Pudgey’s Kingdom Sanctuary and Rescue, Monongahela, PA (2024)

08/02/2022

I know I’m falling behind with posting and still haven’t introduced Blossom (she’s doing great). I think I’m taking a little social media break because I’m honestly overwhelmed right now.

We’re still in the process of getting our house/mortgage situation figured out. I’ve been working more hours and learning new tasks at my job, so I’m usually pretty wiped out when I come home. Our dog Bear (pictured) started to not feel good on Thursday, visited an emergency vet on Saturday, and we’ve been closely monitoring him since to make sure he’s showing good progress - that alone has been incredibly emotionally stressful for me since there was a fear it could be cancer, but that’s thankfully been ruled out. He’s only 8, I don’t even want to consider thinking of life without him yet. This week I’m also caring for 22 animals across 3 households instead of just the 14 I have. 3 dogs - 2 of which need medication, 7 cats - 1 of which doesn’t always use the litter box so I have to clean up after him, and my 12 hamsters.

Once everything is said and done, I really think I need a period to relax and feel like I can breathe again. I want to get my house in order, build back my savings, and focus on my pets in a way that’s more than just scraping by with basic care and attention.

07/28/2022

Amari got a deep clean last night and a new dangling toy for his 1st birthday too. Along with Vi and Royal, his birthday was 12 days ago and still hasn’t been properly celebrated due to how insanely busy I’ve been. We’ll get there, but I don’t think Amari is happy about waiting - look at him plotting my demise in the last photo 😂

07/28/2022

Royal got a deep clean tonight and a new dangling toy for his 1st birthday. His birthday was 11 days ago and still hasn’t been properly celebrated due to how insanely busy I’ve been, same with his siblings Vi and Amari, but we’ll get there! Peep him eating some of the seeds I scattered for him.

07/27/2022

Enjoy Ordos as a chonky blob. Yes, I know I haven’t introduced Blossom yet… we’ll get there lol. Luckily she’s doing really well. The past few weeks have just been a blur for me. I’ve been barely functioning beyond a basic level and posting has not been a priority.

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Could just be my current sky high anxiety and overloaded schedule talking but I think I’m going to downsize my number of hamsters as they pass after all. With work becoming more demanding and if my boyfriend and I decide to have kids in the next few years, I’m coming to the conclusion I’m not going to have the time for it all. Maybe once any kids we might have are a little older… Until then, I’m going to focus on the worst cases - medical, behavior, old age, emergencies, etc. - like I mostly have been, but smaller scale. I’m thinking of limiting myself to half the number of hamsters I currently have.

07/14/2022

Vi is literally so model worthy 🥰

When I want cute and aesthetically pleasing photos, all I have to do is wait for her to wake up and she delivers… every time.

07/10/2022

Low quality photo, high quality hamster. I feel like this is meme worthy.

I love little Winona so much. She’s so friendly and she’s such a little character. Like in this video still, you can see she’s just ready to jump and trusting that I’ll have my other hand there for her to land on 😅 She can be a bit bitey, but I don’t think it’s meant to be mean. It’s like what Grogu and Iroh do when they’re greeting me but a little harder, so it makes me wonder if she had any siblings to learn bite inhibition from.

Anyhow, her nails need cut. My usual methods for wearing nails down aren’t working for her, probably because she gets around a little differently than my other robo’s due to the issue with her back foot. I’m going to be ordering baby nail clippers but this whole experience is going to be interesting. Luckily she is so easy to handle, so it shouldn’t be too difficult in theory. Hopefully she doesn’t hate me after though and hopefully this is a one time thing 🙏🏻

07/08/2022

Old man Gobi is still hanging in there 💕 I know there has been a fair amount of times this year when I was questioning how much longer I would have with him, but I’m starting to joke that he’s going to outlive all of my other hamsters out of spite and he’ll make sure he gives me like 5 more panic attacks before he passes away.

I’m honestly just happy that he’s maintaining his weight relatively well, still fairly active, eating okay, etc. Every now and then he can seem a bit worse for wear and gets a bit off balance, but he doesn’t stay that way for long. Almost 3 never looked so good 😎

07/08/2022

Blurry photo of Vi, who loves her walnuts more than probably anything else. So glad I decided to bite the bullet and bought a huge bag of them for everyone (but mostly for her 😆).

07/08/2022

Sometimes I wonder if Iroh’s name still fits him and then he does something like this as if he’s asking where his jasmine tea is.

