Exploring the Bed

Laurelin is still getting comfortable with us.  She doesn't like being picked up and often will run if I accidentally wake her up (which happens daily as she seems to be a light sleeper).  However, she loves being held, getting treats, and getting to explore.  She seems to be awake a lot during the day which is fun for me.  She is also very loud because she is obsessed with moving around the rocks that are in her home.  She likes to clean herself often, which was generally when I got the best pictures of her.

Meet Laurelin!

I am so happy to introduce you all to Laurelin!  After Vilya's passing, I contacted The Pipsqueakery to ask if they had any Syrian hamsters available for adoption.  They said they only had dwarf hamsters available, but that they would let me know me know next time they would have Syrians available.  Truthfully, I really didn't like the idea of waiting, especially for an unknown amount of time.  So I considered getting a dwarf hamster or two instead of waiting for a Syrian hamster.  However, I decided I should check here in town first before making any decisions.  I checked Animal Care and Control's website and to my surprise, they did have an 8 month old hamster listed.  I got my travel carrier ready (just in case), but still ended up having to wait because they were closed Saturday through Monday.  I got there as soon as I could on Tuesday, filled out the paperwork, and then had to wait again.  After what felt like an extremely long wait, I finally got called back to see the hamster.  I guess you could say it was love at first sight, because after I asked exactly two questions, I then promptly told the guy I'd take her.  He seemed a bit shocked because all I did was look from the doorway at her in her tiny tank up on the shelf in the back of the room.  I got the carrier from my car while he finished up more paperwork.  And again, after what seemed like another extremely long wait, I was finally able to get her to her new home.  (In case you couldn't tell from this story, I'm clearly not all that patient.)  

I got her settled into her new home which actually required me making a run to Petsmart to buy bigger tubes because she's such a chunker that I feared she would get stuck in the tubes I had.  She barely slept that first day she was home because she was so excited to explore her new home and run on her wheel.  When my husband got home from work, we did our usual routine of looking through anything Tolkien related for a name we liked.  We choose the name Laurelin (if you're interested in reading the meaning and history of the name, check out: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Laurelin)  

I hope you will join me in welcoming Laurelin!  These are all cell phone pictures from the first few days of having her.  I am planning on getting better pictures of her with my camera today.  😊

Her home before she moved in and did some rearranging 😂 (the two tubs are connected in the back with tubes, which is why I had to buy bigger ones so she could more easily go between the top and bottom without getting stuck):

Brochures (RIP Vilya)

I already posted about this on my social media, but didn't get this posted here on the blog yet.  My sweet Vilya passed away sometime before Friday morning.  He seemed perfectly healthy, even just the night before.  I was heading to bed and I caught him sitting in one of his favorite spots giving himself a bath.  I thought about stopping him and pulling him out for a quick snuggle, but he looked so happy and so cute, and instead I just watched him for a bit.  He hadn't really shown signs of slowing down, even though he was 2 1/2 years old.  It did randomly hit me last week when I was snuggling him that his hair was definitely lighter than it used to be.  He was such a sweetheart and will be dearly missed.  Despite losing him so suddenly, I'm feeling so much peace because I know he lived a good, spoiled life. ❤️

I know Alex and Jason from @the_pipsqueakery loved him for the short time they had him, and I'm so grateful that they trusted me with him and Narya so I could care for them and love them these last two years.  For the record, I think they were glad to let me adopt Narya since she had been a bit of a butt and spent some time as an escapee in their house.  😂 Anyways, since Narya and Nenya both passed away in March, I'm officially hamsterless.  I hope that won't last long though. 😊

These are the last pictures I have of Vilya to share with you.  I tried to have him pose with these brochures I made for my photography business.  I am quite happy with how they turned out, but Vilya didn't seem interested in looking at them at all.  Haha!  He was such a sweetheart though and would do anything for treats.  I gotta admit, I've been somewhat avoiding working in the office because I don't like seeing the empty cage.  I've been spending more time in the living room working from my Chromebook instead.  I'll be looking at a hamster available for adoption later today, so if I think it's a good fit, I'll be bringing her home.

Spoiling the fun

I let Vilya have some time to explore the couch and the only condition was that he would pose for pictures.  He wasn't too happy that I stopped him from trying to jump off the arm of the couch.  He decided to run the opposite way so I couldn't reach him.  😂