Isn’t he cute? That’s Goose, my beloved fluffy long-haired hamster. He used to be all grey. Now he’s turning a bit tan. Normally that’s something humans strive for. I’m not sure about hamsters. Actually, it worries me slightly because it might mean he’s a cross-breed. (In hamsters that can be dangerous because it brings out a higher probability of several genetic diseases. It’s especially bad to cross-breed dwarf hamster species.) So far he’s a healthy little hammie though. And now he has his own jungle!

Pet stores are dangerous. My hun and I went to the pet store to look at kittens. Well, they didn’t have any kittens. But they did have all sorts of neat hamster toys. And lizard toys. So now Goose has a more pet-friendly bedding of what looks like recycled paper instead of pine chips. (Yes, I know, urine on pine chips is bad for some pets. Which is why I made the switch.) He’s got raw cotton fluff to use as soft bedding. (Instead of bits of toilet paper or paper towel.) He has wooden fruits to chew on as well as his normal chewies. He’s even got mini corn cobs to gnaw on now. He’s got a dried sweet grass salad bowl filled with fruits and nuts. Oh, and a cool looking lizard terrarium tree to use as a house instead of his old translucent plastic multi-colored three-story fake house. He can also climb that tree.

So now Goose is a hamster in a jungle. His glass aquarium cage has a similarly-sized wire cage on top of it with tunnels to climb up to ledges in that cage. He has tons to climb. And in his upper cage is an edible hut with a straw roof. His setup is so cute. But then, Goose deserves the best. He’s a spoiled rotten little hammie. What more could a hamster want?

Well, okay, he could want a bath house filled will chinchilla sand. He had one. He not only slept in it all the time, but he peed in it too. So he started sleeping in wet pee mud. That can’t be good for him, so I took it away for a while. He’d only roll in it like a bath the first time I’d put it in his cage anyway. But other than that, he has everything a spoiled rotten hamster can desire.