He doesn't know how to play with toys, or how to dig and hunt and search or play ball or chase. He's fearful of everyone and everything. Everytime there's a bug or a spider or gecko running around the house, he'd just sit there and watch it or ignore it flat.
He never chased the birds outside, nor did he dig holes to sniff out moles. Either way, he is extremely smart. He understands human body language and speech keywords better than some humans I know. He learns fast, and knows right from wrong.
When I had my hedgehog, I let Leroy (my dog) smell him every now and then. Igor, (my hedgehog) huffed, like hedgehogs do. He'd make a huffing sound and jump up a little with his quills bared. This scared Leroy and he never messed with Igor. He was terrified of him, and almost saw him as an Alpha, lmao.
So I automatically assumed this would be true for all tiny animals. Leroy wouldn't pay them any mind.
Well.. When I first got the hamsters, I let Leroy smell them, and he seemed to have the same reaction to them. He smelled them and then turned his head away and walked off, but -
Today, I free roamed 3 of my hamsters.[one and a time]. I don't have a proper free roaming space, so I just placed them on the cleanest, flattest area I know, the couch, while I was sitting and monitoring their every move. They could stretch their little legs from being in the tiny bins all day. They ran up and down the length of the couch and attempted to climb more than once.
Eventually, this grabbed the attention of my dog. He came over to investigate and saw one of the hamsters run up and down the couch. Now, apparently, dwarf hamsters are extremely quick and Leroy started whining. He would follow the hamster with his eyes and when the hamster disappeared from his view, he'd go and sniff under the couch or behind it, whining, looking for the hamster.
Now, normally you'd think this is cute and all, and aww he wants to make friends, but I don't think this is the case.
My personal theory to this all is that Leroy's natural instincts weren't triggered by Igor because Igor wasn't small and fast. He was slow and didn't run. He was also way bigger than a Dwarf.
But since a hamster is so small and fast, it awakened a primal instinct in Leroy. One he doesn't know how to act upon. So he whines because there's something telling him to ACT but he doesn't know what to DO.
When I returned to my room with the hamsters, I observed Leroy constantly staring up at the bin I placed the hamster in. His ears were up and alert and his tail in the air. This was a dog that was hunting.
I then made a split decision to remove Leroy from my room for the week the hamsters are here. Their bins aren't 110% secure at the top, so I'm scared one of them miraculously escapes and Leroy's instincts kick in at the wrong time.
As soon as I get my proper cage and I take the extra three siblings away to the shelter, he'll come and sleep in my room again. But for now he's sleeping in my grans room.
My mother isn't happy about this decision. She says I'm treating Leroy unfairly. I really love my dog. I do, but I need to think of who is more vulnerable here.
Leroy has slept in my gran's room previously, and can fend for himself, can't escape, and has access to food and water and a bed and warmth. (he doesn't sleep in my bed, he has his own doggy bed in my room.) so it's not even a that big of a change.
Let's say I put the hamsters in my gran's room instead? Or in the living room? I can't tell whether they're getting hurt or not, drinking or not, eating or not. What if one of them escapes and somehow leaves her room (she sleeps with an open door, I do not) and get into the kitchen or living room. Then the number of places they can hide grows tremendously.
So yes, I am aware that my mother will give me <basement> this week, and probably treat me like <oh no>. But I believe I did what was right for the time being.
[She already told me that she's very very disappointed in me for seperating Hammy and Twitchy. She'll never forgive me for doing it lol.]
Edited by HedgehogsX2, 23 March 2022 - 06:53 AM.
