Hamster Across America

Some new digs

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:15:00 +0000

After starting to spend a lot more time at my boyfriend's place, I felt really bad leaving the hammy behind to fend for herself. But after some shopping (and negotiating with the bf), BEHOLD: Victoria's new weekend getaway! It's about 4 times bigger than her other cage, so we've taken to calling it the Summer Palace. We have a sensor up on the new wheel that's been recording her running, but it isn't uploading data yet to the website. But the hammy has been having the time of her life running through the tubes, and that's what's most important. :)

A New State

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Tommy was totally awesome and fixed the server. It looks like while we were moving some things around with her setup we made a very silly wiring mistake. Oops. Ah well, it's all fixed now and Victoria's hard work is finally being recorded and uploaded again. And guess what! She's made it all the way to the Texas border now! Hopefully she won't run into too many native Texan hamsters packing heat like this one:

"git offa mai beddin!"

Data

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:54:00 +0000

Uh oh! Looks like the website hasn't been updating again with Victoria's running activities! And sooooo incredibly close to getting to a new state! Maybe this is Vic's way of saying she doesn't want to go to Texas (I kid, I kid)? I assure you though that she is still alive and well and we'll try to get things working again as soon as possible.

P.S. Potty training is complete! I know it may sound a little weird, but it's super cute the way she sticks her head out the top of her litter box, hahahahaha.

Victoria's Potty Training (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:02:00 +0000

With all the new modifications and additions, Victoria's cage is getting increasingly difficult to clean. One evening she even decided to turn her observatory into a lavatory and I woke up to find 4 evenly-spaced puddles of hamster pee in each of the nodules. Eew. Ok, that was it. It was time to get Victoria potty trained again. Her previous owner claimed that she had potty-trained her as a wee baby ham, but hadn't provided me with any litter or a box.

Hamsters already have a tendency to pee in only one spot, so litter-box training them is supposedly very easy. So last week I went to PetSmart and bought her a hamster toilet and some litter, cleaned out her cage, put in some soiled bedding in the toilet, placed the toilet in her former potty corner and waited to see what happened. Unfortunately, the toilet doesn't quite cover the whole corner because it's rounded, so she kept peeing in the corner and ignored the toilet. In fact, she started kicking the litter out of the toilet into the corner to cover it up. Tricksie. Very Tricksie. Once I even saw her go into the toilet and carefully position herself so her butt was sticking out so she could pee straight into the corner. Hmmm. I will need to come up with a better solution. Will keep you guys posted on her progress!

Cage additions

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:57:00 +0000

For Valentine's day, my boyfriend gave me/Victoria a new den for her to play in. I designed her new roof to be able to take add-ons and I'd been eying some of the cool-looking Habitrail mazes as a good alternative to her current "observatory." As soon as I hooked it up and let her in, she immediately started to utterly butcher the cardboard insert, which is fantastic because I've been trying to find new chew toys she likes better than on the corners of her hutch. Yay for Valentine's Day! Thanks sweetie :)

"I don't care if these berries aren't real. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM...."

Wheel modifications

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:33:00 +0000

After many a night of waking up to the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) noise of "squeeeeeeek" from the wheel in Victoria's cage, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Vic uses the same type of wheel as Lizzie did (the Wodent Wheel, which is supposed to be one of the more quiet wheels out there and super safe for little hammy feet), but she runs faster for longer periods of time and I guess the cheap bearings on the wheel just couldn't take it. Temporary relief could be had by liberally applying vegetable oil to the axle, but that would often only last a few days at best. So finally, after a couple weeks of seeking relief at my boyfriend's place (much to the detriment of the hammy, who as a result wasn't let out as much to play), it was time to make some fixes.

The main causes for the squeaking were probably the following: 1) metal rubbing on metal and 2) loose tolerances in overall wheel design. So what is a MechE to do? I decided to replace the crappy bronze bearings with new PTFE (better known by its brand name, Teflon) ones. I figured going with a plastic would help reduce the squeaking and PTFE is super low in friction, which should hopefully reduce the amount of oil I'll need to put on and compensate for the increase surface contact with the shaft. These were flanged to replace the old plastic washers and much longer in length to get better coverage on the wheel shaft to compensate for the bad tolerancing. A hand drill, a hammer and a screwdriver later and it was good to go! Victoria seems to like her modified wheel and has been running happily at night.

