Meet DespeROSE

Isn't she the cutest little thing?

Kloe had been asking and asking and asking for a hamster for months. We hamster-sat for a friend of hers a while back, and she fell in love. She had to have the tiniest one we could find (she's like me that way), and after looking around at several different breeds, she had decided on a Robo Dwarf, which is only 1-2" when fully grown. [That seems really funny to me, because every time I hear the name I think of Robo Cop.]


So we surprised her by taking her to the pet store on her birthday and letting her pick out a hamster and all the trimmings (sounds like we're having her for dinner, doesn't it?). Well, wouldn't you know it, it seems the very day we arrived to pick out our sweet little friend, the wee Robo Dwarfs had gotten into a tiny little gang fight and had all beaten each other up! All of them had sores and scabs, and some had even been restricted to solitary confinement.

We were told we could wait for a new shipment to arrive in a few days, but Kloe couldn't stand to wait that long. So alas, it seems the Robo Dwarf was not meant to be.

Next in line on the size scale was the Russian Dwarf, which is 2-3" when fully grown. Kloe picked out the smallest one in the cage, and we became the proud family of a new, tiny little rodent.


Kloe had decided long ago that when she finally got a hamster she would name it either Despereaux or Zephaniah (*smile*), but you know, a girl really has to see a hamster before she can know what it's name is going to be. So once we had picked out said wee one, Kloe decided on Despereaux.

Except that the nice hamster expert lady at the pet store informed us that our Despereaux was actually a girl. ALL of their hamsters are girls, apparently. They like it that way so there are no surprises of extra hamsters showing up at your house when you've only taken home one....if you know what I mean.

So I tried to convince Kloe that Despereaux is actually a boy's name.....really, honey, remember in the movie? It was a boy. But she was not to be swayed. Despereaux it would be. Maybe we would start a new trend in hamster naming.....boy names for girl hamsters. You know, the way other boy names are now making the transition over to the girl world. Evyn. Hayden. Micah. Taylor. But I digress.

So baby mouse has a pink cage. When we got her home, put the cage together, and sat back to admire our new family member, Kloe said "I should have named her Rose. See? Pink cage....ROSE....get it?"

Me: Well, she's your hamster. Change her name if you want to.

Kloe: But I like Despereaux.

Me: I know, what about DespeRose (how do you spell that?)

Can you believe she actually liked it? And so, DespeRose it is. Rose for short.

She's adorable. Noisy, what with the exercise wheel and all, but adorable.

Now my question is....why is it that we are feeding this little mousey in the house while we kill her cousins out in the garage?? :D