Where the Wild Things Are

We didn't start the day thinking we'd get new pets. It just sort of happened that way. Last Saturday we were in Schaumburg shopping-- Woodfield Mall and the like. Before going home, John mentioned that he needed to stop in the pet store to get some supplies for his fish tank. It's a big store and one we don't go to very often, so I opted to come in, too. Right inside the door were hampsters. Not just ANY hampsters-- Siberian Dwarf hampsters. We haven't had hampsters since we were children. So we looked. And they ran in their wheels... gosh, like little marathoners! I felt a weird connection. John was grinning ear to ear. So we bought two. The hampsters were cheap. Their "habitat" (a fancy word for a plastic playland) was not so cheap. They're both males. The smaller dark furred guy we named Jack and the chubby, white furred guy is Teddy (yeah, I admit to carrying my Kennedy fascination a bit too far). The habitat is bi-level... the upper level is reached thru a tube that runs from the lower level, on the outside of their cage. The enclosed running wheel is attached to the outside of the upper level. It's an abode well suited to the hampster version of Better Homes and Gardens. For a short anxious while we thought our hampsters may be not smart enough to climb the tube, but they mastered it after a day or so. There's only been one bite (Teddy on John-- I'm not brave enough to paw at them just yet). They're cute and a lot of fun to watch. The cats think so too.