Home Sweet Hammy Home

I was planning on posting this on the 1 year anniversary date of the horrid Humane Society transport when I accepted the 7 hamsters into my rescue, but haven't had an opportunity until now 😴

An entire year has passed by without these Littles being adopted, and because hamsters don't have a long life span, combined with the fact their exact ages upon admittance is unknown, it's best they do not be adopted out now. It wouldn't be fair to the person who is adopting or to the hamsters themselves who wouldn't appreciate having to adjust to a new home.

This is why I make sure their setups have everything they need to thrive. Adoption is always the goal for younger healthier animals, but operating a rescue for hamsters and mice creates the necessity for a sanctuary program, there is no way around it. For animals who live such a short time, their adoption windows are also short. Plus, there is the fact that many hamsters and mice have underlying illnesses that they hide very well, as they age those issues typically surface and vet care is needed.

My rescue policy is to never adopt out an unhealthy or elderly animal.

So, just like the three remaining transport mice, these five will now be a part of my sanctuary program. Nothing will change, they will still receive excellent care, I'll just remove their profiles from their adoption sites and discontinue having adoption interviews for them.

Due to me being tied up in Animal Care and rescue operation, I have not had an opportunity to post much about what took place a year ago which is why I am so glad is continuing to share it all! None of us have closure from that situation because San Diego Humane Society never took any proper action to reassure the public this would never happen again, nor did they pursue the truth of the transport. Both Humane Societies seem to have forgotten all about it.

Myself and several others want to know exactly how many animals died in the refrigerated truck from San Diego, California, to Tucson, Arizona. We are positive they didn't all arrive alive and well. Absolutely positive.

If these 3 little mice could talk, they'd tell you an ear FULL!

Lito and Zain were probably less than 24 hour old pinky mice when they were placed on the San Diego Humane Society transport with 3 adult female mice, presumably one was their mother, all 5 in the same cage that was labeled Five Adult Female Mice. Somebody sure got that wrong! Either the Tucson Humane Society mislabeled them or they arrived that way from the reptile breeder and feed supply business they were given to.

Akari was sandwiched in with his brother in an extremely tiny carrier, and probably lived that way the entire month they resided at the reptile feed supply business. Nobody thought to take them out of the carrier and give them an actual cage 🤨

It's an absolute miracle the seven mice sent on that transport made it out of that situation alive since mice are usually the first to be fed to reptiles!

But that wasn't their fate. They are very happy and well cared for little kings of their own castles while living in my rescue!

I kind of knew all along they'd be here for life, but I gave them fair opportunity to be adopted anyways. Early on I designated Zain due to his fright of people and Akari due to his missing ear, as sanctuary mice but now it's official, all 3 are in Sanctuary. Ironically Zain has become super friendly and although it took him 10 months, he's very easy to interact with. Akari never had any complications with his ear thankfully and from day 1 has been quite personable. Lito has always been a friendly little character who loves treats, despite how he greedily grabs them 😅 He would have made a great pet for somebody, and he had a few applicants, but nothing ever materialized into an actual adoption so he'll be here for life along with the other two.

To see day by day updates and get more information about that horrible Humane Society transport, visit the page of

This poor dog, the high dosage of anti-seizure and anti-fungal medications he's on have been rough on his body continuing to cause side effects resulting in me having to get him outside often.

If I don't get him out there in time, then I have to clean his kennel, which is no fun. No fun at all.

But finally yesterday this all began to decrease and so far today he's been functioning normally again thank God!

Despite his probable discomfort, Rupert remained a champ throughout the days of frequently eliminating and never lost any of his s***k. I made certain to keep him hydrated and administered lots of supplements to assist him as his body adjusts to the medication. It's all super time consuming in addition to everything else here.

Aaaaand the surrender requests keep pouring in! There are so many I've stopped replying to people, which is not like me, I've always wanted to be the kind of rescue operator that could offer assistance and other possible solutions. But the fact is I have no assistance left in me and there are zero options for people who can't keep their animals.

Even before Rupert was returned to my rescue after his failed adoptions, I didn't have any capacity to assist due to the horrid Humane Society transport and the number of animals I still have from that situation which have not been adopted out yet.

To keep up to date with everything that's happened see page

An incredibly creative individual made my whole day when I opened this up! Actually I would even go so far as to say they made my whole week!

