My brother is a crafty, creative genius. Long before Etsy was a thing, my brother was hand-making jewelry, whipping up delicious creations in the kitchen and helping me build the most elaborate indoor forts known to man.
Most recently, he’s been found hand-making hamster cages.
We grew up with hamsters. We started with a gerbil named Axel Rose, followed by a hamster named Jon Bon Jovi. The string of hamsters in our lives ended with my little furry lover, Romeo, who ironically ended his own life by trying to escape his cage, Houdini-style.
My brother’s menagerie was always a little more exotic than mine, though.
- The chameleon that I may have terrified into losing it’s tail… (Seriously, this was the most horrifying thing on the planet. My brother told me to hold the damn thing by its tail…so I did…and the next thing I knew, I was holding a tail…but no chameleon).
- The sickly turtle that couldn’t get used to living in a terrarium, even under a heat lamp. It was part rescue mission/part lost cause.
- The hamster that we mated with our cousin Rachel’s hamster…who proceeded to eat all of the babies (Rachel’s hamster, not my brother’s hamster…or Rachel.)
- The cannibalistic snail that ate my snail…and my replacement snail – jerk.
- The pair of hermit crabs that lived in various seashells in the short time we had them.
- The spunky dalmatian that was born in a thunderstorm and captured all of our hearts (including the old-man dog and old-man cat that dominated our household zoo).
- The frogs that I apparently have zero recollection of whatsoever (but my brother assures me that they existed).
You can see, he’s always been quite the animal lover. Me?
- I had the dog that beat me at LIFE.
- I had the dog that ran out as soon as the door was opened, threw up at exactly midnight on New Year’s Eve, and wrecked havoc on my life for fourteen years.
- I had the cat that loved me until I went to college, and decided that I was evil and everything I owned must be peed upon or scratched to hell or both.
- I had the hamster that spent its entire life trying to live in the back bottom corner of my dresser and killed itself trying to get out of its cage.
- I had the snails that got eaten by the cannibal snail and the amazing beta fish (plural) that seemed to live forever.
Okay, fine. I loved animals too.
I haven’t had my own pet since Sammy Fish (my finned college bestie, who hated car-travel but had to suck it up at least four times a year). And according to Brian, I won’t have one for quite some time. Sad face Although we have discussed our very own exotic menagerie…and maybe a bunny named Bunnicula.
My brother, on the other hand, has had a string of delightful pets, including several hamsters and my newest little furry nephew, Biscuit the Hedgehog.
Whenever my brother gets a new pet, he feels the need to really create a home for it. But those store-bought cages just don’t do it for him. So he BUILDS HIS OWN PET PALACES. He builds cool toys for them to play with. He basically does some crazy juju magic to create these genius inspired homes for his fur babies. I absolutely adore him.
So there you have it, my friends.
My brother is a creative genius and has the coolest pets around. With the coolest pet palaces around.
35 Responses
I LOVE hamstervision!
ME TOO! I wanted my brother to write about it FOREVER ago…and then he was like “nah…” So when he built the last cage, I made him send me all the pictures. Apparently, he just wanted me to write about him again.
I am not creative enough to build cool houses for my pets but I think those that do are freaking awesome! I am so impressed!
Me neither, but my brother totally is!
That hedgehog is highly adorable. I might have to relent on my “no pets” rule and consider one of those guys.
I love him. My brother adores him. It’s super cute.
Talk about a great upcycle! How cool is that! 🙂 We are cats only people. Period. Lol. But things like this are tons of fun!
You could build a cat fort? 🙂
Your frogs remind me of our iguana. Somehow it came up a few years ago while I was talking with my brother, and he didn’t believe me that we used to have one. He called up our parents to see if I was lying. Granted, I’m not sure exactly when we got rid of it (or if it died… I don’t even remember), but he would have been 6 at the absolute oldest, so I guess it’s not too surprising.
But I’m definitely a dog/cat person. Smaller furry pets can be cute, but I’d never want one of my own. And I just can’t get into reptiles or birds or fish or anything like that. My love is reserved for mammals.
YES! It’s like this thing never existed in my head. And I have a ridiculous memory too, so that makes it extra unusual for me to not remember.
I much prefer the snuggle of a dog/cat. I never dug having reptiles around, but I loved my little fishies… I always wanted a bird. Never had one though.
I’ve never had a pet, but I’ve always wanted one!! Your stories freak me out a little bit to be honest, haha.
Don’t let me stories freak you out. I had an unusual number of unusual pets. Most pets are lovable and not crazy at all!
Hahah wow that’s pretty creative!
He totally is!
I love the hamster palace! I always feel bad for the little guys when they only get a boring “studio apt” to live out their lives. Looks like he really enjoys his pets!
Yeah, my brother’s furballs get the royal treatment.
I have so much to say!
I love your new site. Are you using Jetpack for comments? Awesome.
I like the new design FA REAL.
I’ve been planning an Aussa Pet Cemetery post for a while. By “planning” I mean occassionally thinking about it, but this brought up so many dark memories….. hmmmm…. oh, the dark ones are the most interesting.
I also had a hamster named Romeo! We were obviously very clever little girls.
Thanks! It’s still Jetpack; I haven’t gone to the CommentLuv (still gunshy…you know, even with a complete remodel)
Thank you! I’m obsessed with it. My designer is a goddess (You KNOW I didn’t do all this magic).
I feel like the Aussa Pet Cemetery is now an absolute necessity. Like can you post it tomorrow? Err…you know whenever.
Yay for star-crossed hamsters! And super clever little ladies!
You know… I had to deactivate Comment Luv because it wouldn’t work with Jetpack :-/ It wouldn’t notify people of replies and it made them fill out their info. SUCH a bummer :-/ I wish there were something like that which would actually work.
That’s part of what I’m afraid of. I like Jetpack. I like that I can see comments up in my little WordPress bar whenever I’m on anyone’s WordPress blog too. So much convenience.
I once made Gizmo a clubhouse/space ship out of moving boxes and paint. He didn’t love it. It didn’t survive the move to my new place 2 years ago.
That’s fantastic. I can’t believe he didn’t love it.
Wow, that’s pretty cool. No pet’s here. But I wouldn’t mind taking the time to build them a home if I had any.
I feel like there’s a new bar for anyone who has pets now.
Wow. Those are AMAZING! Hell yeah he needs an etsy shop of animal condos.
YES! I told him to get on Etsy!
I love it. i would never have thought of those.
He thinks of all sorts of things I never do.
Aww I had a bunch of pets as a kid. A cat named Simon (totally named after one of the Chipmunks) but we had to give him to a friend because my mom was allergic. I had an evil white Bunny that chewed on the legs of my mom’s antique dining room table. Eventually she got very aggressive and used to bite so she ended up on a friends farm. I had 2 hamsters that simply died of old age and a bunch of goldfish. Once I was an adult I had the most awesome fish ever named Homer (as in The Illiad, not The Simpson) who was murdered by a second fish I brought home that was apparently sick. Once I moved out on my own I got my furbaby Jasper who technically is a cat but in his little brain he’s a North American House Panther.
That hamster tv is AWESOME. I am so not that handy but have been known to knit Jasper toys.
For the record, I would totally name a fish after Homer Simpson 😉
So would I but at the time everyone was Simpson? And I was all NO THE GREEK POET YOU HEATHENS.
Bwahahahaha!
I LOVE hamstervision!
Oh those are cute! It looks like they also allow the animal more room than cages bought at a store. I have a friend that has a hedgehog and I held it, so cool! 🙂
Holding a hedgehog is the strangest coolest thing!