Dora, my explorer.

The day I found my beautiful Dora, was the day I knew my heart was finally full. It was just a normal day for me, wandering into the pet store on my home to get some treats for my other two boys, Gus and Boo. I happened to walk past the Rescue Centre they had in store, and though to myself, "It can't hurt to just have a look, could it?".

As I got a closer look, I saw several different hamsters, all with festive Christmassy names. I came upon a tiny little ball of brown and white fur in one of these tiny glass containers, snuggling into the closest corner. She woke a little as I stared at her, and stared straight back at me with eyes filled with love and hope, praying that maybe this time, could she be looking into the eyes of her forever home?

I called a member of staff over to ask about her. "Oh, Mince?" The woman shrugged, looking a little sad as she reminisced. "She was a rescue that we found left outside of the store a few weeks ago. Opened up in the morning, and just saw her there, half frozen in her little cage." My stomach dropped at the though of this sweet little girl left alone in the freezing November cold, and I knew right at that moment I had to take her.

Five minutes later, and multiple cardboard boxes, Mince, now known as Dora, was packed and ready to go, and heading towards her warm, loving home. By the time I got her home, she had managed to chew through one of the two boxes that were holding her in!

It took quite a while for her to settle in, she clearly didn't trust humans at all, making me wonder what treatment she had faced from her previous owners other than abandonment. She would bite hands, destroy anything you put in her cage, and furious gnaw on her bars as if trying to find a way to escape. At first I only had a tiny cage for her, which made her look like an absolute giant!

I’ve now been the owner of ten different hamsters over the years, and she is certainly the biggest of the lot. I bought her a new huge cage, which she loves to run around, though she also has a habit of climbing the bars to get to the higher levels, I guess it’s a quicker way for her? Who knows!

We also had a massive trial and error for some of the toys I bought her, as some were far too small, and others she completely destroyed (note to self: never buy anything with string ever again!). I also tried to change her temperament from biting and ferocity, to something more human friendly.

First, we tried snacks. I put loads of different types of snacks around her, and kept track of the ones she went too first. Turns out she loves mealworms, and she also can’t get enough of pumpkin seeds, much to the chagrin of her brother Gus, who also loves them more than life itself.

It generally was a massive struggle, and most times I touched her I ended up with bite marks all over my hands, I guess she was just terrified of humans after her treatment from her previous owners. It often makes me sad to think about the life she had before, but it also made me glad that she came into my life, as I had just gone through a bad breakup, and I guess we needed each other just as much as the other.

After much perseverance, five months on, she is the most loving, tender character I have ever come across, though I still wouldn't want to be in the way of her and a mealworm!