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Well, Barry died yesterday. We knew his teeth issues were a ticking timebomb, but practically overnight he went from "a bit uncomfortable but okay" to "literally dying." Starting on Friday he was super lethargic and could barely walk. I put a call in to the vet, who was out of the office until Sunday. We were gone all day on Saturday, but he was still alive when we got home that night. Yesterday I spoke to the vet, and arranged to bring him in to be put down, but it turns out that wasn't necessary as he was already dead. The good news is, now I'm not stuck wondering if we should have paid to have his teeth trimmed again, as he wouldn't have lived long enough regardless. Also it seems like he went peacefully, and I like that he died at home so he wasn't alone. I would hate to have his final moments be a stressful car ride, and a strange place. We're gonna miss the hell out of this little guy. But he had a good long life; 12 years as a breeding stud, and then another 10 months with us. During his time with us, we taught him the wonders of things like treats, the wheel, and being squished. Seriously, Barry loved to be squished; he was always squirming his way into tight spaces, and often times he'd work his way underneath N00blet just to have her squish him.  And another, showing said squishing: 
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Apr 16, 2018 18:15
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| # ? May 20, 2024 09:05 |
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Sorry to hear of his passing. Not all breeders treat their chins like that, although a lot do. If well cared for and nothing like cancer or other major health problems occurs a chin can love to be almost 20, so it's sad that because of his prior life he fell well short of that. We have a 13 year old male who continues to be as energetic and healthy as ever, although he appears to be getting a bit grouchy in his old age. All ours are paired off and live together in big cages with treats and play time and sticks and stuff to do in their cages. And yes, chinchillas do love to lay on each other, but can you blame them? A chinchilla would be like the most comfortable bed/pillow ever! One of our females always has her children on pillow duty once they are big enough until the are weaned, and it is adorable.
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Apr 16, 2018 18:53
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RIP Barry  I think it’s nice he got to cross over at home, where the squishes are.
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Apr 16, 2018 19:06
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Sorry to hear that. We were pet sitting a chinchilla for two weeks until yesterday. He’s very nice but doesn’t like to be picked up anymore. They used to have 2 and when the other passed away a year ago he became a bit distant. I suppose that’s normal. I’m about to give up on trying to get our roborovsky ham to trust us. I tried every week with treats but she keeps running off like I’m a hungry owl or something. It’s sad, I wish she could relax.
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Apr 16, 2018 19:36
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What are people's experiences here with Chinese hamsters? I have a little one who is 2 years and 8 months old now, and she's still sprightly, getting up every night to play on her wheels and dig. I've never had a hamster live this long before, so assuming she stays healthy, I don't know if I should expect her to age gradually or if it's going to be very sudden.
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Apr 25, 2018 01:01
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I've mentioned it before, but my first hamster when I was 8 or so was a Chinese dwarf hamster, and she lived to be nearly seven and a half years old. It's probably a world record. She outlived three other hamsters I had gotten while I had her. 
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Apr 25, 2018 04:04
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Yeah the ones I've known have been long lived little guys as well  I think it's probably to do with them being less popular than syrians and dwarfs so the species hasn't been as ravaged by lovely mill breeding. Makes them hard to get a hold of where I am tho which I regret because I love them.
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Apr 25, 2018 07:57
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The last two I've had have died pretty quickly, sadly. One seems to have just had some kind of congenital defect as he died a day after he was absolutely fine and healthy, not thin or anything, might've had a stroke. The other one got sick and just never recovered. I do want to get another though. When they have a calmer attitude, they're the best.
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Apr 25, 2018 08:29
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So I’m at the Orange county pet expo and Kaytee has unveiled their new appropriately sized Hamster cage. This thing was made with the feedback my Fiancé and the hamster community gave them about minimum size and requirements.  It is around 450 square inches, and please ask your pet store to carry them as the biggest problem is it takes up so much shelf space the big stores don’t want to carry them.
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Apr 28, 2018 22:44
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Here are my little pigs, both around 1 year old:
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May 18, 2018 15:36
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Slider posted:Here are my little pigs, both around 1 year old: Someone's clearly heard a sound that can only mean ~VEGGIES~! 
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May 18, 2018 15:43
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Nah here is what that looks like 
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May 18, 2018 16:15
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Slider posted:Nah here is what that looks like They are super pretty piggles wow  I had to take the roof off the ham house last night at 3am because Obi was throwing a strop about I don't know what the gently caress and going nuts biting her mesh. I feel like a parent taking the door off the teenagers room and it feels mean and bad (not as bad as 5 hours of sleep tho)
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May 18, 2018 16:37
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Slider posted:Here are my little pigs, both around 1 year old: Nice! I wish I had a bit more space to have pigs. I had them as a kid and they were super fun.
