RIP Olórin

Yesterday I found Olórin curled up in his nest in his forever sleep.  He seemed so old last week as he slowly meandered around while I cleaned his aquarium.  He sometimes would squeak at me while I cleaned to tell me how annoyed he was to be disturbed, but he was very kind and never bit me.  I noticed before I went in to clean yesterday that he hadn't touched his food, so I suspected his time had come.  He looked so incredible peaceful.  💙

I adopted Olórin from The Pipsqueakery in August of last year.  I met a Pipsqueakery volunteer who lives in Indy who went there to pick a hamster out for me so I wouldn't have to drive as far.  It was fun getting a mystery hamster!  I was told when I got him that he was already around a year old and from the beginning I could tell he was likely past the prime of his life.  He was such a quiet ham who didn't like to be seen.  Since I didn't see him much, I didn't interact with him much, so I never got to bond with him the way I have with my previous hamsters.  He tolerated me getting him out for pictures because I provided treats, but he seemed to prefer to just be left alone.  The first two pictures were taken shortly after I brought him home.  The rest were taken just three weeks ago.  I'm used to having hamsters for much longer than 6 months and while I hoped for more time with him, he was already older when I got him so I tried to spoil him from the beginning.  Despite the fact that he was a grumpy old ham, he was always so sweet to me and I will miss him. 💙

RIP Haleth

 My sweet Haleth passed away on Monday.  She was 2 years and 5 months old putting her in third place for longest living hamster I've had.  For those wondering, Tarcil and Fili have had her beat by a couple months.  Haleth was quite young when I got her in March 2021 from the Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control.  She was so scared of me when I brought her home.  In fact, she peed on me while I was holding her to decide what hamster to bring home from the ACC.  I've never had to work so hard to tame a hamster before.  But with lots of patience of only hand feeding her nearly every day for weeks, I eventually won her over.  I love looking at the pictures of when I first brought her home because she was so small and clearly had a baby face!  It's fun getting a hamster that young because they grow up so fast! 

Haleth was chill enough to let me bring back hamster Halloween costumes which was so fun last year!  I do hope that Glorfindel will let me continue my tradition this year, but we'll see as that's still a ways away.  I miss my sweet girl.  I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures that never got posted before.  ❤

RIP Fili

 My little old ham, Fili passed away earlier this week.  He was about 2 years and 9 months old which is super old for a hamster and why he earned the nickname as my immortal ham.  I got Fili in March of 2020 (along with his brother Kili) from the Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control right before we went on lockdown for the pandemic.  Kili passed away back in April 2022, but Fili lived on for another 7 months.  Fili loved food but got progressively grumpier over the last 6 months and seemed happy being mostly left alone, so that's what I did.  After Kili passed away, Fili became my favorite office buddy because he took over spending a lot of time awake during the day to get snacks and go for a run on his wheel.  However the last couple of weeks, Fili really wasn't out and about much, so I knew that his age was finally catching up with him.  Each day that he would wobble out of his little hut to grab a drink and putter around doing hamster things brought a smile to my face knowing he made it to yet another day.  I'm gonna miss the little guy!  Below are some pictures I never ended up posting of him, including the last 6 pictures which were taken just last week.  💗

Christmas Tree (RIP Tarmund)

I've learned over the years to not try to plan on doing any home projects during Christmas Break because it's such a short break and my husband needs the time to rest and relax.  So I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised when on Christmas day, we spent a couple hours working in the office doing some rearranging and reorganizing, specifically with our desk area.  We are both so happy with the changes we made!  

We still have our Christmas decorations up, but they'll be put away sometime this week.  I had to have the hams pose with one of my favorite ornaments on our Christmas tree.  We have a few of these little white bears on various different red objects.  This one is on a sled.  I think Laurelin is sad that she doesn't fit on the tiny sled.  😁

On Christmas day, I found Tarmund curled up in his nest, never to wake up again.  I think he had passed away the day before in his sleep.  It's been weird working in the office and not hearing him up throughout the day.  He had a little fire in him, and I never quite got comfortable taking him out of his bin without a glove on because he was pretty territorial.  But once he was out of his bin, he was such a sweetheart!  He loved to explore and didn't fear anything, including the cats.  He will always hold a special place in my heart as my first dwarf ham.  If I did my math right, I think he was about 1 year and 7 months old.  I believe he was born in an accidental litter and my cousin took in both him and what was supposed to be his brother in June of 2019.  Unfortunately it was actually his sister and two more accidental litters happened.  😬  So then in August, I took him in to help out my cousin.  I didn't think I'd fall in love with something so small and yet so stubborn.  Haha!  I really miss that little guy!  ❤  I am including some really old pictures that I never posted of him.  I can't believe how black he used to be!

With Tarmund gone, I've decided to separate Fili and Kili so they will each have their own bin on my shelves in the office.  There are two main reasons for this.  First, despite the fact that they do get along fine, I know that they would be happier with their own spaces and frankly, there is always a risk when housing two dwarfs together that they will suddenly not get along and could even fight to the death.  Second, if I don't separate them and therefore have an open bin on my shelves, I know I'll be tempted to get a new hamster.  😁  Fili and Kili are young and I expect to have them both for a while longer.   Laurelin is over 2 years old and I really want to focus on the time I have left with her, and therefore I don't want to take in a new hamster now.  So I'll get some final pictures of the boys together today and then they will be on their own.  😊  Oh and the added bonus to separating Fili and Kili is that I'll figure out who is who and mark it on their bins so I won't be left guessing anymore.  😂