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Post by pinky on Feb 7, 2009 19:55:51 GMT -4
Today I went to PA to visit Stacey and see one of her dwarfs, Jayde. Jayde was rescued from this kennel that the SPCA raided in October. www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20081002_SPCA_raids__horrific__Lehigh_County_kennel.htmlShe had been housed with males--not sure if she was in with Syrians, as one of the dwarfs was. She had a litter (two pups, I think). Anyway, I saw her and fell in love with her. Stacey is right--she is like Mal was, a real sweetie despite her troubled past. I was prepared to "just visit," or to take her home, and I opted to take her home. She is, for the time being, in the CT2 I got from Stacey when I got Mal, because she's used to a CT2, and because the aquarium isn't cleaned out yet. I replaced the existing wheel with a Silent Spinner, and wow, she's fast indeed! Right now she's holed up in the igloo (new for her) with some toilet paper. She surely wants to rest--she was in the car for about 2.5 hours altogether, as I went from Stacey's to get my hair cut, and then I drove us home. (Jayde went into the hair salon with me--my stylist is an animal lover and I've brought a hamster there before. . .) So here's Jayde's Petfinder photo. It does NOT do her justice at all! She is fawn/gray mottled, with a colored belly and dark red eyes (they look bright in the photo, but they're not). I will try to get photos when I can. I can feel the pangs of sadness for Mallory still, but I was ready to do this. I would have just "visited" if I hadn't been.
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Post by Hamsters82 on Feb 7, 2009 22:14:52 GMT -4
Aw, Jayde is cute and her name is cool. She has a good mommy in you and will lead a happy life. Tell her I said, "hi".
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 7, 2009 23:08:37 GMT -4
Glad you rescued her. When my beloved Princess suddenly died to my shock of an apparent stroke, the only thing I could do was next day look for another - and I found young little Prince who looked like her younger brother - also a banded sable longhair. I had never seen one before; it was like a reincarnation! He had a good life here. Jayde kind of looks like a Syrian? Anyway, best regards to her, and we await photos that do her justice. Hope the Silent Spinner holds together. Should work for a dwarf. >> I can feel the pangs of sadness for Mallory still, but I was ready to do this. I would have just "visited" if I hadn't been. << Often, at least for me, there is never such thing as "a visit"!
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Post by pinky on Feb 7, 2009 23:56:00 GMT -4
I guess in that photo she does, but she's all Campbell's dwarf. The Spinner is on its third hamster. Have never had the broken hub issue you often mention. But I have always had lightweights. . . If I hadn't clicked with Jayde there would have been the option of looking at other dwarfs in the rescue, but they are in foster care or at Stacey's rescue partner's house and so not accessible today. Jayde would, in the absence of an adoption, live out her life with Stacey, so it wasn't as though she needed to be rescued from a life of misery. That happened once already. Am heading for bed, but I heard some noise from the direction of the cage, so I will check that out first.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 8, 2009 0:14:00 GMT -4
Yea, dwarfs should not be too heavy. I gave up on therm a long time ago for Syrians, even when I reinforced the hub with epoxe glue. Sometimes gerbs broke it, too. I despise "picking out" a critter for a rescue. I feel like Dr Mengele. >> I heard some noise from the direction of the cage, so I will check that out first. <<
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Post by pinky on Feb 8, 2009 10:56:29 GMT -4
I despise "picking out" a critter for a rescue. I feel like Dr Mengele. Didn't know who he was, but looked him up-- How horrible. Yes, I see the parallel. In my case there was only one to (easily) choose from. Well. . . strictly speaking, Stacey has another--one of Jayde's youngsters. But he is, to quote Stacey's daughter, "bitter." He chatters all the time and won't let you handle him. He could only be adopted as a hamster to look at, if at all. She loves him, but he isn't appropriate for someone who wants to handle and play with a hamster (me). Jayde's other youngster is sweet, like her mom. How did they turn out so differently?? No sign of Jayde this morning, though I can tell she did some redecorating in the cage overnight. Little girl is all tuckered out!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 8, 2009 20:17:24 GMT -4
I still worry about the three other cats who were with Audrey that day in December, 2006. I assume they were alright as animal Care and Control had them spayed and worked on for adoption.
I found the whole adoption procedure very melancholic - most do not get adopted. At least not at that time.
Rodent personalities are quite unique - I learned that from Rainy's litter: Zeb was always active and feisty; his sister Ebony was the reverse.
I wish I had time to play with them all more, but there was no better option.
As for redecorating, I need to cut some mats for the rats' floor - it is all bars right now.
- - - - - - - -
Whew. Spent all day working and working getting stuff done - dog show for the next two days. Wish I could sleep over there: one day should end a little after 11 PM; the morning starts at 8 AM!
