Looking at my WordPress stat’s page is usually a pretty routine affair.
I check how many views I get for the day, have a secret celebratory dance, and then have a closer look at what posts have been looked at most blah blah blah. As fellow blogger’s you know the drill.
Well yesterday I had a littler more reason to dance than usual. I have crept over the 10,000 all time views border. TA-DAHHHHHH!!
So I thought my post today would be dedicated to a few statistics from the Hamster Diaries blog which actually will act as a reminder that my blog is actually quite a hit Blogging everyday is not the easiest thing in the world and takes a fair amount of discipline and patience to get into a routine. Having settled into a pattern (or there abouts after the new-job-time-management-shake-up thing)]
First post date:
Sunday 13th May 2012 Number of posts: 186 Number of comments:
1616 Total number of views:
10,014 Overall average views per day:
80 Most views on a single day: 132 Number of countries reached:
94 Most country views: United States Likes on Facebook: 15 Most popular post(excluding homepage): How to tell whether your hamster is a boy or girl Number of videos on Youtube: 18 Most popular video on Youtube: Newborn Baby Hamsters Number of views for this video: 447 Lifetime video views on Youtube: 1118
Writing this post has actually put a smile on my face. Who knew blogging could be so satisfying
Have a fantastic day everybody!
xxxx
I think what has happened here is that Casper has seen Eve’s talented monkey bar skills out of his cage window. He has recently started doing the monkey bars and quite honestly, putting Eve to shame!
Now the picture you see to your right is of Eve doing the monkey bars for one of the first times all them months back. You may notice she’s all slim and skinny, unlike the curvy podge-ball we now have Shes had 13 kids people, lighten up! She looks great now and looked great back then mmkays?!
Now Casper may not have quite the grace of Eve when it comes to doing the monkey bars, but he sure can get a groove on.
I videoed him doing this the other day and put it to some music and found myself giggling at how he looked like he was dancing away on the bars.
Then I looked up the old video I had of Eve doing the same.
Here are both videos for you to enjoy.
They will brighten up your day, promise!!
Who doesnt love seeing a hamster splat on the cage floor after getting too cocky on the ceiling?! ;D
Casper’s rave cannot be seen if you are viewing from Germany, I keep picking music that isnt allowed somewhere or rather, but it should work for the rest of you
Enjoy!!
And if you needed some more furry dancing cuteness, here is Eve on her bars. This is from a while back, you may remember the hilarious splat to the floor right at the end of it
WORD: that-heart-warming-effect PRONOUNCED:thaht-hahrt-wawr-ming-ih-fekt MEANING: the complete feeling of gladness and happiness a person experiences after a kind and loving action or event
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So yesterday I posted about the simple joys of watching my three beautiful Syrian hamsters running amok in their exercise balls.
And, correctly, my lovely followers pointed out I was missing a video! I couldnt possibly rant and rave about how cute and funny it was to watch three hamsters run into each other in their exercise balls without a video to show it!
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and if a video is basically made up of millions of pictures (urrmm I think?) then this video is worth like a gabillion words?! No-one wants to READ a gabillion words but I know I would sure like to watch the equivalent!
So I took lots of film of the hamsters in their balls. YAY for exercise [and free-time]!
You will notice in the video I have used ‘The Rubbish Indoor/Outdoor Playpen’ (yeah that’s its official name…maybe…….should be) to barricade off a section of the room. That useless playpen comes in handy here because they cant climb over its ridiculously low walls when they are in a sealed sphere… mwahaha!
But anyway, I am only using it to make a small ‘playpen’ for the sake of this video. I couldn’t crawl around chasing each individual hamster as they would undoubtedly go in different directions at 100 miles per hour and I wouldn’t have had a video to end up with. I would have had sore knees though.
