Hamster Hike

He’s Going Nuts!

Matt — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:28:15 +0000

We noticed a monkey nut the other day in horatio’s normal feed and he literally went crazy for it, trying to get it out of it’s shell. So we decided to buy a bag to keep him entertained and his teeth under control. Once he’s got his nut, there’s no getting it back… he gets VERY protective over them!

He’s slowed down over the last few days, but I’m still hopeful for a Christmas finish!

He’s Running, But Not in His Wheel!

Matt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:03:18 +0000

Last night we discovered some less than solid poo in Horatio’s cage and his bum was a bit messy, we cleaned him up and this morning took him to the vets. He’s fine today and his bum is as clean as a whistle, so it could have just been a random runny bum (we were scared it was wet tail - very serious for hamsters!). He’s fine now and making a mess of his cage and the surrounding area by moving all his sawdust in some crazy nesting procedure!

700 Miles

Matt — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:15:00 +0000

Horatio has reached an incredible 700 miles in 239 days which is an average of 2.92 miles a day. It’s a lot less than the estimated 4 or so that we thought he would do, old age is slowing him down. He’s not been a fan of the few heat-waves we’ve had in London this summer either.

He long ago reached Scotland, the 2nd of the 2 countries he will visit on his long journey to John O’Groats (unfortunately the map of his route isn’t working, and I don’t know how to fix it! DOH!). Along the way Horatio has been enjoying his fair share of whiskey, haggis, neeps and tatties. Even with all his running those deep fried Mars Bars are really starting to show and if we’re honest he’s becoming a bit of a big lad!

Only 157 miles to go until he reaches his goal now (I reckon 50-60 days now) - watch this space!

Horatio the slow hamster

Matt — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:01:07 +0000

Horatio has slowed right down over the last few months, the weather is just too hot and sticky for him to do much running, we passed the predicted end date of his hike last month so sorry to all those people who had guessed he would finnish in june/july/august as he has about another 200 miles to go!
It’s so hot he’s taken to sleeping downstairs! Here he is looking sleepy in his al fresco bed!

500+ Miles

Matt — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:14:29 +0000

Oh yeah - our furry little friend has hit (and passed) the 500 mile mark!! *round of applause*

Never seen before - here’s Horatio sticking his tongue out at YOU!

The google map has stopped working, god knows why, I’ve tried to fix it but don’t know what’s wrong. I’ll hopefully get it fixed soon so we can see where Horatio has gotten to.

Go BLUE For June

Matt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:54:26 +0000

I work as a PhD student at the Institute of Cancer Research in the Everyman cancer centre researching prostate cancer.

Here I am doing something real science-y with coloured liquids!

This month is Everyman’s male cancer awareness month and the theme is “go blue for June” so in the spirit of this amazing cause Horatio is going blue!!

Find out more here

Around 20 men a day die in the UK of prostate cancer - to help fund research into this and other male cancers donate now by clicking here!

If you buy a Hamster Hike badge in june I will donate all profits to everyman!! CLICK HERE NOW

Natalie Dee

Matt — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:38:37 +0000

Theres a problem with the map page at the moment - who knows why it’s stopped updating the distance! Hopefully it will be fixed next week! for now heres a Natalie Dee comic to enjoy!

Preston

Matt — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:49:18 +0000

A few days ago Horatio passed through Preston, Lancashire. I couldn’t really let this go without a post as a friend of mine went to university in Preston (Venus) so we had many a night out and enjoyed the many delights this rainy town had to offer. We were in a band together and played quite a few gigs there over the years. Our drummer (Matty H) spent his 1st night away from home there and consequently lost part of his eyebrow due to too much aftershock, needless to say his mother was not happy and the bassist (Dave) was in big trouble haha. Famously the other saxophonist (Chris EDIT - who actually also went to Preston uni (I forgot for a minute there - memory is not what it used to be!)) in the band had two kebabs (Micks’ kebab shop) in one night, one after the other - incredible.

Speaking of rainy Preston on 10 August 1893 Preston entered the UK Weather Records, with the Highest 5-min total rainfall of 32 mm. Seriously - every time I’ve been to Preston it has rained rained rained!

(In case you were interested we were called milk2sugars! you can find us on myspace and youtube)

400 Miles!!

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:44:50 +0000

In celebration of Horaio reaching the 400 mile mark we bought him a couple of new toys! A new ball (his old one was way too small) and a cool chew toy climbing adventure thingy:

I built the chew toy into a cool little platform to go on the bottom of his cage with his wheel:

Horatio was quick to come down and explore his new cage fixture - he loved it so much he had a little nibble! (you can see the corner of the new toy on the webcam)

And that was just the start of the celebration, the ball had to come out too, Horatio went mental and was all over the flat:

Here’s to another 400 miles of pure furry joy!

Horatio Disgraces Himself

Matt — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:16:17 +0000

Well, what can I say, Horatio has been ‘hanging out’ in his cage a lot more recently. He’s certainly not a shy hamster and doesn’t mind displaying his balls to the world, well he needs to be more careful, he’s been caught off guard by a member of the press who has been hanging around the flat in nearby trees. I managed to intercept the offending images to protect his modesty for now, but who knows what will come out in the future - I can just see the cover of HEAT now!

Shame on you Horatio!