1000 miles!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:05:00 +0000

Victoria has passed the 1000 mile mark! Although Lizzie did most of the work getting there, it's still a great achievement for our project and certainly says something about the endurance and dedication of hamsters. Congrats!

Snowy days in the Santa Fe National Forest

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Hamster) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:29:00 +0000

My travels through New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest are pretty cold. I'm glad I'm here in the winter though, because the summer heat can be intense! The pinon pine trees still have some pine nuts not raided by the local red squirrels. Fortunately the squirrels are hibernating so I am not pestered with offers to stay for tea every mile! I am making really good time. I found some native pottery to sleep in at a museum one night!

Posted via email from Victoria - Hamster Across America

Lizzie's Life (In Summary)

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:18:00 +0000

Tommy crunched together all the data we recorded over Lizzie's lifetime and came up with some interesting conclusions about her running activities. For example, here's a graph he made of her running schedule over the course of the day:

You can see from the graph why I spent so much time and energy trying out multiple types of wheels, lubricant and padding to find the perfect combination to muffle her wheel, because her favorite running hour was 2:00 in the morning!

He has a bunch more data and graphs on Lizzie's behavior up on his personal blog if you want to see more.

Victoria has picked up the baton!

noreply@blogger.com (Victoria Hamster) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:59:00 +0000

After Lizzie passed away in December 2009, an era came to an end. The courageous hamster travelled from California to New Mexico and had many exciting adventures! In January 2010, Victoria took on the mantle of HamsterAcrossAmerica and is off to a great start! Currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Victoria is battling extreme cold as she races through the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.

Posted via email from Victoria - Hamster Across America

Cage modifications

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:02:00 +0000

Victoria absolutely loves climbing through tubes, but Lizzie's old tank just wasn't equipped to add any new fancy additions, so I designed and built a custom new roof and shelf to attach tube to, including a new door, penthouse lodging and observatory. The roof and hutch have a ton of vents cut out of them to provide fresh air, a large door for cleaning and maintenance and a "moon roof" on the hutch for extra access. The tubes come with attachment rings so the observatory can be removed and replaced with other fun hamster gizmos to help stave off boredom. Welcome home, Victoria!

Run run run run run

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Tommy has finished putting together Victoria's new wheel and the data is streaming in! She'll be picking up where Lizzie left off in New Mexico and with her new super smooth wheel she should be zooming along the desert at quite a clip. Onwards! :)

Say hello to Victoria!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:29:00 +0000

After spending some time searching, we've adopted a new hamster named Victoria. Like Lizzie, she's a female Syrian hamster and loves to run, so she'll be picking up where Lizzie left off on her trip across America. Tommy is working on setting up a new wheel for her so we can start recording her data, so hopefully we'll have the site up and working up again soon!

Farewell (for now)

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:28:00 +0000

I'm sorry to announce that Lizzie has passed away. She had never really recovered from her illness but lived a comfortable life full of love and treats until the end. Her final journey total since we started recording her was 968.87 miles, which put her in the middle of Carson National Forest, just outside of Taos, New Mexico.

Thanks to everyone who has been keeping track of Lizzie over the past year and a half. She will be sorely missed. Her journey may have been cut short, but we are planning on getting another hamster in a little while to continue on her path across the United States. Stay tuned.

Recent Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Ever since her illness, Lizzie hasn't been running much in her wheel. She's still eating and drinking normally and looks healthy, but we're not sure if this is another bout of hibernation from last year or her just getting old. Probably some combination of the two. Tommy but together another graph to compare her recent running activity to the past couple years and it clearly shows she's hardly been using her wheel (other than occasionally nesting in it).

More Data

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Lizzie is feeling much better and is back to her old self, but her running has declined by far. We're definitely glad she's back on her feet and healthy again! In our worry when she first fell ill, we crunched some numbers to see if it would help pinpoint when things began to turn for the worse.

