Woman Says Her Sister Is ‘Annoyed’ That She Won’t Wake Her Pet Hamster Up for Her 2-Year-Old Nephew

The woman — who shared her experience on Reddit — says her sister implied she was prioritizing a hamster over a human

A woman says her sister is ‘annoyed’ at her because she refuses to wake up her pet hamster when her 2-year-old nephew comes to visit — and she’s wondering who’s in the right.

The 25-year-old detailed the situation on Reddit’s “Am I the A——?” forum, explaining that she often takes her nephew to look at her hamster — whose name is Boris — when he comes by for visits. She says that her nephew typically only sees Boris when the hamster is awake, noting that she doesn’t like to wake Boris up when he’s sleeping since “no one wants to be randomly woken up.”

However, the Reddit user says her sister, 31, recently took issue with the fact that she didn’t wake her pet up so that her nephew could play with him. The woman says she explained her reasoning to her sister, who replied that he’s “just a hamster” and implied that the original poster (OP) was prioritizing a hamster over people.

“So AITA [am I the a——] for not wanting to wake my hamster?” the OP asked, before adding that her nephew is generally content to just peer in Boris’ cage whether the animal is awake or not.

The woman’s fellow Redditors largely agreed that she is in the right in this situation, with some even applauding her for teaching her nephew to respect animals.

“It’s never too early for your nephew to learn compassion for another creature. It’s great he is learning to accept that sometimes the pet needs to sleep, so we respect that,” one commenter wrote, adding, “Your sister is not helping her son learn coping skills if she insists he receives immediate gratification whenever he wants something.”

“Animals deserve respect and good care. People like your sister need to learn that, and 2 year olds generally have a need to learn to respect what ‘no’ means. I hope you stand your ground. Boris is lucky to have you,” added another person.

“NTA [not the a——]. It’s a lesson in empathy that more people should be exposed to, honestly,” echoed someone else.

Others pointed out that a sleepy hamster could also be a “grumpy” hamster — and the woman’s sister should know better anyway,

“Honestly in my [experience] a sleepy hamster is a grumpy hamster and grumpy hamsters bite. So no, NTA. Also, wtf. People don’t have rights to other people’s pets,” wrote a commenter