01/11/2026
Nearly three weeks ago, we bought an adorable little hamster. We called him Gurgi, after a character in a book.
Given that hamsters are illegal in Australia, we didn’t have much experience in hamster ownership, so before we got him, we did an online training course in hamster care as a family. Unfortunately, we did not realise just how sensitive hamsters are to the cold. On Friday there was a sudden drop in temperature, as heavy rains swept through. Sometime between Friday and Saturday, he went into torpor, a state a bit like hibernation, except hamsters can’t wake up from it by themselves, and their bodies gradually shut all the way down. By the time we realised what was happening, it was too late. I tried to warm him up, but he died in my hands.
Gurgi was very small, small enough to sit in my palm, but his personality was huge. He loved being involved in things. He loved attention. If you put your hand in his cage, he would run straight over and hop onto your hand, ready to be picked up. He would hop up and down at the glass front of the cage, trying to catch our eye. Hamsters sleep a lot of the day, getting up in the late afternoon/early evening, but whenever he would wake up in the daytime to go to the bathroom, he would check just in case someone was around, before trotting back to his bed.
Gurgi, like most hamsters, had boundless energy. We ordered him a hamster wheel, which arrived a couple of days before he died. To my human brain, it didn’t seem all that interesting, running in endless circles, but to Gurgi it was wonderful. He would run and run and run.
Gurgi liked to scamper across the sofa and climb the curtains. We made him tunnels with the sofa cushions. He liked novelty – after a few times he would get bored of a place, and want something new. He loved cornflakes and sunflower seeds. His fur was impossibly soft, softer than a Jellycat bunny.
We didn’t have him for very long, but we loved him very much.
We miss him.
– Alex
