The Story of Chubs

Chubs came to us in the winter of 2006.

Jeannie was moving away and needed to find a home for her hamster. The class agreed to care for the hamster until a permanent home could be found. The hamster didn’t have a name, so we christened her “Chubs.” Chubs was somewhat corpulent.

We noticed that Chubs had a scar on her head. Jeannie told us the scar came from a former mate. One day Chubs’ mate got more affectionate than she liked and a fight broke out. Chubs won and only received a wound on her head. Unfortunately, her mate met his demise. To add insult to injury, Chubs ate him. So we renamed her “Chubs the Cannibalistic Hamster.”

The students are allowed to listen to music when working in class. One student, Trevor, brought in a 70’s disco cd. Normally hamsters are not very active during the day, and Chubs was no exception. Chubs spent most of the school day snoozing in a pile of shavings. The only indication of her presence was the rhythmic rise and fall of the sawdust. However, when the disco began, Chubs came crawling out of her nest, stood and placed her front feet on glass wall of her cage. Soon she began swaying to the music. Chubs was dubbed, “Disco Chubs the Cannibalistic Hamster.”

A few brave students took turns bringing Chubs home for the weekend. On one spring Sunday morning Amy was playing with Chubs in her living room. Amy was lying down on the floor with Chubs running around in a circle created by her arms. At one point Chubs stopped and bit Amy’s nose. Chubs latched onto Amy’s nose and wouldn’t let go until Amy shook her head vigorously enough to send Chubs flying. Chubs was now officially known as, “Disco Chubs the Cannibalistic Flying Hamster.”

Sadly Chubs passed away of natural causes in April of 2006 before she could take a ride on a Newton car. Her spirit lives on within this WebQuest.