RIP Míriel

 My sweet Míriel passed away this morning.  I knew she didn't have much time left, and yet, she's surpassed every guess I had for how long she'd make it.  Yesterday afternoon, I went to check on her and caught her trying to drag herself out of her nest for the first time in a day.  I gave her lots of her favorite treats.  She laid down and contently ate everything I gave her.  Later she went back in her nest to sleep.  This morning when I checked on her, she was gone.  I'm glad she was able to pass away so peacefully after living such a long, wonderful life.  I'm going to miss her so much.  She was the spunkiest hamster I've ever had.  When she was younger, she'd try so hard to escape when I would have her tank lid open for cleaning.  As she got older, she got more vocal and would be sure to tell me everything through much squeaking of what she thought about me stealing all her poops and food stashes.

Despite having such a big personality, she was my sweet girl who was always happy to see me.  She aged so gracefully that it's only been in the last couple of months that I realized just how very old she was.  I'm so happy to have had so long with her.  She was one of the best hamsters I've ever had the privilege of owning.  Goodbye my beautiful Míriel.  You will be missed.  ❤

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.  💗