As you can see in the graph, her average speed is quite telling of how serious her condition was. Even though her average distance per night has been steadily decreasing over her life, her speed stayed relatively constant throughout her life, dropping only a little over the winter. Only until she fell gravely ill a couple weeks ago did her speed drop dramatically. Hopefully now that she's better we'll be able to document her recovery!

Current status

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:39:00 +0000

After going through a full round of drugs and antibiotics, Lizzie seems to be breathing much easier. She still is a little too lethargic to be running in her wheel, but at least her appetite is back and she seems to be in stable condition.

Lizzie's Illness

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:02:00 +0000

For the past few days, Lizzie has been very sick and hasn't been able to run much. On Wednesday she was panting very heavily and would sit in very unusual positions squinting her eyes, so I took her to the vet Friday morning. Apparently there is something pushing on her lung and trachea making it very hard for her to breathe. They took a couple xrays but were not sure what was causing the problems. They sent me home with some drugs to help her breathe easier, which has made her noticeably calmer and she's started to eat and drink again, but alas, we still don't know what's wrong with our poor Lizzie! If anyone has seen their hamsters experience similar symptoms and have suggestions on how to improve her condition we'd most appreciate it! Below are her xrays.

Updated Distance per Day

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:11:00 +0000

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I've posted so I'd thought I'd put up a new graph on her daily progress. Recently she's been snoozing a lot and hasn't been running much, which may be because my room has been so hot in the past month. Hopefully she'll pick up again when the weather cools down a bit!

Technical Difficulties

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Hey guys! We've been having some technical difficulties on our end for the past week, so the website hadn't been updating Lizzie's progress through New Mexico. However, it's all fixed now and luckily her distance traveled during that time was still recorded, so if in case you noticed that Lizzie traveled a massive distance over the past 24 hours, it's not because Tommy and I are slave driving her with whips. ;)

A new state at last!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:50:00 +0000

Lizzie enjoyed the scenery in Arizona so much, she decided to dawdle a bit to soak it up as much as possible. But eventually, the call of duty summoned her back onto her epic trip across the US. So at last, Lizzie has crossed the border into the state of New Mexico! Not only that, but she has now officially run over 800 miles total since we launched this website. Let's just hope she doesn't get lost along the way like a certain other famous furry rodent...

Pitter Patter

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:36:00 +0000

After what sees like a brief winter slumber, it seems Lizzie has resumed her journey across the US! I had my suspicions when I started hearing the distinctive pitter patter of her wheel more, but I had Tommy check the data to double check, and sure enough, Lizzie is back to her old way running ways, though she's still not quite as active as she once was in her youth. We're not quite sure what caused the dramatic slowdown in December, but I am happy to report it's over. :)

Hamster Hike

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Woa! A fan who found our Instructable has set up their own website to track their hamster, Horatio, as he journeys across the U.K.! We're super flattered! Go check them out at Hamster Hike!

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:14:00 +0000

Fear not, my friends, Lizzie is still alive and well. Though she isn't running as far during her nightly jaunts in her middle age, Tommy has made it easier for her to get around the vast carpeted plains of my room by giving her rides on his iRobot Create. The two of them get along pretty well, though occasionally Liz will push his buttons.

"How do I launch the missiles?"

Looking Back

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Hey guys! Wow, sorry for the long delay in between posts. I'll admit up front I've been pretty delinquent about them lately. Thanks though for all your emails! We really love receiving your comments and feedback, so write away! :)

Since it's the new year, I thought it'd be fun to show Lizzie's progress over the course of 2008. Tommy put together the following graph showing Lizzie's daily running activities.

There's definitely been a decline in the average distance she runs per night as she's gotten older. We're not sure on her exact age, but she's probably somewhere around the 1.5 year mark, or about middle-age for a Syrian hamster, given her life expectancy of about 2.5 years. For some reason in the past couple months her running has shown a particularly large drop-off in her daily mileage. Tommy and I are still scratching our heads as to why.