18 replies to this topic

[Paws to the Sky]

Hi, I'm new on here but I've been reading the posts and stories on here since I discovered HH 6 months ago. I have really enjoyed a lot of the stories on here, especially the writings of midget7 and Cameorntheraison. I decided to join and contribute, so here goes....

Chapter 1
I wandered in my cramped enclosure, the food is dull but at least I'm not starving. They seem to give me what I need but I'm just bored bored BORED!!... The last of my friends was taken yesterday, the kind giant with the long fur on her head put her in a tiny box after talking to 3 giants outside our house. Sometimes a smaller noisier giant will frighten me by banging on the see through part of our house making me hide in our sleep box. I hope none of them ever get in here. No-one's banged on our house for a while though, I wonder what happened to my friends?

****

the kind giant is with 2 other giants in front of our house. 1 has long fur on their head and the other seems to have fur that is covered with a cloth on their head, this 2nd giant is also holding a white stick. I press my paws up to the see through part of our house to get a better look. The kind giant opened our house and the 1st giant put their giant paw just in front of me. I walked cautiously up and sniffed the paw. I began to daydream - I could hear my friends and my mother all at once telling stories about how some giant will take you somewhere, no-one knows what will happen, then I also hear mothers comments about the "elder returns", who claim they've lived with giants but no-one believes them. - I looked again at the paw and without thinking I placed my front paws on the giant's paw. This giant then gently touched my back with their other paw and I flinched very slightly but the giant moved the paw away again after around 7 of my Hammy heartbeats. The giants mouth went into a U shape - Mother told me this is a smile and it might mean that the giant doing that with their mouth might be kind - the 1st giant made a noise that sounded like "Aaaahhhh" and the2nd giant with the white stick made a smile and the skinn around their eyes became more wrinkled.

POV Raff and Kit.
Kit "she seems calm and chilled, you should be fine with her, she's lovely"
Raff "amazing, I can't wait to get her home"
Employee "Do you want to look at any of the others? We've got 3 more here.."
Raff "no, we'll take her, she's obviously friendly and that's what we're most bothered about"
Employee "Ok, so I'll go and give her a quick final check for any signs of illness before you take her, we check on them for anything amiss when we feed them and also when they leave us as standard procedure, so I'll do that in a minute. We feed them a kind of museli seed and nut mix, we do sell it if you want to keep her on the same diet at least for a while, I do personally recommend it and maybe offer pieces of carrot or other veg in moderation. I would say if you want to introduce any change like adding veg, please try her with tiny amounts 1st to let her adjust. Have you heard of wet tail?"
Raff "No, is that like the runs?"
Employee "Hmmm, yeah, but it's deadly, if she shows any sign of it you need to take her straight to a vet, it is related to stress though, so if she isn't stressed by anything there's a chance even if she gets the microbe in her that causes it, she will just fight it off and show no symptoms. In about another 6 weeks she should be just about imune anyway, it's only usually deadly to hamsters under the age of around 3 months. Are you pretty sure about what else you'll need?"
Kit "Yeah, we've had hamsters before, we'll go and pick some stuff up now."
Employee "Ok. i'll go and check her over and then I'll come and find you"

****

Kit "ok, wheel, chewy block thing, oh, here's that seed and nut mix. Bedding, treats, right, where are the cages? Oh, this bridge might be fun for her..."
Raff "Cool, yeah, any signs of a nice big cage for her, I want to try and spoil her a bit."

POV Hammy
The kind giant picked me up and smiled, then seemed to be looking at every part of me over and over again. Wow, please stop turning me on my back! After what seemed like forever she just looked at me and her eyes looked all wet, then I saw her lips move before she put me in one of those tiny boxes.

POV Raff and Kit
Employee "Ok, she's in here, she seems fine, no signs of illness but she's very stressed and nervous at the moment. When you get her in the cage, you must not bother her too much on her 1st day, just try and keep things quiet around her cage and let her settle. Maybe on the 2nd day when she wakes, probably at night, but basically late in the 2nd day when you hear her eating you could try talking really softly to her for a few minutes and then carry on like that for about the next 5 days, just spending a few minutes at a time talking softly to her. From that point you could try offering her a treat from your fingers and see if she will take it from you. There are loads of good videos on Youtube giving advice on getting your hamster to trust and bond with you."
Raff "Nice one, thanks for that. We just need a cage, could you show us where they are?"
Employee "Sure, follow me, we've got a few options but I recommend the Hamster Heaven cages. Oh no."
Kit "What's up?"
Employee "There's no cages on the shelves, please wait here while I see what's gone on"
Raff "is that shuffling and rattling what I think it is?"
Kit "yes, I'm afraid so."
Raff "We've got a hamster in a box, in a shopping trolley? That's so wrong. Let me hold the box at least."
Kit "ok, be gentle with it, try not to stress her out any more than she is. I think she thought we only needed a few things and were going to leave almost straight away."
Raff "Yeah, come on little one, it's allll riiiight., alll riiight. My poor little baby. We'll look after you and love you forever. Allll riiiight."
Employee "Ok, the only cage we've got left is in the back, it's a large Hamster Heaven cage, you will have to put it together yourselves. Would that be ok?"
Kit "Yeah I can manage it, I mean, he's blind as a bat but he can still hold things in place and stuff!"
Raff "who's blind?"
Kit "You, you big twonk!"
Employee "Right, I'll give the barcode to the till operator and when you've checked out I'll help you load your car"

POV Hammy
What is happening? I've been in here for ages. What has she done with me. Must get out. Must get out! Bite the wall. Bite. Bite. Why am I in here? Bite the wall. I'm thirsty. Help! Help! Help! I must get out! HELP! I MUST GET OUT!

[Cloth = Bandana] =P

[midget7]

Love this! My fav part:

 

Kit "Yeah I can manage it, I mean, he's blind as a bat but he can still hold things in place and stuff!"
Raff "who's blind?"
Kit "You, you big twonk!"

