Given A Chance Hamster Rescue

Our Permanent Fosters

Since starting the rescue in January 2004, we have seen over 350 animals come into the rescue and during that time there are always going to be some animals that stay for one reason or another. So far we have kept 10 such animals; two duprasi, four Syrian hamsters, three dwarf hamsters and a gerbil, 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 to place. Ginny often 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 as you can see below it returned. Ozzie came in with a serious head wound from fighting with other dwarf hamsters in a pet store and from possibly being dropped at some point. The wound was infected and needed treatment, sadly as a result of the wound he lost his eyesight. He stayed with us so we could keep an eye on him, in the end this was a good idea because he later had a stroke, sadly he stay with us ws not long. 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.

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: 2 Years Arrival: 01/10/04 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: 2 1/2 Years Arrival: 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 # 76 Sex Female   Passed Away 08/19/06

Name: Malachi (previously known as Ollie) Breed: Gerbil Age: 3 Years Arrival: 02/05/05 How Entered Rescue: From an SPCA Reason for Keeping: No one wanted to adopt him Special Needs: No tail, blind & bites ID # 95 Sex Male   Passed Away 07/03/07

Name: Gideon (previously known as Kurtis) Breed: Syrian Hamster Age: 2 Years Arrival: 07/15/05 How Entered Rescue: From a Humane Society 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: 1 1/2 Years Arrival: 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: Deformed tail ID # 153 Sex Female   Passed Away 08/14/06

Name: Ginny Breed: Syrian Hamster Age: 1 1/2 years Arrival: 04/06/06 How Entered Rescue: Owner Surrender Reason for Keeping: No one wanted her & I liked her very much, very easy going hamster Special Needs: None ID # 185 Sex Female   Passed Away 01/05/07

Name: Jacob Breed: Syrian Hamster Age: 2 Years Arrival: 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: 11/2 Years Arrival: 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: Ozzie Breed: Dwarf Russian Hamster Age: 6 Months Arrival: 10/03/06 How Entered Rescue: Being given away at a pet store Reason for Keeping: We knew he was not going to live long, so wanted to give him a home Special Needs: Blindness caused by a tumor ID # 225 Sex Male   Passed Away 01/05/07

Name: Elmo Breed: Syrian Hamster Age: 11/2 Years Arrival: 06/09/07 How Entered Rescue: Found as a stray, bought in to a 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

* Please note Zachary and Aztec were previously listed here, but later went on to get adopted and find homes of their own.

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