My friend David works at Animal Crackers, and one day he was looking for something in the back room, and opened up a drawer and saw an old one-eyed hamster staring back at him. No one in the store knew he was back there. David took him, and called him Mr. Miyagi. He put him in a small cage, and started feeding him. They couldn't put him out front because he was very decrepit looking, especially with his lack of an eye.

David told me about Mr. Miyagi, and after some convincing, and a week to think about it, Graham and I went down to get him. We weren't charged, they were just happy to see him go. He is an angora hamster, so his hair is really long, and its brown and white mostly. His hair only really grows on the side, so he has the appearance of a caterpillar, or as if he's wearing a cape. He is also the only hamster I've ever seen with naturally graying hair. Not like he was born with it, just that he's so old that it is loosing its color. His missing eye looks like it was lost in an accident, or a hamster fight.

We put him up in a small cage I used to keep mice in. He seemed happy to be out of the pet store, and he spent the first few days pretty much asleep. The cats kinda noticed him, but don't seem to motivated to murder him, so I'm not worried. Plus I'm sure he has super ninja skills. I had a ladder and wheel in his cage, but he didn't use either, and they just seemed to get in his way, so I took them out. After a few days he started moving around more. He started chewing on the top of his cage a lot, so I bought him some little chewy wood things. He hasn't touched them. I think he just likes the taste of paint. We also got him a cardboard tube and some fluff, but he's seemed pretty uninterested.

Due to his lack of cage equipment, and apparent restlessness, I also bought him a run around hamster ball. Mr. Miyagi uses it to run around and bump into walls until he falls asleep. I've been thinking about getting him a lady friend, but I don't want him to die and have to take care of another hamster. Plus I'm sure he'd eat the babies. I don't think he'll live for too long. He's probably around two and a half, and hamsters are only supposed to live to be about three. He may even be pushing that. I just want to make Mr. Miyagis last few months happy ones, and not sitting in the back of a pet store being yelled at by birds.

Here's a picture of Mr. Miyagi licking his little hamster hands.

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