Bye Bye Taro...

Life is incredibly short. Especially when you're a six-inch mammal.

Taro was special. when i bought him, he kungfued his way off my grasp all the time. he didn't like other hamsters, and at that time he didn't like people. He was the first hamster who I heard with a voice. The only time he had made a sound was just after we had bought him-my mom thought he was dead in his box and she kicked it to get him to move. Taro, rudely awakened, screamed like it was the end of the world for about two minutes. She felt real guilty afterwards. He ate anything and everything we gave him and kept good stocks for if when he got hungry. He learned to tidy up on his own, messing up just one tiny corner of his box. he made it a point to look up at us in greeting from inside the box, he did this with two feet. He was the hamster who walked on two feet. He exercised by attempting to escape, jumping near the corner repetitively. On those nights that he got out, 3 to be exact, he would crawl on my mom's leg while she's sleeping . He knew where she was every time, and crawled up to say hi. Whenever he got a wafer, he would prance around with it in his mouth like a huge cigar. Whenever he does something wrong and my mom nags him, he platys dead, with legs up in the air in a very unfashionable manner. He drove out another hamster from his box, feeling territorial of it. He enjoyed quiet time with me on my palm. He even survived a 'bath' from my mom, something most hamsters die of. then today at around 10am his health failed. we do not know if it was 'wet tail' as he had sat on wet sawdust, having turned over his water can. He was all wet. We don't know if he got some sort of pulmonary attack due to the wet floor, as he always overturned his water cans to try and make steps to get out of his box. When I got home, he was refusing food and could not drink. Having left from work, I heard from my mom that taro 'spoke' for a short time, not having done so in a while. I remember the only time he did this was out of 'fear'. 2pm, he left our home. I hadn't held Taro in my palm for days and my mom, while constantly talking to him, never directly touched him. She also hadn't 'spoken' to him all day yesterday. Both of us feel that we may have taken him for granted. It's a lesson to learn, as I was 'thinking about' spending time with him yesterday, but I just didn't.
Taro was my only pet. Don't anyone dare belittle his meaning to me. He will always be remembered.