Merry Christmas pets

I spotted a pet dressed up for Christmas so thought it would be fun to share photos of Christmas ready pets. I'll include facts of these common pets, too.

First up is this Teddy Bear Hamster, named Puschl, who is owned by Annia Martinz from Klagenfurt, Austria. (Photo taken by Annia--thanks for sharing!)

I had hamsters when I was a kid and so did my daughters. I thought my mother would kill me when my hamster got ahold of a curtain and chewed off a 6" by 18" section to pull into his cage. Fortunately there was one more curtain panel left at the store, so we both lived. Phew!

Besides being chewers, hamsters are also climbers. Mine got out of his cage once and I woke up hearing him climbing through the open box springs of my bed. (It was an antique bed!) If you've ever watched a hamster in a cage for a while, you know they are diggers, too.

There are many varieties of hamsters; they can be black, gray, white, brown, buff, yellow, or red. Hamsters are ominvores, who can stuff their cheek pouches full of food to carry off and stockpile.