CUTE OVERLOAD

Dude. DUDE.

I have wanted to get my hammies on Cute Overload for over a year now. And, darn it if the one day I finally make it on is the day I fly out of the country for ten days. Not a problem, though--my friends emailed me abroad to let me know that the NYHH hammies, and in particular the Department of Transportation babies, made it on to Cute Overload on November 18th.

Go to Cute Overload, and click on Pocket Pets, and then scroll down and there are my monkeys! Before being on Cute, the video had been seen by maybe 200 people. Today, the tally is 59,338! Can you believe it? Insanity.

Some people left nasty comments on the Cute Overload site about how I care for the hamsters, so for the record:

1) That is not their habitat, that is the hamster playground, where they get to play for a couple hours a week.

2) That was a mama, and aunt, and the mama's three babies. They were young enough to still live with the mama, and were subsequently separated and adopted out to happy, loving homes.

3) There were three wheels in the playground, so of course they all wanted to get into just one of them. See the other videos for more shots of the other wheels.

Anyway, many thanks to Emily, Tara, and Jody for sticking up for me and setting the record straight. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do take darn good care of the little monsters :)

Hamster Holiday

The Inwood Hamster Lady will be out of commission for the next ten days (I'll give you a hint as to why--what were Lily Allen's babies named?), so expect no updates, new hamsters, or adoptions to occur until after November 29th.

I've got two glorious volunteers, Ashley and Joanne, who will be caring for and playing with the hamsters during that time. Big, big kudos to them for being so generous and kind. They will be covered in hamsters kisses!

I'm not going to be around to do hamster outreach, but please feel free to tell your friends about the over twenty hamsters (and two mice!) currently for adoption at the NYHH. They are all looking for a happy forever home, and as the holidays approach, let's see if we can find them all a loving place to live.

I know I am really thankful to have the opportunity to care for and rescue all of these hamsters, and equally thankful to have all of your support. And especially happy right now to have Ashley and Joanne helping me out.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the New York Hamster House!

Bad, Bad Jessica

The NYHH website AND Petfinder account are now both woefully out of date.

There are hamsters on there who were adopted over the past weeks, and new ones who are totally not mentioned.

We had a successful adoption day yesterday, and took in one more hamster (syrian--with hair so black it's really kind of blue) and two white mice.

As it stands, I believe these are the current hamsters:

Not Up For Adoption:
Killer
Sinead
Gingerbread
Wendy and her babies (about eight, I think--now about ten days old)

Up for Adoption:
The Dixie Chicks
Lily Allen
Mary Jane
Bashful & Happy (two of MJ's dwarfs, both boys)
Ewan
Jessica & Elizabeth
Marilyn Monroe
Chekhov Sisters
Nugget
Fido
Tia & Mia (new white mice)
Kenny (new syrian)

Pending Adoption:
Spinderella
Ann Richards

I am leaving on vacation for TEN days this coming weekend, so if anyone wants to adopt a hamster, you need to do it this Friday evening or Saturday morning. Please contact me if you are interested!

Happy Birthday, Hamster Lady!

A very special NYHH holiday: The Birthday of the Inwood Hamster Lady. I am now officially 29, with 40 hamsters :)

And to wish me a very Happy Birthday, why don't you come on over this Sunday morning from 10-noon and adopt a hamster, or ten! I've got any kind of hamster you could ever want. They are all friendly, and healthy, and super cute.

If you want to adopt, let me know and I can give you directions and all that jazz.

There's no better present you could give me than to adopt a hammie!

Love,
Jess

NYHH in WSJ

That's right, guys... thanks to our friends at Magnify Video (hosting those cute movies to your right), I was interviewed yesterday for a story by Peter Grant for the Wall Street Journal. The article and quote are in the paper today, so check it out!

"Some small-time producers see some value in being on TV. Jessica Wells runs a hamster shelter in New York, and recently added videos to the shelter's Web site that were produced by site visitors. She'd like to see them go on TV to help her raise funds and to educate viewers on proper hamster treatment. Ms. Wells says some of her videos get hundreds of hits. "People are continuously underestimating either how much free time people have or how much people are intrigued by other people's lives," she says."

He basically was asking me if I wanted a NYHH channel on the TV, which I don't necessarily. But, whatever, I chatted about hamsters and youtube and TV and voila! A quote in le paper. Fun!

Oh. My. God.

OMG. I have FORTY hamsters.

As in, forty.

I had about twenty dropped off this past weekend, rescued from upstate by Brandee and Claudie and other caring, sweet friends. You want babies? I got babies. I got mommies. I got daddies. Fat, short, dwarf, syrian, and even HUGE dwarfs. I got 'em all :)

I only had time last night to post small pictures of them all up on the website. But if you right click on the pics and then go to "view image" you can see them nice and big and clear. I'll do my best to finish the site up tomorrow.

PLEASE, please tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers, to check out my site. I'm having an adoption fair at the NYHH (ie, my apartment) this Sunday from 10am to noon. Please come by and adopt some hammies!

Here's one more pic of the "Seven Dwarfs"--aka, Mary Jane's second set of babies. Six grey, one white. ALL cuddly and adorable and ready for adoption!

Famous Baby Photos

Sneak paparazzi photo of Mary Jane's new babies who are seven days old (born 10/26/06):


Pile o'snuggly Babies

To me, it looks like there are maybe four babies? Three brown with black stripe, one white? I can't tell yet, though. Don't worry... if I could get those pictures of Suri for Vanity Fair, then certainly I can get some decent shots this weekend of the little monsters. Check back soon for more pics, names, etc.