 

Also impressed that the pet shop staff member actually gave some solid hamster care advice xD we don't see that very often!

[HamHamha]

MOREEEEEEEEEEEEE
it’s so gooooodddddd

[saf]

 

 

Great job on your first chapter. Thank you for deciding to contribute, it's always fun to read other people's stories!

[ChloesCritters]

MOOOORE

Edited by ChloesCritters, 23 November 2021 - 02:06 PM.

[Paws to the Sky]

Hi, thanks so much for reading and liking. Thanks also for the encouraging comments from midget7, HamHamha and Saf. Before I continue though I will put in a boring disclaimer, but then the story will continue. Hope that's ok....

Disclaimer :- I know Syrians must be kept seperatly, obviously baby hams are left with same gender siblings and the age they are actually seperated is really a matter for debate. This story is (mostly) fiction, ok the main events with the people and Hammy are based on the truth, and also the hammy in question was actually alone in an enclosure when she was bought. Events described about the cage mates before the Hammy was purchased are totally fictional and I wish to state that even though a hammy might miss her siblings, it has been proved countless times that Syrians mature into solitary hammies. Please keep all your Syrian hammies seperatly.

Chapter 2
POV Hammy.
I am being lifted up again. Is this the end? I hear a giant's voice, is seems soothing to me though I really can't tell why. Something about the sound of this giant's voice gives me hope, and yeah I know at the moment hope is all I have. I hear a lot of scary noises and the floor seems to vibrate for ages. Then it stops and I'm jerked about a little bit more. Every now and then though I hear the giant's voice, and I just cling on to the thought that the owner of the voice will be kind. Then everything seems to get a lot quieter and my little box stops jerking about. The voice keeps appearing and I listen to the tone of the voice now I can hear it more clearly. It does seem to have a similar quality to it as the voice of the kind giant that looked after me and my friends at our house.

POV Raff and Kit.
Kit "well that's everything finally brought into your flat."
Raff "Thanks Babe, what do you think will be the quickest way to get her out of this box? I mean, where can we put her? I don't really want her in this box much longer, but I doubt she'll settle on my lap and she'll probably totally freak as she doesn't know me yet...."
Kit "I know it's not ideal, but we could see how she goes in the ball? At the same time I'll try to get this cage ready as quick as I can."
Raff "Ok, if you can put the ball together and I'll try to sooth her with my Noddy Holder impressions."
Kit "Funny F[ooh nasty word]R! Hmmm, she'll love that!"
Raff "Ha ha, as if I'd do that! Alriiight little one. It's alriiight. Come on, nice and calm, nice and calm.... allriiiight. We love you soooo much. Are you getting anywhere putting that ball together?"
Kit "Erm, not really... I can't get the 2 halves to match up at all. I just don't see how it fits together. Maybe I'll just get straight on with the cage and maybe you could have a look at it?"
Raff "Ok, let's see if I can sort it. Hmmm, it's nothing like the 1 I remember having when I was younger. Eee when I were a lad. There were 150 of us living in a caravan but we were happy, because we were poor..."
Kit "Funny F[nasty word)R!"
Raff "[pulling fake sad face] You're no fun! Anyway, I've worked this out, it's just going to be difficult to get each locking tab round the right way, I've already tried about 4 times and 1 of them always ends up with the back of the clip next to the place where the front of it is supposed to go, if that is about as clear as mud. How is the cage going?"
Kit "I reckon I've got it sussed, hopefully in around 20 minutes we'll have a cage...."

****

Kit "That's the wheel attached, she's got food, I've also put that chewy seed roll in. Water bottle, oh and a shallow water dish, I'm a bit concerned that she's too tiny to reach the bottle spout. So now we just need, hamster."
Kit placed the tiny box into the cage and the cutest little gold and speckly white baby Syrian cautiously crept out. Kit removed the box as soon as she was clear of it.

POV Hammy.
Wow, where am I? I cautiously creep round an open space. I creep up to a water spout, can I reach it? Oh, here's a dish with water in it, I'm so thirsty. Yum, nice clean water, mind you, the water was always nice at our house. Ah, some seeds, I know I was getting bored of these, maybe it was the stress of my friends being taken away, mind you one of them started to nip me regularly and I don't know why, she was the 2nd to last to be taken. I thought me and Katrina were getting along fine after nippy Maxine was taken but I was kidding myself that we wouldn't be seperated. I miss Katrina. If Maxine tried to bully us we would stand together and make her back off. I do hope that both Maxine and Katrina are ok though.

This food is really nice actually, there are sunflower seeds, dried sweetcorn, the odd peanut and almond amongst various grains and other bits I don't know the names of. I eat the almond I found and then pouch the peanut. I run along the wall and then I find a corner, I run along this next wall and find a wheel, its too high up, I can only get my front paws onto the middle of the running surface while I'm stood bolt upright. I continue exploring the outer wall of what I am starting to presume is my new house and I come accross a sticky big thing hanging on the wall that smells like food. I bite into it and flavour explodes and dances in my little hammy mouth. I bite chew swallow bite chew swallow bite chew swallow bite chew swallow. Mmmm, like that. I run round the wall some more and I end up back at the food and water. I hope this is my new house, I like it. I run round and round, I do a little jump. I run round and round again and I give a little "Pip-chirp" noise.

POV Raff and Kit.
Kit "Squeak squeak? How's it go? Do you like it in there?"
Raff "Do you think she likes it?"
Kit "Yeah, it looks like it. She looks a bit excited and she keeps giving these little hop skip and jumps and then having some of that big seed roll. It might be a little overwhelming at the moment but I'm sure she'll settle down a bit after about an hour. Oh, now she's managed to jump into the wheel. I can't get it any lower than it is but she seems to be managing at the moment."
Raff "Do you think she needs somewhere to hide?

