Since Peanut's death earlier this week, I've been very blue about the fact that the big cage has been sitting empty and forlorn. My morning ritual usually starts with checking up on our hamsters and making coffee. It depressed me every time I said, “Hello, ham-chans!” and then realized that there was nobody to squeak back at me. Then throughout the day I look at the cage to see how Peanut's doing, and when he's not there, it makes me feel like I want to cry. In a way it's harder…when the others passed away, I always had another hamster or two to cheer me up and keep me company. Having no hamster at all now feels unimaginable.

So Hero Material and I cleaned out the big cage and redid the set up. Then we went to a local pet store to get some new hamsters. We thought about getting a pearl white and a plain black one, but it didn't work out because the latter looked a little sick and kept biting everyone. *sigh*

So we decided to get blue sapphires instead, but they had three boys in one cage, and we couldn't buy just two like we're thinking about and leave one behind. That'd be cruel, and we couldn't decide which two to take since they were all extremely cute and even-tempered.

So now we are three. Say hello to our little friends: Bigger, Digger and Nester.

Bigger is the biggest out of the group actually. He's very sweet and likes to munch on timothy hay.

Digger is the smallest, and he likes to dig around in the food bowl…

Nester is the mid-size one, and he likes to make nests. He reminds me a little bit of Shiro because she used to make gorgeous nests too.

May they live long and prosper.

I'm the master of stealth…

Oh…crap! I'm stuck! How do I get outta here again…?

Oh wait! Forget water. I feel the presence of the Hand from the Sky. (Hand from the Sky = hamster's understanding of generous human hands that give him treats…)

I'm here! Food, food! Gimme gimme gimme!

I know I talk about my hamsters a lot, and some of the blog pictures are a bit low quality, so Hero Material took some good ones.

Here are three pictures of Shiro & Peanut. Shiro is a pearl white Siberian hamster, and Peanut is the first son she had with Kuro.

First up — Shiro. This is her surveying her kingdom. Hero Material and I call her Kuiin Hamu (Queen Hamster).

The next two are pictures of Peanut. He's very even-tempered and sweet. He adores eating egg yolks, and as a matter of fact, he's eating one in one of the pictures. (He looks very ferocious when he eats.)

Aren't they just adorable? :wub: