The Original Tee and Boba

Boba (left) and Tee (right) munching on mealworms

Here are the real-life hamsters that Tee and Boba were based on. This picture was taken when they were around 10 weeks old, back in January 2020. Cuddly balls of fur, they were my childrens’ highly prized and well-loved pets. They were Winter white dwarf hamsters (or Russian dwarf hamsters). Though they were siblings from the same nest, Tee was a slightly lighter shade of grey than Boba, and both had the darker stripe along their back (characteristic of this species).

As you can see, Boba was kinda big for a dwarf hamster… and Tee was on the small side… They also seemed to have distinct personalities. Tee was zippier and spent endless nights chewing holes in their clear acrylic cage, managing to escape on numerous occasions. Boba was more laid-back and happy to burrow in his den with his buried collection of seeds. But they both went crazy on the hamster wheel, and especially loved mealworms and sunflower seeds.
*munchmunchmunch*

They got on pretty well together (a large part of the time)!