Meldrick (12,000
- 12,002 H.E.)
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Meldrick, named after Detective Meldrick Lewis on Homicide, was a grey long-furred hamster. Meldrick came to live with us on October 25, 12,000 H.E. He was the first long-furred hamster we owned, and he had a rather unique beauty. We tried something a little different with Meldrick, having learned from previous escapes. We added a floor-level module in the Lounge, and whenever we took Meldrick out of the Castle, he re-entered through that module. We trained him that this is the way back into his Castle. Then, when he escaped (as hamsters always do, sooner or later), we left the floor-level module open. Meldrick headed back to familiar spaces on his own, so that his uncles didn't have to worry so much. Like his cousin Twiglet II, Meldrick set up several nesting areas. In the first few months we had him, he already had four different places to live in the Castle. When the cold weather came, he retreated to the floor-level house and made a nest there. We believe that his hamster instincts told him to burrow as deeply as possible when it's cold. (The vertical distance from the topmost module in the upstairs hall to the house on the floor in the lounge is in excess of twelve feet, a respectable burrow for any hamster.) Meldrick thrived both in and out of the Castle, as these pictures show. Still, as he aged he began to slow down. When one of his tubes became detached, we believe he had a bad fall. Shortly afterwards, a door was left open and he had another tumble. Although he seemed to be in no pain and suffered no injuries we could discern (other than a chipped tooth), he went into something of a decline and on September 21, 12,002 H.E. Meldrick peacefully passed on. He was buried beside his cousins in the Hamster Graveyard. |
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Meldrick was succeeded by Mithrandir.