Abe & Willa Are Parents!

This morning, I had to go see My Sister The Dentist about a funny feeling in one of my teeth. The drive to My Sister The Dentist's office is pretty long, so Leo came along to keep me company (rockstar hubby points scored: 423).  When we got home, I came upstairs to the office (where Abe & Willa live, currently in separate cages on opposite sides of the office) and started working. That's when I heard it: teeny tiny little squeaks. Sure enough, Willa had her babies while we were gone.

It took a few hours before she moved, so for awhile, all we could see was a teeny tiny leg here and a wee little pink tail there. But finally, Willa got up and ambled over to the wheel and there they were. And wow, there were way, way more of them than I ever expected.

When I was a kid, I had gerbils that procreated rampantly. I loved it, because I had a little business (always the entrepreneur) selling the babies to a local pet shop. But the gerbils, it seems, only had four to six babies at a time. And while I'd read that it was possible for hamsters to have up to fifteen, I never imagined that little Willa, herself only around twelve weeks old, would have such a massive litter! My best count is around eleven or twelve, but since we can't actually get close or touch them, we can't say for sure how many are there. Plus, it's not uncommon for one or two not to make it. I really hope they all survive, and I think we're going to need a bigger carrier when it's time to take them to the pet store for sale.

In the meantime, Abe's missing Willa like crazy. We moved him a couple of days ago because we were afraid that when Willa had the babies, he might eat them, which is quite common for males to do. Since he's been away from Willa, Abe's been moody and bored and stands up in his new cage across the room and looks longingly at "the main house" where Willa still resides. 

Abe's escape attempt
from the CritterTrail

Er...actually, right now he's looking at me, which I attribute largely to the fact that earlier this evening, I discovered that Abe's learning. He's been living in Edison's old CritterTrail, which has bars and a door that opens. Abe's discovered where the door is and when he sees me come over, he waits by the door and attempts escape in a number of different ways. Luckily, he's not super-fast most of the time, though his speed increases as it gets later into the night and his nocturnal brain starts to wake up, so I have to keep a close eye on him, especially if I decide to feed him late at night. And now, he's making this frenzied attempt at escape, trying to chew the bars of the CritterTrail. He really, really wants to get home to Willa and the kids.

That said, this time that Abe's been forced to spend apart from Willa has given Abe and me a chance to bond. He comes out for sleepy cuddles throughout the day. This evening I brought a salad up to the office to eat while playing a computer game, and I gave Abe a couple of salad greens and we ate our salads together, Abe comfortably settled in his little colorful cage and sitting right next to me. It was sweet.

Abe and Willa, 6 weeks old

At any rate, I know many folks find the babies pretty weird-looking. One of my friends described them as "creepy" and "embryonic," which made me giggle, because I know how absolutely adorable they're going to become in a very short period of time. Heck, their eyes aren't even open yet! Remember, this is Abe and Willa at 6 weeks. It won't be long before these little babies are just as cute. Stay tuned for more updates!