Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Hamster Potty

This is Pork Chop, my hamster, who never ceases to charm me with her curious antics.

A few weeks ago I went to Petco and purchased myself a Hamster Potty. Yes, you heard me. A hamster potty. How could I resist? It was only $8, and the picture of the hamster on the box was just so darn cute. Plus, I figured, hey, why not, if it saves me some bedding material (note: I use recycled fiber bedding. Very green. Well, actually, it's brown, but the package is green...). Anyway.

On the side of the box, it says training your hamster to use the potty is as "E-Z as 1-2-3." According to this article, it's more like "1-2-3-4-5-6." But I'm not sure Pork Chop got either memo.


Anyway, I set the thing up and then waited so that I could see which corner of the cage she likes to "go" in. Wouldn't you know it, she decided she likes to use the corner that's underneath her little climbing tube, where it would be impossible to fit the litter box doohicky thing. So when I changed the bedding, I just decided to put some of the soiled material into the litter box, like they said, put it in a nearby corner, and see if it worked.

Well, first she was curious. What's this new thing in my cage? Then she tried to eat the litter. It didn't take her long to find out she could crawl in, being that it is precisely hamster-sized, and then she proceeded to dig.

She ignored the soiled bedding and decided it was merely a fun place for her to explore. Pretty soon it looked like this:

I came home later in the day to find her just hanging out in the "potty" like it was her new front porch. Ah, Pork Chop. The designers obviously did not take into account your creative hamster mind. So much for "E-Z" hamster potty-training. But if nothing else, at least my little Pork Chop has a fun new place to hang out...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

well i guess pork chops and tofu (my hamster) are cousins cuz that's exactly what tofu did. he played with the litter, ate some and threw the rest out and snuggled inside. now he uses it as a fun go to place and sometimes when i try to catch him, he scurries and hides in there! and he pees in a corner next to his wheel where no potty would fit in. oh well!

TaylorM said...

They are definitely cousins! :-)