So here after popular demand is the eagerly anticipated video of the hamsters enjoying their teasing taste of freedom! Take notice of the camera-hog(Dexter) who cant get enough of running toward me and my camera as well as at 0:25 Casper looks as if he has waited to start his careful steps on cue! “Annnnnd ACTION!” hehehe so cute – if you missed that bit, watch it again!! NOTE: Canada & Germany wont be able to view this video. Youtube copyright something-or-rathers.
Yes, the music is once again cheesy (sorry for not using Benny Hill here GoodGirlGlasgow but it didnt quite fit this video) I know the lyrics here are a bit mixed but its all about love and whats better than a video of my pets to a song about love and who can resist humming along to this song?!
Plus I cant help but watch this and feel extremely happy. I have happy pets – nothing makes a pet-lover happier than happy pets! (Woah lots of ‘happys’ in one sentence there). It has ‘that-heart-warming-effect’ – I LOVE IT!
Have a super great day where ever you are and whatever you are doing!
xxx
Buying a treat for your hamster should never be a bank-breaking situation.
I am a terrible example of an owner because I get swept away in the moment of pet-supply-shopping and end up buying a load of stuff my hamster doesn’t really need and may use once or twice depending on its novelty.
When it comes to buying treats even, I have so far brought a bad of some chocolate drop thingys, which was about £1.50 for a big ole handful of them, and some sunflower seeds, after all they are the favourite!
These treats are all very nice and that but when I want to just give the hammys a nutritious treat I am stumped.
Buying a multipack of assorted vegetables for them to try is not only expensive for what I want, but it also goes bad before I even have time to feed it to them! I cant shove 500g’s of healthy goodness into there bowls in an evening – they’ll die!
So whilst I was in the supermarket the other day, I picked up one of the loose carrots. Its something like 76p per kilo. I picked out a relatively small one (they are only small themselves) and took it to the checkout.
It cost me 4p. FOUR PENCE. Quatre. Vier. Dört. PENCE. Apologies for my excitement over a 4p carrot but I am so used to buying everything in bulk I forget what small change looks like!
Here is my bargain buy! A regular sized carrot for my little hammys to munch!
Anyone and everyone could afford this!
So anyways, I cut the carrot into two and put one in Eves cage and the other in front of Dexter as I had him out at the time.
Now Dexter is a funny little thing. He doesn’t like to eat outside of his cage. There’s way too much excitement around him to stop and eat something! Eve is similar but not quite as prude.
So anyway Dexter pretty much turned his nose up at it. He did give it a little lick, but then realised he was free and could explore the sofa which is way more exciting than veg.
We’ve left it in his cage since and almighty chunks have been eaten already so hes a secret carrot-lover!
Eve got the smaller end of the carrot. I put it in her food bowl and waited to watch her discover it. Well I couldnt not film the occasion and Im so glad I did because it was very amusing to watch. Tincy-wincy little Eve carrying a carrot too big for her across her cage was a sight for sore eyes! She has eyes too big for her belly that girl!
So anyway I put the clip on Youtube, with a bitta moosic, and here you have it; Eve with her carrot!
I guess this post was to show that even when money is tight, you can still afford to give your pets a little something
(And 4p for a carrot?! Go and treat your rodent right now! I demand you to!)
What does every hamster need in its cage? A wheel of course!
It gives all small rodents the opportunity to exercise in its cage as well as keep its owners awake at night with the monotonous patter of ickle paws on plastic!
As Dexter is proving in this picture, the exercise wheels provided in some cages are not sometimes up to scratch!
The cage I have for both of my hamsters, is the basic starter kit offered in most pet stores.
It consists of a plastic base, a plastic food bowl, a bottle, a wheel and a bog-standard house. (It also comes with free sawdust, bedding, food etc. if bought at Pets at Home)
The wheel in this cage has several flaws:
Its too small for a full-sized Syrian hamster – Dexter didn’t fit in the wheel without practically folding himself in half the wrong way! Definitely not a comfy fit!
