2001-01-17 - 23:59:01

Uberhamster: In Memoriam

Well, it had to happen eventually. Uberhamster, the namesake of this journal, died last night. He was 28 months old.

I knew it was coming. The poor little guy was looking terribly old and feeble. He'd lost a lot of his fur, and was all scrawny and hunched over. In spite of the fact that I knew he was not feeling well, he kept his sweet disposition right up to the end.

Uberhamster was the last surviving child of Pudge, one of my favorite hamsters ever. Much of her intelligence was passed down to her children: Uberhamster, Flea, Fluffhamster and Smudge.

Uberhamster got his name because he was so much bigger than all the others in his litter - at least when he was a couple weeks old. Eventually, all the others caught up with him in size, but the name stuck. He was a long-haired cream-colored hamster with brown eyes.

I'm not sure why I kept him out of the litter - I think I was hesitant to sell a hamster I had given a name to.

I usually keep one hamster out of every litter, sometimes two but this litter was the first time I kept three babies, all boys: Uberhamster, Flea and Fluffhamster. To my astonishment all three boys lived together peacefully at least at first. They were absolutely adorable together. Sometimes it seemed like they were having pose-downs to see who was the cutest. However, eventually they started to quarrel, so I had to put them in separate cages.

When he was little, Flea was pretty much considered Angess' hamster, and when she was visiting the Hamster Palace she'd frequently take him out to play. One time when she was over, on a whim, I took Uberhamster out so I'd have a hamster too. I hadn’t tamed him but he seemed exceptionally mellow. He crawled around on my chest for a while, and then he settled down, rested his little head on my arm, and looked up at me adoringly. It was one of the cutest things that I'd ever seen and it just melted my heart. Thereafter he was always one of my favorites.

Hamsters are very wriggly, curious creatures. They hardly ever sit still and they are always exploring. Uberhamster was an exception to this rule. Often times I'd be sitting at my computer, leaning back in my chair with Uberhamster running around on my chest. He was always very good about not trying to jump off onto the floor.

One time I was bustling around the Hamster Palace, doing a little housecleaning. Uberhamster was awake and looking cute, so I took him out of his cage, and set him in the crook of my arm. Then a song I particularly liked came on the stereo, "I Might Be Crying" by Tanita Tikarum. I began to dance around the living room, swaying slowly to the music. I looked down at Uberhamster, and he looked up at me. The look on his face seemed to say: "What the hell are you doing?"

Hey, just call me "Dances With Hamsters."

When I was choosing a name for this journal, I was going to call it "Tales of the Hamster Empire," and have its Diaryland name be "Hamsterempire" but there is a twelve character limit for diary names. "Uberhamster" was my second choice, but I think that time has shown it to be a much better name. And now, this journal will be a living memorial for my little friend, the Uberhamster.