A pair of robos to call our own...

As you may know, Jo and I had been visiting the pet store every few days to visit the gerbils and hamsters, a novelty to us Aussies. Our local petstore, which is just near the supermarket hence the frequency of visits, has a great range of hamsters, from the humungo fat ones to the tiny dwarfs. Our favorites were the robos (Roborovskis - Phodopus roborovski), one of the dwarf varieties with the most amazing faces. You'll notice this is past tense...

Not that long ago we were at said petshop watching said rodents, when a young lad sidles up behind us as says "you don't want a couple of hamsters do you?". We immediately thought of illicit backyard breeding programs and extra pocket money and attempted to quietly extract ourselves from the situation. Our lad looked pretty nervous, about 18, and a little bit punk - he also looked genuine. Before we'd extracted ourselves fully his flatmate came in for backup and they explained that they were going away, that the hamsters were going to be given to one of their mums (poor mum) and that they'd been a recent impulse purchase. At that point we were wavering, but the killing blow came when they mentioned that they were a pair of robos... All over, we were sold. The lads were at the petstore to buy bedding and a new water feeder, so we offered to get them while they ducked home to get the beasts (you'll be pleased to note that not even free hamsters could lure us to some lad's apartment). Standing outside in the full light of a (hot) San Antonio day, we suddenly wondered if we were now the butt of some highly complex joke, and realised that if they didn't come back we'd be forced to go out and buy ourselves some hamsters! But our lads did return, with a well kept and very clean cage and the two most gorgeous hamsters you've ever seen!


We never found out the names of our benefactors, and we didn't get to say much more than "are you sure?" and "thankyou!", but I hope they know what a brilliant gift that was! Similarly, we never found out the pre-existing names of the beasts, but in true Jo and Jac style they are now known as Lump (mine) and Busy (Jo's). They are real characters and lots of fun to watch. We moved them from their little travel cage into a larger glass tank, and bought them a silent wheel (the original one drove us BATTY), and now they pretty much replace the TV in terms of night time entertainment. I've attached a few pics for now, but watch this space...HAMSTER CAM COMING SOON!