MIDVALE, UT — Nugget is a dwarf hamster who is about a year and a half old. She’s a very crazy and sassy hamster. “She’s a real jerk. She’s cute, yes, this is true, but she hates being touched. She’s very finicky. She’s kinda a mean girl, I would say,” Shane Rogers says while talking about Nugget’s personality.
She started off at Mr. Rogers’ wife’s elementary school classroom. “She got it as a reward, like something to reward her class. They used to put her in a ball and make a circle around Nugget, and she’d run around. First graders love that,” Rogers says. After approximately half a year, Nugget had to move out of the elementary school.
There was a kid in the class who said he was allergic, and Nugget started to affect his learning, so Nugget had to find a new home. She then moved to Mr. Rogers’ classroom at the start of the 2025–2026 school year, adding some fun new visuals for the students.
“I think she is a fun addition to any classroom. There’s a visual point of interest. Kids can go look at her, and she kinda just adds some character to the classroom,” Rogers explains. So, if anyone is interested in adding a furry new friend to their classroom, a hamster might just be the perfect class pet.
Having a hamster isn’t necessarily hard, but you do have to put a little effort into taking care of them. Rogers goes on to explain, “It’s not hard, but the hard part is I have to take her home every other week. I take her home every other week, clean out her cage, change out the bedding, make sure she has food and water, but typically when I fill up her food and water bowl, it will last for two weeks.”
Nugget is a nocturnal creature, so most of the time she’s pretty quiet and chill. But when she is taken out, she can be difficult to control. Rogers says when she’s taken out, “She flares about. She does not like being touched, so I just have to put her in the ball.” Even so, it’s still very entertaining to have her run all over the classroom in her little ball.
