Meet Abe and Willa!

After our lovely, too-brief time with Edison, Leo and I realized that it was a great deal of fun having a little rodent friend co-habiting the office with us. Plus, we had an empty cage and a bunch of rodent food, so we decided to bring another little fuzzball into the office when we felt ready.

Today...we felt ready. So we stopped at the local Petco and Petsmart to peruse the selection and although we did find some potentials - a seriously fat and grumpy looking fancy hamster, some really rambunctious dwarf hamsters, and a long-haired hamster that just really looked like what comes off of my hairbrush when I clean it - nobody really jumped out of us as "The One."

Then we found ourselves at Speck's Pet Store in Brownsburg, Indiana, which is near the branch of our bank where our favorite teller moved. Sometimes we go to that bank just to visit her and bring her eggs, and last week I visited the bank, I noticed this pet store and I remembered it today and thought it would be much nicer to get our new friend from a privately-owned store, rather than a big-box chain. It turned out to be the right choice. Instead of the full-grown hamsters from the larger stores, Speck's had newly-weaned babies, so we were able to get babies that will grow up feeling comfortable and safe with us.

Abe & Willa
(and yes, you should click to zoom in on this photo.)

We'd considered bringing home just one, but we couldn't help ourselves (seriously, look at these faces - could you?), and we brought home two. At the store, they said they were too young to determine their sex, so if we ended up with babies, we could certainly bring the babies into their store any time. But when we got home, we Googled how to sex hamsters, and sure enough, we've got a male and a female, so we expect a fairly interesting future with these two. 

Our little wrestlers.

All the way home, our little babies alternated between wrestling and trying to chew their way out of their little take-home box. I think they wore themselves out, because as soon as we got them home and in their new aquarium, they fell fast asleep. They've already explored their new digs and had some snacks, and even had a wrestle or two. I think they're pretty content.

They're surprisingly comfortable with having our hands in the cage - probably a consequence of starting life in the pet store. Leo and I are trying to leave them alone as much as we can, but it's difficult - they're absolutely precious. I think it's safe to say that you can anticipate that I'll be sharing the adventures of Abe and Willa for a long time to come. Leo and I are so happy to welcome these tiny new additions to our family!