Before we had children I had to prove I was a responsible adult. We did this via the medium of hamsters. I had 6 in total. They all died. Fortunately they all (bar one) died of old age, so I passed the test.
Obi was my first and he was lovely but it was Vader that was my favourite. He was a middle aged rescue hamster, already a little grey around the chops, when he came to us. Once he escaped from his ball and instead of going to ground, he waddled into the sitting room and sat in the middle of the floor until I picked him up.
I never had a pet when I was little, so this was really the first time I held a little life in my hands, all dependent on me and completely vulnerable (albeit with the ability to bite down to the bone with wicked sharp razor teeth). I’ll never forget the moment in the vets when I had to have Lando put down because he’d grown a huge tumour whilst we were on holiday. I blubbed and the vet understood where I was coming from. I loved my hamsters.
Vader made his way on to Youtube and you can see the video below. Marvellously, it looks like the WMG record label complained about me using a minute of audio for my clip from a band called Dream Theater, so the audio track is dead. I’m flattered!