Mailed out on August 13th, which is the exact day Rupert had those two seizures 4 hours apart, the person who sent this couldn't have known all the trauma I was going to experience that night or that receiving this a week later would help me immensely!

For those who don't know, the sender has taken the time to name each of the San Diego transport mice by the names I gave them and draw the cutest little pictures of them; 4 of those mice have been adopted out and three of them remain here probably for life as it's almost been a year since their intake.

I really hope this creative person sees this post, I have no idea who they are, and typically the bigger animals of that transport received the most attention from concerned individuals so to know someone cares about the mice really makes my day 🩷

Test results came in over the weekend and Rupert has Valley Fever.

If you don't live in Arizona, you are probably wondering what the heck is THAT, so I Googled it and made some screenshots for you.

Interestingly enough, the only symptoms Rupert has had are the 2 seizures. I have no idea if he's ever had a seizure in any of his adoptive homes, if he did, they never knew about it. It's a relief to know what I'm dealing with now, and the cause of these seizures, but it's also quite scary because the positive valley fever test has made us aware the fungus has reached his brain and he's had the disease for a while.

So far we've only had emergency room visits and testing but tomorrow I have an appointment with our primary veterinarian who has seen Rupert in the past and I'm going to bombard them with questions of course. There have been some side effects with the two medications, which he must remain on for quite some time, one is anti-seizure medication and the other is antifungal medication for the valley fever. I am managing those side effects to the best of my ability and all of his needs are taken care of. As I stated in my last post, we are adjusting to our new normal around here.

Thank you so much to everyone who made comments on my last post and offered encouragement and reached out to be a source of support, I'm getting through this with your help. Rupert is going to be fine, I'll make sure of that. Never has an animal crossed my path that I haven't bent over backwards for then gone to the moon and back (figuratively speaking).

Also big thank you to the person who sent the anonymous Chewy gift card! This latest catastrophe has resulted in depleting my donation bank account. I rarely ask for donations in posts but I have a PayPal link on my rescue website and in my profile. Donations are tax deductible if you live in the USA and I issue tax receipts in the first week of January every year.

The drama constantly unfolding in my rescue is truly never ending and the utter chaos here is normal.... buuuut this latest event has got me scrambling to develop a NEW normal and figure out a way to adjust to it.

Last week some wonderful people had reached out to adopt Rupert and we were just beginning the adoption interviewing proceedings. At that time I was feeling very confident he would be adopted permanently this time around, his behavior was the best it has ever been this entire year. The Colorado GSP rescue group has been helping me feature him and we were in the process of setting up a phone interview

and

then

BAM

Rupert had 2 Grand Mall Seizures back to back 4 hours apart resulting in two emergency room visits, the second one lasting all night.

Now he's on anti-seizure medication which has caused some severe loose stool in addition to him being groggy and uncoordinated. And my new normal involves getting him up and down the stairs and in and out the backyard a few times hourly... 24 hours each day while still giving good quality care to all the other animals here.

I've removed his listing from all adoption availability and have an appointment at our regular veterinarian while we await blood test results so a care plan can be developed.

I'm drained and forever traumatized by watching the violent seizures unfold before my eyes and standing by helplessly waiting for him to come out of them so we can rush him in on emergency.

And this is just a tiny bit of a rescue's reality. Despite all this drama, surrender requests have continued to pour in, people have applied to adopt animals here whom I haven't even had much time to respond to. Other animals here need veterinarian care, supplies are low and my rescue finances are depleted after the ER visits. But I will persevere. Rupert will be fine.

I'll update once lab work results are back

Don't ask me how Morning Glory learned to bite on the canvas side to get me to give her vitamin C tablets, but this bag is all we have left, and since they are no longer being sold in stores for who knows how long I'm certainly tryng to make what is left last as long as possible and divide them up equally between all the guinea pigs here, so biting the side of the cage is not going to get them one 🤣 I sure wish she would figure that out already!

***For the record, they get plenty of vitamin C in their daily diet and I have liquid vitamin C on hand thankfully but Twilight and Morning Glory honestly think these tablets are treats and although I was only administering them once in awhile, ANY bag that crinkles and rattles near the girls causes them both to race over and demand whatever it is.

Little do they care there are other animals in this room who need attention too. If I am giving little treats to the mice, the girls sit side by side chewing the bars 🤦‍♀️

They are way too comfortable here. But they are still available for adoption to an approved candidate. IF one ever does surface, I would love to make a perfect match with these girls and their forever home!

