tnh
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 19
|
Post by tnh on Nov 30, 2011 18:39:26 GMT -4
One of the sorrows of keeping hamsters is that their lives are so short. I had a thought a while back that I've found consoling: Hamster lives are longer than we think. They just run faster than ours do, as though they're permanently set on Fast Forward.
In short, hamsters are overclocked.
Their hearts beat 450 times a minute. They've got a 16-18 day gestation period -- the shortest of all the mammals. They're weaned three or four weeks after they're born, and hit puberty at four or five weeks. A few weeks after that the obligate solitary thing kicks in, and they have to go out into the world and become self-supporting adults.
They do what we do, only faster. You can watch them getting old -- slowing down, eyesight deteriorating, fur fading -- but still being very much themselves, just like us. Thing is, with them it's a matter of months.
They die quickly too, most of them. It's a terrible shock to us, but it's proportional.
We love them, and miss them when they're gone. That's unavoidable. But we shouldn't mourn so much for the brevity of their lives. They're not that short. They're just that fast.
|
|
|
Post by pinky on Dec 3, 2011 17:44:48 GMT -4
Love the wisdom you post, tnh! I still think of your piece on animals going to heaven. Thanks for sharing. I think I'm going to cut and paste your thoughts into a doc that I can keep and read when the going gets tough. My Frasier probably won't be with me much longer, but I love senior hams (see thread in Dwarf and Chinese Hamsters).
|
|
tnh
Rodent Retreat Newbie
Posts: 19
|
Post by tnh on Dec 5, 2011 0:34:06 GMT -4
Thank you, Pinky.
I'm sorry to hear about Frasier. I love your pictures of him, especially the one where he's peeking out of a fold in a pillow. Is the white blaze down his head and spine something that's developed with age, or has he always had it?
=====
My other current thought about Syrians: Evolution has made them an obligate solitary species, but I'm not sure it's made them a species that likes being alone. They're a remarkably amiable critter, one that can get along with anything as long as it isn't another rodent. I'm mindful that evolution takes no notice of characteristics that don't affect species survival. The whole thing makes me wonder whether we console their loneliness the same way they do ours.
|
|
|
Post by pinky on Dec 7, 2011 0:29:32 GMT -4
Well, this answers my question in your other thread about whether Lucius is a Syrian!
Frasier and Ethel were blue fawn hamsters, with colored backs and white bellies. Frasier had a slightly lighter rump as a youth, but the blaze, as you call it, was a function of age--he just kept getting whiter and whiter.
And: your profile puts you at only slightly younger than me. I like to hear how mature adults come to own hamsters. Care to share your story?
|
|