Last year my wife was following some stories about a 2 year old mountain lion that was spotted in a tree near the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. The lion was captured, taken to the Oakland Zoo for a health checkup and then released back to the wild. Staff at the zoo came to calling him "Mr. Handsome" and it stuck.
She brought the story up on one of our drives back from the Bay Area and said how much she liked the name. Laurel took this as an opportunity to see if she could get a cat named Mr. Handsome (she has been pressing hard for a kitten where she can, something her brother and I vote in favor of, but mom is a "no"). To my surprise mom responded that while a cat was still out of the question she wasn't opposed to a hamster but only if we called him Mr. Handsome.
Fast forward to last December and I chatted with my wife about getting the kiddos a hamster named Mr. Handsome for Christmas since we had yet to come through on the promise we made during the drive back. She was in favor so I went to our local pet store and purchased everything we would need for Mr. Handsome's environment. We presented this to the kids Christmas morning with a promise to pick out Mr. Handsome himself as soon as we were back from our post Christmas trip to San Francisco.
So on New Years Eve I took Laurel with me back to our pet store and she picked out a black and white "fancy bear hamster". He's become part of our family quickly. I chat with him at night when I'm on for evening sync ups with our team in India; giving him a treats like half of a grape or a plain almond. My wife and I also hear him on his wheel in the background when we are picking out an evening show to watch on Netflix (recently it has been "The Last Kingdom" - 'Uhtred son of Uhtred' 馃槃). Each morning the kiddos run down the stairs to see if he's still up, then they fill his water bottle and his little food bowl when he goes into his house to fall asleep.
Anyone else ever get a pet as a Christmas present? What was it and how did it rate for you as far as Christmas gifts went? What about other hamster pet owners out there? Any tips for domesticating young hamsters?
