Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Balancing School And Hamsters
By Catya
Catya is a judge with the California Hamster Association. She shares her experiences in hamster ownership from a high school student's perspective.
Click image to enlarge
Photos Courtesy Catya
Hamsters Jasmine and Ariel await their evening snack. |
Catya's cousin learns about the daily responsibilities of owning hamsters. |
Hello again, everyone! I loved harp camp, but it’s great to be home and see my hamsters again. I missed them while I was away, and I think that maybe they missed me too. Now that I’m back, it’s time to start gearing up for the new school year – memorizing my class schedule, shopping for school supplies and getting organized. In all the hustle and bustle, it can sometimes be easy to forget something or someone … or, in my case, several someones – the hamsters. It’s not their fault I have chemistry class this year and tons of homework to do. They count on me to be there in their daily routine, and I have to make sure I don’t let them down.
Having older hamsters means that in addition to getting myself ready for school in the morning, I have to check on them and feed them their morning treats. They get a piece of tofu to get them through the day, because they have trouble chewing the regular food. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it does require me to get up a little earlier. Likewise, in the evenings, I have to save a little free time to hand out fresh veggies and check on each hamster again. Then, of course, there’s taming and cage cleaning; to be a successful hamster owner one has to be a whiz at time management.
I certainly could use some more practice in that department. This semester, I’m taking some evening classes at the local community college. To avoid short-changing myself or them, I’ve started taking care of the hamsters before I leave for my classes. It took a while to figure out this system, though, and before I did there were more than a few times that I arrived home and dove into my homework right after class. It wasn’t until after I finished, sometimes after midnight, that I realized that I couldn’t just crawl into my nice, warm, comfy bed because there were hamsters counting on me. I might even have grumbled a bit about the work of taking care of hamsters on those nights.
But in the long run – heck, even in the medium run – it’s well worth it. I love watching all the hamsters come out of their nests at once, waiting eagerly for my visit and the yummy things that I bring. I love sharing my life with my hamsters, even if it means that I have to plan my day a bit more carefully to include them.
How has owning hamsters affected your schedule? What time-saving tricks have you developed to help you take care of them?
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