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.  ❤

Fidget things

One of the first things I requested that Joe print for me from the new printer was anything for fidgeting.  He promptly printed these for me.  I love them all, but my favorite is the joystick.  I like having these to play with while I work.  Fidgeting helps me focus, which is why I specifically always wear at least one cheap ring that I can mess with (otherwise I play with my wedding rings 😅).  More than once I have fallen asleep while holding my fidget ring.  Thankfully I don't move too much in my sleep and can find it easily in the covers after I wake up.  Haha!

Last weekend I saw Haleth just curled up in a box instead of sleeping in her nest.  I really didn't think she'd make it to the next day, but I gave her some lettuce and other treats, and she happily ate them which is a good sign that she's not given up quite yet.  I know she really doesn't have long left, so I'm doing what I can to love on her and give her all the treats she could want.  💗

Glorfindel truly has become a ghost ham.  I miss having him with me while I drink my coffee in the morning, but I'm sure once school starts up and I'm getting up early again, I'll see him way more often.  I love how curious he is about everything.  Although he tends to use his teeth to investigate something new.  Good thing he is cute!  Hahaha!  

Squishy Turtle

It's been a while since I've posted because I've been busy and now that it's summer, my priority has shifted to spending as much time as I can with Joe.  We have been spending our free time playing Tears of the Kingdom, watching movies, and playing board games.  Joe got a new 3D printer a few weeks ago, so he's been printing things while I work.  He found a file preloaded on the printer of a squishy turtle and decided to see what it was.  It's pretty much the cutest turtle I've seen.  It's head moves in and out of its shell, and it's legs move so it can go from standing to squished flat.  I feel like this little guy needs a name.  What would you call the squishy turtle?

Haleth is surprisingly still alive.  She's now over 28 months old.  She does the old lady waddle, but despite being much slower, she still gets around okay.  I don't think she has much time left, but I've been saying that daily for over a month now, so I guess time will tell.

I haven't been seeing my big boi, Glorfindel, that much recently.  He tends to stay in bed until we go to bed so I only see him every few days.  He's become quite the chonker.  I need to weigh him because he feels hefty.  Hahahaha!

Wooden Box

I have wedding pictures from Saturday that I began editing today, but I figured I could take a little break from that to post these cute hams.  I did finally get some new pictures of them last week, but the pictures below are from a few months ago that I hadn't posted yet.

Fun fact: Whimzees (which are dog treats) are safe for hamsters to eat.  All my hams love them, and they are such a great treat for them to have.  Haleth goes nuts for Whimzees and will frantically run around her tank to find the perfect spot to stash it to keep it safe.  Although with how old she is now, she doesn't do much running anymore.  I love spoiling my sweet old lady.

Glorfindel tried so very hard to get this Whimzee to fit into his cheek pouch.  But no matter how much he turned it around and rearranged it, the end was still sticking out of his mouth.  I felt a little bad for laughing at him, but he was being just so silly!

Grey Chair

I had just gotten into the rhythm of regularly posting pictures of my hamsters for the whole month of March, and then I managed to miss the entire month of April and the beginning of May.  😐  But I got behind on posting because I've been busy with photo jobs which has been really good. 

I'm honestly surprised to share with you that Haleth is still alive and well at now 27 months old!  These pictures were taken a couple months ago, and Haleth's fur is much grayer now.  She officially looks and acts like an old lady. But she made her own burrow for the first time a couple of weeks ago, which gave me an odd sense of pride.  I've always given her a tissue box full of bedding in the corner and she typically would "build" her nest in there.  But she actually dug a tunnel through the bedding down to the front corner of the aquarium which I love because I can kinda see her while she sleeps.  She's so cute!

Glorfindel sleeps very soundly and does not appreciate when he gets woken up for me to clean out his aquarium each week.  But I make sure he gets yummy treats and he seems to forgive me for the intrusion.