Happy's new home

Happy the hamster has lived in various boxes and containers - more or less successfully, depending on how much she chewed her surroundings. When we came to Wuxi on our way through to Australia for our holiday we were concerned about our friends here having to look after her in our absence. So we bought her a proper little cage. But it was very small, and she is a lot bigger and fatter than when we first got her. So we have been looking for, and thinking about, somewhere bigger for her to live. We thought about buying an aquarium, many people keep hamsters and mice in aquariums.

But then one day we were sitting in our loungeroom here watching TV, which is next to the glass cupboard / bookshelf and Peter said "Why don't we put Happy in the cupboard. That way she would be up at eye level, easy to watch and interact with, she'd have much more space ... " The question was, how secure is a cupboard with glass doors and magnetic latches of the kind that you push to close and push again to release?

So we put her in there on the middle shelf which is glass. She pattered happpily up and down her shelf area, and stood up and put her tiny hands against the glass, and all seemed secure. But during the night Peter woke to the sound SPLAT! of the fat little hamster body hitting the floor followed by scuttle scuttle as she set off to explore. He got out of bed and approached her, and she stood up tall on her hind legs to say "Hi!" , like she does, and happily let him pick her up and put her back on her shelf. Apparently one of the glass door catches didn't work too well, and simply needed a piece of cardboard jammed in it ...

The next night as we were watching TV as well as our new hamster-cam, she discovered that the glass shelf doesn't quite meet up with the glass door. As is the nature of hamsters when they find any small space or crack, she immediately started pushing her head downwards between the door and the shelf. Hamsters are loose-skinned, their skin fits loosely because of their cheek pouches that go all the way from their mouths to their back legs, and they can sort of slide around inside their skin. In no time at all she had squeezed like a maggot through the tiny gap, and was swinging by her tiny back legs from the edge of the shelf. Then sproing went the door and splat she landed on the shelf below.

So now she lives on the bottom shelf. The shelf itself is laminated and extends out under the edge of the glass door - which she has not managed to unlatch since. It makes for a much more interesting bookshelf, having a hamster running up and down on it.