Charlie Boy

[The Hamographer]

Folks,
Here are a few fairly recent images of his nibs mostly emerging from his nest burrow in the substrate, he likes this so who am I to argue?

 

[Maz]

He's so gorgeous! I've missed your photos too! (I just said that to Eriathwen as well).

 

[Socks' Mum]

Lovely

 

[Jain]

Evening Folks,
Been a while since last Update, here is the latest one it's not exciting at all.
Charlie is I reckon knocking on the door of being the grand old age of 2...! He is very spritely for his age too, he likes to exercise on his wheel at certain times of the night, one of these is at dead on 04.45hrs you could set your watch by his antics..!
I'm keeping him well fed with fresh or defrosted veggies and salad with little treats such as roast duck, roast beef, mature cheese (cheddar) a smidgen of salmon, avocado, apple, pear, banana, cherries, watermelon, and normal melon. He loves a bit of pastry too, a little bit of a biscuit and oh a bit of quiche is always welcome in Charlie's eyes... Bliss seems to be a Monkey Nut to him, as listening to him attacking the shell is a sound of joy .
When Charlie is annoyed especially when it is cage clean time he sulks a bit and chirrps at me, then inspects everything I am doing sometimes to grab a morsel of food I am trying to discard.
Each and every Hamster we have owned, every last one of them has been such an individual from the permanently peeved teenager such as Ghost to the Queen of the camera lens Pip the Drama Queen who would pose as soon as I got a camera out..

A lovely update thank you

 

[The Hamographer]

Do you ever have it where your Hamster is a complete and utter oik of a growbag?
So I come home from work at 04.00 check on his Charlieship and think his house aka a cardboard box ( he doesn't like anything else) is coming apart at the seams, it is quite new a couple of weeks old that is.
Well I lift up edge of box to find it is soaking wet as is all his bedding so instead of getting up and using his lovely large sandpit loo ,oh no Mr Grotty has decided to stay in his pit and pee for England and all of Hamsterdom, so a cleaning out session at 4 a.m.is not what one wanted to do.
To this the cheeky little sod had the audacity to squeak at me as I was cleaning up his mess just to show his contempt at having yet another cage clean, luckily we had a spare box to be his new abode.
I had strong words with him and cajoled him about his toilet habits, he looked at me squeaked grabbed a load of freshly torn up loo roll and buggered off into his new house, I can hear him now being cantankerous and moving things about no doubt looking for his stash of nibbles, which as being covered in Hamster widdle no doubt an embrocation adored by hamster kind I found it to be rather disgusting and promptly binned them with his soggy bedding and house. Yes Mister no treats for you tomorrow it's dry rations, so you can dream of Blueberries and Watermelon with a side of Banana.

 

[Steve]

Haha bless Charlie. I have never heard a hamster describes as "cantankerous" before. But I know what you mean, 4am is not the time for it. It's a good job he is so cute!

 

[Socks' Mum]

Utterly adorable!

 

[Maz]

Aw - I hope you and Charlie have both recovered! Did he give you looks?

 

[The Hamographer]

Aw - I hope you and Charlie have both recovered! Did he give you looks?

If a Hamster could have sneered he would have.

 

[The Hamographer]

----UPDATE-----
Hi Folks,
It would seem that Charlie is coming to the end of his tenure here at Chez Dave, he seems unwell with very screwed up eyes and odd noises as he breathes he seems to be doing things just on autopilot, the vet has looked at him and has said it is old age and at approx 2 yrs old he is at that time of life, where life becomes a terminal illness.
He isn't even seeming to sleep just sitting in his loo roll nest in his box.
So the best I can do now for him is some palliative care, keep him warm etc have thought about moving him to a smaller box and fill it up with warm towels etc so he can snuggle or maybe put a hot water bottle under his cage where is nest is....?

 

[Maz]

So sorry to hear this. This might be why he was peeing more. I would leave him in his nest where he'll feel secure. It's better to have the room temperature right really - about 20 degrees - rather than something like a hot water bottle - but at night you could do that when the heating's off. You really need a gap under the cage to do that though, rather than have the hot water bottle directly against the cage base, or he could get overheated from direct heat. It's the air temperature that makes the difference really. If it was me I'd leave the heating on all the time with the thermostat set to 20 degrees so it goes on and off when needed.

If his eyes are screwed up he might be in pain. So if he's the same tomorrow, I'd consider taking him to the vets to help him on his way, because it can be a slow, painful death sometimes and we can't give them strong enough pain relief.

 

[The Hamographer]

So sorry to hear this. This might be why he was peeing more. I would leave him in his nest where he'll feel secure. It's better to have the room temperature right really - about 20 degrees - rather than something like a hot water bottle - but at night you could do that when the heating's off. You really need a gap under the cage to do that though, rather than have the hot water bottle directly against the cage base, or he could get overheated from direct heat. It's the air temperature that makes the difference really. If it was me I'd leave the heating on all the time with the thermostat set to 20 degrees so it goes on and off when needed.

If his eyes are screwed up he might be in pain. So if he's the same tomorrow, I'd consider taking him to the vets to help him on his way, because it can be a slow, painful death sometimes and we can't give them strong enough pain relief.

Maz,
I have done the hot water bottle with just warm water so he doesn't over heat also took out after about 10 mins just so he would warm up a little .

 

[Socks' Mum]

It does sound like Charlie is in pain. Very sad news.

 

[Tulsi]

Sorry that old age is catching up with Charlie. Sounds like you are keeping him as comfortable as possible.

 

[The Hamographer]

---UPDATE------
Charlie Bear passed away earlier this evening peacefully in his cage all snuggly deep in his nest.
--- END OF UPDATE---
P.S.
Charlie will be the last hamster ever will have, his large cage is going to a local Hedgehog Rescue who use these large cages for their rescue hogs so it will not be wasted.

 

[Maz]

Very sorry for your loss. Play well over the Rainbow Bridge Charlie.

Sorry to hear he will be your last hamster. I once said that ...................

 

[Socks' Mum]

---UPDATE------
Charlie Bear passed away earlier this evening peacefully in his cage all snuggly deep in his nest.
--- END OF UPDATE---
P.S.
Charlie will be the last hamster ever will have, his large cage is going to a local Hedgehog Rescue who use these large cages for their rescue hogs so it will not be wasted.

Very sorry to hear he has passed

 

[Tulsi]

Sorry that Charlie has gone. He was well loved. Lovely that his cage is going to help hedgehogs at a local rescue.

I didn't have hamsters for a while but recently saw Kulfi on a breeders advert in gumtree or similar and couldn't resist. It meant buying loads of hamster stuff all over again. Luckily I had a good sized wheel. I even bought a new cage. No regrets.

 

[Coco61]

Very sorry to hear about Charlie passing. A lovely boy and a great character.