Pets

...and with it, the Era of Great Hamsters has ended.

Hannibal was the last hamster I had in a long series of midget hamsters, named after emporers and kings. He and his twin-brother arrived some 2 and a half years ago to live in the castle of Amersfoort; the bigest house ever for one of my hamster to live in. Yet they probably lived the most confined life of all.

He and his brother were twins - I couldn't come up with a good name for them both (can you name a famous royal twin?) , so I called them Hamster 1 and Hamster 2. Hamster 1 never liked to be confined to his cage; on several occasions he escaped his cage to join his brother (Hamster 2), or play with the cats. Because of these daring achievements, and because the land he thus concurred (against all odds I might say), his posthumous assigned name will be Hannibal Little-one.

Recently, #1 of the twin hamsters died... Sad, but such is life.

In the meantime, #2 (which has now become #1) is alive and kicking. He even found the courage to escape and take on Hobbes the cat. After chasing Hobbes and #1 through the kitchen, I managed to convince Hobbes that it wasn't a toy but actually a brother and that he should be nice, so Hobbes dropped him on the floor. In true fighting spirit, #1 bit me like hell, so I dropped him to the floor (it wasn't really a drop; more a flight - I tried to run it to its cage). #1 looked as if he finally gave up (all dizzy on the floor, ready to join #2 - used to be #1), and I was ready to give Hobbes another go at it. Then he stoodup and started approaching Hobbes with renewed vigour. This time I caught #1 and managed to bring him to his cage. I thought he would die now for sure, sustaining heart failure or something, but #1 thought otherwise; a good breakfest would do him good so he seemed to think. 2 weeks on, #1 is still as active as before...