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After five years of owning numerous pet mice that eventually died of old age, my son decided he'd rather have a pet hamster. After chosing just the right one, I invested in a fancy, new habitat for the little guy - all we had for the mice were ten gallon aquarium tanks with screen lids. We had fun setting up the various tubes and platform "rooms" and tried out several different types of exercise wheels, but could never find one that was quiet enough. Since hamsters are active at night, the wheels would keep my son awake, so Mr. Hamster (funny, but I can't remember his real name) and his habitat ended up in another room.

We had also purchased an exercise ball and the hamster really went to town in that thing! We had a small house with a bathroom at each end and he would get rolling in that ball, eventually ending up in one of the bathrooms sitting up against the base of the toilet. If in his journeys across the house he'd stop for a time, all we had to do was call his name and he'd continue rolling along in our direction.

Late one night around 3 a.m. I was cold, so I got up to turn on the heat. The thermostat was outside the room where the habitat was set up. When I turned on the light to see the thermostat I noticed that one of the lids on the habitat was open and the hamster was gone. Panic! All I could imagine was the hamster getting stuck in a little nook or cranny where we'd be unable to find him and he'd die. Using a flashlight, I searched for him for about ten minutes, calling his name hoping he'd run toward me just as he'd do in the exercise ball. No luck, so I went back to bed. About an hour later, I woke up to a scratching noise in my bathroom. Shining the flashlight toward the base of the toilet, there sat the hamster in the same spot he'd always find while in the exercise ball. What was it about the toilet that was so appealing? My only guess was that he liked the coldness of it, but all I can say is "Thank goodness for the toilet!".

Learn more about this author, Molly Jasinsky.
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