Day 80

Yes, 2 and two-thirds months have passed since I got Art, and now, he is able to feed off my hands. What I mean is, when I handle him on my hands, I can also feed him while he was on my hand. This might sound peculiar because it seems like an ordinary task, but actually, I didn't manage to do it with my roborovski hamters last time. Normally, the hamster would be too afraid or too "shaken" when you handle him, that he doesn't eat the food of your hand when he's taken out of the cage. Maybe it's the curiosity that distracts them from the food, or just basically means that the trust has not been built. So anyways, although this might sound a little mundane, but I take it as an achievement =) Because, normally when I pick up my roborovski with my hands, they just will be too scared or shaken, and when I bring food close to their mouths, they will just ignore it and freeze there. Yep, I guess it's all about the trust. TRUST.

Hamster you scared of me?! If you scared of me... I KILL YOU!

Day 72
Changed my hamster cage yesterday. Washed the pants inside and left it to dry, while I placed a new one inside. Nothing much really, just living its daily life. 001 has his fur finally growing back on him again =) So, there is not much bald patches anymore, although there still is, but lesser than before. Gareth almost lost his hamster, George Marco, but found it back.

That brings me to another interesting thing to talk about. The "hand". Yep, the evil "hand". We went to queensway the day before, so that Brandon could get his street soccer boots. And Samuel, with nothing to do, started playing around with the damn manequin (spell wrong?). He bloody plucked out the hand and toyed with it before putting it back. Now, Kelmond comes along. He thought it would be fun if we stole it, and he did. He took the "hand" of the manequin, and dashed out of queensway shopping centre. WHO THE HELL STEALS "HAND"(S) FROM MANEQUINS? HUH?! But, as usual, it was too late to say anything or to put it back. So, we went to Samuel's house after that, and while I was being a good boy using the computer outside, little did I know what they were doing INSIDE the room. Anyways, when I stepped into the room after getting bored of using the computer, I went to play the xbox360 in Samuel's room. Then, they started flinging the "hand" around saying its pure evil and blah blah blah... So, the whole story began - the "hand" was evil and brought bad luck, and because we seperated it from his body, he would hunt us all down and kill us. As expected, we ought to destroy it. We placed it on the road and let the vehicles run over it. Unfortunately, it survived 2 cars and a bus runover. AS GOOD AS NEW. Okay, now it's getting freaky. Reminds me of Adam's family the stupid hand. IT CANNOT BE DESTROYED. So in the end, Samuel (or Kelmond?) flung the hand into the nearby bushes and trees. Up till today, I'm still alive and breathing. What a joke.

Day 64

So cute that you just wanna die!

Day 63

Just struck midnight, so today would be the 63rd day. 13th of June marks another hamster year for Art, although it's only 2 weeks for Art. Just so you know, my calculations might not be correct. I'm just assuming that a human lives up to 75 years of age, as compared to as hamster who lives up to 3 years of age. So do the math. Anyways, Gareth, Kelmond and Omar came to my house yesterday (remember, midnight struck already). So basically it WAS today, but not actually today, theoretically it's yesterday. AHHH, you get what I mean. As usual, I played with my hamster in my room, and I switch on the air-con, which I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Is it good to play with hamster in an air-con room? Will the hamster freeze or hibernate? But I'm quite sure 21 degrees celsius would not cause a hamster to go to hibernation. Later then I check. Here's the a picture of Art playing on my arm, on the 63rd day of his existence: (Yep, I was wearing a sweater when I took a photo. My air-con too cold already!)

Day 61

Yesterday Kelmond and Gareth came my house =) But the shit Gareth when to scare my hamster, and I think now he lost his trust in me already! Art seems to be very adaptive to his new home, and he is now pulling in bedding (strips of tissue) into the pants, forming some nest inside. I didn't dare lift the pants up and see the nest, as he has become VERY protective of his habitat. All I did was put my finger near the entrance, and lifted the pants a little and he pounced right at my finger, but never bite. Don't know whether is he happy or angry?

I also bought new "Apple" bathing sand, but I haven't used it on Art. 001 was having some major skin problem, so I bathed him in warm water first, then used the sand to bathe him. 001's skin is in critical condition man. 001 is my Roborovski dwarf hamster, which is almost half-dead, or at lease he LOOKS half-dead. Maybe he's getting old or something. Anyways, I'm planning to bathe Art with the bathing sand this weekend, not so soon. 001 also escaped the mini quarantine zone I set up for him because of his skin problems (didn't want him to pass to the other hamsters) while I was sleeping last night. Found him lying back facing upwards behind the plastic boxes in my room (confirmed not dead).

Day 59

This is my latest set-up for my hamster cage. Where I got the pants idea from? Actually, I was just taking my hamster out of his cage on my bed to let him explore a bit. And in order to keep him occupied, I put a too-small-to-fit-me-any-longer cargo-like pants on the bed, and he LIKE IT VERY MUCH. I can practically leave him there the whole day and he would still be roaming around in that pants or something. I tried experimenting with other pants, like this soft fabric black pants which I have, but it doesn't work as well. Anyways, I have 2 of those exact cargo-like shorts, so I can interchange every time I change his cage (wash one, use the other one). Yep, it was quite fun playing with him on the bed, although its a little unhygienic, but he was just a curious little explorer. I even had to force him out of my pillowcase once or twice. Nevertheless a cute, curious little critter to watch. Very entertaining. Here's a picture of my new set-up:

Day 58

I asked my father to help me buy some sunflower seeds for my hamster, and my hamster really liked them. Those sunflower seeds are actually meant for humans, I'm not sure if hamsters can eat them, but I just let him eat anyways. Here's a picture of him eating:

Oh yes, and before I forget, please check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/knitedoom. Plus, here's Art's first video as well:

Name: Art Marco

Breed: Pearl Winter White Dwarf Hamster

Date of Purchase: 15/5/2009

Age as of Purchase: 6 weeks

Age as of Today : 8 weeks 2 days

Age as of Today (in Human Years): 4 years old

*I calculated that 1 human day for us, is 25 hamster days for the hamster. That means that a hamster ages by 1 hamster year in 2 human weeks.

Finally decided to create a new blog. This blog will be dedicated to random parts of my life, and also planning to have the majority of this blog be a detailed portrayal of my hamster's life journey. But that depends on whether or not I have enough time. My hamster's name is Art Marco. Obviously, this hamster was bought in memory of me dropping Art. 'Marco' is because I bought this hamster with my friend Gareth, so both hamsters share the same sirname Marco (because being bought from the same shop, same cage, they are brothers).