This is a short story about my Syrian's adoption from his POV. If you understand what happened on the human side, then what he experiences in his little hamster mind should make sense. Basically, he lived in a Tiny Tales cage. His owners let cats chase him in a hamster ball. After a year of owning him, they took him and a guinea pig to a shelter. There was an ice storm for a few days, and after it ended the shelter posted about him on Facebook. That's when I saw him and adopted.
Link to pics of Pineapple (large image)
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A prison. He would take a few steps and find himself at the end of the cell. Bars blocked his path, and he could see vast land beyond. His captors - humans. Then there were the large predators that the humans kept as companions. There was always new and wonderful smells, scents of food and freedom. Yet there he was, imprisoned in his own filth, with a little bit of cheap food and a leaking water bottle. He had one little area to call his home, which he would stuff with the thin amount of bedding he lived on. It allowed him some sense of peace, but there was never really a break.
Sometimes the humans would take him out and place him in 'his ball'. It was the only taste of a normal life he was allowed to have. They would put him in another cramped, plastic contraption but at least this one allowed him to move freely. Although denied of his senses, he could run around and somewhat explore. It was a nice break for him, until the humans allowed the predators to come after him. The humans would laugh and be amused by the sight of cats trying to chase this living toy around their home. Then they would grow bored of the torment, and place him back in the cage.
The cage. His prison. The tiny space where he could only wander and then be blocked by a wall. It was the same all his life. Take a few steps, and stop. Eat some food, hide some food. Drink some water. Blockade his home. It was a dull and boring torture.
After a year or so of living like this, one day he woke up to his prison being jostled and moved. The humans were taking him somewhere. He could smell the other little animal that the humans kept in another small cage. He never interacted with her, but he knew she was in a similar situation. The muted rumblings he often heard outside the humans' home became much louder, until he realized he was back inside the same thing that had brought him to this prison a year ago.
After a while, the rumbling stopped, doors slammed, and then he moving. From within his little house, he could spot an entirely new human environment. His humans were speaking to others, talking about him. He could see his things being handed over - his little ball, the wheel he never ran on, a box of his food. The new humans peered into his cage, then picked him up and took him back to a new area with even more sounds and smells...except these sounds were loud, deep, and piercing. It was the voice of another trapped animal, albeit much larger than him.
He didn't know where he was, but he knew his old family was gone. They had left him here, in this place with even more stressed animals. His unknown friend was here with him too, a little animal the humans were calling a guinea pig.
Even though he stayed indoors, the little hamster could sense a dangerous weather change outside. He stayed hunkered down in his house, keeping the opening stuffed with bedding. For a few days, there was little activity in this place his old humans had taken him too. Outside, he could hear a howling wind and the tiny noise of ice hitting the windows.
A couple of days later, there was activity around him. The humans came to wake him up with treats. He came from his house to take in the scents and see what was going on. The humans were there, surrounding him and pointing something at him, and kept talking about 'pictures'. He stood on his back legs to get a better look and to see if they'd give him treats. He still didn't understand.
That same day, after the humans left him and he went back to blockading his house so he could sleep, his cage was moving again. He was set down on the area where his old humans had left him. There was a group of people surrounding him. A hand came in his prison to lift up his home. He peered around while the humans examined him. Then there they set his house down, and there was more movement and the familiar sight and smell of his wheel, ball, and food.
There was a new human who picked up his cage, and carried him off. They carried him into the cold air, and into another rumbling, moving thing. After an hour of being in that, he was carried into a new human environment and set on the floor. There was the voice of a single human, talking to him about things he still didn't understand. They made a lot of noise, which he didn't like. He took a few steps around his prison, anxiety settling in. He did what any stressed hamster would do - he climbed up the bars, and started to chew on the bars of his holding cell.
The human immediately came to check on him. He clearly heard them ask not to do that, but he didn't listen. He kept at it.
Finally the human had enough of it. They fought with the top of his prison, removing it to reveal a clear view of the human's face. He huddled in the corner, perking up when they offered a treat. He took it, and then the hands were around him. He stayed still, since this was nothing new and his old humans had done to this him plenty of times before. The difference was that he was carried to somewhere new, and not a ball.
It was still a cage, but much bigger. He had soft, clean bedding under his feet. All around him were new homes, things to climb and chew on, a new food and water bowl, and a wheel. He took a stroll around the cage, exploring and then doing what he'd been deprived of for a year - burrow! No longer was there a mere half-inch of bedding. He was able to push the bedding away and slip away. He twisted thru the bedding, shoving it aside with his little hands to make new tunnels and chambers. It was then that he knew this human was here to change everything for him.
He caught onto the schedule of his new human, and learned the door of his cage was where all the tasty things came from and where his new human would appear. They handed him treats, and gave him a tasty new food. After a few days, he allowed the human to pick him up and take him out of the cage. Although he could smell one of those predators in the house, he had no fear. The cat may have been in the room, but it didn't come near him and only watched from afar. He was allowed to wander freely, without the use of a ball. He was scared at first, and only stayed on the human as he was led around with treats.
He was told a new name too, and never again heard his 'old' name. Pineapple was his new name, or Piney for short.
Memories of his original owners began to fade. There was no more prison. There was no more taking a few steps only to be met with a wall. There was no more dampness from his leaking water bottle, no more stench of his own waste, no more shallow bedding. Here he had things to do! He could burrow, he could run and climb, he could hunt for tasty treats. He was safe now, comfortable. There was no more fear, only the future of Pineapple's new life.
Edited by A~HM, 24 February 2022 - 10:22 PM.
