#maddu

Eu nunca estive em um lugar tão frio como você.

Eu não quero sentir tanto sua falta, eu não quero precisar de você desta forma.

Yesterday my female hamster gave an unexpected birth, and I hadn't cleaned their cage for a week. Usually I'd clean every 3-4 days, but this week was hectic and I procrastinated during my free time. I intended to clean it on Saturday, but of course, Maddu decided to give birth just a day before. The cage smelled foul and the leftover food had started to invite ants. When it was my previous hamster pair, I wouldn't take a risk. But my current pair copes better under pressure, so I decided to replace the bedding completely. And of course, Maddu freaked out. She didn't launch at me or attack the male or ran around the cage while screaming furiously then ate her baby like my previous female did (and I only tried to take out leftover food that time 😂) but she did ran around, picked her babies frantically then left them randomly, picked up a baby and started to run on the wheel, then dropped three in the water cup. I removed the wheel and the water cup, but she just wouldn't calm down. However, bless my calm male, Moddu. He walked around, only slightly affected by the change and Maddu panicking. He stopped by every baby he passed and licked them. I'm not sure how long hamsters' gestation period are, but my previous female always gave birth around more than a month after mating. Maddu has only been here for 3 weeks so I'm pretty sure they're not even Moddu's babies. I put shreds of tissue to try distract Maddu and calm her down. Then I noticed Moddu started picking up the shreds of tissue. At first he brought some to his favorite corner and laid down, looking satisfied--then he started to bring the other shreds and place it in a narrow spot nearest to where most of the babies were. He made a friggin tissue nest. Surprisingly, Maddu calmed down very quickly after she found that nest. She nestled in it for a while, then started gathering her scattered babies there. She finally laid down and let her babies drink. My previous males would avoid baby hamsters even though they were their babies, and I had never seen any hamster built a nest that it's not going to lay on itself, so it's a first for me. Moddu, Maddu, you rock! 😆