I'VE A NASTY FEELING I've discovered the cause of Bashful Roborovski's strange behaviour: all this leaning back and falling over, staring into space and wandering off in the dark. I only realized what it was the other day when, putting my hand inside her domain she "peered" up at me, then I moved, yet she continued peering into the same bit of space. She is blind. This makes me feel so sorry for her. Such a tiny, innocent animal. No wonder she's been acting so strangely of late; I'm convinced she has gone blind and wasn't born so. Blindness would explain everything. I do hope I'm wrong.On the other hand, blindness in a hamster is nowhere near the disability it might be in a larger animal like a dog or cat. Roborovskis live in pitch blackness anyhow ~ up to six feet underground in their burrowy nests. And, of course, being nocturnal their eyesight is far from the premium sense (they rely on hearing far more, and sensations: not only vibrations on the ground from larger bufoon species such as humans but their sixth sense, "whisker sense". In human terms their gigantic whiskers stuck out a good eighteen inches either side, allowing them to bolt full pelt into a complex network of tunnels without ever crashing into the wall...)
I got so used to observing them by "fireglow" red light that I forget their frenzied dashing, pinging and wheel-ramblings are mostly conducted, in robo-terms, in the utter pitch dark; and yet their behaviour barely alters one little bit between darkness and light. (Red light to hamsters and most other tiny rodents is equivalent to infra-red light to us: so installing a fireglow lamp beside their enclosure enables one to view them undisturbed. If I want them to go to bed even in the middle of the night-time, I need only switch the main light on and, hilarious as clockwork, within ten minutes they're all at the nest, all three of them, snuggling and preening away, the most natural thing in the world...
Little else to say about Bashful. I do hope it is just blindness and not some sort of brain tumour. As I say, her behaviour has been a little... aimless and odd. I can think of no other explanation for it...
Video:
John Denver: Leaving on a Jet Plane
You may well consider this sentimentalist tosh, and I aplogize for the blurry picturing but a few glances and you'll get the gist... this tune's been going round and round in my head for a bit so I thought I'd post it up here for yous...
Babylonian Mystery Religion
21 comments:
Aw how sad about your little hamster. :(
my dog went blind she was only 8 it wasn't fair. She had to be put down and I still miss her.
I like the song, but then I can remember it being a 'hit' first time round..... she said in a croaky old crone voice.
Akelamalu: she's not suffering though (just falling over backwards quite a lot to my repeated cooings...)
Fire Byrd: Bashful will be all right ~ as long as that's all it is... robbies don't rely on eyesight as I said; not the way people do...
Leavin' on a Jetplane... that one I remember from singalongs of my youth... (church camping trips)
Aww poor bashful . . although my grandfather was blinded in the war and could have done with 18 inch whiskers rather than a stick! Come to think of it, I tend to crash into things and I've got 20/20 vision!
I'm dreadful too. Though I am 1/2 blind without glasses: I so badly want lazer eye surgery!
Trying to get my glasses prescription correct on this end! Went for the exam, then went back for the glasses. Like being on deck; a very rolling feeling. Stereo-optics not working, so they had to send the lenses back.
Hope everyone is OK there . . .
That is kind of sad. I've seen old dogs go blind but like most animals they use their other senses to compensate. The aimlessnss and odd behavior are still there.
I am sorry about your hamster...that is sad. I had hamsters when my kids were youngsters, they had babies!!! They were such cute tiny little babies! And then one of the hamsters ate them!!! Yechhhhhhhh.
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Hmm... I've never been a fan of pets, but I love how you talked about your hamsters... made me at least consider getting one. (Except I have asthma and all those furs hehe... )
Poor little Bashful...yes, I do hope it's nothing serious, as you say.
Leaving on a Jet Plane...did't Peter, Paul and Mary do that one (oops, now I've given my vintage away).
TutTut: I once got ones badly overprescribed for me... I'm sure the *****d was trying to wreck my eyes, make me a better customer for the future...
Catch: Don't they look like wriggly little baked beans..??
