Our petsitting services

Well....we are summertime guardians of Peanut, the kindergarten pet hamster. Bryn was so, so excited to put her name in the lottery for bringing him home over the summer I just couldn't say no. And figured what are the odds, right? Well, we got him and later found out that he is a finger-biting escape artist. His two cage doors are kept shut with carefully rigged up safety pin and paper clip. DH has been taking him out every few nights and he is much calmer and hasn't been biting. We thought maybe we wouldn't like being man-handled by eager k-gartners and that he is having a relaxing break.

We just took a hit on our petsitter track record -- that little stinker got out last night. He was making such a racket at 4:30am, I got up to check on him thinking that maybe he was out of food or water and escaping to survive. Nope. Just working on the cage. His hard work paid off. Somehow he mangled the paperclip holding his door shut enough to get out and he is MIA. Gawd, I hope I don't find a dead hamster under the furniture.

And I have a bad head cold so any sort of bending over and looking in small dark places makes my head throb. I'm hoping DH gets home earlier tonight and can go hamster hunting.

Any tips for finding wayward hamsters?

[spotty_dog]

Re: Our petsitting services

Well, we got him and later found out that he is a finger-biting escape artist.

Oh, you mean a hamster! LOL. Definitely escape artists, and -- is he a big golden hamster or a little gray Siberian dwarf? I had one of the latter, and man was he mean! The big ones tame down better, but only if you condition them to associate hands with nice things like seeds.

Any tips for finding wayward hamsters?

When I kept (and inevitably lost) mice, I'd look close to walls. I'd even leave a little toilet paper tube along the wall, because they'd run along the wall, find the nice hidey-hole, and stay there. If it's a dwarf hamster, a humane mouse trap might be the right size, you can bait it with peanut butter. There's also a schematic on the Internet somewhere (I hope) for a humane trap where you bait the critter to drop into a five-gallon bucket, and then it can't jump back out. I'll look for that. (EDIT: it's pretty straightforward, but here's an example: http://www.rotteneggs.com/r3/show/se/186270.html)

Good luck!

Oh, those are all good ideas. Our recycling came yesterday (no TP tubes) but I think one of the kids nabbed one and left in the car. I'll check.

Doh.. ...I was going to say -- let me take a picture and I'll show you what size he is. DUH! I would guess he is one of the dwarf ones? He is bigger than a gerbil but not much. He looks like this but more cinnamon:

[Auspicious]

My younger brother had an escaped hamster once. At the time, my older brother was home from college and was sleeping on a couch in my parents' finished basement.

Older bro was awoken in the middle of the night by the hamster jumping from the arm of the sofa down onto his face. I think I would never be the same afterward if that happened to me. Older bro was mightily displeased, but shows no lasting trauma.

He was motivated to catch the hamster and return it to its cage, though. Maybe I could send him over to take a nap on your couch.

Send him over! Maybe I need to put up a reward poster.

oh Nellie!

[Sheherezade]

Check dark corners and under the furniture. I used to do research on hamsters so I cared for about 400 or so at one time. Whenever they'd escape, they'd end up under something or in a dark hiding spot. I'd try the baiting idea with the toilet paper tube or a small box. The couch? Kitchen cabinets? Do you have a basement? He probably won't come out much with a lot of activity going on during the day. The best time to catch him would be after the kids go down when he's "up" at night. I hope you don't have a cat. (Although then you'd find him fast! )

When you do catch him, you could try putting him in a deep container with his wheel/toys and a gate at the top rather than on the side. That's how we kept ours in the lab to limit escapes. They aren't great jumpers.

[spotty_dog]

I would guess he is one of the dwarf ones? He is bigger than a gerbil but not much. He looks like this but more cinnamon:

Nah, that's a regular golden hamster. The dwarfs look like this:



I'll send come-out-in-the-open vibes to Peanut!

No basement, thankfully. I think all of our heating vents are secure enough to keep him from getting in there.

He usually gets active around 7:30 or 8:00 and since he wore himself out last night ( ) hopefully he stays in the same area.

I'll put out a tube with some PB or cheese in it.

Not good jumpers, huh? I'm guessing not good at jumping up? He must have jumped about 2 feet to get off the desk.

Oh no, I hope you find him soon! Definitely not what you needed while trying to deal with a cold.

OMG Tara...a dying rat?? Eeeeeeshhhhhh! I'm not looking forward to the preschool years.

[Sheherezade]

Not good jumpers, huh? I'm guessing not good at jumping up? He must have jumped about 2 feet to get off the desk.

Up, yes. Down is never a problem. That's something I share with hamsters.

Good to know. I've checked the desktop and figure that he must have made the jump ok. That would have been traumatic!

Both of the kids are calling him. I'm sure that is helping. I thought Bryn was going to be upset but she is ok now that she remembered the time he got loose in the classroom and was found. Let's hope we find him alive.

The bucket trap looks like a good idea. I'll rig that up tonight. No takers on the cheese in the TP tube. Little bugger!

[PrincessFiona]

Nellie,

I hope you find him! Of course, if you don't...you'll have a hamster free summer and then you can just buy a new one for the classroom when school starts :> I'm so awful!

Teacher: "How was Peanut for you this summer?"
Nellie: "No trouble at all" (handing teacher the new Peanut)

:>
kris

:>

And you can bet I will wait until the day before school starts to buy the replacement! He has a wheel in his cage that he never uses and only seems to try to escape when he is awake. I was feeling bad for him and was going to buy one of those clear plastic balls they can run around in. If he shows up, I'll try that to see if it wears him out. As long as it doesn't drive the dog bonkers.

I just really, really don't want to find a dead hamster or have the kids find him. I'm optimistic that DH will be successful tonight. :>

:ra: :ra: :--- :ra: :ra:

My hero. DH found Peanut. They have a bond.

Here is what Peanut did to the paperclip that we had looped through the door. Now he has two safety pins on each door to contend with. :>