The great escape... ( of a hamster)

Cg_Girl

Cg_Girl

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My daughter has a hamster.. He lives in a cage now on the top of her wardrobe as it's the only safe place where our young cat can't torment it...

Every night he manically chews the top small bars ( it's a plastic gage with tubes and tunnels) and keeps us all awake lol

Some how last night he has managed to dismantle his cage and escape eek!!

Now bearing in mind it's a 6ft ish drop of the wardrobe and the presence of the said cat we have no idea where it is, I came downstairs and there is poop droppings at the bottom in the hallway so I was expecting mangled body parts dotted around...

But nothing!

Our house is a bit of a project, and as I've just had the living room plastered that's empty and nowhere for him to hide..
My concern is upstairs no carpets and a fair few gaps in the floorboards but that means he's managed to go up and down and not get caught by haggy the cat..

It's not looking promising is it..
 
Just check to see if there are also a couple of slices of bread missing. If the answer is yes, you have your tragic answer :(
 
I had a Russian hamster that escape once. it turned up 3 months later all fine and dandy. Thats was with a dog and cat in the house.
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Just check to see if there are also a couple of slices of bread missing. If the answer is yes, you have your tragic answer :(
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Oh cheers for that lol [emoji12]

DudleyBug said:
I had a Russian hamster that escape once. it turned up 3 months later all fine and dandy. Thats was with a dog and cat in the house.
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That's impressive.. 3 months. I guess they are crafty lil buggers
 
Years ago our daughter's hamster went missing ... later found under the floorboards.
 
gramps said:
Years ago our daughter's hamster went missing ... later found under the floorboards.
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The floorboards do seem the obvious place.. I guess we shall listen for scampering noises in the night
 
Had an escaped guinea pig live happily under the shed for 2 years as a kid :lol:
 
It's always the floorboards ;)

Depending on the size of the hamster, some of those humane mouse traps dosed with peanut butter may find him for you.

Oh and yeah, those plastic tube cages are notorious....
 
Yv said:
Now we know where Marcel went to get a new server hamster :D
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Lol now that made me chuckle! Feed him chocolate hamster drops and he'll work hard, forget to buy them and well there is no telling what he may do ;)
 
JonathanRyan said:
It's always the floorboards ;)

Depending on the size of the hamster, some of those humane mouse traps dosed with peanut butter may find him for you.

Oh and yeah, those plastic tube cages are notorious....
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Yes I can imagine they are, after buying it and seeing how easier it is for the tubes to pop out I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner..

We do have holes in the floorboards although he's a fat little b****r I'd be surprised if he could get through them. But if he's on a mission for freedom there's no telling what he's capable of I guess[emoji5]️
 
Get a deep bucket, tilt it at an angle, make a ladder using books or something similar and rest the bucket at the top of the ladder. Sprinkle some food up the ladder and in the bucket. Then wait... Hamster goes up the ladder and slides into the bucket but can't get out.

It only works once though, they are crafty little animals.
 
Julie1979 said:
Get a deep bucket, tilt it at an angle, make a ladder using books or something similar and rest the bucket at the top of the ladder. Sprinkle some food up the ladder and in the bucket. Then wait... Hamster goes up the ladder and slides into the bucket but can't get out.

It only works once though, they are crafty little animals.
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Yes, that could work - hamster gets in, can't get out, cat gets in...
 
I remember I had one as a kid in the 70's, and it "escaped" under "supervision". i.e as kids we took our eye off it for too long. Once it went behind the gas fire (it was off at the time) and eventually appeared at the top of the fire all covered in grease. Another time it went behind the gas cooker and again eventually appeared all covered in grease. Not that information helps much I guess!
 
longworth trap or similar is the answer to recovering it - even if its under the floor its easy enough to lift a board, put the trap in and put the board back loose. Trouble is they arent cheap (if you were down here i could lend you one- but it'd be a bitch to post). http://www.nhbs.com/title/160222/longworth-small-mammal-trap at 50 odd quid it would be cheaper to buy an identikit hamster and lie about it ;)

The trouble with the cheaper plastic ones ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Catch-Humane-Trip-Mouse/dp/B000OUTFOS) that garden centres etc sell for 'humane' capture of mice is that they don't include enough room for a nest chamber, so although its fine in the heated house, i'd be concerned about setting one under the floor etc as if it gets cold and can't nest come morning you'll have succesfully recovered and killed said hamster - also plastic ones arent cat proof (if setting inthe living space) - the end is a push fit and the average cat could get it off to get at the furry snack within. Longworths are much better made of metal and are designed to be predator proof

you could use a milk bottle - the glass type - put some bedding in the bottom, and some bait , and lie it on its side up against a wall (a couple of bits of blutack stop it rolling) - hamster goes in but cant get the traction on the glass to climb back up the sloped neck to get back out... cat can't get it out. There's ample proof that this works as abandoned glass bottles are one of the main killers of mice in the countryside - go in, can't get out, starve to death :( . Course the only issue for you is a) checking it every day (preferably twice a day) and making sure thaast the glass bottle is in a position where its not a hazard to small children
 
