Given A Chance Hamster Rescue

Our Permanent Fosters

Since starting the rescue in January 2004, we have seen over 400 animals come into the rescue and during that time there are always going to be some animals that stay for one reason or another. We have kept 15 such animals; two duprasi, seven Syrian hamsters, four dwarf hamsters and two gerbils, all of which can be seen below;

Inca was the first foster we kept and in her case it was mainly because I found her being sold in a farmers market for only 99c. The people that had given her to the store said they did not want her any more because she was nippy and the shop assitant refused to handle her. I did not want to see her going as snake food so brought her home with me. At first we put her in the rescue but I was too fond of her so decided to keep her. In the case of Nanook and Kalia, we decided to actually adopt them ourselves, since both were female duprasi and I worried if I adopted them out they would be bred from, even though our contract prohibits that, plus they were both such cute little guys. Malachi stayed with us because he had had a horrible start in life and then no-one wanted to adopt him due to the way he looked and behaved so we gave him a permenant place in our home. Gideon was another foster we found hard to place due to his special needs (his teeth needed constant trimming due to a head deformity) and in the end we concluded we were the best home for him, so took him off of Petfinder. Ginny's coloring made her hard to place, especially since at the time she was in the rescue we had four other brown short haired hamsters. Ginny got overlooked and she is just the type of hamster I like, nice and big, so I ended up adopting her. Jacob was a tricky one, I liked him from the minute he came into the rescue, but at first thought he should have a home of his own. However his behaviour later proved he had chosen a home for himself, our's. He was a very timid hamster and needed to be handled in a certain way. He also loved his cage and did not like to be moved, this led to us taking him off of Petfinder. Jessie came from a shelter and was reportedly nippy, although that was not why we ended up keeping her. We later found out she had a mammary tumor, this was operated on but quickly returned. Her personality made her a favourite. Elmo found his way to us it seemed and almost naturally became a 'keeper'. He was such a sweet hamster and had sadly endured a bad pelvic injury, I dread to think what he had gone though in his life. Due to his special needs, i.e. not being able to get around as easily as other hamsters we decided he should stay with us, since the cages we have were perfect for him. Willoughby was one of 31 hamsters we fostered for our local shelter, we ended up placing around 18 of these hamsters ourselves, however when it came to adopting out Willoughby, I couldn't, so he stayed with us. I have always liked all white hamsters. Barnaby stayed with us even though we were not intending to keep any more hamsters, mainly because he was so similar to a favourite hamster of mine I had many years ago. He is such a sweet little guy and had spent the first 7 months of his life in a shelter waiting to be adopted, now he has his forever home. My daughter was attracted to Pye from day one and while she is not allowed to handle Pye, she just loves watching her and stroking her when I get her out. It is a very sweet relationship because Pye will often come out of her nest house when she hears my daughter approaching. Serafina, actually camee from the same shelter as Pye, I liked her personallity and markings which kept changing in the beginning. She was such a sweet, gentle hamster and always easy to handle. Our last keeper is Hiccup, we had not intended on keeping any more but she came to us in such a bad condition we had no choice, since she was not adoptable. For a time we thought she would have to be euthanized but our vet did not believe she was suffering and Hiccup herself seemed to have the will for life. Like Elmo (who had similar injuries) I dread to think what she went through, however she will now be given the TLC she deserves.

This may seem like a small number to keep, but if we kept too many we would run the risk of limiting our rescue intake even further, plus we always enjoy finding great new forever homes for our fosters and then hearing from the families later on, many of which continue to stay in touch.

