2.4.12

Brief introduction in English

In case, there will be some foreign readers in our blog, some introduction in English is nice to have.

The bloggers
We are an adult couple, Sirpa and Karri, both in our thirties and with no experience of hamsters or other pet rodents before we got our first hamster in 2008 a little bit accidentally. We both work in ICT and live in Tampere, Finland.

The hamsters
Our first hamster was Karamelli (the name means Candy), short-haired black tortoiseshell and white Syrian female. It was originally my niece's pet but because of movings, my brother looked for a new home for Karamelli, which was about 1 year old at that time. He also happened to ask me if we would like to have it, for free and with the cage and all the accessories. As an animal-lover, I would have said "yes" immediately but it took a little bit persuasion to confirm my boyfriend Karri to have a hamster. Finally and luckily he gave in.

Photo of Karamelli

© KH

Karamelli lived with us only few months before it began to get obviously old and then got some generic symptoms like diarrhea and eye discharge, and finally it was decided to euthanise. That scant time was enough for Karamelli to totally charm both of us and it was our common decision to get a new Syrian hamster after Karamelli. So we went on looking a new hamster and then I found Katariina Pieni (the name could be translated Catherine the Small). Katariina was also a short-haired Syrian female and its colour is called honey black in some sources.

Photo of Katariina

© KH

Katariina was about 3 months old when we bought it from its breeder in March 2009. It was super-cute and also super-active when compared to Karamelli, who had been a older, calm and collected hamster lady. With Katariina, we familiarised ourselves with hamster shows. Katariina won almost everything in its first show in August 2009 in Tampere, it was the best in guide-standard class and also in the Syrian pet class. We were so proud of it and I was hooked to hamster shows.

I saw the dwarf hamsters in real life first time in that hamster show although I had, of course, seen photos of dwarfs and thought that they were incredibly cute. I dreamed mostly of a Winter White and despite of Karri's mild protests I decided to get a Winter White pup when a friend of mine was planning a Winter White litter in autumn 2009.
Due to the difficulties with breeding and then the result was a litter of only two pups, Veera (breeding nowadays with the name Goldilock's) asked if I would be interested to get an adult Winter White female. She had one 11 months old female that wasn't used for breeding any more but would make a nice pet. So I got Hilma, officially Cheersbigear's Queen Of The Nightclubs, a sapphire Winter White female. Hilma was a lovely creature even though Karri still preferred Syrians.

Photo of Hilma


Katariina died very prematurely in April 2010 when it was only 1 year and 4 months old. The cause of death was probably a heart failure. We were devastated by Katariina's death but luckily we had Hilma as a little consolation. And it didn't take more than a week or so when we had a new hamster, Loviisa III! The newcomer was 5 weeks old short-haired (again) Syrian (again) female (again). Its colour is white-banded honey umborous.

Photo of Loviisa

© KH

Before Christmas 2010 Hilma was euthanised and Loviisa was our only hamster for 6 months. It was summer 2011 when I bought a normal-coloured Roborovski male Pertti (Opossums Bertil) from Veera. Pertti was a perfect pet for me as I wanted to "try" Roborovskis and Pertti was an older male who lived alone because it was aggressive towards other Robos.

Photo of Pertti
Pertti
© KH

To have a Robo after few Syrians and one Winter White... I knew already that Robos are very, very active and quick but it was still a surprise that they are that quick. Pertti seemed to be nothing short of a crazy animal but it was really fun to watch. Unfortunately Pertti lived with us only 6 months, before Christmas 2011 it started to loose weight, to become bald and its breathing wheezed. After two different antibiotics without apparent effects and more than 20% weight loss in month, it was decided to euthanise in January 2012. I think I may not have another Robo, they are lovely and cute but I want to have a pet to cuddle a bit. Syrians and Winter Whites are better in that aspect. Anyway, Pertti was a nice guy and I would have liked to keep it longer time.

As two hamsters, one Syrian and one dwarf is an optimal set of pets for us, I started looking another dwarf after Pertti, a Winter White this time. I hoped to find a pearl-coloured as these almost-white pearls have always been my favourites of Winter White colours. And a female, again as Hilma was such a personality. Luckily Arja Myllylä (breeds hamsters within name Tarinan) had some Winter White litters with pearl females and in February 2012 in Tampere hamster show I bought Siri (officially Tarinan Ahvatuuli) from her.

Photo of Siri

© KH

Siri is a normal pearl female born in 27th Dec 2011. She is quite a temperamental young Winter White but absolutely too cute. So right now we're having two hamsters, Siri and Loviisa. We're going to celebrate Loviisa's birthday next Thursday, 5th April, when it will be 2 years old. So far all of our hamsters have died or been euthanised before their second birthday so this feels some kind of a milestone the have a 2 year old hamster.

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