February 15, 2008
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What to do?
I woke up this morning and went to get him his breakfast, as I often do. I gave him a poke when it was done and something didn’t feel right,Instead of stretching and greeting me like he always does, he was stiff and cold. I poked him again just to be sure and then I dropped the breakfast and ran.
He’s up there right now, all cold and dead. I didn’t tell the kids, I sent them off to school, allowing them to make it through their day in blissful ignorance. What am I going to do? I can’t bury him out side, the ground is all hard and frozen. He is way to big to flush down the toilet, and I am NOT chopping him into little pieces. It just seems so undignified to shove him in a trash bag. It’s cold enough out that he would freeze, maybe I should just stick him in a box in the garage and wait for spring, no one would know.
I am not used to this. I’ve never had one die on me, now my sister, she used to kill them all of the time.
R.I.P. Dragon *sigh*
Guys… condolences aren’t necessary… He was like 80 in hamster years and I know all about the circle of life.
He’s in a happy hamster place I’m sure.
Comments (43)
Sorry for your lost. always sad when a pet dies.
I hope Dragon RIP.
oh man……is that why people get their kids fish?
can you pull a switch? I am so sorry!!!!!!
never has a hamster’s demise been so amusing. i hope the kids take it as well as you are!
Garbage bags are NOT dignified in any stretch of the imagination.
I had a friend who kept theirs int he freezer till the ground thawed. THAT is down right creepy!
What about like in ancient times when they lit a fire and cremated?
A concept.
R.I.P Dragon.
wrap him in a couple plastic bags and stick him in the garbage!
…when you said chop him into little bits, I was taken aback – until I read further and found out it was a hamster! oh my!
*hugs*
HAHAHA That is beautiful. My friend froze her dead hamster until the Spring thaw. Although how she kept it separate from the frozen mice for their pet snake is a mystery to me. I would vote for a shoebox in the garage, but you’d hate to forget about that until it was too late. How about a festively decorated, sealed shut shoebox for the trash man to pick up? If you put it on the top of the garbage can (and the kids don’t see) they can be lulled into the belief that it is a special trash man service to carefully “bury” dead pets. Yeah. Good luck with that.
R.I.P dear Dragon… I send my deepest condolences anyway!
I would find a small box, put some tissues or an old rag you don’ t want in it, and put Dragon in it. Wrap the box in plastic wrap of some sort, so it keeps the smell down, put it out in the garage or something so it doesn’t stink up the house. (Although the plastic wrap should take care of the stink factor) Bury when you can.
I hope the kids take it well. Ashley used to cry even when pet fish died. So, I don’t think it is shameful to admit we are upset over a hamster. I was sure upset when my bird died.
LOTS OF HUGS!!! Tracy
Accck–so sorry. A while back we had a parakeet die (suzy #2). Thankfully she was at her granparents for the weekend. we replaced it with another that looked exactly like the one that died. I cried, though–I balled, actually. There may have been other reasons for it.
Anyway, burying him in the backyard may be the best alternative–given the others…
I hope the kids take it well.
R.I.P. Dragon.
Wrap him in foil, put him in a ziplock and stick him in the freezer. Just DON’T forget what it is. Bury him in spring. **sigh** poor dragon.
I’m for freezing till the spring thaw…I guess 80 for a hamster is great…never had one myself…hope the kids take it well…
you could do a funeral pyre…….but still what are you going to tell the kids….Oh Hell….send dragon to me and I’ll bury him for you, the grounds not frozen here….sniff sniff sniff……Try and have a good weekend ang….there’s an eclipse coming up soon
………ilym
No more hamster dancin’ in your house–sorry…
Aww! Sorry for the loss to your family.
I have seen your site at my friend Heather’s and on the Theologians. I thought i would finally come on over and say HI!
Put it in a self defrosting freezer in about 6-8 weeks itl be freeze dried and you can put his cute little carcass up on a shelf to admire for years to come! (You might want to wire it into an amuzing sitting position first)
@Aloysius_son - That man is not right
Let the kids view him after school , then have them decorate a shoe box.Place him in a baggie and then wrap it is some cloth or tissue or what ever else seems to fit place him oh so tenderly in said box then tape the box securely and put iit n the freezer till he can have a proper funeral.Oh Be sure to let your spouse know its not cookies in the box.
