Introducing Dorothea (Dot)

First pet, originally uploaded by Racmol.

So, we have news! After two weeks of extensive research and many hours on Amazon, we are the proud owners of one enormous cage (designed for ferrets), occupied by one very small hamster.

We went out in the snow this morning (I know - it's mad - nearly the end of March) to choose a Syrian hamster, clutching the Minimals small animal carrier that had arrived earlier in the week in one of the (many) boxes from Amazon.

We meant to choose a male hamster, as the hamster book says males are less bitey than females, but the guy in the shop suggested we look at this girl who was a little older than the others (13 weeks) and very friendly. So we all took it in turns to hold her and she seemed a bit more robust than the tiny jumpy males and not freaked out by Willy so we brought her home and now we have our first family pet.

She has her own covered toilet, which she seems to be using - apparently they are very clean animals who like to choose a specific place as a toilet. In any case hamster poo is just small black pellets and not offensive at all.

We quickly discovered she can climb right to the top of the cage so we may have to string up some hammocks to avoid her injuring herself if she falls. (Clearly I have been spending too much time on hamster forums!)

Tomorrow we will be getting her out to handle her and hopefully not losing her around the house...