I've got a Ritz biscuit box that's just about finished, I could leave the biscuits in the internal bag and we could cut one end of the box off and she could use that for hiding and sleeping?"
Kit "yeah, good idea, right, I'll place it in the far corner, there's not much else on that side of the cage."

POV Hammy.
The side of my house clunks open. A giant paw enters holding something really big. It places the big thing in the corner of my house, then in a few Hammy heartbeats it's gone and the house entry clunks shut again. I cautiously creep up to the object and peer in through the side of it, then I creep inside. Maybe this is a good place to hide. I settle down to sleep. I'm exhausted!

[ChloesCritters]

Hi, thanks so much for reading and liking. Thanks also for the encouraging comments from midget7, HamHamha and Saf. Before I continue though I will put in a boring disclaimer, but then the story will continue. Hope that's ok....

Disclaimer :- I know Syrians must be kept seperatly, obviously baby hams are left with same gender siblings and the age they are actually seperated is really a matter for debate. This story is (mostly) fiction, ok the main events with the people and Hammy are based on the truth, and also the hammy in question was actually alone in an enclosure when she was bought. Events described about the cage mates before the Hammy was purchased are totally fictional and I wish to state that even though a hammy might miss her siblings, it has been proved countless times that Syrians mature into solitary hammies. Please keep all your Syrian hammies seperatly.

Chapter 2
POV Hammy.
I am being lifted up again. Is this the end? I hear a giant's voice, is seems soothing to me though I really can't tell why. Something about the sound of this giant's voice gives me hope, and yeah I know at the moment hope is all I have. I hear a lot of scary noises and the floor seems to vibrate for ages. Then it stops and I'm jerked about a little bit more. Every now and then though I hear the giant's voice, and I just cling on to the thought that the owner of the voice will be kind. Then everything seems to get a lot quieter and my little box stops jerking about. The voice keeps appearing and I listen to the tone of the voice now I can hear it more clearly. It does seem to have a similar quality to it as the voice of the kind giant that looked after me and my friends at our house.

POV Raff and Kit.
Kit "well that's everything finally brought into your flat."
Raff "Thanks Babe, what do you think will be the quickest way to get her out of this box? I mean, where can we put her? I don't really want her in this box much longer, but I doubt she'll settle on my lap and she'll probably totally freak as she doesn't know me yet...."
Kit "I know it's not ideal, but we could see how she goes in the ball? At the same time I'll try to get this cage ready as quick as I can."
Raff "Ok, if you can put the ball together and I'll try to sooth her with my Noddy Holder impressions."
Kit "Funny F[ooh nasty word]R! Hmmm, she'll love that!"
Raff "Ha ha, as if I'd do that! Alriiight little one. It's alriiight. Come on, nice and calm, nice and calm.... allriiiight. We love you soooo much. Are you getting anywhere putting that ball together?"
Kit "Erm, not really... I can't get the 2 halves to match up at all. I just don't see how it fits together. Maybe I'll just get straight on with the cage and maybe you could have a look at it?"
Raff "Ok, let's see if I can sort it. Hmmm, it's nothing like the 1 I remember having when I was younger. Eee when I were a lad. There were 150 of us living in a caravan but we were happy, because we were poor..."
Kit "Funny F[nasty word)R!"
Raff "[pulling fake sad face] You're no fun! Anyway, I've worked this out, it's just going to be difficult to get each locking tab round the right way, I've already tried about 4 times and 1 of them always ends up with the back of the clip next to the place where the front of it is supposed to go, if that is about as clear as mud. How is the cage going?"
Kit "I reckon I've got it sussed, hopefully in around 20 minutes we'll have a cage...."

****

Kit "That's the wheel attached, she's got food, I've also put that chewy seed roll in. Water bottle, oh and a shallow water dish, I'm a bit concerned that she's too tiny to reach the bottle spout. So now we just need, hamster."
Kit placed the tiny box into the cage and the cutest little gold and speckly white baby Syrian cautiously crept out. Kit removed the box as soon as she was clear of it.

POV Hammy.
Wow, where am I? I cautiously creep round an open space. I creep up to a water spout, can I reach it? Oh, here's a dish with water in it, I'm so thirsty. Yum, nice clean water, mind you, the water was always nice at our house. Ah, some seeds, I know I was getting bored of these, maybe it was the stress of my friends being taken away, mind you one of them started to nip me regularly and I don't know why, she was the 2nd to last to be taken. I thought me and Katrina were getting along fine after nippy Maxine was taken but I was kidding myself that we wouldn't be seperated. I miss Katrina. If Maxine tried to bully us we would stand together and make her back off. I do hope that both Maxine and Katrina are ok though.

This food is really nice actually, there are sunflower seeds, dried sweetcorn, the odd peanut and almond amongst various grains and other bits I don't know the names of. I eat the almond I found and then pouch the peanut. I run along the wall and then I find a corner, I run along this next wall and find a wheel, its too high up, I can only get my front paws onto the middle of the running surface while I'm stood bolt upright. I continue exploring the outer wall of what I am starting to presume is my new house and I come accross a sticky big thing hanging on the wall that smells like food. I bite into it and flavour explodes and dances in my little hammy mouth. I bite chew swallow bite chew swallow bite chew swallow bite chew swallow. Mmmm, like that. I run round the wall some more and I end up back at the food and water. I hope this is my new house, I like it. I run round and round, I do a little jump. I run round and round again and I give a little "Pip-chirp" noise.

POV Raff and Kit.
Kit "Squeak squeak? How's it go? Do you like it in there?"
Raff "Do you think she likes it?"
Kit "Yeah, it looks like it. She looks a bit excited and she keeps giving these little hop skip and jumps and then having some of that big seed roll. It might be a little overwhelming at the moment but I'm sure she'll settle down a bit after about an hour. Oh, now she's managed to jump into the wheel. I can't get it any lower than it is but she seems to be managing at the moment."
Raff "Do you think she needs somewhere to hide?