07/08/2022

Sweet Royal 💕

Currently trying to juggle creating infographics for my roborovski group on Facebook, getting some final supplies for remodeling our upstairs bathroom, working extra hours and weekends, etc. It’s honestly a bit of a nightmare. Kudos to everyone who can pop out infographics like it’s nothing… please tell me your secrets 🥲

07/08/2022

A video from a little while ago of Royal eating a black sorghum spray from .

He seems more confident in the Prevue. He was usually very jumpy in the bin and super reactive if anything so much as moved, to the point there was a 50/50 chance he would freak out if I even refilled his food dish. The difference is night and day and I am so so happy about it.

07/08/2022

Grandma Ordos was exploring and checking me out at the same time. She’s probably my most active hamster. I see her at night before everyone else, and she’s usually the only one still up in the mornings when I go to turn their lights on. It’s nice having a consistently there, smol friend.

I’m not sure if this is a common feeling, but something that has crippled me in the past and that I’m still fighting through is feeling like I can’t post pictures if not everything in the pictures is perfect. Like this is an absolutely adorable photo of Ordos in her little cottage grandma theme, but I hate that there’s chewed cork, spilled lab blocks, and slightly dirty sand in this.

07/08/2022

You know how some days there’s nothing better to help your mood than hammy cuddles? Yeah… Po unfortunately won’t help me with that 😭 but he’s still a cute little patoot deserving of love, albeit from a distance.

That’s why I have hamsters like Natsu and Chai who are so fluffy I could die. Just gotta stick my face in their floof and suddenly my problems don’t seem so bad anymore. Floof = magic mood healing powers.

07/04/2022

“No thoughts, just floof” Amari is quickly turning into the biggest sweetheart and I am so glad I took the plunge to bring him home. I do regret not being able to bring him home sooner, but it is what it is. I’ll make it up to him going forward by giving him all the lovins.

06/27/2022

Unfortunately we are at capacity and still receiving surrender requests.

I can’t stress enough the importance of not taking on a pet you do not intend to keep. Do your research before getting a pet, weigh the pros and cons, consider if you’ll be willing to stay loyal to your pet through any life changes, etc.

We would like to help other hamsters who need homes but cannot do so at this time. We don’t have any extra supplies including cages, wheels, water bottles, and hides. Although we’re set up to handle 11 hamsters, our supplies for them were accumulated over time. There are currently over 3 hamsters we’ve turned away just in the past week. We can’t buy that many supplies at once without seriously impacting funds for other purposes, including possible vet bills. If we are to help any new intakes, we unfortunately will need donations.

If anyone has a shelving rack they no longer need, please let us know. We’re limited on vertical space and adding 2 shelving racks would allow us to fit at least 2 more cages into our designated hamster room. We also have a Linktree with a link to our Amazon wishlist - https://linktr.ee/pudgey.the.ham

06/23/2022

Welcome to part eleven of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Winona, sometimes shortened to Nona, has only been with me a few days. I hadn’t necessarily been looking to add another robo, but like I’ve said before, I’ve found it’s quite hard for me to say no to them if I have the space and supplies already on hand. I had actually been prepared in this instance to adopt Vi, Amari, and Royal’s remaining sibling but she was finally adopted into another pet home!

I wasn’t given much background information on Winona other than she is about a year and a half old, super friendly, and there’s something wrong with one of her feet that was deemed to be a birth defect or old injury by a vet and isn’t harmful to her. From observing her and handling her, it’s actually really hard to tell that anything is wrong at all but her back right foot does seem to be “just there” sometimes.

Since it’s only been a few days, all I can really say is that Winona is definitely friendly! The first day as I was unloading her out of the travel carrier, she willing walked onto my hand and has done so several times since then too. She is very active so she only likes being held for a little, then goes and explores or hops on her wheel. I absolutely adore her already.

06/17/2022

Welcome to part ten of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Royal is from an accidental litter of 8. His story is one of the worst I’ve ever heard of. Even months later, it makes me so upset because I don’t understand how someone could let it happen. I’m not going to write everything out again though - if you’d like to see the full backstory, check out Vi’s post. Royal is one of her brothers, along with Amari.

After I took them to a rescue, I kept tabs on them and helped out as much as I could with donations towards their care. I continuously wanted to go back and get the remaining pups but I just didn’t have the room. That changed after Pudgey died though - I let go of his cage after his passing which freed up a lot of room for others. I reached out to the rescue to see which pups were left and Royal was one of three. There was a mix up though - I thought Royal was another brother, one I’ve wanted since the day I picked all of them up, so I was a little surprised when I was presented with a completely different hamster! No worries here though, they all deserve homes and I’m not that picky.

