Theodor

Before I begin the story, and this blog, I would like to warn you all something. I am not a writer. I have been trained in the fine art of mathematics, so expect horrible grammar, spelling and a ton of acronyms.

When I was about 9 or 10 I begged and pleaded with my parents for a pet. Not just any pet, a hamster.  A fuzzy little happy bundle of joy that I would cuddle and love for ever. I imagined walking around with this hamster every where. He would sit on my shoulder or in a pocket and we would travel to various places like the pool and mall.

 As many smart parents do, I was told 10000 reasons why having a hamster would be a bad  idea. They smell bad, they poop a lot, I would have to clean their cage and feed it, the dog would eat it . Of course as a 9 (ish) year old I promised I'd clean its  cage, feed it, wash it, take it on a walk yada yada yada. After months of begging and pleading and being the most annoying tween ever possible, my parents caved and my wonderful mother brought me to PETCO
When me and my mother arrived at PETCO I streamlined straight to the small mammal display case and looked at all the adorable balls of fuzz that could be my new best fuzzy little friend. Then my eyes fell on him. the most cuddly of hamsters. he stared at me with his big brown eyes, i held him and petted his soft two toned light brown and what I thought at the time was blue fur. I loved him, I wanted him, I had him.

He was so precious and reminded me of a teddy bear. At the time I was learning about presidents at school. My dad had recently told me that teddy bears were named after President Theodor Roosevelt, at 9 I was very amused by this fact and, as a logical child I obviously named him Theodor

After a car ride back home, and  purchasing a cage and a little roll-y ball that cost probably 5 times the price of the little Theodor, it was finally time to set his home up and introduce him to every one. In the amount of time it took me to put his new plastic cage together the hamster had already made a lasting impression. He managed to poop in every corner of the house, scare the living daylights out of my dog, pee on my dad, and bite my younger brother. Obviously every one was extremely happy to see him.

It was time to put Theo in his cage and say good night. I'm fairly certain that I laid awake for hours watching him from my bed eat, drink and run around in his wheel. Little did I know, that falling asleep was a huge mistake. Theodor began to bite through the plastic of his cage.it took me a while to realize what exactly was happening. Every day i would wake up, try and care for him. clean his cage and what not, and every day was a new struggle with Theodor. He did not like me. He knew I kept him for my own amusement. That he was mine, and all he wanted was freedom from a plastic jail. because of this every time I would try to love him, I was bitten.

I went like this for about two months, biting me, and then at night slowly biting though his cage as I slept. one day, at around 6 am, he made it through. he managed to climb out of a small bitten opening, get out of his cage, fall off my desk, survive then down the stairs to the foyer and was about to make a break for freedom.

Little did Theodor know, my parents are early risers, and a little hamster out in an open foyer at 6 am with groggy parents is just a recipe for disaster.  As Theo rested in the hall way, my mom and dog came down the stairs. Petrified, Theodor froze in place hoping not to be seen. Unfortunately Theo strongly resembled my dogs stuffed animal duck, my mother just waking up thought he was my dogs toy, and kicked him. he didn't move.  freaked out my mom rushed over to turn on the light, once the light was on, Theo decided it was a good time to bolt.

It took us 3 hours to catch him and a long lecture of how i need to be more responsible with my pets. I had to give him away to a local adoption center that day. On our way to the adoption center I strongly considered throwing the hamster out the car window, so he could be free and live with his hamster friends in the wild. My mom told me that, not only would that kill my hamster, but even if he some how survived being chucked out the car window, he would have no hamster friends and would be eaten my a bird. Although i did want to throw him out the window, when we got to the Adoption center I bawled my eyes out.

Sorry about that little Theo, I promise we didn't hate you... that much