Pancakes was the hamster I was never supposed to have, contraband in my apartment my senior year. Amelia and I were dead set on getting him. We visited two pet stores before finding him. There he was, slightly sleepy in the middle of the day. The clerk didn't want to take him out, afraid that he would bite me. When I first held that little golden hamster, I think Amelia and I both knew he was the one. His right ear was ripped in half, the casualty of a fight with a brother or sister, the clerk said. That rip was the reason we immediately decided to take him home; we agreed that he was a tough hamster "from the wrong side of the tracks" and needed someone to love him and take care of him. Ten dollars and one pretty pink princess castle later - it wasn't until much later that we realized he was a boy - and Pancakes was on his way home with us.
I didn't know anything about hamsters when I brought him home. I didn't even know they were nocturnal. Pancakes bit me for the first and only time when I took him out of the box the pet store gave me. After we set up his princess castle and it was about time for me to go to sleep, I eyed him suspiciously, wondering if I had made yet another impulsive decision, wondering if he was going to become a chore, wondering if he was going to be a mean hamster forever. It turns out that I was all wrong.
Pancakes was only with me for just over a year and a half, but he meant so much to me and everyone he met. My roommates and I loved playing with him late at night, chasing him around the coffee table in the living room, sitting on Amelia's bed passing him back and forth, feeding him treats and spoiling him like crazy. He graduated eventually from his princess castle to the OVO Suite that kind of looks like a space station. His favorite thing was to run in his wheel; Pancakes' normal routine was to wake up very late, check out the food and treats situation, spend about an hour taking a very complicated hamster bath, and spend the next seven or so hours running like mad in his wheel. We used to say that Pancakes was always on a mission - to where, we didn't know, but he always seemed determined to get there.
I think the best time of Pancakes' life was in that apartment. He knew the layout and used to wing around the corners like a Nascar driver or something, crashing into our kitchen cabinets, stopping in front of JoAnna's door to take a hamster bath. I have so many pictures of him with Amelia, with Sarah, with Bryan. I think the picture with Bryan is one of my favorites because Bryan is so big and Pancakes is so little, and Bryan is laughing and looks so joyful. Pancakes definitely brought joy to everyone he met.
Pancakes was the most mild-mannered hamster I or any one else had ever met. He didn’t mind being held, petted, or picked up at all. He never bit anyone and was never mean. Pancakes was curious about the world around him, and above all, he was very very smart.
Out of everyone, he of course meant the most to me. He was the first real pet that I had, that was completely mine, that depended solely on me to take care of him and make sure that he was safe and had everything he needed. He helped me through some really hard times my senior year; just being able to pet him and focus on him helped. I set up Pancakes' "Tiki Vacation Home" on my desk so he would have somewhere to play late at night while I did homework. It consisted of a coconut hut, a plastic palm tree, a paper drink umbrella, and a background made of pictures cut from travel magazines.
Pancakes was spoiled so much throughout his lifetime, getting presents and treats from all of my friends and even my parents and brother. I fed him fresh fruits and veggies once in while; his favorite was definitely the alfalfa sprouts Amelia used to buy to put in sandwiches. He’d sit there and gobble them up like spaghetti. I also used to feed him walnuts; I wanted all those Omega-3s to make him smarter and his coat shinier, which I think they did.
When I graduated, we moved to my parents’ house in Reedsburg, and Pancakes had many strange and new experiences. For the first time, he lived in a house that had other animals (birds and a dog) that I’m sure he could constantly hear and smell. He got ants in his house for the first (and only) time. And Pancakes also had his first taste of the outside world. I don’t think he liked it very much but the photos I was able to take of him in the grass are my favorites and will be some of my best memories of him.
Pancakes and I moved last August to an apartment of our very own which I shared with a roommate. By this time, he was sleeping more and getting up later, so he didn’t really get a chance to explore this one as much as he did the last one. We also got a kitty, Fiona, who was curious about his every move and didn’t really understand that he was too small to play. She’d occasionally bat his ball and every time the wheel squeaked or the cage opened, she was right there. Fiona couldn’t reach the hamster cage but she certainly spent a lot of her time staring at it.
Pancakes passed away in May of 2008, but I still think of him often. Although he only lived for a short while, he will have a place in my heart forever. The pictures I took of him the summer before he passed away were the first time I ever really photographed a pet or animal in an artistic way, and looking back now, that experience was a real game changer for me - the idea that I could capture moments and maybe be good at it too.
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