animals, animals, everywhere!!

[LacyRoze]

When we moved to Arkansas we brought with us 3 labs. Within a few weeks of being here hubby came home on day with a "surprise" for me. He led me to his truck in which sat the most beautiful black miniature lab I have ever seen. She had been abondoned and hubby couldn't just leave her and he knew I would take her in and love her, which I did. About 6 wks ago one of our female labs had 7 puppies. They are beautiful but we will be trying to find homes for them. A couple of weeks ago a friend of my sons' gave him a dwarf hamster which we named Merlin. I was cool with this and accepted him as our newest family member. A few days ago I was talking to merlin and he sat up on his lil hind legs looking and listening to me. As i talked I was looking him over and began to wonder if merlin was actually a him. Well this morning I got my answer. Merlin is in fact a female. My son awoke to discover that Merlin had given birth to 4 babies during the night!! Now, I have no problem with this, I'm an animal fanatic. What I am upset about is my son's friends need to lie to us. We were told Merlin is a male and that he was a fairly young hamster, which obviously isn't true.... I hate being lied to.....(going out to hang my "Hill Animal Haven" sign now....:foh:

[Faeawyn]

Awwwww....I wanna puppy and a hampster :hehehehe: :rotfl: How cute they must be. So, are you going to rename Merlin.....perhaps Morgaine :lol:

[Shanti]

Perhaps they didnt lie. Maybe they didnt know and assumed. Hamsters can reproduce at a very young age, 8-12 weeks. So they may have not had a clue as to what they are doing, let alone they may not know how to sex a young hamster.
You wondered yourself if it was a male, so I guess you didnt look either. It could of been just a mistake. Perhaps telling these people of thier error would help them realise that they need to learn some basic hamster facts.

And a note, seperate the babies from mom (and sisters from brothers) by 6 weeks or the males may impregnantate her again!

[LacyRoze]

Tothe powers that be, you can delete this as it had been moved and I didn't know so I thought it hadn't posted,,, sorry


No, I don't think we'll rename her. "Merlin" just fits her for some reason...

[Iris]

Aaw, labradors are lovely...lol my brother and his wife have a similar problem. They started off with two dogs, which became four, which became three (one died :( ) which promptly became four again! Every time my sister-in-law sees a dog in need she brings it home with her. Once she broke into a house which was due to be demolished to rescue an alsatian which had been left abandoned in the kitchen of the house when the owners moved out. They just left it there, with the house about to be knocked down and all :holycow: :mad:

[LacyRoze]

"Julie's" previous owners moved to another state and left her caged at the old residence. The new home owners contacted the previous owners and kept hearing "we'll pick her up in a few weeks". Weeks turned into months. My hubby went to do the new family's satellite install and the owners told him what had happened and that they were looking for a home for Julie. He thought she'd be perfect for me so that's how she joined our family. She is so loving and well behaved. She just craves attn and she certainly gets it here. My kids adore her and she's great with them. After they've, the kids, go to bed I bring her in and we have our special time together. She lays in my lap and looks at me with such love in her eyes. I can't imagine her not being a part of our family now...

[GaiaDea]

BTW, dwarf hammies tent to pair bond rather strongly, so try to find homes for the babies soon, or keep them in separate cages if posible. Sometimes, depending on the breeding, even hammies of the same sex will fight like crazy at sexual maturity. I once had a breeding program for siberian dwarf hamsters that involved almost 100 of them, so I'm not just spouting off. I tracked the genetics, and improved the breed, both for color variations and temperment. They can be fussy critters to raise sometimes, but in general, they are well-tempered and easy to keep. I even found some of my breeder line's descendants in a chain pet store the other week! Good luck with them!

[Wascally Wabbit]

Yes, it could be an honest mistake. I envy you having space for all those dogs. Must be wonderful to come home to.

[LacyRoze]

Having enough room for our dogs was a main consideration when moving. I wanted them to have room to run. We lucked out in the place we bought. It's well over an acre and my babies have room to romp without bothering anyone. Coming home from even the grocery store is an event. They all go nuts when they see my car and I have to go to each one and greet them personally before coming into the house, lol.

[Wascally Wabbit]

Heaven, heaven, heaven.