I've got a Ritz biscuit box that's just about finished, I could leave the biscuits in the internal bag and we could cut one end of the box off and she could use that for hiding and sleeping?"
Kit "yeah, good idea, right, I'll place it in the far corner, there's not much else on that side of the cage."

POV Hammy.
The side of my house clunks open. A giant paw enters holding something really big. It places the big thing in the corner of my house, then in a few Hammy heartbeats it's gone and the house entry clunks shut again. I cautiously creep up to the object and peer in through the side of it, then I creep inside. Maybe this is a good place to hide. I settle down to sleep. I'm exhausted!

Plot twist:The hammy is taking care of Raf and Kit

[Paws to the Sky]

Hi, thanks for reading and liking.... Here's the next part of the story, this is where the nitty-gritty really starts to happen. Hope you enjoy....

Chapter 3
day 2
POV Raff.
I sit in my favourite chair, Kit rang me earlier to ask how my new addition is doing, and the answer is ok as far as I can tell. I listen intently as she pads around on her aspen floor, bites on the seed roll, crunches up nuts in her cute little hammy mouth and rattles her water spout. (Does this mean she's managing to drink from the bottle? I'll leave the water dish in there till someone witnesses her drinking properly from the bottle.) I know some people think I'm mad taking on a hamster with me being as blind as a bat, mind you I have my home help visits twice a day and they will tell me if she looks out of sorts. At the moment she sounds full of energy, running like a hamster running fast on a wheel, because she is a hamster running fast on a wheel, and very nice she is too. Yes, my hamster is nice. I start to talk to her, telling her how glad I am that she's here with me and I love her. I start rambling, telling her all sorts of daft things, asking her if she was a "remainer" or a "leaver" in the British Brexit vote [oo-er - maybe I should steer clear of British politics, this is supposed to be a happy story] or if she has an ambition to exceed 150 RPM on her wheel. I start humming to myself. The imaginary light bulb appears above my head and I use my talking phone to search "Singing to your hamster site: hamsterhideout.com".

My phone reads the page of results to me as I cursor down the screen. I click on the result "Singing? - General Care - Hamster Hideout forum" and again my phone reads the resulting page as I keep pressing "cursor down". Hmmm, seems to be saying hamsters are ok with singing, I'll try something soft and low though, no She Sells Sanctuary or Whole Lotta Rosie!!!
Ok, so I start this low thing that goes "Little girl.... little girl...... little girl....... little girl....". It sort of half goes to "Yellow Submarine" with the last 2 lines resolving in a more cheesy way, anyway, this is my hammy song and I will sing it to her because I believe chopsticks should be used singularly.

POV Hammy.
I run and run and run and run and run on my wheel. There is just the one giant with me now, it's the one that had the white stick out of the 2 giants I 1st saw outside our old house. I have to take a running jump to get up here because for some reason this wheel is too far off the ground for me. I start to feel tired so I get son water, then crawl into my sleep box. I hear the voice of the giant, it does sound like a kind voice. I hope I can trust this giant, it hasn't hurt me yet but I'm so small compared to this.... this BIG giant! The giant's voice has changed to be sort of going higher and lower, it does sound soothing. I keep listening to the voice and I drift off to sleep.

Day 3
POV Raff.
My phone rings.
Raff "Hi Babe...."
Kit "Hi, how's the little hammy monster then?"
Raff "Good! I think she's acting pretty much as she should, sleeping a lot during the day and running like mad on her wheel at night. I've been talking to her and made up a little song for her too...."
Kit "Have you come up with a name for her yet?"
Raff "Yep."
Kit "Well?"
Raff "Well what?"
Kit "What are you going to call her you daft twit!"
Raff "Erm, I'm going to call her "Heaped"."
Kit "what?"
Raff "I'm going to call her "Heaped"."
Kit "Seriously? Why can't you call her "Amy" - that's a nice name - or something like that?"
Raff "But I want to call her Heaped. Anyway, I'm 90% decided."
Kit "Well, you suits yourself!"

Day 4
POV Hammy (now known as "Heaped").
I look toward the exit of my sleep box. A bright light starts to flood inward towards me and I shudder when I realise I have nowhere to run. I see what looks like the shape of a huge Syrian crawling into my sleep box, tiny speckles of light dance around the huge whateveritis before me and twickly sounds of the like of an orchestra of mini mandolins sing out into the far reaches of forever. "Don't you recognise me?"., she said soothingly."Mo.... Mother?", I whispered.
"yes, it's me my little Harriet. I'm here to tell you about the 1st gift every hamster recieves when they are chosen to live with giants."
"I've been chosen?", I pipped enquiringly.
"Yes, why do you think you're here with this giant at the moment? Now basically the gift I'm describing is the start of an understanding of the language of the giants, or humans, as they call themselves. The sounds they make are usually words, similar words to the ones that we use, but they make much more noise to say the same things as us. For this to work you must be relaxed and you must concentrate on their voices. It takes a lot of practice. After a few days you will start hearing a few words and depending on how much you practice maybe a few months later you will understand about a 3rd of what they're saying."
"So you can actually hear what they're saying?", I squeaked.
"Yes, and like I said, if you concentrate on their voices, eventually you will too."
"Can you tell me anything about the giants who brought me here?"
"Well the one that is with you at the moment is a male, I think he will be the main one looking after you, he does seem kind. The other giant is a female and appears to be his mate, she also appears kind. Oh, it also looks like the male has decided that your name is "Heaped". I'm sorry he didn't choose your real name, "Harriet", but that is the only bit of bad news I have for you, so is that so bad?", she replied, looking apologetic when she explained my "human" name.
"Er, "Heaped", what sort of name is that supposed to be?"
"Well, humans can be very silly, I heard him tell you that he loves you though, so I do think you should give him a chance:, she tried to assure me.
Then everything suddenly became brighter, brighter, I could hear 2 giants talking far away. I'm in my sleep box and everything is normal. I cry and cry. I miss my Mother so much.