It is too stiff. So stiff that Eve, who is a lightweight little hamster, cant even turn it despite being pushed up against one side of it. How can I expect her to run in it when it doesnt move for her?! Even podgy Dexter over there can sit on it without it rolling!
Its not held high enough off of the base. I understand this can be adjusted if you look close enough but even so, when its held onto a flimsy plastic post a heavy hamster has no trouble bending the plastic when sat in it so that it scrapes the base floor.
So, after a restless hamster made it obvious he needed something to stimulate him, we bought a ‘stand-alone’ wheel.
The wheel itself was £9.99 (rather EXPENSIVE for what it is but one of the only options available). It can be fixed to a wire cage if you so please, but works particularly well on its metal free-stander-thingy-ma-jiggy.
It solves all of the problems I had with the original wheel!!!
It moves with the lightest touch (ideal for lightweight hamsters), it is held at the perfect height above the base and is considerably larger so fits full-grown rodents like Dexter in.
It even has a flashing rudolph-nose thing in the middle which lights up when the wheel is spun – neat eh!! Fabulously entertaining when showing off the hamster to guests; slightly annoying however when the entire room lights up at 3am because the hamster decides to go for a quick run!
So we have ended up taking out the original plastic wheel and put in its place the new flashy awesome wheel.
He didn’t stop running on it for at least 3 hours… Making up for lost time perhaps?
And when I say ‘running’ I mean sprinting. His legs move so quick they are a mere blur beneath him. Kinda impressive for a furry thing.
Im secretly hoping that this new wheel will help trim Dexters tubby tum in as hes gotten a wee bit chubby over the last couple of weeks – we’ve been indulging him, guilty.
As its quite an expensive purchase, Eve will have a wait till payday to get her flashy new wheel.
In the meantime, I have a new video for you all to view of Dexter in his flash new wheel.
I know a few readers have the same cage so what do you guys think of the wheel provided?
Have you got new ones or are your pets happy with the original wheel??
Lazy Sundays are the best. A nice lay-in is what my whole week is waiting for!
Not having to get up at 7am is also lovely when Dexter has been super noisy the night before.
Its like as soon as the lights go off he can make as much racket as he wants – and he takes advantage of the fact hes undisturbed in his playtime.
He never touches his wheel during daylight hours, he barely even looks at it! But soon as Im in bed and ready to doze off hes running a marathon on the worlds squeakiest wheel.
At least hes nibbled all of his chewstick now. Its once full honey and seed coating has all gone and were left to the wooden skeleton. This was noisier than everything else in that cage! Biting and scraping it across the plastic base makes such a loud noise – but okay it was pretty cute watching him turn upside down just to get a mouthful!
As you can see from the picture anyway, hes not given up on it yet!
I sound really bothered by the fact he was noisy last night but I’m not. It was kind of soothing to be able to hear him play and exercise and eat and drink, all whilst Im in bed (even if I am trying to sleep!)
Ive only ever seen him drinking from his bottle once – I know he does drink because the water level goes down – but I dont actually see him drinking which is worrying. However when I hear him attacking the metal dispenser thingy in the middle of the night, I know I have nothing to worry about. Hes just a bit shy! Shy?! Who am I kidding – he loves the attention!
We have bought Dexter a new toy. Its called a “Hamtrack” and basically its for when hes in his exercise ball theres a little track underneath to stop him going too far. Its perfect size for when Im sat on the sofa and he can be in front of me so I can keep an eye on him. Letting him roam free in his ball isnt too much of a bother but he disappears into cubby-holes and into places I cant see him and I freak out that hes going to be nibbling a wire or chewing up the carpet.
I did have a video of the Hamtrack and Dexter not quite grasping the loop idea but I have only now realised that I have to be a paid member of WordPress to post these videos which is something Im not too convinced in doing right now. Ill set up a Youtube account or something and just post links perhaps, if people really want to see them? Let me know?
Are your pets noisy at night? How do you deal with it?
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