OMW! Guess what husband and difficult child came home with!!!!!!

[lovelyboy]

So I got the phonecall from husband yesterday that they bought a hamster for difficult child! When they got home it was 2 !!!!!! A male and female!!!!!! So I ask hubby, and what about the babies! He says he didn't think about that!!!!!!!
Everything went well yesterday with difficult child and the hamsters....except that he doesnt understand that you cant pick them up all the time and that its important to keep the cage close!!!!
UNTILL this morning!!!!!! When the hamsters started biting him! So now he hates them, spit at them.....and we had the Sunday morning tantrum! Agh....we already have fish, 3 very old doggies, 2 budgies and now 2 hamsters! And guess who needs to clean everything and look after sick animals!!!!!

 

[hearts and roses]

Ugh, hamsters are cute and all but I have to say, having gone through hamster hell myself years ago, they can become pretty gross pretty fast!

Ours got this fairly common hamster thing called 'wet tail', ew. Prevention tip: keep the cage scrupulously clean. Although we cleaned the cage thoroughly every week it was not enough, the hamsters died of wet tail. Therefore, I banned all those little small caged mammals as pets. And you know what? My girls lost interest after the first couple weeks and it just became another chore for me. Too bad you can't gift them to someone!

 

[SRL]

So I got the phonecall from husband yesterday that they bought a hamster for difficult child! When they got home it was 2 !!!!!! A male and female!!!!!! So I ask hubby, and what about the babies! He says he didn't think about that!!!!!!!

That is TOO funny! How could a thing like the possibility of hamster sex possibly slip his mind?! And why didn't whoever sold them to him warn him?!

If he hates them I'd call and see if there's a return window, especially since they sold you a male and female.

 

[Ktllc]

If you can't return them, maybe get one of those fancy tube system where the hamster can run around. Explain to difficult child that it is their world and they must be treated like fish: clean them, look at them, but don't touch them!
As far as the possibility of babies.... can a hamster even be neutered??

 

[hearts and roses]

If you can't return them, maybe get one of those fancy tube system where the hamster can run around. Explain to difficult child that it is their world and they must be treated like fish: clean them, look at them, but don't touch them!
As far as the possibility of babies.... can a hamster even be neutered??

Lol!

 

[keista]

Get a snake and feed the hamsters to it. Joking!

So sorry you got stuck with more pets. I didn't do hamsters, but did have a guinea pig. DD1 decided to play dress up with it and it bit her but good! We named him nibbles and he became a very neglected pet.

I think a call to the pet shop is in order. Don't even ask for money back, just have them take the critters.

 

[lovelyboy]

They are friends again!!!! But I do think my difficult child and his little brother is handling them too much!!!!!!

 

[ready2run]

ugh... my daughter got a guinea pig from the pet store and it had babies three weeks later, since she is a difficult child she would not let me get rid of the babies. there are 5 of them now and i think the mom is pregnant again because the kids let them 'play together'

 

[susiestar]

My husband would be taking them back and explaining to difficult child that he made a big mistake. Or my husband would be the one doing ALL hamster care. And yes, I CAN ignore a cage until my husband cleans it. Yes, I feel bad for the animal, and I make husband's life a living misery until he does it, but I can move past the "poor pet" view to the "husband better deal with this because he was told that I wouldn't" view. And lost hamsters would mean my husband took time off work to find them if he didn't get the message through to the kids that they had to stay in ther cages with th doors closed. HE would also get to explain what the hamsters were doing when the kids asked questions because the hamsters were having sex.

husband also would NOT get a LOT of things he wanted until he stepped up and dealt with the responsibilities or until he stepped up and took the blame and took them back.

WHY don't guys THINK before they do this stuff? Oh, right. That is part of what is on the X chromosome that broke off to make it a Y chromosome. I forgot.

 

[buddy]

Oh gosh... watch them carefully. Q is still traumatized because he held hamsters when age 5 (and before morning medications when he stayed at my sister's house....she said YES! ) and he got scared and threw them and they must have been really injured because one died quickly and the other over night. He still talks about it ten years later. My other sister's son had dwarf hamsters (they ARE cute) and he loved them so much... they of course lived a good life but they dont live long and they just died... he was DEVASTATED, my mom was there at the time and had to call my sister to come home because he was so beside himself.

Pets can teach such great things but sounds like you have given your kids plenty of opportunities for that daily without this! Wonder if there is a tiny IUD or implant or teeny tiny bc pills.... LOL

 

[TerryJ2]

I've never had hamsters, but if they're like most animals, they don't mind if you handle them while you add food. They will associate food and handling. Always ADD food, never take it away while you're handling them.
Sorry, but the yelling spitting part, after they bit difficult child, kind of cracked me up. So typical.
Good luck with-the new family ... and extended family ... and extended, extended, once-removed second generation and all that family ... lol.

 

[lovelyboy]

Oh my goodness! My difficult child can not remember to close the cage!!!! He is SO forgetfull!
After reading up on hamsters I am definitly going to phone the petshop and ask if I can return the female!!!! Seems that you are not suppose to keep 2 in one cage!!!!! They will rip each other apart!!!!!!
Another day in "mommy land", full of typical "mommy returning hamsters day"!

 

[TerryJ2]

Good idea. Return the mommy.

Also, aren't hamsters nocturnal? Won't they keep him awake at night? Can you keep the cage in the den or something, with-a cloth over it at night? Just a thought.

 

[lovelyboy]

The lady is taken back! All going well....luckily, no night time props.....)

 

[TerryJ2]

Yay! I hope it goes more easily now.

My difficult child has asked for a hamster several times over the yrs. I told him that I refuse to buy something that will only live an hr.

 

[AnnieO]

I'm with Susie...

My xh had a snake. I do NOT like reptiles. But... I dealt, as long as said slithery thing was in its aquarium and xh fed it and cleaned up its home.

He didn't.

I warned him if I had to feed it, I would find another home for it. He agreed.

The day after I fed it, the snakey rescue people came by and picked it up. I don't think xh ever forgave me... Don't care.

by the way, snakes STINK when not cared for properly.