Day 5
I listen to the voice, the male is alone again. I heard a word! "Little.... Little....." My mother was right, it can be done!

Day 6
ANOTHER WORD!!!! "My....... little....... little......... my little........."

Day 7
POV Raff.
I'm soooooooo excited, tomorrow is when I'm to begin trying to make proper contact with Heaped, see if I can get her to come near me or take a treat from me. When she wakes I listen to her going about her usual hammy business, crunching her nuts and seeds, digging in the aspen and running on her wheel. Sometimes I'll change my "Little girl" song to "Little Heaped........ Little Heaped....... Little Heaped.......... Little Heaped.........". Then it's time for bed and I tell her I love her and climb into bed, knowing I'll probably hardly sleep. This is almost like Christmas when I was younger.

Day 8
I'm just itching to try to get Heaped to take a treat from my fingers, I keep listening for the familiar sound of her padding around her cage or biting and chewing some food. Eventually I hear her at her water bottle. I open the cage door and hold out a yogurt drop between the thumb and index finger of my right hand. She keeps on clicking the ball thing in the water bottle spout. I softly say, "What's this? Come on, come on little Heaped, come on...". Anyway, she doesn't come over to me. I put the treat in her food bowl and close the cage door. I try the same thing again about 4 more times, roughly an hour apart but no, little Heaped doesn't want to come and take the treat from me. Then she goes on her wheel, running, running, running, running on and on, on and on. The light bulb appears above my head and I open the cage door. I feel the top of the wheel spinning round. (I'm thinking I'd better find the middle of the wheel, though it's not the easiest thing to do when you're as blind as a bat.) I put my thumb pretty much in the centre of the wheel. I move my thumb slowly downward, downward, downward.... I find her back as she's running, she flinches a tiny bit but just keeps on running. I stroke her back 3 times very very gently with my thumb, then withdraw to the side of the wheel. As soon as I move my hand away, little Heaped stops running and sniffs my hand for a couple of seconds, then carries on running. I repeat the back stroking thing while she runs again on the wheel, and again after I've stroked her back gently 3 times she sniffs my hand. I'm almost crying now with happiness as I close the cage door. Yes, contact has been made!

[ChloesCritters]

Hi, thanks for reading and liking.... Here's the next part of the story, this is where the nitty-gritty really starts to happen. Hope you enjoy....

Chapter 3
day 2
POV Raff.
I sit in my favourite chair, Kit rang me earlier to ask how my new addition is doing, and the answer is ok as far as I can tell. I listen intently as she pads around on her aspen floor, bites on the seed roll, crunches up nuts in her cute little hammy mouth and rattles her water spout. (Does this mean she's managing to drink from the bottle? I'll leave the water dish in there till someone witnesses her drinking properly from the bottle.) I know some people think I'm mad taking on a hamster with me being as blind as a bat, mind you I have my home help visits twice a day and they will tell me if she looks out of sorts. At the moment she sounds full of energy, running like a hamster running fast on a wheel, because she is a hamster running fast on a wheel, and very nice she is too. Yes, my hamster is nice. I start to talk to her, telling her how glad I am that she's here with me and I love her. I start rambling, telling her all sorts of daft things, asking her if she was a "remainer" or a "leaver" in the British Brexit vote [oo-er - maybe I should steer clear of British politics, this is supposed to be a happy story] or if she has an ambition to exceed 150 RPM on her wheel. I start humming to myself. The imaginary light bulb appears above my head and I use my talking phone to search "Singing to your hamster site: hamsterhideout.com".

My phone reads the page of results to me as I cursor down the screen. I click on the result "Singing? - General Care - Hamster Hideout forum" and again my phone reads the resulting page as I keep pressing "cursor down". Hmmm, seems to be saying hamsters are ok with singing, I'll try something soft and low though, no She Sells Sanctuary or Whole Lotta Rosie!!!
Ok, so I start this low thing that goes "Little girl.... little girl...... little girl....... little girl....". It sort of half goes to "Yellow Submarine" with the last 2 lines resolving in a more cheesy way, anyway, this is my hammy song and I will sing it to her because I believe chopsticks should be used singularly.

POV Hammy.
I run and run and run and run and run on my wheel. There is just the one giant with me now, it's the one that had the white stick out of the 2 giants I 1st saw outside our old house. I have to take a running jump to get up here because for some reason this wheel is too far off the ground for me. I start to feel tired so I get son water, then crawl into my sleep box. I hear the voice of the giant, it does sound like a kind voice. I hope I can trust this giant, it hasn't hurt me yet but I'm so small compared to this.... this BIG giant! The giant's voice has changed to be sort of going higher and lower, it does sound soothing. I keep listening to the voice and I drift off to sleep.

Day 3
POV Raff.
My phone rings.
Raff "Hi Babe...."
Kit "Hi, how's the little hammy monster then?"
Raff "Good! I think she's acting pretty much as she should, sleeping a lot during the day and running like mad on her wheel at night. I've been talking to her and made up a little song for her too...."
Kit "Have you come up with a name for her yet?"
Raff "Yep."
Kit "Well?"
Raff "Well what?"
Kit "What are you going to call her you daft twit!"
Raff "Erm, I'm going to call her "Heaped"."
Kit "what?"
Raff "I'm going to call her "Heaped"."
Kit "Seriously? Why can't you call her "Amy" - that's a nice name - or something like that?"
Raff "But I want to call her Heaped. Anyway, I'm 90% decided."
Kit "Well, you suits yourself!"

