Juni B.

A couple of weeks ago, a new family member was introduced to our family. After several months of nigging, my sister finally convinced her dad/my stepdad to buy a dwarf hamster, so called a djungarian/winter white russian hamster/siberian hamster. I was against this from the beginning. First of all, I realized a year ago that I do not like animals. They're ok in small doses, but living with one? They're smelly, dirty and without someone taking care of them they'll die. Also, when we got an aquarium, the first three weeks the fishes died all the time. And the idea of our house smelling like pet food terrified me. But the major reason for me being against a pet was jealosy. If I had wanted a hamster when I was 7 years old the answer had been: NO. However, a cage and pet were obtained and the placed the cage outside mine and my brother's rooms.

Did you know tha a hamster run about 8 miles every night? That is 12 kilometers. Hamster have a high metabolism and have to exercice, for a wild hamster it is easy since they can run around freely, but the pet hamster runs in a wheel. And hamster are noctornal animals, which means they run in their wheel at night. This means that the sound of a squeeking wheel is heard every night.

However, against all odds, I have come to care about our new family member. Her name is Juni B, named after Barbara Park's fictional character Juni B. Jones. She is snow white and has big black eyes and adorable tiny feet. She is small and can fit in my palm. And since she is not "mine", I am not the one who have to clean the cage or feed her. So basically I have only gained the good parts of being a pet owner, since the bad parts are taken care of by others.