- Pepper is a foodie
Sam was very happy that Pepper is a foodie. Pepper is legitimately excited over any time she can eat. Even after 8 months, she still goes nuts when she smells the bag of pellet kibbles open up. She also appreciates a balanced diet of vegetables and fruit too, and as far as I can tell… she doesn’t hate any vegetable. Carrots, spinach, broccoli, kale, blueberries, raspberries, even Brussels sprouts. Sam and I can get very creative about what to feed her, and we know when she’s happy with her meal (look at how stuffed her cheeks are…)
- Pepper is an athlete
Pepper is the model child athlete. She’s self-motivated and knows how to take care of herself. She’s also a climber and lighting fast. This is especially important because she’s a foodie and eats A LOT. Yes all hamsters can run fast on a wheel, but can all hamsters run up a tube upside-down? Watch and learn.
Also, did I mention she’s lighting fast?
Some hamsters run in the ball. Pepper goes outside and pushes the ball. #usingherhead
- Pepper is an engineer
This part makes me really proud. The staple of a good engineer is identifying a problem, coming up with a solution, and implementing the solution that will help minimize future effort. Okay so first let’s identify the problem that Pepper is facing in video 1:
So what’s the problem… Pepper wants to eat food, but the food is upstairs. It takes effort and climbing to go upstairs. Pepper does not want to exert this kind of effort so she’s goes back to the methods of her ancestors and digs.
Note how by the time she’s done, there is CLEARLY a well-engineered hill going from left to right that will give her immediate access to the food platform without climbing. Solution found and properly implemented. This hamster is clever and I’m so proud of her 😉
- Pepper is teachable
Let’s talk about etiquette. Hamsters are not supposed to have much of it. They are high in survival skills but table manners are a different story. So when I taught her to take food kibbles one by one from my hands instead of stuffing her mouth all at once, again I felt like a proud dad.
She figured out something about trust. She has to trust that when she comes back the food will still be there. She also needs incentive to eat food one by one, because it’s faster for her and less walking to just take the food in one go. So figured out that when I gave her food one by one, I would replenish the supply (higher net gain for her), when she stuffed her face, I didn’t replenish the food. I haven’t been able to make her “SIT” though… one can always dream.
Also, look how proper she is when she stands on her back legs. #class
- Pepper is adorable