Day 4
POV Hammy (now known as "Heaped").
I look toward the exit of my sleep box. A bright light starts to flood inward towards me and I shudder when I realise I have nowhere to run. I see what looks like the shape of a huge Syrian crawling into my sleep box, tiny speckles of light dance around the huge whateveritis before me and twickly sounds of the like of an orchestra of mini mandolins sing out into the far reaches of forever. "Don't you recognise me?"., she said soothingly."Mo.... Mother?", I whispered.
"yes, it's me my little Harriet. I'm here to tell you about the 1st gift every hamster recieves when they are chosen to live with giants."
"I've been chosen?", I pipped enquiringly.
"Yes, why do you think you're here with this giant at the moment? Now basically the gift I'm describing is the start of an understanding of the language of the giants, or humans, as they call themselves. The sounds they make are usually words, similar words to the ones that we use, but they make much more noise to say the same things as us. For this to work you must be relaxed and you must concentrate on their voices. It takes a lot of practice. After a few days you will start hearing a few words and depending on how much you practice maybe a few months later you will understand about a 3rd of what they're saying."
"So you can actually hear what they're saying?", I squeaked.
"Yes, and like I said, if you concentrate on their voices, eventually you will too."
"Can you tell me anything about the giants who brought me here?"
"Well the one that is with you at the moment is a male, I think he will be the main one looking after you, he does seem kind. The other giant is a female and appears to be his mate, she also appears kind. Oh, it also looks like the male has decided that your name is "Heaped". I'm sorry he didn't choose your real name, "Harriet", but that is the only bit of bad news I have for you, so is that so bad?", she replied, looking apologetic when she explained my "human" name.
"Er, "Heaped", what sort of name is that supposed to be?"
"Well, humans can be very silly, I heard him tell you that he loves you though, so I do think you should give him a chance:, she tried to assure me.
Then everything suddenly became brighter, brighter, I could hear 2 giants talking far away. I'm in my sleep box and everything is normal. I cry and cry. I miss my Mother so much.

Day 5
I listen to the voice, the male is alone again. I heard a word! "Little.... Little....." My mother was right, it can be done!

Day 6
ANOTHER WORD!!!! "My....... little....... little......... my little........."

Day 7
POV Raff.
I'm soooooooo excited, tomorrow is when I'm to begin trying to make proper contact with Heaped, see if I can get her to come near me or take a treat from me. When she wakes I listen to her going about her usual hammy business, crunching her nuts and seeds, digging in the aspen and running on her wheel. Sometimes I'll change my "Little girl" song to "Little Heaped........ Little Heaped....... Little Heaped.......... Little Heaped.........". Then it's time for bed and I tell her I love her and climb into bed, knowing I'll probably hardly sleep. This is almost like Christmas when I was younger.

Day 8
I'm just itching to try to get Heaped to take a treat from my fingers, I keep listening for the familiar sound of her padding around her cage or biting and chewing some food. Eventually I hear her at her water bottle. I open the cage door and hold out a yogurt drop between the thumb and index finger of my right hand. She keeps on clicking the ball thing in the water bottle spout. I softly say, "What's this? Come on, come on little Heaped, come on...". Anyway, she doesn't come over to me. I put the treat in her food bowl and close the cage door. I try the same thing again about 4 more times, roughly an hour apart but no, little Heaped doesn't want to come and take the treat from me. Then she goes on her wheel, running, running, running, running on and on, on and on. The light bulb appears above my head and I open the cage door. I feel the top of the wheel spinning round. (I'm thinking I'd better find the middle of the wheel, though it's not the easiest thing to do when you're as blind as a bat.) I put my thumb pretty much in the centre of the wheel. I move my thumb slowly downward, downward, downward.... I find her back as she's running, she flinches a tiny bit but just keeps on running. I stroke her back 3 times very very gently with my thumb, then withdraw to the side of the wheel. As soon as I move my hand away, little Heaped stops running and sniffs my hand for a couple of seconds, then carries on running. I repeat the back stroking thing while she runs again on the wheel, and again after I've stroked her back gently 3 times she sniffs my hand. I'm almost crying now with happiness as I close the cage door. Yes, contact has been made!

day 100:
new word:FOOD  NOW  OR ELSE.. >: )

Edited by ChloesCritters, 30 November 2021 - 07:19 PM.

[Paws to the Sky]

Thanks for the likes and stuff, here's a bit more...

 

Chapter 4

POV Raf.

I spent the next few days stroking little Heaped on her back occasionally when she was on her wheel. She appeared to be getting used to me, I kept talking to her softly and singing her the "Little Heaped" song, but I didn't seem to be making any progress with getting her to take a treat from my fingers. There was a knock at my door. It was my morning call from my home help service. Inwardly careered a impossibly energetic young woman barely out of her teens.

"Where's the hamster then?", she enquired brightly.

"Through here.", I replied, leading her into my main room. Little Heaped sounded like she was eating and crunching away in her cute hamstingly hamster like manner.

"Oh my God, I want her, I want her!",

"Calm down! You'll probably be able to hold her when I've got her tamed, or you could get your own hamster? It is a big commitment though. They do seem to be treating them well at the store at the top of the road, unlike what I've heard about happening in a lot of the pet chains.", I replied while realising the totally over the top visual cute factor of baby little Heaped. I heard her rattling her water bottle and asked if it looked like Heaped was managing to drink from her bottle.

"yeah, it looks like she's fine with the bottle", my home helper replied.

"Cool", I enthused, "Do her eyes look nice, clear and sparkly?"

"Definitely.", came her reply. I thought about the water situation for a few seconds then I opened up the cage and took out the little water tray.

"well, if she's using the bottle she won't be needing this then.", I said as I took it through to the kitchen. The home helper followed me to the kitchen saying,

"I'd better get on with your breakfast, anyway, I thought you were going to get a cat? You're always on about cats and singing daft songs about them?"

"I thought a lot about it but in the end I decided that I would find it easier to keep a hamster happy than to keep a cat happy."

"well are you going to make hamster songs up then?"

"Hmmm, the trouble is that hamsters don't make much noise, where as cats go meow meow meow meow!"

"Ha ha ha.... Go on then, do a cat song."

