Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Self-made cotton paper was a very important and necessary item when hamster breeding. It could be bought from the Internet. The product was whole, raw, pulp paper, without any artificial dyes, and it could be cut into finger-wide strips. Hamsters would instinctively search for nesting materials after giving birth to their pups. If they couldn’t find them, they would be anxious, even if the owner had already made a nest for it. It was useless, however, as it would only be reassured if it was a nest made by the hamster themselves.
The cotton paper was given to the children for free by Zhang Zian––a pack was only ten yuan––and he had the children cut them into paper strips.
When the children saw that the female hamster was actually eating the cotton paper strips, they were all very shocked.
“Is the female hamster hungry? Why is it eating cotton paper?” Little Celery asked, worried.
“Yes, should we give it some food to eat? What if it gets so hungry it eats the little hamsters?” another child added.
“You all think it is eating the cotton paper? No, it is just keeping the cotton paper in its cheek to make it easy to move it to build a nest. The reason why we needed to cut the cotton paper into thin strips was because if it was too wide, it couldn’t fit it into its mouth…”
After the cotton paper passed through its mouth, it would become softer, and hence it could not be replaced by normal sawdust. Sawdust was too hard; it could not eat it and it was not suitable to build a nest with.
It kept several pieces of cotton paper strips into its cheek pouch, then ran back to its baby hamsters. It spit out the cotton paper and started to make the nest without any guidance. After that, it ran back into the corner to eat the cotton paper again.
“Isn’t it better to directly put the cotton paper closer to the babies?” a child who asked. “That way it wouldn’t have to run back and forth. It just finished giving birth so it must be very tough for it, right?”
Zhang Zian nodded. “It is indeed very tough for it, but during the making of the cotton paper and the transporting of it, it is impossible to prevent it from getting some human scent on it. When it puts it in its mouth, its own scent overpowers the human scent. It can’t be put too close, otherwise that wouldn’t happen.”
The children saw that the hamster mother was very busy even though it had just given birth and had used all its strength. It was still painstakingly traveling back and forth, building a shelter for its children. They could not help but pay tribute to it.
Zhang Zian said, “When your mother gave birth to you, she experienced much more pain than the mother hamster. In order to take care of you, she also did more hard work than the mother hamster. She not only had to take care of your clothes, food, and living, but she also had to run between her house and her workplace every day to earn more money in exchange for a bigger and more comfortable house––in exchange for good food, for things for you to play with, in exchange for a happier life for you… So you all should be considerate of your mother, and not always make her angry. Try to help her share some housework, which will be the best reward for her.”
Remembering their mothers’ daily hard work and how they often made her angry because of their studies and their naughtiness, a few of the usually naughtier boys bowed their heads in shame. Several already sensitive girls were so moved they had to wipe away tears.
If one just stood on the platform and nagged, it would absolutely not have such an effect. One would not be able to let the children intuitively understand the hard work of motherhood. They had to witness it, personally feel it, in order to leave a deep impression on them. If one could do that, the cost of buying pets and the hard work of keeping pets would be meaningful.
No matter if it was pets kept at home or school rearing courses, the purpose was not simply to let children play, but to cultivate their love and sense of responsibility in the process of raising pets. If they could also experience the hard work of mothers in the breeding process, that would be great.
The children had made up their minds to try to start doing housework when they got home later that day––even if it was just helping their mother sweep the floor or wipe the table.
“Little Celery does very well in this aspect. You all need to learn more from her,” Zhang Zian encouraged.
“I… I still have not done enough…” Little Celery lowered her head, embarrassed.
Wang Yaning was a bit awkward. Her studies were very good, and all her time outside of school was spent on homework and various interest classes. Her mother also did not let her do any housework.
While they were chatting quietly, the female hamster had already moved all the cotton paper into the corner, made a shallow pit in the sawdust, put the pups in it, and then covered it with the cotton paper to make a simple and warm nest. After all, the newborn hamsters were hairless and had poor heat preservation abilities.
“The baby hamsters won’t suffocate?” someone asked worriedly. They saw that the cotton paper had already totally covered the baby hamsters.
“Don’t worry. That’s the good thing about cotton paper and sawdust: There are a lot of holes in the middle and they can breathe, so it’s not a problem,” Zhang Zian said. He retrieved the food bowl the female hamster normally used and opened a bag of small steamed buns made of goat’s milk and eggs that he purchased online. He put a few into it, and then put them into cardboard boxes as supplementary food for female hamster.
Although he did his best to encourage the children to prepare their own pet rearing supplies, baking was too hard for children.
The female hamster was still busy making a nest. Even if he prepared food for it, it did not have time to eat. It was just hurriedly drinking water to replace the water that it had lost while giving birth.
“You have an electric kettle here, right? Bring an egg tomorrow and boil it in plain water. After boiling it, you can break off the egg white that is the size of the nail cap and feed that to it to make sure it has enough protein. Don’t overfeed it. The rest can be fed to other hamsters,” Zhang Zian ordered.
“I see people feeding hamsters with mealworms. Is it better to eat live food?” a boy asked.
The girls all scrunched up their faces and said, “No mealworms. That’s disgusting!”
Zhang Zian was standing on the girls’ side this time and agreed. It was better not to feed them mealworms. For house pets, live food was not necessarily good because live food could carry bacteria, and there was a small amount of toxin on the mealworms.
In a twinkling of an eye, there was a small bulge where the baby hamsters were, and almost no trace of the baby hamsters could be seen.
In the end, the female hamster had managed to finish all the work and was finally satisfied. It went under the cotton paper. If it was not for the slight movement of the cotton paper, there might even be people who would mistake the paper box as being empty.
“How does mother hamster take care of baby hamsters? I really want to see it,” the children said sadly, but the paper cotton completely blocked their sight.
“If you really want to see it, there’s a way. Is there any other mother hamster who’s about to give birth? Find a normal glass fish tank, or an acrylic, transparent hamster cage, and spread the sawdust a little thinner. You can see from the bottom up. Maybe then you could see how the mother hamster takes care of her baby,” Zhang Zian suggested.
The children suddenly realized that and they were full of expectations for the next delivery.