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big soft moose said:
longworth trap or similar is the answer to recovering it - even if its under the floor its easy enough to lift a board, put the trap in and put the board back loose. Trouble is they arent cheap (if you were down here i could lend you one- but it'd be a bitch to post). http://www.nhbs.com/title/160222/longworth-small-mammal-trap at 50 odd quid it would be cheaper to buy an identikit hamster and lie about it ;)

The trouble with the cheaper plastic ones ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Catch-Humane-Trip-Mouse/dp/B000OUTFOS) that garden centres etc sell for 'humane' capture of mice is that they don't include enough room for a nest chamber, so although its fine in the heated house, i'd be concerned about setting one under the floor etc as if it gets cold and can't nest come morning you'll have succesfully recovered and killed said hamster - also plastic ones arent cat proof (if setting inthe living space) - the end is a push fit and the average cat could get it off to get at the furry snack within. Longworths are much better made of metal and are designed to be predator proof

you could use a milk bottle - the glass type - put some bedding in the bottom, and some bait , and lie it on its side up against a wall (a couple of bits of blutack stop it rolling) - hamster goes in but cant get the traction on the glass to climb back up the sloped neck to get back out... cat can't get it out. There's ample proof that this works as abandoned glass bottles are one of the main killers of mice in the countryside - go in, can't get out, starve to death :( . Course the only issue for you is a) checking it every day (preferably twice a day) and making sure thaast the glass bottle is in a position where its not a hazard to small children
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Identikit hamster not an option, it's my daughters so she obviously woke to a dismantled cage so all of us have been hunting..
I've moved and pulled out what I dam so far and kids will be going through their rooms after school. Other than that it's wait till evening and see if we can hear anything

Oh and school bags were thoroughly checked before leaving lol
 
DorsetDude said:
I remember I had one as a kid in the 70's, and it "escaped" under "supervision". i.e as kids we took our eye off it for too long. Once it went behind the gas fire (it was off at the time) and eventually appeared at the top of the fire all covered in grease. Another time it went behind the gas cooker and again eventually appeared all covered in grease. Not that information helps much I guess!
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It had a grease fetish it seems lol
 
When this happened to me some time ago (1950?), hamster turned up in hall inside clothing hanging there. Apart from traps you could try just a box with some bedding and food and check to see if it has taken up residence, maybe put his cage in the hall, he may go back to a familiar place if he was only looking for a fun night out rather than a great escape.
Looking inside the cat would be fun and very educational.
 
sphexx said:
When this happened to me some time ago (1950?), hamster turned up in hall inside clothing hanging there. Apart from traps you could try just a box with some bedding and food and check to see if it has taken up residence, maybe put his cage in the hall, he may go back to a familiar place if he was only looking for a fun night out rather than a great escape.
Looking inside the cat would be fun and very educational.
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I've had quite a few visions of a cat x Ray and a whole hamster sitting in his tummy...


He was licking his his lips this morning but as I said in the original post there is no hamster fur or body parts to be seen
 
Any rolls of sellotape gone missing as well?

Ok, Ok, I'm going!
 
I have just remembered that we found our missing hamster in a coat because our spaniel was "pointing" at it. There's your solution, borrow a suitable dog.
 
Cg_Girl said:
Sellotape???? Am I missing something or are you suggesting it's a kinky hamster?[emoji15][emoji15]
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No it's a kinky Keith.
You'll wish you hadn't asked :lol:
 
Garry Edwards said:
Yes, that could work - hamster gets in, can't get out, cat gets in...
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It worked for me with a cat in the house. We just set up several of these "traps" and restricted the cat to other rooms or outside. We had the hamster the following morning but when she next got out she only ate the food on the ladder.
 
SarahLee said:
Expect some forum downtime while server hamster goes off for counseling after that post :LOL:
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Spend the rest of it's life looking over it's shoulder :lol:
 
And he's found!!

Hiding in the back of the fridge so every time we moved the fridge to double check he was tucked in shelf base with all the wires and electrical bits so moved with it... He was nice and warm though[emoji15]

He's now back in his original metal bar cage!
 
Does he glow in the dark now? :lol:
 
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