"You know I only do them because they are so ridiculously poor, inane and banal, amongst other things...."

"Oh go on, poor and inane can be funny, just a bit of 1"

"Ok, you asked for it. It went meow meow meow, because it is a cat, it went meow meow meow, because it is a cat. It went meow meow meow, because it is a cat, and it blinked it's eyes slowly, went meow and gave a purr."

"Hmmm, pretty dreadful."

"I never said it was good!"

"Ha ha ha ha, of course I thought it was funny, you're so gullible sometimes."

"But you see, if you search "What noises do hamsters make", no one really has a definite answer, and I can't get out of the habbit of writing about the sound of an animal, plus to me, meow meow meow just adds so much innocent charm. Maybe it could go - it didn't go meow meow meow, because it is a hamster, it didn't go meow meow meow, because it is a hamster..... - hmmm..... Maybe not"

[Bananna]

This such a good story,I've read all the chapters and they're all amazing!

[Paws to the Sky]

Hi, everything so far has been put on here by a really good friend as I’ve not had internet access for a bit - now I’ve got a new phone so I’ll be making more appearances on here….

[Paws to the Sky]

Chapter 5
POV Raff.
I decided to try and get my lovely little Heaped to go inside her exercise ball. I opened up the ball and I placed it inside the cage, then came the difficult bit with me being the blind man and everything……. I listened as little Heaped padded around the floor of the cage in her cute little way, it sounded like she just ignored it and kept going on her wheel and eating food and things like that. After a while I heard the sound of the ball rolling on the aspen…. I excitedly put the lid on the ball and took it out of the cage and placed little Heaped on the floor in the ball to explore. She slowly and cautiously started to move about, occasionally banging into a few things. After a bit she started to get the hang of it and she was running up and down the room in the ball without any problem.

POV Heaped.
Ever since I went into this plastic thing the giant picked me up and he seems to have sealed it. I can just about see where I’m going, though there seems to be always a plastic wall in front of me. When I push against it the whole thing I’m inside seems to roll around it’s really weird. I’m starting to find it fun running in this big whateveritis, Sometimes I seem to be able to run really fast through the room but then sometimes I catch something and it Ends up stopping me with a bump. Oh no, I seem to be stuck! I can’t move! I don’t know what’s happening - each way I go the ball doesn’t seem to want to move anymore……..

POV Raff.
I picked up little Heaped in her ball and carried her over to my chair still leaving her in her ball, I could feel that she wasn’t very happy by the way she was squirming around inside the ball. I tried to talk to her in a soothing way and then I opened up the top of the ball. I just had the urge to put my hand in and try to stroke her. Well, not surprisingly as I’d not had much contact with her she bit me! I tried not to make a song and dance…….. even though she had bit me quite hard……. I simply sat there and then I said in a low soothing voice oooooooouuuuuuuuch!

POV Heaped.
As the giant picked me up I was squirming around inside the ball in panic, I really didn’t know what to do. I was frightened - I was starting to trust the giant but he was so big and I really didn’t know what to do. Then he opened up the ball and his hand came in and just out of instinct I bit his hand! He quietly said ouch and he just left his hand still inside the ball. I realised what I’d done and I was sorry. I sat on his hand and I just sat there I felt really sorry for him……..

POV Raff.
I sat with my slightly injured hand in the ball with little Heaped sat on it for a while. She sat still and I managed to stroke her back a little bit with my thumb. Even though moments ago she had bitten me, in a bizarre way we did appear to be getting mor closely acquainted. I carried on talking to baby little Heaped in a soothing voice, then I put the ball back into the cage and let her run out of it to where she felt safe. I started to sing her my little Heaped song that I’ve sung her again and again and again so many times. Baby Heaped went over to the water bottle and had a long drink before having something to eat, then she started running on the wheel running and running and running. She went through one of the cardboard tubes that I had put into the cage for her before she started digging in the corner.
****

It was next day, i’d gone down to check little Heaped’s water bottle. I’d just unhooked it and was about to walk through to the kitchen to refill it when my phone rang. Kit’s mischievous greeting rose up out of the phone…….
Kit “Oh, you’re up then, I’ve got her a couple of bits if you want me to call around in a little while.”
Raff “yeah, that would be really cool... What have you got for my little cutie then?”
Kit “I’ve got three wooden blocks for her to chew on, one looks like a slice of lemon, another looks like a piece of pineapple and this other one is just a bit weird, it looks maybe like a piece of pizza or something like that. I’ve also got this big flavoured seed roll thing that you’re supposed to stick on the side of the cage, it’s supposed to be really tasty and she can eat it while it will also keep her teeth nice and the correct shape and all that sort of thing.”
Raff “Oh, that’s brilliant. You won’t mind listening to Slayer and Napalm Death though, will you? It’s just that I’ve got a feeling that little Heaped will really want to listen to that for the next two hours!“
Kit “You know you, you’re just an absolute, complete and utter twit at times!”
[Knocking at my door]
I answered the door and in bounced my young home helper, who probably has more bubbles than the fizziest of all fizzy bottles of plonk.
Home helper “Can I see her then?”
Raff “Sure you can, I was just about to play some Slayer to her.”
Kit “can you hit him for me, I can’t exactly reach him from here down the phone can I?”
[Home helper slaps my arm]
Raff “Ouch!!”
Home helper [Squealing] “Oh my God, she’s so unbelievably, and totally, utterly cute!”
Raff “Oh, I was just about to fill her water bottle up. I’ve got it here, would you mind taking it to the kitchen and filling it up for me please?”
Home help “Sure, I don’t suppose you’ve managed to write any hamster songs yet, have you?”
Raff “Hmmmmm, i’ve sort of got a couple of ideas, they’re a bit rubbish though, like most of my songs!”
Kit “Honestly, you know I’m really, really gonna clout him when I eventually get there. I’m just so sick of hearing him being so down on himself!”
Home help “She’s right you know! Come on, let’s hear one of these hamster songs then!”
Raff “Ok, I guess you’ve asked for it. Syrians are so nice, and they’re way more than suffice, so much larger than most mice, and they leave little cute grains of rice! Time with a hamster you should spend, your cute little furry friend, if life drives you round the bend, your hamster shows a problem’s end.”
Kit “[laughing] I guess I’ll see you soon then. I’ll drive over now because the time’s starting to get on. See you in a bit.”
[Hangs up]
Home helper “[giggling] You always make me smile with something!

