Spare Yourself Some Childhood Trauma With a Virtual Hamster That Can’t Die

A long time ago, when I lived with a friend in an apartment in San Francisco, we had a hamster. It was the first time I’d ever had a furry little animal on my own. My roommate and I were smitten. We thought to ourselves, let’s give this little rodent the kind of love and freedom we would give to a cat or dog. We bought the hamster a ball enclosure so she could roam free around the apartment. We had a whole day of giggles and cuteness as the ball worked around our two-bedroom apartment. “Look at her go!” we exclaimed to one another. We felt like a happy little family. The next day, the hamster did not wake up. I’m still not sure what happened to this day. (It’s not like anyone performed an autopsy.) One theory is that the hamster was already too sick to exist when she was brought home from the pet store and that the ball run was her final ride into the dawn. The other theory is that she suffered head trauma from rolling around the apartment in that ball and running into the walls. What ... Read full article.