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Mothers and Hamsters

jenjen's picture

After a hamster gives birth, it hides its babies in a giant, intricate nest. she doesn't want to let them wander away and keeps them hidden as long as she can.

SOME hamsters will eat their babies if they perceive a threat to the babies or themselves (like moving the nest around to see the babies). OTHERS will merely "yell" at you, let you know they are upset and go on to fix the nest so that it is even more secure.

I think majority of mother's fall into the Other category. If they perceive a threat, the protect and create better boundaries to protect their kids without causing their kids any harm.

The other portion , acts like the first scenario. They perceive a threat, take it to an extreme and and in their delusional. minds think said threat is so severe that they need to remove the kids in any way possible, even if it causes those kids harm.

Comments

Kb3Hooah's picture

Interesting analogy...and one that is so true!

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“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”

Selkie's picture

I'm not missing your point but I just had to share a story about my first hamster. When I was six, a little girl came to our door begging my parents to take her hamster because her father was going to flush it down the toilet. So my parents accepted the hamster and gave her to me for my birthday.

It turned out she was pregnant. She gave birth to six babies the next day. They grew into speedy little things.

My brother or I (I prefer to think it was my brother) accidentally left the cage door open one day and the babies got out. We found all but one.

A couple of weeks later, we noticed a horrific smell coming from my parents' bedroom. The one baby had gotten stuck inside the radiator and died there. It was one of those scarring, life-altering experiences for my six year old little brain.

This mother hamster didn't keep her babies safe. But neither did the humans who were supposed to be helping her.

Hmm. Maybe it does take a village.

jenjen's picture

True. But even the BEST mother cannot protect her babies from harm all the time. Especially once they grow and they have to allow them to explore out of the nest. Im sure this was the stage they were in when they escaped.

Just as we put our kids on the bus to school, we have no control over what happens, but we have to allow it.

The crazy Hamster Mom would have probably eaten her babies before they were allowed to leave the nest. She was a good one.

A Hamster story that scarred me as a child was that I took my sisters hamster outside (yeah, good idea)and it got away from me, ran under the house never to be seen again. My dad went under the house and everything looking for it. Needless to say, my sister hated me and called me a murderer for the longest time. After enough time had passed we decided that Sparky left, found a good mouse wife and made little gerbil babies! HA!

Selkie's picture

Maybe I'm still a good mom then, even though my baby has left the nest and is nowhere to be found. There's only so much mothers can do to protect our children.

Maybe I should have just eaten her and saved myself this heartache!

jenjen's picture

Selkie, your situation makes me cry, but your statement "Maybe I should have just eaten her and saved myself this heartache!" made me laugh out loud!

You are a good mom, there is only so much we can do to protect them. It's hard. But once they get older we have no choice but to let them learn on their own. I know you wouldnt want to "eat her" just to save yourself pain and heartache.

Selkie's picture

I'm glad for the laugh! Hmmm... maybe instead of removing priviledges when she gets home, I'll just roast her with an apple in her mouth. With sauteed rat on the side.

Thetis's picture

lmfao Selkie its great that you can still be humourous through what you are going through.

And fyi, as far as I know you are only human. This means you can not completely control everything around you, including your daughter. This does not make you evil, bad, or a failure.

But we can still work on getting those mind control chips made. The teenaged years will be sooo much easier once we CAN control everything!

jenjen's picture

Ha! Maybe tell her "you know dd if I was a time traveling hamster, I would go back in time and just gobble you up to protect you from having to put away the towels (or whatever it was that set her off)!"

Ghhh....teenage girls can be the most challenging creatures!

usade's picture

This is very off-topic, I think, but a good read and somewhat appropriate regarding the analogy: "Beloved" by Toni Morrison...a heart-wrenching story of a black mother in times of slavery. I'm not telling which hamster mother she is!