A Special Post for my Hamster, Little Panda.

I have sad news: on December 24th, my Syrian/Teddy Bear Hamster, named Little Panda, passed away due to a stroke. He was an adorable, fuzzy, little creature who liked running on his hamster wheel and nibbling cute food.



April 2nd, 2011

This is Little Panda on his first day in my home. He was only a few weeks old and was very tiny, and a little apprehensive. He shred the newspaper into little tiny bits to make a comfy nest for himself.








Little Panda's First Adventure

After a couple of weeks of getting to know Little Panda, I let him venture out of his cage to explore my living room. He was very excited and ran very quickly around! Hamsters are very good runners.









Me and Little Panda :)

Little Panda also liked to climb on me! The sweater I'm wearing has deep pockets that he liked to explore.

In the wild, Syrian Hamsters are active at dawn and dusk, when they awake to run around and collect food. Pet Hamsters are often active all throughout the night because they have no predators to hide from.






Little Panda climbing

Hamsters are Rodents and are related to Mice, Rats, Squirrels, and Beavers. They are great climbers as seen in this photo of Little Panda! He loved to climb all over his cage and had little tiny feet with claws to grip on tightly.

A New Cage!

When I moved into a bigger house in May, I set about building a big cage using old window screens that I found on the sidewalk. I decorated the inside with grass and pebbles, and also made a really cool house for him with medium-sized rocks. It had multiple entrances and levels because Hamsters like to be protected. In the wild, Syrian Hamsters are considered "vulnerable" because people are starting farms on the land where these fuzzy guys live.

I fed Little Panda grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds and some treats of cheese and milk. Hamsters have special cheek pockets that they store food in, which makes their face look really chubby and cute!

In September, I embarked on a cross-Canada adventure. I got Little Panda a new travel cage with a wooden house, a water dispenser, and lots of privacy. He traveled with me on the train across all the provinces (except P.E.I), making him a very well-educated and cultured little Hamster.

Little Panda was buried in a cute park on the beach on Salt Spring Island, close to a farm with Alpacas and Sheep. I think this will be a quiet and nice place for him.