Hamster on the run !!

[Slooow_Jo]

My sons hamster has got out of its cage !! Last night I could hear it gnawing its sounds to be under the floor boards but I cant say where exactly !!

Should I leave it in the hope he will find his own way back out or should I start pulling up floorboards straight away ??

[WendyS]

I think you're in for a long vigil and had better join forces with Stanleyman below in tracking down in squirrel! I once allowed two pet mice to escape and they were impossible to catch. Eventually he will get hungry but being largely noctural he may only reappear at 2 a.m. when you're all asleep. Keep a fishing net handy with which to grap him as they can move pretty fast when they want to. I think pulling up the floorboards may be a wasted effort as he'll move out of your reach too quickly.

[Slooow_Jo]

Thanks Wendy I was hoping someone would say to just wait lol

I just hope he doesn't cause to much damage while his down there :-(

[aka estie]

Hiya Jo, Could you maybe leave some food out in a few places and hope he comes up to find it?

[dove]

hi jo, has it got a favourite food? if so leave it near one of the holes that it could have crawled down an blow on it so as the smell wafts down, hopefully he will smell it and come out for it! sounds daft but it might work, it happened to me once an I did just that and it worked

[Slooow_Jo]

I think he may have got in behind the bath panel, so I've left a small amount of food in there & am keeping the door shut, so fingers crossed, but I haven't heard any gnawing or scratching since 6am, I hope he's just sleeping rather than ate his way through to next door :-\

[aka estie]

Maybe you should let them know he's on the loose, so they tell you instead of exterminating him if they find him! Good luck!!

[NiceCupOfTea]

OMG - just reminded me of the time our cat went missing. We all assumed she was on a big ramble and didn't worry about it. Then my sister was having a bath, but appeared in the living room shivering and wet with a towel wrapped round her saying she was sure she could hear the ghost of Clod (our cat's name). We all charged up to the bathroom and sat there for ten minutes until we heard the mewling too. Eventually, after much dashing round, we opened up our boiler cupboard below the bathroom to see a pathetic, hungry, dust covered moggy peering down at us. We all fell about laughing, which scared her, and then we got her to jump down.

[Peghead]

Put some flour on a tray and smooth it over, then put a small pile of food in the middle of the tray. Leave the room for a few hours (preferably over night) and when you check the next morning hopefully there'll be footprints in the flour to the food and then back across the floor to where ever he's been hiding or at least where he's managed to get under the floorboards.

We used to do this in several rooms to work out which room ours had got into, then we knew we were in the right place! After that you've just got to sit quietly and wait.

[funnywebsite]

Thats a good answer peghead. You will know the hamster has come up from the floor boards at night time and can come and go without being trapped down there.

[Beohthram]

the flour on a tray trick seems to be a good one, but i read in a hamster book once that if you use a layer of honey or something sticky like that, the hampster will stick to it, then all you have to do is come along later and pick him off. and clean him down too.

or if you get a bucket and put food in the bottom of it, then have a little ladder or something leading up to the top, he will climb up, then hop into the bucket to get the food, but wont be able to get out again.