Email [email protected] if interested in adopting or reach out through Petfinder or Adopt a pet links in profile.

Yesterday I posted the items made by Linda including the little cuddle sack you see here in this collage. Poor Lucero has had this ongoing eye infection that isn't clearing up despite rounds of a few different antibiotic drops. When this happens eventually the eye closes, no longer infected and not causing any pain. It just ceases to be used and the hamster can continue living a normal life.

Lucero is one of the 7 surviving hamsters from the horrible San Diego Humane Society transport. He came with the name Vinnie, but I renamed him Lucero which means light to offset that dark situation. None of the transport hamsters I took in were ever adopted out and not from lack of trying. Lucero actually had several applicants early on when he first arrived and one after another they each backed out for various reasons prior to being approved to adopt.

Maybe that's for the best.

Since their ages were unknown upon admittance, I'm going to give his eye just another week or two to open up on its own. If it doesn't, I'll designate him as a sanctuary hamster to live out his remaining months here in the rescue home pampered and well cared for like all the other sanctuary residents.

In the second collage you'll see some T-shirts designed by a volunteer specifically for the Justice for 318 group, which was developed as a way to communicate the events of the San Diego Humane Society transport. It's almost been an entire year and although the Tucson Humane Society took some actions the San Diego Humane Society never did anything to reassure the public nothing like this would ever happen again. In fact there were so many lies told by the higher up employees of the San Diego Humane Society it's sickening. Not a night has gone by that I haven't woke up thinking about all those animals who were fed to reptiles. And not a day goes by that I don't give extra love, care and attention to the survivors here in my rescue like Lucero. They know they are going to get healthy treats when they hear my voice!

There is a link in my profile to the t-shirts. It may be an entire year later, but we are still fighting for justice!

I haven't had much of an opportunity to post lately, there are several things happening all at once like usual, but now I'm posting about one of the biggest situations currently.

Rupert has been returned to my rescue and is in boarding while I prepare to house him amongst the guinea pigs, mice and hamsters here once again.

For anyone who doesn't know, I normally do not take in dogs at my rescue, but there are situations that surface which are unable to be walked away from, such as this one.

Rupert has been adopted a few times, and returned for various reasons, all basically due to the nature of his specific breed. Unless I choose to do a DNA test on him this time, I'll never know if he is a "pure" bred GSP, but even if he is, shortly after I took him into my rescue in 2023, I discovered through a series of research efforts and eye witness accounts, his backyard breeder dumped him after he didn't sell. So being purebred certainly did not spare him!

I'm grateful I could help this handsome boy and just like any other animal adopted from my rescue if ever the adopter can no longer provide him the best life, he is welcome back.

His adoption profile can be viewed on Adopt-a-Pet and Petfinder linked in my rescue link tree.

***For anyone seeing this who has reached out within the last 2-3 weeks and is waiting on a reply, I've been consumed with Rupert's return, and other situations, and am extremely behind but will eventually be replying. As someone who is operating a rescue alone, I'm just inundated 24/7 and juggling everything to the best of my ability.

There is much that happens behind the scenes of my rescue and sanctuary... how do I describe it?

Non-stop? Never-ending? Relentless?

I get so wrapped up in it all, the chaos of my extensive daily animal care routine balanced with vet visits and obligations outside of the rescue and then the roller coaster of talking to people who want to surrender as well as people who want to adopt almost daily, combined with the other 999 whirlwind situations that are coming at me every minute, every hour, every day. No, I'm not being dramatic. Okay, maybe I am.

I don't post every little thing that happens here at Home Sweet Hammy Home, if I was to do that I'd be on social media for HOURS and there just isn't time for me to do that. I don't run the kind of rescue where I create a post and ask for donations. Nothing against other rescues who do that, that's just not who I am.

But in spite of that, and my lack of posting, donations always pour in! I'm so very appreciative of the support. And now is doing a fundraiser for my rescue. Veterinarian visits are a must here, so any donations received from the fundraiser will go directly towards vet care for the animals.

To participate in the fundraiser there is a link in my profile. Big thank you to Yaneri for doing this! Also another big thank you to for sponsoring the vet visits for Fana and Oralee this week. There have been some sad occurrences with them, which I have posted about on my Patreon account, also linked in my profile.