Hammer: I hope it is just blindness. It would explain a lot; she just doesn't seem to know anything's there until she's biting it (like my finger)
Filos: "all those furs" on a hamster?? C'mon. My robos weigh no more than 20g each. There's hardly any fur on them. (But it is nice fur...)
Pussinboots: I hope so too. No way of finding out, anyhow. (Never heard of a hammybrainscan..!!)
:(( I have a dog too, so I feel for you.
Oh dear, what a sad thing for you and Bashful to be experiencing. One of my dogs was blind and she coped very well in her environment. I am sure Bashful will as well, especially since she is so well looked after and loved by you!
How would you find out? I hope the wee one will be okay....
It's amazing how animals can adapt far better than we humans when something stops working ... last night on the news I saw a tortoise that had lost the use of it's back legs. It's now been kitted out with a sort of wheelchair or gocart, front legs work ok ... still getting the hang of how to move and not upturn itself quite as much. If Bashful is still eating and interacting with the others she must be doing fine and adapting *!*
It's sad that she's blind, but at least it's not something worse. I had a guinea pig who had a stroke, it's really sad when such little animals are in so much pain. You just want to pet them and make it better. = )
Hey Gleds.......... I have been off line for a few weeks as I had a computer catastrophe. I am now down to 55 mg of Methadone and trying to get off as fast as I can because I am catching a LOT of flack from doctors and it has made me gain a ton of weight (cravings for sweets). Since I am originally from NYC, each borough (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island) has their own television recording studio where anyone (even my own cousin) can have a show! Manhattan is the largest of the 5 and you can view it at www.mnn.org It stands for Manhattan Neighborhood Network. I would guess that www.bnn.org would take you to B'klyn. or Bx. You can view all the stations on regular TV or on the internet. Over the past two weeks MNN has had some internet trouble but my cousin tells me it should be over with shortly. You can pick a subject and it will tell you when it is on, such as: Sexuality/Gender, Politics, Local News, Entertainment, and etc. Saw the post about your leg.............I am glad it is over with for you. I guess I can read it later and see what happened to your maintainance methadone program (MMP). Perhaps you should do what I did 6 years ago and go up to 140mg/day and have to use 4X4 (4 wheel drive) in my explorer when I would doze off and wind up in a cornfield (Midwest) or fall asleep on the "F" train and wind up at Coney Island (NYC). Glad to find you still on line and Creeqe Alley still up :) E
Ah, that's a shame for your little baby, but if there appears to be no discomfort or suffering and they live in darkness anyway, it's probably not as bad as we think when a little pet goes thru a change.
Hubby loves John Denver. Not my particular cup of tea, but he entertained many people for a long time and still, so that's cool.
宝茹: no it's a hamster not a dog! I think the hamster needs a guide dog now... (or perhaps something smaller: guide mouse, perhaps...~??~??!?
Kahshe: yeah I hope she will be ok as long as it is just blindness she should be fine... if it's some brain thing I don't see much hope for her
MQ: I'm certainly not going to the vets that's for sure... they just want to rip off as much money as they possibly can squeeze out of you..!
Bimbimbie: Thanks. That's true she is perfectly OK... just a little thin for some reason (smaller than Itchy now. AGAIN.)... certainly not impeded in wheel-scuttling of any other hamsterific activities...
Oh my...hahahaha...my mistake. :P
Hamster doesn't need a guide pet. Just needs a friend. :)
Lucinda: aww! that sounds nasty. No Bashful is definitely in no pain
Eric: hey I was wondering where you got to... iwgh was it a 2nd hand computer? I wanna get a laptop as there seems to be free wireless internet everywhere ~ wouldn't THAT be a blast..!!... they're "only" £300 for a seemingly 1/2 decent one brand new or £150 2nd hand... I'm so skeptical of buying someone else's dodgy 2nds though...
is that tv thing called public access broadcasting? can't you see the manhattan version in the bronx/vice versa or do you ONLY get local?
they tried an experiment with something similar on national tv on channel 4 but it was really crap e.g. a "witch" cackling loudly whilst rubbing at her private parts with a broom...
... gimme strength!
Crystal: long as it is just blindness I'm with you and sure Bashful will be fine ;->...
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