Regards to Jayde.
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Post by ladyjosephine on Feb 8, 2009 21:25:07 GMT -4
What a cute girl, I can see why you fell in love with her
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Post by pinky on Feb 9, 2009 17:57:47 GMT -4
Thanks, all. Hopefully I will get pictures and you can better see her pretty coloring and deep red eyes. She really is like Mal was--a little irritated at the change of scenery. I went to pick her up this morning at the door of the CT2 and she was in a nippy mood. . . so I took the top off and used a cup to get her out. Once out she was fine. If she weren't acting interested in coming out I'd have left her alone for a while, but she is used to being out and I want her to have that opportunity. Acquiring tamed hams like Mal and her is a lot different than acquiring an untamed Chinese. A few bumps at the start, but then it should be smooth sailing. Stacey keeps a constant supply of food in her hams' cages, it seems, because just as Mal was HUGE and needed a diet, Jayde looks a little plump and so will benefit from the relatively reduced but normal rations she's getting. Jayde's fur is so incredibly soft. I wonder what shape she was in when she was rescued. Reading that article makes me think it could have been bad. Certainly the photos of the rescued dogs on the PA SPCA website would lead one to that conclusion. Some photos are hard to look at.
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Post by pinky on Feb 9, 2009 17:59:10 GMT -4
DF, your post was "posted" three times--I deleted two of them.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 11, 2009 20:14:34 GMT -4
A glitch, or senility?? *shrugs* Thanks.
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Post by pinky on Feb 14, 2009 1:37:44 GMT -4
I have been looking at photos online, and I just get more confused as to her coat color. So I will have to get some photos in natural light so that you have a true sense of her coloring and markings. She is just beautiful!
Her history says that she is no less than 8 months old. When she was rescued in early October her youngsters were weaned, so maybe they were 4 weeks old at the time. That would have had her delivering in early September. If she mated pretty promptly upon sexual maturity (likely, since those hamsters were kept as males with females) then that would make her having been born in perhaps mid-June. However, for all we know that was not her only litter, and so she is older.
She certainly does not act old, though--she is FAST. I can't look away from her for a second if she's running around.
We're getting to know each other. Jayde is so much like Mal was--cage-aggressive at this stage, but easy to handle outside the cage, and nipping now and again. Mal got over her issues; in time so will Jayde. But for now I use the cup. I learned my lesson Monday when I thought she wanted me to take her out, and the result was that I had to put off grading papers because I had to stem the bleeding. . .
With Mal I had a vacation from daily wheel cleanings, for unlike my Chinese she almost never peed in it. But we're back to cleaning it at least every other day. . . . she has also chewed it a bit.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 14, 2009 19:55:19 GMT -4
>> I learned my lesson Monday when I thought she wanted me to take her out, and the result was that I had to put off grading papers because I had to stem the bleeding. . . << I had my own misadventures today - see the Mice forum in a little while. I am also fatigued from this past week, plus I caught a cold at the Dog Show (from peopleand am coughing and sneezing; achy. I'd write more otherwise, plus I am working on the Show photos. *coughs brains out*
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Post by pinky on Feb 16, 2009 18:45:49 GMT -4
Lately I've been describing Jayde's darkest areas as (1) the color of original Carefresh with a gray tone added, or (2) the same color as the cardboard of a toilet paper tube, just lighter. One preliminary opinion I have from another forum is that she is a "silvering dove," but I have yet to provide photos good enough to determine this for certain. I should ask Stacey if she thinks Jayde's coat changed at all in the four months she had her. Here is the pathetic outcome of photo shoot 1. Three sort-of-decent photos, and all are washed out because the "auto" setting decided that flash was needed. She is not a white hamster! In this photo you can kind of see how her dark belly color wraps around up onto her flanks. This is blurry, but you can see the color on her face, behind her ears, and on her flanks. What you can't see is how relatively dark her lower butt is. The color you see behind her ears is a close approximation of the color I've been trying to describe. In this one she's a little less washed-out, and so you can see that her back is not white but rather a lighter version of her face color. In the end the Petfinder photo is the best so far--it does show the face, flank, and even the butt color, but the color is not true. So I will try again. . .
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Feb 16, 2009 20:17:21 GMT -4
Getting the exact color is always hard in such cases.
Mine has various settings - closeup, portrait, flower, and many more. I can turn the flash on and off in all cases.
be sure the background is sort of neutral as the meter will read it and over compensate and "burn out" the image is the background is dark. I can also spot meter a subject so the background does not matter. try that, or different shades of background.
Try using natural light, or try flourescent, with the camera's settings changed. And no flash.
Try not to get too close.
What is that? White Carefresh??
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