As I've mentioned a few places, I recently purchased 3 Fancy Russian Dwarf Hamsters. I brought them home on March 30th of this year. When I purchased them they were in the same cage and I observed them for about an hour to make sure that I didn't see any fighting. I was only going to get two of them. But one look at their cute little faces, and I had to have all three. On the way home I heard scuffling in their little cardboard box and heard quite a bit of squeaking. I was assuming that a fight had broken out because of the cramped quarters for three hamsters. When I got home, I quickly got them out so they could get acclimated to their new home. One bit me almost immediately and actually drew blood. I wasn't mad or anything, because I knew that they were stressed.
So, then I set about naming them. I knew that one was going to be Gizmo since "The Gremlins" was one of my favorite childhood movies. Another childhood favorite was "The Secret of Nimh". The Secret of Nimh is about a colony of genius rats that help move a widowed field mouse and her children from the fields that are being harvested to a safer part of the farm. The widowed field mouse was named Mrs. Brisby. And one of the guardians of the rat colony was named Brutus. So from that I had my three names picked, Gizmo, Brisby, and Brutus. The grey hamster immediately displayed signs of personality, therefore, he became Gizmo. After the biting incident, it was a no-brainer that the biter would be called Brutus. And finally, the smaller of the three was named Brisby.
Then began the fun, or so I thought. I was observing how they interacted with each other and I noticed that Brutus seemed to bully Brisby a bit. Nothing serious, just some squeaking arguments and brief boxing matches. They separated and went about their happy ways. After a few weeks these spats became fewer and fewer to the point where I didn't even see or hear them fight anymore.
A few months passed and all three had grown quite a bit since I had gotten them. Brisby, once the smallest, is now the largest. They all pack their jaw pouches full of food at feeding time. Things had been going pretty well until a few nights ago. A very loud argument literally woke me up as Brutus and Brisby had engaged in some sort of fight. Brisby is extremely vocal and will squeak loudly and fight until Brutus backed down. I thought it odd, but I let it go. The next night it happened again. Finally this morning, I was woken up at 630a after about three hours of sleep by the most serious fight yet. First, I was angry because I had had so little sleep. I tried to shrug off until another fight broke out. So I got Brutus out and put him in the smaller container I use for when I am cleaning out their home. I was hoping it might have been a sort of "Time Out" for Brutus. After about twenty minutes I decided to reintroduce him to the tank. He immediately began hunting for Brisby, all the while Brisby was scurrying trying to find a safer area. At this point I got Brisby out and put him in the smaller container. As I was looking at him closer I noticed a wound on his stomach. Then one near his ear. Then one on his back. Then another one on his mouth. It made me sick to think that I had not intervened sooner and Brisby had suffered all these injuries.
I was then left with a decision to make. One of the two had to go. Gizmo has always been passive and chill. But it was my fear that if Brutus remained, he would begin targeting Gizmo if Brisby was no longer there. My decision was almost made for me. But I was still struggling with it. My next dilemma came when I didn't know where I could take whichever one I decided to let go. I don't have room or another cage or tank that I could put one in. I tried to lie back down and get some sleep, but my mind and this decision wouldn't let me. I prayed that I would somehow make the right decision. So I waited until the pet store opened up and I gave them a call. I explained what the situation was and they said they would take one back and adopt him out. Since I feared for what would happen with Gizmo, I decided that the only choice was to return Brutus. So I put him in the pet container that I brought him home in and went to the pet store and turned him over.
It's really depressing because I had become attached to all three of them and their individual personality quirks in the four months that I had had them. If there is anything good about this, I did receive a bit of a sign when I returned home. And I do believe in signs, and I think this was God's way of letting me know that I had made the right decision. Underneath the door, I noticed that someone had stuck some sort of pamphlet. Enblazoned across the front of the pamphlet in bold letters read "Life in a Peaceful New World". It was a pamphlet from a Jehovah's Witness. I am hoping that for my remaining hamsters, Gizmo and Brisby, that it will indeed be a peaceful new world for them. I know little about this religion, but I'm grateful for the literature because of how it came at exactly the right time. I feel like this is going to help me come to terms with the decision. I am just going to hold on to the hope that Brutus will find a good home.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this with someone, and just get it off my chest. I'll leave you with some pictures of the first day that I brought these little guys home.
This is Gizmo and Brutus. Gizmo is the gray one, and Brutus is in the tube.
And this is Brisby.