[Paws to the Sky]

I’ll try and post more often in the near future..... :

[Paws to the Sky]

Hi, here is some more because I can’t stand all the death threats that I have been receiving LOL.….

Chapter 6

POV Raff.
I’ve now had little Heaped in my life for about two weeks. I sit as my baby hamster Heaped hastily and hamtasticly runs on her hamstingly unhampered, hamster wheel. Of course, I can’t see her doing this, being the blind man that I am, though I can hear the wheel squeaking, squeaking and squeaking! I’m not really sure if I’m ever going to be able to handle her like other people handle hamsters, but I really am just happy to stroke her on her back occasionally and listen to her do her little hamster things in her hamster cage. Having said that, it would be good to get little Heaped to the point where I could handler like other people handle their hamsters. I start singing my little Heaped song to my sweet little girl, the same way I’ve been singing to her since I’ve had her. I can’t imagine what life would be like now without my little Heaped. I open the cage door with a tasty treat between my fingers. I hold the treat out in the cage, and I can hear little Heaped moving around on the Aspen floor. Then, my heart totally melts as I feel too tiny little paws reach up to my fingers, and I feel an invisible mouth gently take the treat from me! This is the first time she has done this! My heart is actually now doing somersaults!

POV Heaped.
I’m running and running and running and running and running on my wheel. I love my wheel! This giant I’m with is so, so, so - big - but he does seem kind. I hear his voice going up and down, it’s sort of soothes me when he does this. Oh! I can hear some words! My… Little… Girl… Little..… Girl… Little.…. Girl.…. He’s holding something out to me, I feel I should trust him… Still, I really don’t know… Should I trust him?… Should I?… It looks tempting!… then, an urge just overwhelms me.…. I can’t stop myself.…. I move over to the hand, and I gently put my paws on the fingers around the treat, and then very carefully take the treat with my teeth…. For some reason I am starting to be drawn towards this giant.… When I took the treat from him, it just felt…… right!……. Like when I was in the ball with his hand.…… Maybe it’s the smell of his hand?.……

POV Raff.
I opened up the cage and placed the opened ball into it, hoping my lovely little baby Heaped would climb into it again. I closed the cage door and waited. I could hear my beautiful little baby Heaped doing all sorts of things, like using her water bottle, crunching a few seeds or nuts and running, running and running on her beloved wheel. Then I heard that distinctive sound again, the ball moving on the aspen. I quickly opened the cage door and lifted the ball out, put the top on the ball, placed the ball on the floor and off she went. Surprisingly she didn’t seem to be banging into things as often as she did last time. She ran up and down, up and down, up and down my living room. I heard her run into the hallway, but I was sure she was safe, being in the ball. I decided I would leave her alone for a couple of minutes and just check on her if she didn’t come back before then. I heard a knocking sound, it sounded like it was coming from the front door. “Right, now it’s time to investigate!”, I said to myself. It was a good job I did - she’d got herself stuck between my doormat and a little pile of mail I’d got near the front door. I don’t think she would’ve been able to get back out of that spot if I hadn’t come along to rescue her. I put her back just inside the doorway of my front room and she started to run around again, up and down, up and down, just like before. She ran around for a few more minutes and then came and stopped at my feet, I picked her up, placing the ball on my knee and opened the top of the ball. I put my hand into the ball, wondering if I was going to get bitten again, but little Heaped didn’t bite me at all. She just calmly moved around in between my fingers, and allowed me to stroke her back. She would climb onto my hand, and then nuzzle in between two of my fingers. Then, she climbed up onto two of my fingers, and somehow managed to balance herself there and appear to go to sleep. I was absolutely amazed. After about 10 minutes I became slightly worried as she’d hardly moved at all, bearing in mind I’d not seen anything like this before. I really regretted having to check she was ok, she woke up and started moving around again quite inquisitively, I had been really worried about how still she had been, but obviously she’d been fine, just chilling out! I couldn’t help giggling to myself, it was just so cute the way she was so small that she could actually balance her whole body on just two of my fingers! This was good though, as both herself and my hand could easily fit inside the ball with quite a bit of space left in there.

POV Heaped.
The giant has put his hand into this plastic thing I’ve been running around in.…. I know I should be really frightened, but I’m sure it is the smell of his hand that is.…. It’s somehow - comforting.…… I rub myself on his hand… I feel part of his hand rubbing my back, it feels nice!… I’m actually starting to feel a little bit dozy… I lay on his fingers and my mind starts to drift, I start thinking about my sisters and my mother, I miss my mother so much! Then everything goes white, I see a shape start to form in front of me with lots of sparkles around it, I know I’ve seen this before… I hear lots and lots of voices, like a little symphony of twinkly sounds like minute little stringed instruments all twinkling and singing in perfect harmony… “Harriet”, the giant apparition of Assyrian started.…. “Yes, it’s me my little Harriet.…. I see that you’re thinking about trusting the giant who is looking after you.……. This is good, you must try to trust him, I have heard him talk to the other giants that he associates with…. He has said many times that he really loves you, and he would never hurt you.…. You really must try to trust him.….”
“ i’ve been having this feeling, that yes, he is really kind.…. But there’s just always this nagging doubt, that something bad might happen.…. Are you absolutely sure that I will be ok to trust him?”, I pipped enquiringly.
“Well, there’s just this one thing that might be cause for concern.….”, the ghostly Syrian admitted…………