Fuzzy little terrors

Pets-Those that calm and those that scare

My third son’s birthday (Lucas) has come and passed and he wanted a guinea pig for his birthday.  Since we gave the second son, Dylan, a laptop and the oldest son, Skyler,  a puppy and a trip to indoor skydiving, I figured it was in keeping with our, “Are you freakin’ crazy?!” theme to let the little lad have his beloved guinea pig. 

Interestingly enough though, in the land of plenty, guinea pigs are scarce.  One thing I’ve always loved about where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area is that we have almost everything as far as stores and merchandise go and I rarely have to order something online.  Having lived in more out of the way, rural areas, I can fully appreciate this novelty. 

However, we must have come at the tail-end (I hate puns, so none intended) of guinea pig season or whatever because out of three huge pet shops within a 20 mile radius, only one had a guinea pig.  One lone guinea pig.  So Lucas didn’t really get to choose.  Their meeting was more like meeting your assigned dorm mate at college.  You need a guinea pig, this guinea pig needs a home, say hello to your new pet.

But Lucas, being the little love that he is, took to “Chi Chi” right away.  He immediately wanted to hold her and comfort her, telling her everything was alright (snort—she’ll figure out the real deal once she’s lived with us for awhile, haha). 

I was touched by his instant love and compassion and the way he instinctively nurtured her. And then I turned around and saw two hamsters and insanity took over. 

Both hamsters, females, are the teddy bear variety or breed or whatever.  They are tan and they are cute.  One is chubby and we call her Fluffy after Gabriel Iglesias’s term for fat. The other, more feisty one is named Moxie. 

The first few days I sat in front of their cage watching them run around and do hamster things.  It was actually a bit peaceful.  They fought sometimes and ran around like maniacs.  It seemed like the hamsters were micmicking our household! Moxie turned out to be the submissive one while Fluffy turned out to be a bossy bitch (after her owner’s own heart).

But then their cage started to stink and I had to harangue the oldest to help me clean the cage.  It was then that I realized, um, I’m scared of rodents.  It’s all fun and games when they’re behind plexiglass but once I have to (gulp) reach in and touch one I freak out a bit. OK, I freak out a lot.

Anything that requires me to reach my sensitive hand (there are like a billion nerve endings in the fingertips, no?) into the cage is too much for me already.  This isn’t good.

Now I am stuck with two hamsters I am scared of while Lucas hugs on his guinea pig and Skyler cuddles with Viva, his chiahuahua, I stare at the hamsters wondering which one will be the one to bite me first.

You know, I actually blame all of this on my daughter.  She’s been wanting one of those Zhu-Zhu  pets for awhile and she doesn’t want quietly.  She finally got one from her grandmother on a recent shopping trip and I have to admit the thing is pretty cute.  And it doesn’t appear to be able to bite.

I wonder if she’ll swap me pets.

Comments

[Lynne Quido]

Good to see your post, and I hope you are feeling better!!! I am fearful of hamsters myself. Oh, kids and pets. Sigh.

quid