Hamster Escape

Grant and I were doing the much-needed task of cleaning the hamster cage out in the garage, while "Fluffy" ran around downstairs in her exercise ball, and when we came back in with the clean cage, the ball was empty with the lid off. I panicked a little (or maybe a lot), and we frantically searched for the hamster. We looked everywhere we could think of. There was no sign of her. Right as we were beginning our search, the piano repair man showed up for our scheduled appointment. I warned him that we were looking for a brownish orange runaway hamster, and he went to work on the piano while we continued our search. He found it very entertaining. It was a little bit funny, I had to admit, but I was NOT happy about having a rodent on the loose in my house! Funny now our pet hamster, Fluffy, became " a rodent" as soon as she wasn't in her cage anymore, where she was supposed to be.

We'd been looking for half an hour when I heard a scratching noise from the wall in the dining room. I couldn't figure out how in the world the silly thing got in my wall! Turns out it wasn't in the wall, or the heating vent as I feared,; it was underneath our kitchen corner cabinet. We discovered the small space above the baseboard that she crawled through, but there was nothing I could do to get to her without completely tearing apart our flooring trim and baseboards. I tried coaxing her out with a carrot. She just nibbled on it, got her fill, and went back to gnawing on the wood underneath the cabinet. I tried pulling her out as she chomped on the carrot, but she let go as soon as I pulled.

I had posted my dilemma on Facebook, and my friend, Tera, saw it and texted, volunteering to pick up my kids from school so I could stay on hamster watch. Kind of funny having to tell the school secretary that someone else was picking up my kids at the last minute because I was trying to get a hamster out from under my kitchen cabinets. I'm sure they've heard it all.

Lying on the kitchen floor alerted me to the fact that I really needed to clean my baseboards. They were filthy! So I cleaned while I kept watch.

Three hours into Hamster Watch 2016, my friend, Tiffany, called and told me peanut butter works to lure hamsters out. Her years of teaching at the elementary level taught her all kinds of useful things! I had tried putting peanut butter on the carrot earlier (google search suggested it), but I had been sitting right there holding it, so I probably scared her away. I decided to give it another try. I put peanut butter on a cracker right outside the hole, perched myself on a chair on the other side of the kitchen, and waited. About 20 minutes later, Fluffy poked her nose out the hole, then her arms came out, and then her whole little body was visible. I jumped up, quickly ran over, and picked up that rodent with my bare hands...for the very first time. I screamed in excitement and relief, and the kids cheered and celebrated with me. I plopped her back in her cage triumphantly and then apologized to my poor husband who had been on the phone (Bluetooth) with me when Fluffy reappeared. I think I may have damaged his hearing in my state of excitement. Fluffy is safe and sound. In her cage. Where she belongs. Phew!