Royal was having trouble being adopted because he was a bit bitey. I haven’t experienced this, but he is easily startled so I have to be extra cautious when I’m doing anything around him and sometimes that still doesn’t work. I think he’s going to end up being a lot like Vi, where it’s going to take a lot of time and care to overcome his story. But like I was with her, I’m prepared to work to make it happen and take it at his pace.

06/16/2022

Welcome to part nine of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Amari is from an accidental litter of 8. His story is one of the worst I’ve ever heard of. Even months later, it makes me so upset because I don’t understand how someone could let it happen. I’m not going to write everything out again though - if you’d like to see the full backstory, check out Vi’s post. Amari is one of her brothers.

After I took them to a rescue, I kept tabs on them and helped out as much as I could with donations towards their care. I continuously wanted to go back and get the remaining pups but I just didn’t have the room. That changed after Pudgey died though - I let go of his cage after his passing which freed up a lot of room for others. I reached out to the rescue to see which pups were left and Amari was one of three. I’ve known pretty much from the moment I took them there that he was going to have a hard time finding a home because of his eyes.

Unfortunately people are still prejudiced against animals with red eyes. To many, they’re considered gross, demonic, belong in a lab, freak people out, etc. and it’s a shame. Amari is already one of my friendliest hamsters despite being with me for less than two weeks. He comes up to the bars for snacks, is one of the first to wake up, has let me hold him and pet him, and he’s just a little gentleham. I’m very happy I had the opportunity to bring him home once and for all.

06/04/2022

Welcome to part eight of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Ordos, more commonly called Grandma, has only been with me a few weeks. I hadn’t necessarily been looking to add another robo, but I’ve found it’s quite hard for me to say no to them. Unlike Syrians, who can sometimes be demanding space and time wise, my robo’s are all very content with their enclosures and don’t behave negatively if I don’t spend much time interacting with them. I find it very easy to welcome robo’s into my home without much thought as long as I have the extra supplies on hand already.

Ordos was originally adopted from a pet store in January 2021 with two other robo’s and they were kept together in a tiny cage with no wheel, hardly any bedding, and no enrichment. When someone who knew this person saw them, she took them and quickly got them sorted into a larger, suitable enclosure. Unfortunately with the sudden upgrades, the trio fell out and the person couldn’t keep all of them. I commented on their rehoming post offhandedly - since the person was hours away and my car is currently giving me problems, I didn’t think much of it. But they were willing to meet me closer to where I live and I’m so happy they did!

Ordos is such a quirky little lady. I find she reminds me of Piper in many ways. Her love for sand is almost unmatched, and she frequently rearranges her enclosure to how she wants it. It’s bittersweet because she’s close to the age Piper would have been too, but it helps soothe my heart at the same time. Also like Piper, Ordos is already moderately okay with handling so I’m very excited to see what we can accomplish with more time!

06/04/2022

Welcome to part seven of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Chai is not a rescue, but I decided to include him in this series since he lives here. He was born to Juliette and Sir Gregory as part of the Glam Rock Litter from . I had been on the waitlist for a while and was planning on waiting a few more months, but then Poppy Bee contacted me in February about a hamster that looked somewhat like Pudgey and I was in.

Chai was held back for breeding but ultimately was not used in the program. He is a bit skittish by breeder standards so his temperament wasn’t the best even if he is very pretty. He’s also a bit on the smaller side by breeder standards too but that’s okay! He’s actually the biggest hamster I have right now after Pudgey’s passing, although Natsu’s not too far behind him.

Although he’s skittish by breeder standards, I’ve been quite surprised by how outgoing he can be at times. I’ve been able to pet him and hold him, he takes treats out of my hand, he comes up to the glass, etc. and all of this still happens even though I barely see him enough to interact. He likes to wake up later than I can usually stay awake.

Overall, I’m very happy with the decision to adopt my little mohawk punk, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.

06/02/2022

Welcome to part six of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Po has not been with me very long, only since about February. Gobi has had some scares this year and due to his age, I know it’s only a matter of time before he unfortunately leaves me. Because of this, I search specifically for robo’s every now and then in case the worst happens. The thing about me is that while another animal will never replace the one lost, another animal helps keep me focused and eases the heartache that comes with loss. That said, I found Po on Craigslist but didn’t end up pursuing him because he was too far away.

