Lay off me...I'm STARVING!!!

I do not like hamsters. Ever since my little sister's hamster ATE...yes ATE the other hampster, I have been grossed out by them. Creighton decided he wanted to buy a hamster with his own money. I was totally against it, and vowed that if he got one, I would not be responsible for it. I would not feed/water it, clean out its cage, and I would not look for it when it went missing (which by the way has happened twice now.)

Well, if you have ever had one, you know that it doesn't take very long before they stink up your house. Creighton was having a hard time remembering to clean out its cage. Being the stubborn mule that I am...I would not clean out the cage. I would also notice that it would go weeks without food or water...but I made a promise, and I wasn't going to break it. The first few months we had the hamster, as soon as it started to stink, I would put the cage out in the garage. Well that got even worse, because...out of sight, out of mind. By this time it was getting pretty cold outside, so the garage was pretty cold too. Every couple of weeks, Creighton would ask his Dad to help him clean out the cage. Then the cage would come inside for about a week until I couldn't stand the stench anymore...then out to the garage again. But...I was not breaking down...besides its only a rodent (or something)

Anyway...about a month ago, I started to feel bad for the little rodent and I said "Enough is enough" and I told Creighton that if he could not take responsibility for his pet, then I'm sure there was another boy who would love to have a hamster that would take care of it. I showed him how to clean out the cage without making a mess, got him some rubber gloves and such and we set aside Tuesday as the day the cage would get cleaned. He has done pretty good, with a few reminders here and there. However he does still forget to feed and water it. Today I helped him clean out the cage, and I don't think the dang thing had gotten food since last week, so of course we refilled his food bowl. About 5 minutes later this is what his cheeks looked like. The poor thing probably is thinking he better save up in case he doesn't see food for another week. If only it knew the strech marks it will have after...LOL.