Anu has a beautiful post about a pet hamster.

From the very beginning, Chip, the light grey one was extremely spirited. In fact the very first night in the new home, he tried his best to bite his way out. We found him hanging upside down on the metal grill on the roof of the cage and furiously chewing on it. But he settled down soon enough. Though he ran and hid himself if we tried to touch or hold him, he always popped his head out of his house the moment we opened the cage to add some food or check on the water. As soon as we closed the lid, he scurried out to grab his favourite bits. Dale, the dark one, waited till we were out of the room to saunter up and do the same.