I'm forever grateful for who sponsored a lot of Valda's care during the 6 months she lived here in sanctuary after being found as an elderly stray hamster outside. She's recently passed away and honestly her loss hit me kinda hard. I very much dislike seeing her empty cage, knowing how much she enjoyed it.

When I shared the news of Valda's passing, Ian reached out to who created this beautiful picture and gave us permission to post. Once again a total stranger has done such a kind thing, I'm in awe.

Valda's story is somewhat tragic.

Where did she come from? How long was she out on her own wandering the streets of Tucson? Why? Hamsters can't survive being dumped. There's no doubt in my mind she wouldn't have lasted another day on the streets, she was in such bad shape. Her vet visit was scary, she had a lot wrong with her, but I'm pleased and amazed that she lived for 6 months after her admission into my rescue.

I created a tribute for Valda and posted it to my Patreon account if anyone is interested in joining as a subscriber for $5 a month to unlock behind the scenes of Home Sweet Hammy Home. Link is in my profile. Subscriptions are tax deductible in the US. All proceeds go directly into running my rescue.

Little Zain has been enjoying these items sent by and I've been enjoying him exploring and watching his interaction with them.

My honest review of this multi-chamber house is it's durable, easy to wipe clean because the wood is coated with a resin, and it's nice and spacious on the inside too. The one thing I would change if I could would be the entrance hole size and shape. The way it is now, it's cute but not very practical for a large sized Syrian hamster with overfilled cheek pouches. So I would only use this particular hide for a dwarf hamster or a mouse. It is 4.5 inches tall so access would need to be given on all ends for a dwarf hamster otherwise it could be challenging for smaller hammys to climb up to the top. Mice however have no problem because they can jump.

Many multi chamber hamster houses have an entrance hole plus one more up on top . The advantage to only one hole, is it does provide more space on top to place things but it also limits coming and going to just the entrance hole only, and small prey animals have the instinct firmly intact in their minds that they need many holes to come and go.

If I was to design my own multi-chamber hide I would place a couple of holes along the back and sides that could provide additional ways in and out of the hide. Years ago, when I only had a few hamsters in the rescue, I asked my husband to put holes in a Niteangel multi-chamber hide this way and the result was the hamster created burrows through the bedding which led directly to the holes he had cut out for me. I always meant to continue doing that for all the multi-chamber houses I purchased, but then I started taking in more and more hamsters and time became an issue and still is.

To summarize, this hide house is a great investment for someone with a smaller hamster or mouse, Zain does not sleep in his but he does drag things in there and uses the chambers to eat in and as a potty 🤭

My rescue has received such generous donations lately, and from total strangers too! Just knowing people care means a whole lot! I hope the sender of all of these items sees how thankful I am! I love all the sentences written on the gift receipts!

*Happy burrowing
*Let the gnawing commence
*Have a sand-tastic time!

Very creatice and so cute!

When I first started Home Sweet Hammy Home, I got laughs out of too many people who found it humorous that small animals like hamsters and mice actually needed rescuing! After their laughter, their encouragement was to focus on a bigger animal rescue for animals who had longer lifespans and statements of "that's where people actually make donations too" followed.

I am happy to state 4 years later they were all so wrong! SO WRONG!

I very rarely ask for donations on my social media accounts, but yet they have always poured in, and I'm deeply grateful! Operating a rescue alone is challenging, but having everyone's support helps me get through my extremely exhausting daily animal care workload with relief knowing my supply shelves are stocked!

I chose Zain, one of the male mice who was just a tiny pinky the day of the horrible San Diego Humane Society transport, to receive a cage upgrade using items from

So far we are both liking everything a lot! He's a shy and scared mouse, so I am going slow with getting videos and pictures of him exploring his new items and more will be posted soon along with my reviews. Just look at how cute he is though! Little man is very fortunate to have not been reptile food back in August. To see him enjoying his life now is seriously the greatest!

Thank you for these well made items! So excited to try them out!

Since my intake is closed, one of the lucky animals here is going to get an upgrade!

I'll be posting an honest review all about it soon, but wanted to put this thank you post out first.

There is a first time for everything and in this case it's all about his name. I've never, ever, had an animal in the rescue whom I've named upon admittance but a few months later decided the name did not fit.

The longer he's here the less I like the name Bakari for him. His original name from the San Diego Humane Society was Zabba, but nope, doesn't fit either.

