Lottie

I am continually amazed at how resilient kids are!  Shortly after Herbie dies Bug asked if we could get another hamster.  Since I was afraid she wouldn’t be ready to “get back on the horse” I quickly agreed.  This time we got a girl and named her, what else, Lottie!  Lottie is the companion of Herbie in the books, and now that she is with us Herbie is only remembered fondly with no sign of tears.

We waited the three days and the girls were finally able to get her out and play with her.  She is definitely skittish, but with as much as they’ll be playing with her I’m sure she’ll be tamed in no time.  Here are the pictures of them getting acquainted.

She is solid brown except for some white on her stomach and looks just like a little bear which is probably why her she is called “Fancy Bear” Syrian Hamster. :)

Of course they all love her already!

After talking to the pet store worker we think Herbie may have gotten too cold.  I didn’t realize hamsters were that delicate, and I knew we were going to have to figure something out this winter, but I didn’t realize just how small of a temperature change they could handle.  It got down to freezing a couple of nights last week and apparently that was just too cold for Herbie where he was sleeping in the breezeway.  It was probably down to 60…maybe even 55, and that was just too much for his little body to handle.  I feel terrible!  After all the hamsters I’ve had and reading about them for several weeks before getting him I never came across that information. 

Thankfully we know now and Lottie is happily settled in the guest bedroom.  I guess if we have guests she’ll have to just sleep in the hall.  She is VERY noisy at night up in her hamster wheel lookout, but thankfully the girls sleep right through it.   Hopefully she’ll be with us for a very long time!

Welcome to the family Lottie!