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May 18, 2018 20:12
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Cleaned Screamer's cage, put a bit more bedding in than normal, put the silent runner wheel back in, and she IMMEDIATELY grabs the base and just flips the whole thing over. Guess she's tired of the wheel.
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May 20, 2018 23:52
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Captain Invictus posted:Cleaned Screamer's cage, put a bit more bedding in than normal, put the silent runner wheel back in, and she IMMEDIATELY grabs the base and just flips the whole thing over. Guess she's tired of the wheel. It seems that Screamer has realized that she has power over you. You cleaned her cage, now she wants you to clean that up as well. I picked up my hams today from a friend that was pet sitting while my wife and I were gone for a week. I had their travel carriers in my lap to keep them safe in the car, they must have been glad to be going home since all three of them were asleep for the entire car ride.
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May 25, 2018 20:40
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Yeah, she has power...to have me take her wheel away because she won't stop banging it against the glass.
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May 25, 2018 21:05
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I had to take away the roof of Obi's house so she can't stand on it because being woken up by her chewing the mesh twice a night was genuinely affecting my mental health. I dunno why you've gotten so noisy all of a sudden but enjoy your skylight you wee twat Just as I'm writing this she's wedged herself inbetween my nightstand and the wall. Oh she's out nm, good girl Obi.
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May 25, 2018 22:49
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mrfart posted:Nice! I wish I had a bit more space to have pigs. I had them as a kid and they were super fun. Yep. I had no idea they needed such big cages, my boars are spoiled with a 2x5 / 2x2 upper level.
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Jun 4, 2018 19:11
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  (realized his nails were too long after taking this pic and clipped them right away)Kirby status: still the prettiest boy He does tricks now and he finally warmed up to toys with bells in them, but now he communicates mostly by throwing or shaking his jingle balls when he wants food or attention. He'll only do loud squeaks now if we take away his bells. If you're in his line of sight but not currently feeding or petting him, RING RING RING RING RING RING He acts like a spoiled rich turd ringing a bell to call his butler. ...I love it 
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Jun 10, 2018 18:20
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So, Hillary finally met Persephone the rabbit face to face. Hillary gave Persephone a quick sniff; Persephone recoiled nervously; Hillary headbutted her and gave us a look that spoke volumes as to her opinion of rabbit intelligence levels. Since then Hillary has felt much more secure, and when she's in her Ratmobile she likes to roll over to Persephone's hut and bang on it a few times before going about her business. I think the little sod quite likes having someone around that she can terrorise.
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Jun 18, 2018 10:14
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Gertie my guinea pig passed away yesterday. She was 4.5 years old. I came home from work and saw her lying in her pen, thought she was asleep but touched her and immediately knew she was dead. I feel terrible, I weighted her that morning because her arthritis was acting up and her weight seemed fine, a little low but nothing to get alarmed about so I fed her and went to work. I miss her so much
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Jun 26, 2018 13:42
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HamsterPolice posted:Gertie my guinea pig passed away yesterday. She was 4.5 years old. I came home from work and saw her lying in her pen, thought she was asleep but touched her and immediately knew she was dead. I feel terrible, I weighted her that morning because her arthritis was acting up and her weight seemed fine, a little low but nothing to get alarmed about so I fed her and went to work. I miss her so much Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. 5 years old seems to be about my average for most pigs, and unfortunately I haven't had many go peacefully like Gertie. Post some pics of her if you feel up to it, I'd like to see her.
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Jun 26, 2018 19:55
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HamsterPolice posted:Gertie my guinea pig passed away yesterday. She was 4.5 years old. I came home from work and saw her lying in her pen, thought she was asleep but touched her and immediately knew she was dead. I feel terrible, I weighted her that morning because her arthritis was acting up and her weight seemed fine, a little low but nothing to get alarmed about so I fed her and went to work. I miss her so much Really sorry to hear that. I might get a tiny garden in the future (and a house attached to it). So the guinea pig dream is alive again.
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Jun 26, 2018 22:45
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Gonna double post to link this: https://www.youtube.com/user/tokyotofu8/live Can't guarantee it's working all the time because I've just got an old rear end phone plugged in and running a camera app, but here is my new and improved pig cam. Enjoy watching pigs doing nothing, sleeping, eating, sometimes begging for treats, and doing nothing again- now, without having to install Flash. Edit: Looks like I can't embed live streams, so here is the current view: 
Sirotan fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 22:46
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 Watson died last night. Very unexpected. She was only half a year old. We think she’s a victim of the ongoing heat. I’ve been putting her downstairs in a cool room every day and only brought her up at night when the temperature went down. But maybe it wasn’t enough. Yesterday evening she didn’t want her snack, her only weakness, and I immediately knew something was wrong. This night she didn’t open her eyes anymore and was very cold. My girlfriend held her in her arms, the first time she lets us do that. Minutes later, she died. Gutted, really.
