All day long all of the kids (and me too) forlornly checked to see if any of the food in the open cage had been disturbed. I was pretty certain that we wouldn’t have a chance to find the hamster until evening. I was right. Link selected my bedroom for story time and half way through I spotted motion in my walk-in closet. Small, furry, brown and white motion. I walked over and there was the awol hamster. I knew I had her cornered, so I called for Kiki to bring the cage while I recaptured the critter. Hamsters are FAST when they’re scared. I didn’t like scaring her, but she simply isn’t tame enough to be captured fearlessly.
So now the Hamster is caged. The hole in the cage is patched. The kids are all wound up and excited. Kiki in particular is beaming with joy. I’m so glad to have the little furball back where she belongs.
Wow, I’m glad the hamster disappearance had a happy ending
“Happy” he says. *sigh*. The furry little bug is BACK. And here I thought I was gonna get to set TRAPS.
😉
Howard is less than enthusiastic about what he terms as “furry goldfish” living in our house.
Cheer up – at least it’s not a ROUS or Space Hamster. In that case, you’d have to worry more about where the kids were hiding than where the hamster was hiding. 😀
I don’t believe they exist.
*whump*
Fabian’s in the same boat. He thinks fuzzy rodents exist for feeding snakes.
Anyway, I’m glad the tribble’s back.
Well, I hear capybara’s ARE good eating… though seeing one of thsoe as a pet would be kinda.. ah.. interesting.
Glad it all worked out.
This memory will be filed under “Happy” even be remembered by Patches.
Bet you will recall this with your grand kids, you may smile, it will come quicker than you think.
Chris.
Tribble would make a great hamster name. I’ll have to keep it in mind the next time I’m near a hamster who needs a name.
Thanks, Chris. In truth, I AM happy, if for no other reason than that the other people who live in my house are happy — not least Patches, who was quite gleeful to see that the hamster was “not gone anymore” and “came home.”
–Howard
I’m so glad you found your hamster! I have had several “Houdini’s” escape from their cages over the years in my classroom. In case it gets out again, here’s a little trick that works really well: Place a small trash can in the middle of a room with a cracker with peanut butter on it in the bottom. Build a “ramp” of pillows or books or whatever up to the top of the can. Make sure you keep all other snacks and pet food put up for a couple of days, if possible. When the hamster gets hungry he will go after the snack in the can, walking up the ramp and jumping into the can, therefore becoming trapped in the bottom, not being able to climb out. This will most likely happen in the middle of the night since they are nocturnal. I’ve caught three hamsters this way and found one in the closet. They tend to go for the closets for some reason. Also, consider investing in one of those aquarium type cages and keep a heavy book on the lid. Not only are the habitrails harder to keep clean, they just seem to have more ways out of them. Have fun!
And if you have a defective (gerbilish) hamster, the glass cages are much harder for them to eat a way out of. Stupid gerbils always breaking their cages mumble mumble. I watched a hamster once ballance on top of his wheel and turn the litle screw that kept the cage lid on. My gerbil ate the axel of the wheel making a big hole in the cage.
Thank goodness. When my gerbils went AWOL when I was a kid, I only got one of the two back… the other became snack food for one of the cats.