Imogen's hamster

Yes, Imogen got a hamster today. During Genevieve's dance class last week we walked around the corner to a pet shop, just to kill time. Imogen thought everything there, from the doves to the goldfish was the coolest thing she had ever seen. She has a thing for animals. I look at goldfish and I see a fish tank that will need regular cleaning (and fishtanks are such a pain to clean). I look at doves and see birds which will poop a lot, chew on things, are probably noisy and will doubtlessly hate me. Because I hate them.

Nonetheless, Imogen begged me for a guinea pig (and a parrot, but I digress). She had some money left over from her birthday and she wanted to buy one. She had a cage left over from her other guinea pig which bit the dust shortly after we bought her. Kiba was her name, and she was sickly when we got her though we didn't really realize it until it got worse.

I mentioned to Jeremy that Imogen wanted another guinea pig. He groaned. "Kiba hated us and she DIED! What's the point of that? We have Zeus. Wasn't that the point of getting Zeus?" Now, I remember before we got Zeus several discussions about the type of dog we wanted and what we wanted in a dog but I don't recall ever either of us saying "Hey, if we get a chihuahua, we won't ever have to get any other pets!" So I let Jeremy stew about the whole guinea pig for a while (he needs to get used to some ideas) but one thing he said was "Why not a hamster?" Why not, indeed? They're smaller, cheaper (ie, easier to replace when they croak). They eat less, poop less. Their toys are even cheaper because they're smaller.

But Imogen wanted a guinea pig. So we went to the pet store with the idea of buying one. However, when we got there, there was only one in stock and the stupid thing was $28! Call me cheap but seems like a lot for a glorified rat. Hamsters however, were $9. So I convinced Imogen to look at the hamsters. She peered into one of the cages. Two fat, healthy looking hamsters with thick fuzzy fur were sleeping in one corner of the cage. One thinner straggly looking hamster was shivering in the other corner of the cage.

"I want that one," Imogen said, pointing at the littler one. I pictured her 15 years from now writing a book about how all of her pets died when she was a little kid and how her parents failed to shield her from the pain.

"What about these ones?" I said. We agreed on one of the fat ones. Imogen named her Melly. (I don't think I could have handled another Lucy or Susan- *everything* around here gets named Lucy or Susan ever since Jeremy read them The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.) We had to buy her a cage, ball, food, etc.

Melly chewed the inside of her little box in a valiant escape attempt as I frantically assembled the cage while we waited for Genevieve's dance class to end. We put her inside the cage and she began climbing all over it and exploring. Already she has been more outgoing, friendly, curious and active that Kiba was. Hopefully she lasts longer too.