A friend's first hamster - the sad story of its death

For the inspiration behind this blog click here.

Well, it seems I've opened up some old wounds with some friends. They thought my idea about the whole "first" thing was a great one but sadly, after a few gins I opened it up with "first pet" and how it died. Oh, the tears that followed, the pained voices and the sympathy around the table - obviously a girls night out I hear you cry - yes you're right! Then came the bravado from the men at the next table - well two blokes actually asked us what the fuss was all about so I delved on in and asked them about their first pet. Of course their stories were more macho (and mostly about dogs!). So, there's lots to get through and lots to keep you hooked and smiling so I'll post them as fast as I can before moving on to the next subject..........


Mixtures the Hamster

“He was called Mixtures…he was black, brown and white you see….get it?! Mixtures was really cool and was my friend when I was young. He would chirp away in his cage, running on his wheel, making all sorts of hamster noises – he was just great!

"I remember coming back from school one day and my Mum sitting me down in the kitchen literally as soon as I walked in the door.

“There’s something I have to tell you” she said in this somber tone. “The thing is, Mixtures died today. He’s gone to pet heaven”.

"Well I knew that that was rubbish…the pet heaven side of it…but geez I was so upset about the fact Mixtures was dead…so I guess at the time, it kept me going. Sounds a bit stupid now I know. But, hey, I was young!.

"I was like: “How did he die Mum, he was fine this morning?”.

“Well, when I went up to your room, he was all curled up in a ball and not moving.” She said.

“Where is he now ?”

“I put him in the bin”.

(We all errupted in a fit of the giggles at this point in the story. Honestly, the empathy part came later I promise).

"In the bin! In the bin! You might laugh but the fact was it was the kitchen bin she was talking about! Hardly hygienic! Buried amongst the carrot peel and goodness knows what else!.

"Anyway, after some tears and huffing about I got over it remarkably quickly actually.

"But I remember a few weeks later I was watching Blue Peter on TV and you know how they were big on the whole pet thing..especially dogs and tortoises? Not sure if they do all that now…but anyway, they were talking about hamsters. And, you know what? According to them hamsters hibernate. I’m not sure, now that I’m older, if that’s entirely true, but its what I remember seeing on the TV.

"Well…they said that to hibernate the hamster would curl up into a ball and not move much. The way to test it was to put him under a low heat grill and the heat would make him uncurl! I dread to think really about how many people may have tested this theory and burnt their hamster. I can smell the fur melting just thinking about it!

"So what the chance that Mixtures might have been alive then? Its an awful thought and it did bother me for a long, long time afterwards. I mean, Mixtures may have been put into the bin man’s lorry and then woken up, struggling for breath amongst all the rubbish. Nothing I could do!”

Funny that whole theory on hamster’s hibernating. I think the jury is out and I have consulted a few sources on this one…including a veterinary surgeon…they don’t hibernate. However, someone else recalls, completely independently of the previous story, about the same episode of Blue Peter….