A a co-worker of my dad's cat (the co worker of my dad had a cat, my cat did not have co-workers :) ) had a litter of kittens, so he brought one in to work. My dad took it home, and my parents and brother Justin, who was at the time 4, named him Ezekial, but we called him Zeke. He lived with us until November 4, 1999, when, at the age of 16 and a half, he died.
A month after Becky died, we bought two guinea pigs. Oreo, who belonged to me, was brown and white. Duke, who was yet another all black pet to suffer a male name, belonged to my brother. Duke had a small white patch on her back, breaking the trend, thought. These were probably the best small animals we had yet. They were very tame, and liked to run around on the floor in an area of the family room we had blocked off for them. The made squeaks and squeals when you entered the room, and knew my family by their foot steps. The screamed when my mother came down the stairs, because she usually had a carrot, apple, or celery leaves for them. The also squealed for my dad when he opened the bag of pretzels. You may think we were crazy to keep small animals in the same house as cats, but the cats would actually sit on the couch and watch the pigs run around, and never tried to advance on them. They were even trusted when we left the room. However, we didn't know that guinea pigs suffer a vitamin C defiency, and Duke developed scurvy, and had to be put to sleep in May of 1997, because she was having seizures. Oreo died in December of 1997 of old age.
A stray kitten was found wandering my grandparents' neighborhood. They took him in, but they didn't really want another cat, so they gave him to us. We took home the 6-month old stray, and named him Moses. (Yes, both of the cats, and a dog I never knew, Sir Winston Churchill or Winney but better known as Bone Head, were named from the Bible). Moses is now 15, and enjoys being top cat.
We had a hutch in the back yard from a rabbit my brother had before I was born, so we bought two lop-eared rabbits for my brother and I. My brother named his Buck, and I named mine Becky. All thought she had a male name, Buck was a female, as was Becky. Buck was all black, and Becky was grey. I'm not entirely sure when Buck died, but I know Becky died in January of 1993, around the age of 3 or 4, I think.
I bought a hermit crab, and about 6 months later, bought another. Dawson and Pacey lived together until Dawson died, then Pacey. They were very boring.
I'm not really sure of the date, but somewhere during the life of the rabbits we had two mice, Missy, who belonged to my brother and was yet another all-black animal, and Mary, who belonged to me and was a creamy tan color. I never really liked them, because they weren't very cute, smelled, and bit a lot. The died a little while after we had them
Quite some time had passed with out any small animals, and after a family get together introduced me to my cousin's hamster, I bought one of my own. A year old dwarf hamster named Muffy occupied many rooms in our house, from the family room in the basement, to my brother's room while he was at school during the week and the bathroom on weekends, to back down to the cellar. She lived in her cage in the cellar until March 24, 2000, when she died of old age.
A day after Muffy died, we welcomed a new pet, a month and a half old fancy hamster, who was Christened "Hunny," because she is the color of honey, with a white underside and stripe that goes around her middle. She's quite an acrobat and can go across the bars of her cage "monkey-bar" style. She also loves to chew the bars on her cage. And I'm the only one she doesn't bite. Course, that could be because I'm the only one who doesn't stick fingers in the cage.