Awww. Poor Dragon. Hope the kiddos take it okay.
Awww….so sad.
RIP Dragon.
Always sad when a pet dies, even a hamster! Hope the kids take it ok, mine would cry for days!!!
Tell the kids he ran away and you can’t find him? It’s ok to lie about animals. (I hope ???). That’s twice I’ve heard about hamsters today. So sorry.
Sorry about your loss. And winter deaths are a dilemma. If you have a bonfire, that thaws the ground enough to dig actually. A crypt until spring is genuinely an option, humans have done so for centuries. I don’t know. my condolences to your family.
He really, honestly won’t care if you do the trash bag thing, I promise. Unhealthy to have him hanging around.
I’m glad the kids handled it ok, I’m sure a few tears were expected!
Have a good weekend!
kimbers
RYC: My project is to reduce suicides among police officers, which have been going on at a pretty good clip and been ignored by too many police departments. The site is at http://www.badgeoflife.com/
once when I was a kid, my hamster “Chubby” got out of his cage and impregnanted a bunch of the mice that lived in the house. We had retarded ham-mice running around the house eating each other and walking into walls. it was like an alfred hitchcock movie. I am sorry for your loss. I guess, the moral of the story, it could have been worse?
Glad the kids took it so well…Thanks for stopping by…glad you liked that piece…one of my Myspace friends sent it to me…thought it was funny…have a great week-end…
You know that we had a lot of animals over the years, both large (cows, sheep, goats, horses) and small (rabbits, guinea pigs) but never anything that we voluntarily fed like hamsters or mice. The biggest thing we ever had that just died on us was a holstein bull calf. I bought him at the livestock sale and took him home. Once he was safely in the barn, I went over his care with one of the older boys (NOT Ben, by the way) and made it his responsibility. That was in the days when I was away from home a lot, so after a week or so, I went down to the barn to see how it was doing. It was deep winter, and the animals had free run of the basement of the barn. There among the sheep and goats, I couldn’t find the calf at all, so I called our calf minder and asked him where it was. He didn’t know. I asked him if he fed it that morning, and he got this funny look on his face. I asked when he fed it last, and he couldn’t remember. Then we went looking. Finally, I found a leg sticking up through the hay by one of the feeders. When I pulled it, it came off. . .
By the way, I found something to help keep your monitor clean. . .
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Glad to hear that all is well. We have lovebirds, and my kids take it better than I do when one dies. Have a great weekend.
M
ya know those things always kinda freaked me out… I never really went for the rodent pet things… or fish for that matter but that’s a different story all together…
YOU DID THE RIGHT THING. Hamsters don’t live forever, even with the best of care. One of the most difficult things that pets teach children is that living things die. Dealing with death and disappointment are hard for adults but are a test bet passed at an early age to get ready for them big time in the future. You are a sensitive and sweet caretaker.
If I were you… I wouldn’t leave him in a box in the garage until spring… You wouldn’t like the smell…
dan
Oh no! Sorry for your family’s loss. I am glad that your kids took it ok……still though…..
HUGS!
Gina
Moving is neither a good thing or a bad thing, just is… I guess. Sorry about Dragon! When the guinea pig and Chase’s rat died. I put them in a small box and into our freezer until the ground thawed enough to have a burial under our apple tree. The whole burial was for the kids’ sake! They also decorated the top of the site with flowers, clay markers, etc…
@JAOlson - TONY DIED!
Thanks for ” biggin up” my door!!!.How do I get to learn all the clever bits you do,like posting links etc.? Is there anywhere on Xanga I could go.Thanks awfully,KEV!!!
Some friends of mine told me the’d freeze any of their dwarf hamsters that died so I could feed it to Flicka…. maybe you know someone with a big snake that wants a dead 80 year old hamster?
Sorry for your kids’ loss. Really.
@angi1972 - Yeah, a while ago. Funny thing, Chase replaced Tony with Kelly and Olivia, two fancy rats. I’ll have to get a picture of him with them to share! lol
We’ve had two hamsters in our house. One used to bite the other so we had to separate them. They both lasted about two years. They were OK pets but sometimes they would bite us so we couldn’t hold them like we wanted. We like our cats and I’ve liked dogs as well. I think we’ll stick with those :=).
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