Making the Grade

Thanks to a few of our neighbors who have recently bought puppies, our kids got the bright idea of having a pet too. We immediately ruled out dogs or any large animal for that matter explaining to our cherubs how hard it would be to take care of them since we travel so much. Mason’s eyes got real big and asked, “How about a snake?” For those of you who know of my fear, I can hear you laughing! There is one thing Indiana Jones and I have in common, and that is our hatred of serpents! Obviously that idea was struck down in a heartbeat. M & M were given an ultimatum: Earn all A’s and S’s on your report card and you can pick out your very own mouse. Names for the future pets were thought up in seconds: Mickey & Minnie. (Gee, I wonder where they got that idea from? ;-) And sure enough, both kids earned their grades and a trip to the pet store. Unfortunately they were all out of mice, but dwarf Campbell hamster they had a plenty. And even though we got hamsters, M & M still wanted those famous mouse names. Rule #1 before purchasing a pet: RESEARCH your animal of choice! More on that later… We picked our two critters, two separate cages since we didn’t want to recreate a scene from Mad Max (Two hamsters enter, one hamster leaves!) and then we were off to set up their new little home. Getting the little fur balls out of the boxes and into their cages was quite comical. I promise no animal or human was harmed in the process. Remember Rule #1? After googling dwarf hamsters, I soon found out one very important fact - out of all the hamster breeds, this one is the most notorious for biting. Thankfully youtube has videos galore with helpful tips to help tame these little beasts. Looks like I will be the guinea pig for that job! Biting or not, Mickey and Minnie are here to stay, and we are happy to welcome them into our home. (And congrats to M & M for earning those grades! We are very proud of you!)