https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/04/13/furry-friday-ivan-the-terrible-packs-peanuts/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 01:41:10 -0400<![CDATA[I never had a hamster until I was an adult and realized that the little nocturnal furballs were the perfect companion for a journalist who worked a night news desk, would come home around midnight and crash by 4 or 5 a.m. My first two hamster experiences weren&#8217;t that successful because, well, I wasn&#8217;t experienced in hamster ownership and didn&#8217;t know the cues of how to spot and select a healthy hamster. My first, Hugo, turned out to be sickly and died in his cage after a few weeks. With my second, Moammar, I was told by the Petco staffer that he was four months old; when he suffered a stroke a month later the vet told me that he was an elderly hamster. The lifespan of a Syrian hamster is generally 1.5-3 years, and my third hamster hit that upper number: Boris, a fluffy white guy who loved puffed rice and would feed shredded kleenex into his cheeks like spaghetti. Another long-haired hamster like the two before, I would comb out his tangles with a soft toothbrush (they can&#8217;t exactly get rid of ingested hair like a cat does).]]>Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:03:27 -0400<![CDATA[Bridget Johnson]]>https://pjmedia.com/bridget-johnson/2012/04/13/furry-friday-ivan-the-terrible-packs-peanuts-n139506