Pets are Hard to Lose

This is a better set of pictures of Gage's winter white dwarf hamster.  He had a great temperament and was the perfect balance of energy and chill.  He would spend hours just digging around the bottom of the cage and then running endless laps on his yellow treadmill.  The nice thing about this little guy was that he would also let you hold him without biting your fingers, which was an improvement from the previous one.

Unfortunately, we had a sort of freak accident with this little guy.  One evening, while we were sleeping, he must have been climbing on the cage wall and fell down and his arm got wedged and trapped behind the water bottle holder.  He was unable to free himself and by the time we had woken up in the morning, there was significant trauma to his arm.  I was able to free him, but the damage was already done.  We contacted the vet and the best option ended up being to put him down.  This was especially hard for me at this time because I kept feeling some sense of personal responsibility and with my heart condition, I was feeling the realization of my own mortality.  I would love to have another hamster someday, but after the last two experiences I am not sure that will happen.