Allergies to Hamsters

I bought two robo hamsters for the boys today. We went to Petsmart and chose two adorable, active and quick critters. Brought them home and created a nice cage for them using the red tub. I tried to catch them but they were too quick. I had hoped the boys would not be interested in holding them but they were. Very. One of the robos bit me when I became a bit too aggressive in chasing it down for L. "This is not going to work," I am thinking. So, the boys spent the time looking at the hamsters but I noticed L started scratching his face a lot. We had to backtrack the events to find out when the itch started, which was at the pet store. That's bad. I wonder if it was the birds or the hamsters or just being around all the animals. Or, the bedding? About 9 pm, J started rubbing his eyes. Hives were appearing around his left eye. I tucked him to bed and when I checked on him later, hives were around both his eyes. They were tearing too. He said they itched. I gave him homeopathic pink eye drops and he went to bed.

Tomorrow, I will return both the hamsters and get a winter white. Just one. Both boys will have to share. I feel really sad that they might have to forgo having a personal pet of their own but I really can't take the chance. *sigh* I REALLY hope their symptoms go away by tomorrow morning and not return at all. I hope that L's itch was caused by the store and J's hives were caused by rubbing of sleepy eyes, and not the animals.

Going into the decision of getting a pet, I wanted a robo so I can observe and not have to handle them but looks like I have to change my choice. *sigh* I really loved watching them ...