Name: Inca Breed: Dwarf Russian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 10/01/04 How Entered Rescue: Was left at a Farmers Market Reason for Keeping: Being sold for 99c & I felt sorry for her Special Needs: Nippy, blind & had hair loss ID # 45 Sex Female   Passed Away 10/31/05

Name: Nanook Breed: Duprasi Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 01/16/05 How Entered Rescue: Owner Surrender Reason for Keeping: Our male Duprasi had just passed away and she was very cute Special Needs: None ID # 77 Sex Female   Passed Away 08/19/06

Name: Malachi (previously known as Ollie) Breed: Gerbil Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 02/05/05 How Entered Rescue: From an Montgomery County SPCA Reason for Keeping: No one wanted to adopt him Special Needs: No tail, blind & bites ID # 96 Sex Male   Passed Away 07/03/07

Name: Gideon (previously known as Kurtis) Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Young (3 months) Arrival Date: 07/15/05 How Entered Rescue: From the Humane Society of Lancaster County Reason for Keeping: Teeth need to be trimmed every week Special Needs: His teeth do not align due to a head deformity so have to be trimmed ID # 113 Sex Male   Passed Away 02/02/07

Name: Kalia (previously known as Juliet) Breed: Duprasi Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 01/29/06 How Entered Rescue: Breeder reducing stock Reason for Keeping: Very sweet personality and did not want her to be bred from again Special Needs: None except a deformed tail ID # 153 Sex Female   Passed Away 08/14/06

Name: Ginny Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Adult Arriva Date: 04/06/06 How Entered Rescue: Owner Surrender Reason for Keeping: No one wanted her & I liked her a lot, very easy going hamster Special Needs: None ID # 185 Sex Female   Passed Away 01/05/07

Name: Jacob Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Young (4 months) Arriva Datel: 05/13/06 How Entered Rescue: Rodent Fest Reason for Keeping: Decided to keep him on the day our daughter was born 08/12/06 Special Needs: Very timid, needs special handling ID # 192 Sex Male   Passed Away 02/20/08

Name: Jessie Breed: Dwarf Russian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 09/15/06 How Entered Rescue: From an Animal Rescue League Reason for Keeping: Fiesty, but fun personality Special Needs: Mammary cancer, recently operated on, but sadly it returned ID # 216 Sex Female   Passed Away 04/30/07

Name: Elmo Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Adult Arrival Date: 06/09/07 How Entered Rescue: Found as a stray, bought to the Lehigh County humane Shelter Reason for Keeping: We did not think he would find the right home given his pelvic injury Special Needs: May have been stood on in the past ID # 258 Sex Male   Passed Away 09/14/07

Name: Willoughby (prevuously known as Willow) Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: D.O.B. 07/27/08 (3 Days) Arrival Date: 07/30/08 How Entered Rescue: I fostered 31 hamsters for LCHS, adopting out many ourselves Reason for Keeping: 30 of the hamsters were tan and white, he was the only white hamster Special Needs: None ID # 327(f) Sex Male   Passed Away 11/22/10

Name: Barnaby (previously known as Garfield) Breed: Syrian Hamster Age upon Arrival: D.O.B 07/17/08 (7 months) Arrival Date: 02/14/09 How Entered Rescue: From Women's Humane Society Reason for Keeping: Reminded me of a hamster I had mnay years ago called Harry Special Needs: None ID # 339 Sex Male   Passed Away 12/12/10

Name: Pye (previously known as Pyewacket) Breed: Dwarf Russian Hamster Age upon Arrival: Young (3 months) Arrival Date: 10/24/09 How Entered Rescue: From Bucks County SPCA Reason for Keeping: Daughter fell in love, her first hamster Special Needs: Neurological issues 'Star Gazing' falls backwards ID # 362 Sex Female   Passed Away 03/11/11

Name: Serafina Breed: Dwarf Winter White mix Hamster Age upon Arrival: 1 Year Arrival Date: 09/21/10 How Entered Rescue: From Bucks County SPCA Reason for Keeping: Very sweet hamster and I liked her markings which kept changing Special Needs: None ID # 382 Sex Female   Passed Away 03/30/12

Name: Hiccup Breed: Gerbil Age upon Arrival: Young (10 weeks) Arrival Date: 11/27/12 How Entered Rescue: From Petco Adoptions Reason for Keeping: Previous pelvic injury, limited mobility in her back legs Special Needs: Nerve damage in her back legs, as well as eye and ear problems ID # 410 Sex Female

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