Hamsters

Bramble is a gorgeous dark golden banded Satin hamster but appears a deep chestnut brown in colour. She is so friendly that when we bought her from a pet shop, one of the assistants did not want to sell her to us! She is the Queen Bee of our hamster tribe, always into everything, very nosy, but so friendly and sweet natured.

Bramble will beg to come out of her cage whenever she is awake and will make her presence felt by gnawing loudly on the bars of the cage if she feels ignored. She doesn’t appreciate the hard work that goes into cleaning her large rotastak set up and usually has a bit of a temper tantrum after she returns to her cage until she gets everything the way she wants it again.

She was our first Mum and made such a good job of bringing up her children. She did enjoy returning to the tubes and pods of her huge cage setup though after it was over.

She loves being brushed and, like all our hamsters, eats better than we do, Tofu, yoghurt, vegetables, chicken, scrambled and boiled eggs are some of her favourite things. She loves sitting on Arti’s knee lapping at her own bowl of yoghurt whilst he eats his with a spoon! Every four days she treats us to an evening of ‘hamster love songs’ calling out to Peanut and waiting for him to answer.

Update November 2007

As we have increased the numbers of hamsters we have, Brambles rotastak cage has been changed to a Gabber Rex which she loves (and which takes up so much less space in our hamster room).

We recently noticed some fur-loss on Bramble's flanks and our vet diagnosed dermodex mites which often live on a hamster's skin with no problems, but sometimes cause hair-loss when a hamster is run-down. Bramble has been having injections of a drug called Ivermectin to kill the mites, and her hair is beginning to grow back again. Whether bald or fluffy though, she is still Arti's baby!

Update 6th Janaury 2008 - After much treatment and further tests, the vet concluded that Brambles fur loss was related to her hormone levels. She is perfectly happy in herself, just not so fluffy as she once was. We have added some extra photos of Bramble that shows her fur loss. The bulk of the fur loss is mainly on her rear, but you can see that the overall thickness and lustre of her fur is not as it once was. However, we still love her to bits!

Bramble Statistics

Type: Syrian Hamster - Short Haired Golden Banded Satin
Sex: Female
Born: October 2006

Click the thumbnails below for full sized photos

Doing her best 'cute hamster' pose	Overjoyed at being woken up!
Pregnant and pouches full of food
	Another cute hamster pose
	Bramble playing on a little wooden see saw
	View Brambles pup raising diary
Bramble pretending she is a pre-packaged hamster
Bramble with fur loss	Note how Brambles fur is now clearly thinning