Fast forward to a little while later, I had taken to searching rehoming groups on Facebook when I came across a rescue in Ohio who said they had a robo. Come to find out, the robo in question was none other than the one I had seen on Craigslist and we made plans to meet.

I came to discover Po’s story was a bit similar to Gobi’s so overall I felt like it was meant to be. Not only did I travel a bit to get him, but he was originally a couples’ pet and was left with the boyfriend when they split. He too was cared for, even if the care was outdated or misinformed.

I think my favorite thing about him so far is how vocal he is even with how tiny he is. I wasn’t sure if he was a male or female when I brought him home and he was yelling at me while I was trying to s*x him. His latest thing has been to sit in his sand and yell at me when I sift it - I think he gets mad that I’m stealing his p**p! He is such a cute little potatoot though, and he’s very sweet when I handle him even if he has mixed feelings about it sometimes. We’re still working on building our bond.

05/31/2022

Welcome to part five of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Void, more commonly known as Vi, is from an accidental litter of 8. Her story is one of the worst I’ve ever heard of. Even months later, it makes me so upset because I don’t understand how someone could let it happen. So hang on, this is going to be a long one.

The person who brought Vi’s mother home didn’t realize that she was pregnant until she had the babies. That part is understandable. What I don’t understand is why this woman waited 12 weeks - 3 whole months - before she even attempted to find homes for any of them and why it was suddenly everyone else’s problem to jump to get them or else she was going to feed them to snakes, let them outside, etc.

For anyone that doesn’t know, I help moderate several larger Facebook care groups and directed this woman to several rescues a bit prior to her absolutely blowing up in another group about these hamsters. I came to find out she didn’t even reach out to any of them - when she blew up in the other group and started making these threats, I reached out to the rescues myself and they all told me flat out they hadn’t heard from her. Only after I told her I found two rescues who could take them if I could get them and transport did she attempt to contact them, which just made it more complicated. I had everything sorted out for her in 30 minutes, I just needed her to give me the okay and I would have been out that weekend to get them. You know what happened instead?

When the unethical breeder who was going to get them on their transport route ghosted her a week later, only then did this woman feel the need to update me. Come to find out, the breeder ghosted her because the woman stated she was in one location but was actually 30-45 minutes further out. I asked the woman if I could get them Saturday because she was 3 hours away from me and I work full time. She told me no because they didn’t have anymore food. So off I went on Thursday after work to get 9 hamsters with no guarantee of what I would be getting myself into.

There were 6 male pups in a 105 qt bin if I remember the size correctly. One wheel, two tiny hides, one water bottle that was barely hanging and another that had already fallen off, filthy bedding, you name it. Then there was the mother and the two female pups in a 20 gallon long. One water bottle, one too small wheel, filthy bedding, moldy closed bottomed hide. The pups were 13 weeks old at that point but they were so skinny you could see their hips and spines and their growth was so stunted they looked like they were only a month old. All of them had battle scars. The males especially were very reactive to the slightest movement and would begin attacking each other. Luckily the females were a little better, but they still had their moments.

When I got them home, I decided to clean their cages. I got to see their individual personalities a little bit more when they were in the playpen. Vi was very timid and submissive to her mother and sister, but she also loved exploring the different enrichment items I added for them. If I could have kept any of them, it for sure would have been Vi or one of her brothers but I didn’t have the room at that time. The next day I took them all to the rescue, where they were separated into separate enclosures and got to start their journey of recovery.

I kept tabs on them and helped out as much as I could with donations towards their care. I really wanted to go back and get Vi and her brother, but I had a fair number of hamsters at that point and it didn’t seem possible. Roll around to losing Piper, I knew I needed to fill the void in my heart somehow and it was right around then that the rescue posted about Vi still being available for adoption. She was stressed and got upset when people tried to handle her - she had lost fur on her nose from bar biting and chittered any time she was bothered. But I was up for the challenge.

Now she is a total sweetheart and a goofball, and I’m so happy I took on the whole undertaking from start to finish if only it means she gets to live the life she deserves. It’s taken months to get her to this point, but the cage upgrades and all of the enrichment she has definitely helped a lot. She comes out almost every night to see me, lets me pet her, puts her paws on me all the time, accepts treats very nicely, is very curious about me, etc. Unfortunately I still haven’t held her yet but she is so so close to that point. I really want her to be the first one to take that step since all of the progress so far has been relatively on her terms.

