Hamster Hike

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

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

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.

Brawndo - The Thirst Mutilator

Tommy and I are extremely pleased to announce that Lizzie has gotten her first corporate sponsorship ever. Actually, come to think of it, has any hamster ever had a corporate sponsor before? Maybe Hampton of Hampster Dance fame would be the closest contestant, but pumped up on Brawndo - The Thirst Mutilator I'm sure Lizzie is more than a match for old Hampton, especially with all those electrolytes pumping through her veins. One sip of this stuff and she'll be charging off across America at light speed.

Of course, the improved running is just the beginning. Initial clinical tests revealed Brawndo can give incredible new abilities we never thought possible. Here are just a few of the results of our tests:

6x increase in upper body strength


Development of pop-star-quality pipes and a seductive voice to match


With such a dramatic increase in strength, intelligence and dexterity from drinking Brawndo on a twice-daily basis, our lab hamsters began taking on all kinds of new activities:

(Note: Brawndo is intended solely to be consumed by humans and plants. Like other processed human food and drink, we do not recommend or endorse actually feeding Brawndo to your pet hamsters)

Goodbye to the Grand Canyon!

After more than a month of trekking through the vast virtual desert wilderness, Lizzie finally made it out of the Grand Canyon! It was tough work fording the rivers and climbing over all those canyons and plateaus, but nothing is harder to stop than a hamster on a life-long mission. In between roughing it in the wild and fighting off hawks and coyotes with her bare paws, Lizzie was able to stop and help this poor, drunken tourist from falling to his doom. Frankly, I think he's enjoying himself way too much given the only things between him and a rocky end are 482 feet of air and a 3 ounce hamster.

"Stop laughing and waving or you'll become yet another example of Darwinism!"

Lizzie featured by Small Animal Channel

A couple weeks ago, Tommy and I gave an interview for Small Animal Channel about Lizzie. The article was just posted up today! Check out how we came up with the idea for Hamster Across America and our other plans for Lizzie here:

A Hamster Takes the Wheel

Lizzie wins 2nd at Petco Hamster Ball Derby

Hey everyone! This past Saturday was the annual hamster ball derby at Petco. Of course, we just had to go and have Lizzie compete for pride and glory. A small contingent of friends came out to cheer her on. No doubt roused by the strong show of support, Lizzie won the initial heat to qualify for the finals, but came in 2nd against a much younger fellow Syrian. Congrats Lizzie on your performance!