Lily Allen, Baby London, and Baby Barcelona

It doesn't surprise me that not all of Lily's babies survived. After all, they were left alone to fend for themselves at the pet store, and were only reuinted with their mom after hamster rescuers intervened.

Still, I'm sad to report that as of Sunday, Lily had three babies left, and now she has only two. They are both incredibly adorable, and are growing strong and independent. But Mama Lily is still queen of the nest and is caring for them all the time.

Here's a pic of Lily Allen:



Here is Baby Barcelona:





And here is Baby London:





My best guess is that these guys are about 12 days old. They are named after the two cities I'm visiting soon with my best friend Britt (I named a hamster after her, too!). I've been giving these munchkins veggies and seeds and tofu, and soon enough Lily will be ready to say goodbye to her adorable kidlets.

RIP Lovey

My friend Dave and his girlfriend Annie, who adopted Lovey on Wilhelm Day this summer, just let me know that Lovey passed away. I'm so sad for their loss, but incredibly happy that they adopted Lovey and had her for the time they did because they really loved her a great deal and gave her a darn good life.

Lovey was an incredibly sweet and gentle hamster, and she made everyone happy who got to meet her. We will miss you, Lovey!

Naughty Mary Jane.

Here's the quick recap:

1) Last weekend, I got this hamster whom I named Mary Jane. She came to me in a cage with her boyfriend and their five babies.

2) I immediately took the boyfriend out, because the last thing we need at the NYHH is more babies. I hoped MJ wasn't pregnant.

3) Last night, I found out that Mary Jane is NOT pregnant. How do I know this?

4) Cause I watched her give birth to five babies last night.

Yup. Turns out she was two weeks pregnant when I got her. So now I've got five MORE brand-new babies, all born 10/26/06. Mary Jane is now in a cage with them, and her babies are in two other cages, hopefully separated by sex. I hope.

I can't even count how many hamsters I have now. It's INSANITY, I tell you.

Anyway, here are pics of her older set of munchkins:

Mama and a Munchkin

Out for Dinner

Possibly the Baby in the Poop Picture

Ahh! Cute attack!

Munchkin

A Tunnel of Adorable

Baby Boom

Wow. I took in fifteen (I think) hamsters this weekend.

Just think about that for a minute.

Fifteen.

See, these rescuers from Westchester and CT found a cage at a Petco that had squirming, days-old babies in it and no mom. No mom = no food, no drink, no warmth. These babies were going to die. So they searched the Petco, found a lone lady hamster roaming around, and decided to hope that she was the mama and put her in with the babies. Then they rescued ALL of them from the store. The babies appear to be just days old--eyes still closed, look like newts, lots of squirming.

(If you are counting, that is Mama + 6-8 babies = 7-9 hamsters)

Then Claudie, the hamster whisperer, drove all of those hamsters down from CT to me, along with a mama dwarf, her five babies, and the daddy. The babies seem to be 14-20 days old, though I'm not sure on that. In the coming weeks, I will need to sex them and separate them once they hit 3-4 weeks old. The bad news is that the dad and mom were in the cage together, which means the mom could be pregnant again right now. Fun!

(Still counting? Mama + Daddy + 5 babies = 7 hamsters)

Total = 14-16 hamsters.

I didn't have time to update the site last night with pictures of the new hamsters and with the news that Cale Hoeflicker has found a home with an amazing, caring woman and I am so happy for him. I'll try to do all that tonight.

In the meantime, here are pictures to whet your appetite.


First, the Syrian Mama and Babies:

The Mama

The Babies

Mama Nursing a Baby


The Dwarf Mama and Babies:

Me and a Dwarf

Two Dwarfs Cuddling and Napping

Cutest Dwarf Ever (with Poop)

The Dwarf Mama

Spinning the Night Away

Photos and bios are up now of the four new guys... Lenny Briscoe (who is fluffy beyond all belief), Ann Richards (a sweet, stable hamster who is so pretty!), Oubliette (who is young, adorable, and a running superstar), and Spinderella, who is adorable too but has a weird spinning addiction.

Check them out on the NYHH site for full details and cuteness.

In the meantime, here is Ms. Spinderella, DJ extraordinaire--she either loves to dance, or is mentally ill. Only Dr. Pilny will know for sure. I will let you know when I know more, dahlings... of course I hope she is fine, but I want to double check, you know?

Hamsterpalooza!

Man, what on earth was I complaining about? I now have FOUR new syrian hamsters. I haven't taken pictures of them all yet, and my camera ran out of batteries today because I was at a concert and took too many pictures. But. They were rescued from a lady in upstate NY who was just letting them breed like mad. All four hamsters are ridiculously cute.

Here is one of the new guys. I'll post pics and names of all four on the NYHH site asap.

One of the New Guys

Ack, cute attack! I need to go to the Cute-Doctor. Eek!

New York Lonely House :(

Wow. Since Thursday, we've adopted out FIVE hamsters. That's got to be a record--five in four days!

We're a little lonely here these days at the Hamster House. It's just me, Sinead and Killer (who are both still so sick), Gingerbread (the largest hamster EVER), Moki (who is set to star in a student film at NYU next month)... the only adoptable hamsters are Inigo Montoya and Cale Hoeflicker, our hamster of the month.

Here's some eye candy:

Moki the Monkey :)

The Gorgeous Ginger!

However, we shan't be lonely for long. We've got FOUR new syrian hamsters coming in tomorrow. They were all rescued from someplace in upstate New York, and are being delivered to the NYHH tomorrow by a friend and supporter, Claudie.

So please, check for updates tomorrow to see the the Fab Four!

I'm off to watch Moki jungle-gym across the top of her cage and run on the top of her wheel. She's quite the gymnast, kids!

A Weekend of Change

Four hamsters left the New York Hamster House this weekend... Brook Lyn Bridge, Betty, and Jack Bauer were adopted. And One Eyed Willy died.



This morning, I noticed that Willy was breathing heavily. She was also running a lot, though, and eating, so I assumed she was fine. Her eye was clearing up from the medicine that Dr. Pilny and I decided on. But when I took her out of her cage tonight to introduce her to my new roommate Nick, she was breathing really, really heavily. I held her close to me in my hand, and just petted her softly. I tried to give her water, but she couldn't drink it. Her breathing became incredibly labored, and then she died in my hand. I cried a little--I was sad that she was so young when she died. But I really do think she waited for me to die, waited to feel comfortable and safe. Make sure to take a minute today to say goodbye to dear Willy.

I can get really down when a hamster dies... but I have to keep in mind that I am running a shelter here. I've had 92 hamsters now in the past 15 months. Some go on and get adopted, some get sick and die. It's life. And if you run an animal shelter, it's what you end up having to deal with. Some die in their sleep, and some die in my hand. But my goal is to give them the best life possible, and to match each hamster up with the family who will best take care of her. A Columbia student adopted Betty... a cool high school girl and her boyfriend adopted Brook (the boyfriend paid for her cage and made a donation to the NYHH as a present, awww!), and a very sweet couple from the Upper West Side took home Jack Bauer, after they lost their own hamster named Simone the Wonder Hamster.

Ahh, the ups and downs of running a shelter....