ate her. Like Davidbowie actually went in the dog's mouth. It was horrifying. Later when Davidbowie lived at Jerbs' parents' house in Kingman, she was in her run around ball once (and it's a small ball) and Olaf, their big dog, picked it up thinking it was a toy. We had Davidbowie from . . . I think about May of 2006 until July or August of 2009. She's buried next to Pye and Chuu.
Brannigan and Ratigan
Two separate animals, but they were brothers to a fault, so it feels wrong to separate them. Brannigan and Ratigan were rats. Brannigan was a white and gold rat, and Ratigan was dark brown. Brannigan had a sweet tooth and liked to eat ice cream. He was the less smart of the two of them. Ratigan loved potato chips. They lived in a little split level cage with a hammock in it. They were still around when Corey and I met, and one night when he was vacuuming, he put the hose up to their cage and vacuumed their noses. They loved it, it was too funny. We got them in July of 2008. Ratigan passed away first, in November of 2010 (I was in Chinle for Thanksgiving when it happened) and Brannigan died a few months later, probably in March of 2011. They're buried together, in the same coffin, in the rose garden near the hamsters.
Sable and Allegro
Our girl rats. Allegro was albino, and oddly enough, she passed away only a few weeks after we got her. We still don't know why. Sable lived much longer, but she was a very aggressive rat, so we didn't hold her much. But Irene, Jerbs' cat, seemed to really like her, and she used to sit by her cage and they'd "talk." It was very sweet. We had Sable from . . . I don't know, February of 2009 until September of 2010. When she died, we added Sable to Irene's name. Allegro and Sable are buried next to each other at my dad's house.
Sting
Our second dwarf hamster. We got him in October 2009. He was a sweet little dude, and he was a really cool shade of grey. Corey had never held a dwarf hamster until he met Sting, and he was really fascinated by him, it was funny. Irene was fascinated by Sting and one time, she fell into his cage. I found him hiding in my laundry, while Irene sat in his cage totally fine. It was weird. In January of 2011, Irene knocked over his cage while we were out and, I'm assuming, chased him to play with him. He didn't survive it, sadly. I believe he's also in Jerbs' mom's rose garden.
So that's it, all of our little fuzzies. After Sting died Jerbs and I decided not to adopt any more pets together, since I was getting ready to move out with Corey and all. I know it might be silly to some people to remember our pets the way we do, but we really did love them, and they really did make our lives better while they were around. I won't lie, I think they're all hanging out together in animal heaven.
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