Good Bye Udon.

Just received a phone call from my sis in law that Udon had passed away. I was quite shock because I did not expect her to leave us so early. Her 2nd birthday is coming in 16 days time.

As I am pregnant and unwell, I could not take care of Udon. My kind sis-in- law offered to take care of Udon. All of us had been very nice to her. She was well yesterday and dunno what had happened to her. My sis-in-law came back from work and realised that Udon was not moving anymore.

This is the last thing I can do. A photo memory of Udon. She is now with the angels. Goodbye Udon, thanks for bringing fun and joy to us.

Pick up nuts

Instead of feeding pine nut from my han as usual, I have decided to put the nuts in a line to see if she picks them up in series. Well, she did!

An interesting pink ball.

Over stuffed!!!

Udon feels like filling her personal pockets! She tried to stuff all her bedding and food in her cheek pouches until her cheeks turned really red. Hamster cheek pouches have very impressive capacity! They can store a lot of food and nesting material. Its natural for the them to behave this way and this is their to transport the food and nesting material in the wild.

See how Udon stuffs!



Front view and side view


Can u see her little smile. (Left) Some left over nesting material which she can't stuff in anymore. (right)

Commando stunts

Udon did her stunts again!

Trying to do a balancing act on the edge of the box. (Bear with my messy shelves! Sorry!)



Doing a 4 legged monkey bar and trying to make a u turn.

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Length of Udon

I just measured Udon's length. She is about 15.5cm long! Its about the size of the 15cm ruler!

Its our 1st year anniversary!

13-Mar-09 --- This was the day when I 1st met Udon and brought her home. She was 3 weeks old.

She is now fully grown and is now a happy, combat and fun-loving hamster.




Left: Taken on 13-3-09 Right : Taken on 13-3-10


I had taken a couple of pics of her today.

This is the video taken today. Udon's high speed roaming in study!

All stuffed!!!

Its has been quite some this since Udon like to stuff food in her pouches which a hamster usually would do.

And Video of Udon stuffing in progress!

After a dip

Every biweekly (sometimes weekly), Udon will get a little dip in lukewarm water and after that she is wrapped in the towel. Like this!

I will then dry her as dry as possible and she will further groom herself after that.

Udon's Birthday pressies from my sis

While I'm away in Melbourne, 16 Feb was Udon's birthday. I actually inform my sis, Anna abt this and requested her sing a birhday song to Udon.

Of course, she won't sing! But she was very nice to Udon ! Bought lots of presents for her.

A new hamster ball (She thot that she broke the old one and quickly replace a new one. But actually, the old ball has that crack long time ago)

Cheese snack (was shared with other hammies-Mao Mao and Sushi in the house too)

A wooden block (Udon used it stand and bit the high part of the cage rather than gnawing it!)

Thanks sis for caring Udon well !

Udon will going to my parent's home for CNY.

As I will be going for a 1 week holiday with my in laws, my sister had kindly help me to look after Udon during this epriod of Chinese New Year holidays.

I will be bringing her over tomorrow night and I had prepared a letter on behalf of Udon for my sister to let her better understand my little hammy's life and habits.

Dearest caregiver:

Gong Xi Fa Cai in advance! Thank you for help my sisty Edna to look after me for the next few days.

Just want to tell you how my daily life goes about so that you can care of me better and I can adjust to a new environment better!

Sleep

My beauty sleep is very important! Please do not disturb me when I'm sleeping and will wake up on my own. I usually wake up around 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

Food

Please feed me with 1 scoop of hamster mix, 6 to 8 pine nuts and 6 pieces of colourful biscuits for my daily consumption. Sometimes a small piece of fresh apple as an extra treat is fine for me too! I know it will be chinese new year, but please do not feed me with oranges or tangerines.

Play

I am a very active hamster and sisty Edna will let me free roam in her study everyday. She told me that your home has many hiding areas. Although I am very excited about those hidden corners, she told me that these places are very dangerous for me and insisted that I must bring along my hamster ball if I want to run around for my daily excercise.

I'm a vain hamster. To go out, it is very important for me to groom myself 1st. You will need to wait for me to complete my self groom before I'm willing to go out.

Please remember to let me excercise, if not I will bite my cage persistently until you let me free! If you see me waiting near the cage door, I mean that I want to go out and play!

When I'm out, remember to put me back every 15min to 30 mins after each run to let me have a drink and pee.

Pee

I'm a toilet trained hamster and I know where to should pee. I have a pretty pink toilet containing the sand which will clump up me pee. Kindly pick up the clumps every day with my toilet scoop provided.

Handling

Please handle me with care. Please to not pull me by my skin. Pick me up with my body and land my 4 legs on 2 palms.

My daily timetable

This is how my everyday life goes about:

Morning to evening: Sleep

evening (~6.30pm): Sisty Edna will clear my clump sand, clear my left overfood, refill new food and make sure there is enough drinking water.

7.30pm to 8.30pm: Wake up time

After wake up: Food time

After food: Self groom time

After Self groom: Play time (`~1h with toilet breaks in between)

After play time: Return to cage

Hope that we will have a great time together.

With love,

Udon

P.S. 16 February is my birthday. Can u sing a birthday song to me?

Although I have written this letter, I am still very worried that Udon could not adjust well and will definitely miss a lot!

Pine nuts feeding

Our little way of bonding. Feeding Udon with pine nuts from my hand everyday.