Dead or Alive? What do you think?
Among my many birds to keep me company is our black hamster Sylar. His partner passed away a few months ago due to arthritis. Sylar who is now 5 has now become my buddy when I am in my office. He unfortunately has the knack of sleeping in a rather unusual position. One that will be the death of me to be honest. Above is a snapshot of the sleeping position he favors. It is not to clear I realize but if you look among his bulk it would show 3 of his legs are pointing straight up. Why one might ask. Well Sylar likes to sleep on his back with his four legs straight up in the air with his head tossed to the side and mouth open. Something that makes me think he might be dead. Three times I have caught him sleeping this way and three times I have thought he was dead, getting ready to dig a hole for him in the back yard. I love this little guy but good grief my heart is not as strong as it use to be.
Sharon C. Williams-Author 
We kept a hamster once when I was smaller, and he would reguarly climb right to the top of his cage then literally throw himself to the bottom, as if he was trying to tell us he was fed up with life or something similar. Why I have no idea, but then we got into the habit of giving him some carrot after he’d done it, and yes, he did it more after that.
Oh my gosh that is hilarious from my outside looking in. Thanks for sharing that, will have to tell my family. 🙂
He is a cute little fellow! I would guess that he is alive because it takes a certain amount of muscle tone to curl up in a ball like that. What do the birds think of him?
Nancy
http://www.workingmomadventures.com
Thank you. Well the two birds that are closest to him are TwoPiece and BJ. Whenever Sylar decides to move in his house they will look at him, look at each other, look at him, look at me and go what the hell is that? The times I have taken him out when they were out, my two courageous birds would back up slowly and give me the look like ” Okay mom this is not funny, we are curious but not that curious”. They are hilarious, all of them. 🙂
I used to have gerbils and they also slept in odd positions too. I guess it’s comfortable for them.
Unfortunately I think Sylar has passed away for he is not moving. I’m waiting until tomorrow to be sure. He had a long and good life. Still it’s sad.