Yesterday was a tad traumatic for one of our preschool teachers, and well, for some of our students. One of our little friends kept messing with the hamster cage the day before... you see where this is leading don't you? Ruby the hamster escaped many times during my tenure at preschool. Her favorite hiding place was in the puzzles stored under the shelves on the floor a few feet away from her cage. There's a nifty hiding place in the corner that unless you get down on the ground at hamster level , you wouldn't see her. The first time she hid there it took us until lunch the next day to find her. I forget what her name was that year. Anyway, this year the class named her Ruby, and it's the name she will take with her to hamster heaven.
Poor Ruby must have gotten into something she shouldn't have. She was beyond any help when the teacher found her the next morning. When I arrived at school and saw the crowd in the office, the teacher said something really bad happened. I immediately asked, "Did the hamster die?" in that weird way I have of knowing... then I saw the cage, and thought...yep, Poor Ruby. But, no...Leigh explained not quite yet and told me what the problem was.
It was time to greet students so she left the poor dying critter in the office. I was doing a few things and I couldn't stand it - so I went to her room and told her to call the vet. We decided how much could it cost really to get poor Ruby a whiff of gas, and chances were since she was a client and we were a non-profit preschool with traumatized children (you know, the pity factor) we could get them to do it for free. The vet agreed to look at Ruby for free to see if there was anything they could do to save her and put her out of her misery if not. A parent drove Ruby to the vet, and in the end, Ruby made her last escape.
It was our valentine party day. Such a sad thing to happen. There was even a valentine for Ruby from one of the girls. However, upon hearing the news, immediately upon hearing the news, while the other children were still reeling in shock, another child chirped, "Well you still have that bird for us at your house, right?!"
6 comments:
Poor Ruby. I am gald that she was put out of her misery. So do the kids get a new pet bird :)
Oh man, that's just sad. :( T was in charge of watching a hamster over Christmas break one year...after we brought him back 3 days later he died. T was inconsolable. So sorry...
One summer Taryn took care of a hamster and we made it until about 2 weeks until school started...
There's a really funny story about the replacement hamster and Gib who was about 5 yrs old. While cleaning the cage to take the new hamster to school as fast as possible before it died, it was in that ball thingy rolling around. Gib picked it up and accidentally dropped it. The hamster got knocked out cold. When a hamster is unconscious every bone in its body is liquidified. We poured it back into the cage certain it was dead. I was soooo frustrated that another hamster was probably dead! I told Gib to say a prayer for it and he did...a couple minutes later the hamster revived! We took it to school asap!!! It was never a nice hamster after that though.
HA, Matt had a hampter once, I think he named it Mickey (little did he know that would be his WIFES NAME) anyways the Hampster bit him one time while he was holding him so after that he never took care of it again... I dont knwo what happened to him. Ruby sounded like a nice hampster, not a Mickey the biting hampster. I am thinking a bird would be way annoying if it chirps all the time, but I bet kids would like that?
And I'm just wondering what my name would be next year if I could change every year . . . I feel like Leroy for 2011.
A Bird?? I had a bird once, until ART tortured it death!
Post a Comment