05/30/2022

Welcome to part four of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Grogu is from an accidental litter of 7. One of his parents wasn’t s*xed correctly in the store and the store recommended they go as a pair, so the obvious happened and the owner needed to rehome the pups. I had seen the Craigslist ad and watched it for a while, but I wasn’t particularly looking to bring another hamster home at the time. However when the listing changed to say any remaining pups would be taken to Petco, I felt the need to step in.

I hadn’t planned on bringing two hamsters home, but the person who was supposed to get Grogu bailed and I couldn’t just leave him there to be taken to Petco. Because they were 5 weeks old (technically old enough to be able to breed) and I wanted to see if I could keep them together until 8 weeks old for social development, I had to handle them that first day to confirm their s*x. Grogu was a bit feisty and I actually had to take a picture of him when he was upside down (his fault, not mine) so I could confirm his s*x later.

Now things are vastly different. Grogu is my tamest robo hamster hands down. I tend to see him more often than almost any of my other hamsters, and he checks my hand out almost every time I place it in his cage. Even when I choose not to hold him or interact with him much, 9/10 times he’ll give me a gentle nibble in greeting. He allows me to pet him, kiss him, boop his tiny nose, grooms himself in my hands, and even pancakes in my hands and around me.

05/29/2022

Welcome to part three of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Iroh is from an accidental litter of 7. One of his parents wasn’t s*xed correctly in the store and the store recommended they go as a pair, so the obvious happened and the owner needed to rehome the pups. I had seen the Craigslist ad and watched it for a while, but I wasn’t particularly looking to bring another hamster home at the time. However when the listing changed to say any remaining pups would be taken to Petco, I felt the need to step in.

He was supposed to be the only remaining pup but the person who was supposed to get his brother bailed, so I ended up with both of them. Because they were 5 weeks old (technically old enough to be able to breed) and I wanted to see if I could keep them together until 8 weeks old for social development, I had to handle them that first day to confirm their s*x. Iroh was such a sweetheart about it and didn’t even fight me.

Now things are different, although only slightly. Iroh is still my second tamest robo hamster, but he is definitely a bit on the timid side now that he’s by himself. He does however enjoy being held when I see him - he allows me to pet him, kiss him, boop his tiny nose, grooms himself, and even pancakes in my hand on occasion. More rarely he will give me gentle nibbles in greeting, but he saves them for when he’s feeling especially friendly.

05/29/2022

Welcome to part two of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Natsu has been with me for a while and just recently celebrated his first birthday with me. It’s been a little bit of a wild year for him. His upbringing wasn’t the greatest - he was separated from mom and siblings at 2 or 3 weeks old and then kept in a 48 qt bin with only an inch of bedding so filthy it attracted flies, a few holes in the top for ventilation, no wheel, crappy food, and a water bottle he would have been lucky if he could even drink out of it.

He’s spent the last year or so learning how to actually be a hamster but you can tell he’s still a little timid and confused. For example, he doesn’t make any sound ever or react to anything. I thought he had mites in October so he started getting ivermectin injections at the vet, but he wasn’t remotely phased by it - his lack of a reaction even stunned his vet. He’s so sweet and tolerant of literally anything that’s done to him.

He is one hamster that does well with less space and the same set up. It helps him be more confident and it also makes it easier for me to find his soiled bedding. Unfortunately he needs frequent spot cleaning or he’s prone to urine scalding and hair loss on the back of his neck.

05/28/2022

Welcome to part one of the long awaited introduction (or maybe re-introduction) series. In this series I will be covering each of my current hamsters one at a time.

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Gobi has been with me the longest at this point. He is my first confirmed rescue (I have long time suspicions that Pudgey should have been part of Petco’s adoption program but I can’t confirm that), and he’s my first roborovski hamster.

In March of 2021, I rallied my boyfriend into driving 2 hours north with me to get him. He was listed for free and I was terrified of him falling into the wrong hands. Luckily I came to find out that while his care was outdated, he was cared for. But it was still for the best, since he gets to live a life of luxury now and experiences proper care.

Gobi is probably my most well known hamster now, especially after being featured several times by in some of their informational series. He is my Old Man Gobi, Go Bean, Gobers, Gobi Wan Kenobi, and many other nicknames I’ve given him.

05/26/2022

I’ll be working on getting this page updated with introductions for everyone currently in my care.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to promote the adoption/rehoming/transport group I created - Hamster Adoption/Rehoming/Transport. Only rescues following ethical standards of care and ethical breeders are permitted to be promoted and the admin team is very dedicated to maintaining a high quality environment.