Betty And Scruffy

I received a call at the office today. It was Wifey baring sad news... again.

"Ayah, another one just died..." she paused...

"Angie, is it Angie?" I asked cutting her off before she could continue. I hate this type of news, but I know it was bound to happen at some point.

Angie had been the most feistiest of all hammies in her hay day, but still has a very strong will to live. Though she has shrunk in size, she is still agile and responding to our calls for treats. She is eating well, but her age is showing.


Scruffy, Aged 3+, Died 21 Jul '08

It turned out that our infamous scruffiest of all hamsters, thus Scruffy was the name, had died most probably at night.

"I called onto him, but he did not respond to get out from his sand bath to me." Wifey told her sad story, "I thought he was sleeping since he was lying on his side."

Like all hammies in what is left of HamsterVille... Scruffy would come to the front of the cage when his name was called for treats. He did his last the night before. Poor boy.

This happened only four days ago after Sonny had buried Betty.



Betty, Aged 3, Died 17 Jul '08

She died on Thursday last week.

It was a total shock because she was thought to be an expectant mother. Sonny believed that she was pregnant with her large stomach and lazy attitude. It could very well be an underlying illness that took her life away.

We could never have suspected it since Betty eat very well and always snatching the food away from her room mate Natie.

Betty was Sonny's favorite. Simply because she liked to be held and patted. She would stay still in our palm while being patted to sleep. She would wake and nibble on our palm or finger after realizing that we stopped patting her, telling us to start patting again.

She will stop her nibbling and go back napping once we patted her again. We would purposely stop patting just to witness her antics. She was an adorable and gentle girl.

Just like Scruffy, Wifey only realized that Betty was dead when she did not come to the food bowl while it was being topped-up and when being called repeatedly in the morning.

She was lying on her side behind her sand bath container. Her room mate Natie came out from behind the sand bath when he was called but kept going back to where Betty was as if trying to attack Wifey's attention to Betty.

Wifey was saddened by her discovery and called my cell phone quickly several times, but I was not aware when the phone rang. I called her back after realizing the miss calls to get the unpleasant news.

"Sonny will be very sad when he comes back from school today." She predicted.

True enough. That late afternoon, Sonny came back from school late and went straight to play with Betty after changing out of his school uniform.

"Where is Betty?" He asked Wifey while we both were at my gym room, "Was the cage door left opened when you feed them this morning?"

"What? Why?" Sonny asked when told of her death. We had no answer. Just like most deaths of our hammies before with no apparent reason, we think it must have been old age.

So Sonny buried Scruffy beside Betty under the palm tree that evening, but with a funny story to tell this time.


We Move On...

"A family of 4 came near me and asked what I was doing under the tree..." Sonny recalled telling us right after entering the front door.

"I told them that I was checking on the ants colony..." which started the mother sharing with him about hers daughter's past ant farm school project.

Tonight, Sonny did not touch his PC at all. Instead, he sad together with us watching TV until his bedtime. I guess he wanted company and not be alone. I noticed he watched TV quietly, mind wondering at times. We deal with our loss in our own way.

From the peak of 57 hammies in HamsterVille at one time, we are left with only 5 today and lots of fond memories after... beautiful and sad ones too.

Like the hammies before them, we love Betty and Scruffy just as much. We know that they both are in a better place now.

Farewell our loving pets...