Another Hamster Update
Hamsters are doing fine, I think. She’s got the pups in the exercise wheel, which is made of darkly tinted plastic, so it’s hard to see them. Add to that the fact that she doesn’t leave them very often. But, one time last night, when she went out to get something to eat, I shined a flashlight in & am pretty sure I counted at least 5 of them squirming around, but, maybe all 6, still!
We gave Yoshimi (the other one that we think is male) another cage, but it’s connected to the first cage via tubes. He seems to be leaving them alone, anyway - just a bit bored, lonely & jealous, I think. The new cage has an exercise wheel built into it, but it’s kind of small & I haven’t seen him use it yet, so I’m thinking of buying him a bigger one to attach to the side of the cage.
And, after doing some research yesterday, I’ve been talking to the kids about how we’ll have to keep the males & females separate from now on (if we can figure out which is which), to avoid having more litters of pups. They were disappointed at first, because they (and I) think the babies are cool. But, then, I explained how we’d have to take care of them or find homes for them & that it wasn’t fair to have so many born that we couldn’t care for or find homes for. Maybe we’ll mate a couple every year or so, just to experience this again, though 
