hamsta in da house!

This is Oreo, Libby's hamster. He is such a sweetie. And isn't he adorable? Julia's hamster, Mini, is buried under the pine shavings to his left. I'll get a better picture soon. We are officially down to three hamsters right now (including Bailey's hamster, Bijou) because I packed up Collin's hamster in a carrying case with food and water and had Owen take her back to the pet store today. We were just having way too many problems with her. She was very aggressive with the other hamsters-rushing at them, attacking, and intimidating them. She also bit. A lot. And hard, too. We noticed about a day after Owen brought them all home that Collin's hamster (I promptly named her Chopper) was actually missing her back left foot. We're not sure if she was born that way or had an accident, but we attributed her defensiveness to that and understood why she might behave that way. She was moving around fine and even ran on the hamster wheel in the cage. But yesterday I noticed that she was picking on the others unprovoked, causing much squeaking from the hamster cage. Since she's supposed to be Collin's, I figured we needed to find one that was gentler. He wasn't too excited about getting bit by her all the time-can't imagine why! So, we'll see what Owen brings home today. Fortunately there is no microwave involved with this fiesty hamster! [check out the comments on "high school musical and hamsters" for this backstory - sorry, Megan, I just couldn't resist]

Update: Owen called just after I posted-the pet store was happy to exchange Chopper for a timid little hamster that was just brought out from the back. Sure, keep all the friendly hamsters IN THE BACK! Anyway, we'll see how things go with the new one when Owen gets home from work tonight.