Mantou's First Week: A Hamster Who Works the Night Shift

I brought Mantou home in April, in a small plastic box with air holes, on the back seat of a taxi in Chiang Mai. He was a white Syrian hamster with red eyes and a round belly like a steamed bun, hence the name. I had read many articles, but I still felt like I was carrying a very small, very valuable bomb.

The first lesson was about the cage. I bought a large one with a solid bottom, deep bedding for burrowing, a wheel big enough for his back to stay straight, a sand bath and a few cardboard tubes. The shop owner told me that Syrians need a lot of space, and that bars with wide gaps are dangerous. The second lesson was about where to put it: not in direct sun, not next to the air-con vent, in a quiet corner of our Chiang Mai flat. Mantou sleeps all day.

The first night, at nine o'clock, I heard a sound like a tiny motorbike. Mantou had woken up and started running on his wheel. He ran, and ran, and ran. I timed him for two hours before I fell asleep. In the morning the wheel was still, he was sleeping in a pile of bedding, and I felt like a mother whose baby has a very strange schedule.

We went slowly with handling. For the first three days I only put my hand in the cage with a sunflower seed, without touching him. On day four he climbed onto my palm, sniffed my fingers and stuffed a seed into his cheek so full that his face doubled in size. I laughed so much that I almost scared him. I also learned not to wake him in the daytime, because a hamster woken suddenly can bite out of fear.

On day six I took him to an exotic-pet vet for a general check. She weighed him, looked at his teeth and coat, and told me about food, water, temperature and the signs that a hamster is sick, such as wet fur, loss of appetite or sudden stillness. She said to come back at once if I saw any of those, because small animals get sick fast.

By the end of the week we had a routine: clean water, fresh vegetables in small portions, a seed at nine, an evening show on the wheel. I know he will not live as long as a dog or a cat, so I want every night to be good. Mantou does not care. He is busy stuffing his cheeks.