I've been calling him Skunky, should I just name him that officially? Or Pepe or Toodles 😅

Honestly, he should have already been adopted by now and given a name by his new family. Buuuuut it's a bit complicated adopting out a single male guinea pig, his adopter either has to have another one that he's compatible with or be willing to have them live side by side but neither scenario has played out for him.

So now I really need to figure out a name that fits because it's looking like he's going to be here a while, possibly permanently. There are hundreds of people trying to rehome their piggies on rehoming sites, and that's no exaggeration. I'm still receiving several weekly adoption requests for the available guinea pigs here, and I'm sending out care resources to each inquiry but never hear back.

And let's face reality. Why should people comply with my massively high standards when they can take possession of any other guinea pig and do as they please?

If anyone reading this has any name suggestions for the skunk look-alike piggy stuck in the hamster rescue, please comment them 💕

After weeks of consideration I now have an account on Patreon. Thank you to for making some info slides for me to create a collage and for advising me to keep things simple 😉

Just $5 monthly unlocks the posts on Patreon, link in profile, and if you are in America contributions are tax deductible.

All my rescue donation receipts are emailed out usually in the first 2 weeks of January, unless someone requests it before then.

Any monthly Paetron income received will go exclusively towards providing supplies for the animals here, and I want to say thank you in advance to everyone who joins 💜

I'm feeling especially appreciative today for some people who have secretly supported my rescue, and I'll be posting about them all soon, but today's post is dedicated to Debby .with.my.heart

I've completely lost track of how many electronic Amazon gift cards she's sent me over the years, it's been enough that if I was to go back and screenshot them all, they wouldn't fit in a collage anyways!

So instead I've used pictures of items that she's recently mailed to me and my rescue logo she took initiative and made, then sent to me without expecting anything in return, way back when my rescue was still growing. This logo is now on everything, my adoption contracts, my rescue website, social media accounts etc.

The corner of a display board on my wall contains notes she's written to me in the boxes of supplies she's sent. I read these a dozen times a day as I walk by taking care of the animals everyday and night.

Thank YOU Debby, it's actually you who is absolutely amazing 🥰

I'm in awe of the team and all they've done!

They have been super supportive of Home Sweet Hammy Home and I'm forever grateful! From spreading proper care education to bake sales to raise money for rescues and now participating in their local Pet Expo sharing about hamsters, it's just amazing!

All of the animals here in the rescue home are truly going to enjoy these DIY toys and boredom breakers!

More times than I can count I get adoption inquiries from teachers or people who work in daycares requesting to adopt guinea pigs for their classrooms. It's become so frequent, I've created an email template I can pull up, customize to each unique situation, and use in my response.

I could of course just flat out say no without any explanation whatsoever right? But where is the mindset change in that? If we want these animals to be treated as cherished family members and not objects or tools, we need to help others focus on reality, so I'll ask the questions you can see in the middle slide.

I know there will be some who will read this and completely disagree saying children need to learn empathy and responsibility etc, my argument to that is prey animals don't belong in classrooms. Period. If guinea pigs had a choice, would they choose to be class pets? There are many other ways to teach kiddos kindness and concern for animals. Most teachers are creative and could probably figure out a much safer way than using a classroom pet as a teaching tool!

If you are wondering if I also have a classroom pet hamster email template, I do 😉

When I admit Syrian hamsters into my rescue I know they'll get hundreds of applicants, and I also know it's going to be challenging to find someone who will set them up in a cage like the one I set up for them or even better.

Don't get me wrong, it's been done before, I have had success adopting out Syrians this way in the past. Their amazing adopters worked with me through many steps to create an equal sized cage and set it up similar so the hamster they adopted would transition easier and thrive.

But everyone who applied to adopt little Koda bear just couldn't quite meet my expectations. I wasn't about to take him out of this home he had grown accustomed to and place him in anything less just for the sake of an adoption.

So here he is an entire year later. Never adopted but not unhappy.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Operating a hamster rescue isn't like the typical bigger animal rescue. Hamsters have short lives, and I refuse to place them in a less than ideal cage while they wait for someone to come along and give them better. I know, I know, that's backwards thinking when it comes to rescue, however this is how I decided to do things and I've stuck with it. It's also the reason why my intake is closed. For every hamster that does not get adopted, that means another one isn't able to be admitted.

Sooooo my intake is still closed 🫣