A new member of the family

I don't understand people sometimes.  I came home the other day to find my neighbours had cleared out.  Not unusual, as they were council tennants and had a little drinking problem.  They had dumped their "crap" (for want of a better phrase) outside in the rain.  I wouldn't have taken much interest, but they had thrown out a battered hamster cage.  I was looking to see if there was anything that I could salvage for my own Hamster.  That was when I heard a screeching.  If anyone has ever had a scared hamster, the screech is a horrid sound, you know that it is terrified.

Me being me I had to investigate, surely they hadn't just thrown out their hamster, but they had :(  In a box I found the tiniest dwarf hamster I had ever seen.  She (for it is a she) couldn't have been more than a few weeks old.

To give you a sense of scale, that is my little finger.  She is tiny and was shaking so much.  I had a spare cage so I filled it with lots of sawdust and bedding and set up a small hiding house for her and let her out into it.  She just sat there, shaking, terrified.  One of the hardest things was to not reach out and stroke her.  She was scared enough without this huge finger pointing at her.

So I left her, covered the cage after making sure she had plenty of food and water.  The following day, nothing.  I heard some scratchings, but didn't see her at all.  I asked on Facebook for a name...and Hope came back.  She has hope, so it is a fitting name :)

Today, well she still shakes, but she is getting more and more adventurous.  She has been out running around her wheel and exploring her cage a little bit more.

She found some celery that I had left at the bottom of the ramp to the upper levels.

Now if only I could eat this way.  She actually fell asleep in her food bowl for a few minutes.

And she certainly enjoys a drink

So hope is still very shy, and still a little bit scared, but seems to be getting used to her new home.