Isn't she sweeeeet? No, you haven't stumbled onto Cute Overload by mistake. This is our newest family acquisition, a wee little dwarf hamster, as yet unnamed. Just the sweetest little puff of fluff, about the size of a walnut, is she.

What's that you ask? Why are my daughter's hands green? Well, those would be the rubber gloves. Not because she's allergic, no, no. No allergies in this family apart from a bit of hay fever. Nope. The reason she has gloves on is because this sweet little walnut-size puff of fluff is a VICIOUS little horror.

She bites. She draws blood!! If she can't get at you to bite, she does this weird boxing thing, where she stands up on her hind legs, makes a teeny little "ch!" noise and pokes her front paws at you. "Come over her, and I'll rip your face off," she dares, unaware or uncaring that we could squash her with the side of a well-placed fist. Not that we would. Eeew.

After much diligent effort, my husband, hamster-tamer extraordinaire, has managed to teach her to take a sunflower seed from his hand without trying to bite him first!!! Yes, after two weeks of daily practice sessions, the hamster has learned not to bite the hand that feeds it! Woo-hoo! We're on our way.

Well, she's learned not to bite it when there's a sunflower seed in it. Otherwise, all bets are off. Approach with Extreme Caution.

The irony here is that we bought the hamster as compensation for the budgie, who was supposed to be the girl's pet. Contrary to her hopes, though, he does not coo and hop onto her finger, but cowers in terror whenever her hand enters the cage. I love the budgie: he's pretty and his warblings delightful, which is enough to keep me happy (taking deep satisfaction in small things is a good trait in a mother!) but for Becca, he's a big disappointment.

Let me state here that we are Pet People. At the moment, we have a budgie, a cat, and a guinea pig. We have had in the past, other guinea pigs, a rabbit, gerbils, a dog, other cats, rats, and hamsters. Probably some turtles and snakes in there, too, I forget. We know pets. We know they often need time to settle in, that when frightened and disoriented in a new environment they can lash out.

But this little bitch? We're not sure whether to name her, because it's looking increasingly likely we'll be taking her back to the pet store. If they won't take her, maybe she'd like to get out of the cage so she can visit with the cat!!

So far, the suggestions for names are The Bitch (husband), Little Nipper (my daughter), and MegaDeath (son, 17).

I lean to MegaDeath, myself. Her days are numbered.