Care and Feeding of Pet Hams

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Care and Feeding of your Pet Ham
An Educational Excerpt for XYL's
By Ron, W5WWW

Pet hams are so intelligent, they often seem human, but they can be difficult to raise. Only someone with great patience should attempt it. In case you do, here is a guide to the basics.

Living Area: A pet ham needs a private nest area, an entire room where it will not be disturbed. Your pet ham will spend many happy hours alone there with its treasures; boxes, wires, bits of metal, glass, paper, etc. that it will bring home whenever it ventures out. You will want to encourage your pet ham to confine its activity to this room to prevent the entire house from being subjected to noise, clutter and the boring of holes in the walls.

Expenses: Keeping a pet ham is expensive, but, unlike most common pets, a pet ham can be trained to work outside the home for a few hours each day. It may even bring in enough money to offset its expenses.

Feeding: A well-behaved pet ham will eat with the family occasionally, but it will feel more comfortable and secure taking it's meals in the nest room. You must be sure your pet ham is well supplied with food and drink during the long periods it spends alone in there, even if it does not beg or whine.

Obedience Training: A pet ham can be trained to perform simple tricks, the easiest and most common being "sit" and "speak." Do not be alarmed if it practices them for hours at a time in the nest room.

Health Problems: The pet ham typically suffers lower back pain and minor throat irritations from too much sitting and speaking, but health maintenance costs tend to be minimal.

Travel: Your pet ham will gladly travel with your family by car or even by air, if allowed to bring along certain familiar items from the nest room. Most pet hams enjoy trips to places where they can meet pet hams from other families.

Breeding: If you plan to breed your pet ham, you should do so as soon as possible after you get it. As a pet ham matures, it becomes increasingly reluctant to engage in activities not associated with its nest room collection.


;D Thanks to John, ve3udk for forwarding this one on to me.