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Jul 21, 2018 11:40
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Did you check her teeth regularly? I had a hamster die long ago from their teeth growing too long and they became unable to eat, and they can die very quickly from that. If her teeth were fine, it could be the heat, yeah. I keep my hams in an air-conditioned room at all times during the summer, I knew they couldn't handle the heat when I found one of my old hamsters laying out flat trying to cool off one day. Luckily I found him in time to get him cooled off but even 80 degrees can kill a hamster if they're left in it depending on the species. Sorry to hear about Watson, she looks like a cutie.
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Jul 21, 2018 12:05
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Captain Invictus posted:Did you check her teeth regularly? I had a hamster die long ago from their teeth growing too long and they became unable to eat, and they can die very quickly from that. I don't think so. She was eating like a champ 2 days ago. She also used her stone to keep her teeth in check frequently. I don't know if it was the heat, maybe she just got sick? But it's weird because she went from perfectly fine to dying in less than 24 hours.
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Jul 21, 2018 13:15
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With rodents it can be a million thing, from disease to a congenital defect. Unfortunately it's hard to find the cause.
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Jul 21, 2018 13:22
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That's often the way with hamsters. They live fast and they die fast. We've been keeping them over 20 years now and only two of them haven't passed unexpectedly when the time came, even if they were old. Hillary looks to be number 3, though; she's over 2 years old now and visibly slowing down a bit, although she's still lively and happy. I think Hillary has also found a bit of a lease of life in the form of Persephone the rabbit. Persephone was born in the wild before being taken by (and rescued from) someone's cat as a pup, and it looks like it happened before she was ready to leave her mother because she's evidently imprinted on Hillary. So we have this situation where a mostly full grown rabbit is hopping around after an elderly hamster who is blowing her off completely because as far as said hamster is concerned, the rabbit is old enough and big enough to look after herself.
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Jul 21, 2018 13:37
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That's amazing, you can't say that and not post video of that
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Jul 21, 2018 14:53
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One of my gerbils died with absolutely no warning. They can just do that, i'm sorry for your loss.
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Jul 21, 2018 15:48
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Also requesting video.
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Jul 21, 2018 15:51
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Captain Invictus posted:That's amazing, you can't say that and not post video of that Of course I can, you think the cantankerous old biddy is going to stand for being filmed?
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Jul 21, 2018 16:21
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I'm in a wheelchair, probably forever. I sold my companies so money shouldn't be an issue. Are rats a good candidate or would being forced to sit down and that their only interaction be bad for them? I'm more concerned with taking care of them well, if they'll have a hard time I don't want them. Most guides online said get 3 or 4 at once so they can interact with each other, that's no problem, I own my house and have the space for a giant cage. I kind of want a bird but I can't sign up for 10+ years of care, rats live 2-3 years (from what I found) which is way more in line with what I want to sign up for. I have dogs now, but I got them years before I was wheelchair bound, I know they would like to go out more, but I think giving them away would be more traumatic.
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Jul 22, 2018 16:20
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craig588 posted:I'm in a wheelchair, probably forever. I sold my companies so money shouldn't be an issue. Are rats a good candidate or would being forced to sit down and that their only interaction be bad for them? I'm more concerned with taking care of them well, if they'll have a hard time I don't want them. Most guides online said get 3 or 4 at once so they can interact with each other, that's no problem, I own my house and have the space for a giant cage. The Rat thread will be able to help you better with those questions.
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Jul 22, 2018 16:59
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post ur hams here's albin having a nap and IMMEDIATELY bolting awake and looking at me between the flash of my phone's camera going off and the picture actually being taken, it's nuts he's a cutie patoot 
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Jul 23, 2018 09:40
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I have 2 mice, a female and a neutered male. They are very sweet and get along great. I know of another male mouse that I'm thinking of adopting. After I have him neutered, do you think my current male will accept him into the group? I know intact males can fight to the death. I'm not too worried about the female, she's very passive.
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Jul 28, 2018 17:55
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Introduce the males first without the female present, and then keep an eye on any fighting.
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Jul 28, 2018 22:28
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Anybody have any tips for cleaning the underside of a dwarf hamster? Waffle has been getting a little crusty on his underbelly, it looks like his scent gland is the culprit. I've felt the area and thankfully I don't feel any lumps nor is any fur missing, although i'm going to keep a close eye on it just in case.
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Jul 30, 2018 02:49
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