Where did our hamsters go? Another update (possibly the end) Final update #183

[DawnM]

I really don't think they are in the kitchen/dining room area as the dogs are there, and since the dogs are the reason they got out in the first place (dogs knocked over the cage and the top came off......thank goodness it wasn't a glass one or we would have had bigger problems).

I have one dog who can catch mice and rabbits in her mouth. We had a field mouse in the basement and she brought it to us, still alive, in her mouth. Then we had a wild rabbit in the backyard and she caught that in her mouth and brought that to us as well. She didn't kill them or even break the skin. She just caught it and brought it to us.

The dogs also go NUTS when they see something and bark and carry on, which we could hear from our bedroom. If they went anywhere NEAR the dogfood the dogs would be all over them.

I could be wrong, but based on previous experience with small animals.....

We have looked behind bookshelves......what a PIT rear as we have 3 tall bookshelves FULL of books.

I hear you all on the never getting hamsters. They are sweet and cute, but I told the boys they can keep these two babies we have (not so baby anymore!) and then we will not be getting new ones when these are gone.

Dawn

 

[mookie]

This could be the new "Hamster Watch Thread 2010!" Good luck!

 

[njmom47]

I miss our hammies! I think they are great pets. We got both Minnie and Tink as babies and handled them every day. They were so sweet-natured...I would take them in my bedroom (door closed of course!) and let them crawl all over me while I watched tv....or just let them run in the ball. When we took Tink to the vet when she got sick, the vet said she was one of the sweetest hammies he had ever worked on. As I mentioned, they DID escape frequently, but my daughter kept her bedroom door closed and they were always in there. We kept them in plastic cages with wire frames. We tied the door shut, but they would still find a way out!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Anxiously awaiting the hammies' return!

Have you checked behind your laundry area near the vents? Do you have any other warm areas around, like near the furnace, etc?

 

[DawnM]

We searched all through the laundry room, including under and behind .

Furnace is in the basement and they would have to go through the dog guarded area to get there.

Dawn

Anxiously awaiting the hammies' return!

Have you checked behind your laundry area near the vents? Do you have any other warm areas around, like near the furnace, etc?

 

[scrapbookworm]

Ours escaped this summer. We turned the house over multiple times. It took us a week to find the body- basically we had to wait for the 'odor'. She got wedged behind the water heater and couldn't get out, which is under our kitchen cabinets. It's still sad for me to think of. I knew that she kept getting out of her cage, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on a sturdier cage. I sure wish that I had. I'm so disappointed in myself.

My DH had to take off our countertops to get her body out. It was awful. She was soooo sweet too. She was a bigger hamster, and very tame. Very rarely did she bite, compared to the dwarf hamster that we previously had- we could hardly hold that one.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Ours escaped this summer. We turned the house over multiple times. It took us a week to find the body- basically we had to wait for the 'odor'. She got wedged behind the water heater and couldn't get out, which is under our kitchen cabinets. It's still sad for me to think of. I knew that she kept getting out of her cage, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on a sturdier cage. I sure wish that I had. I'm so disappointed in myself.

My DH had to take off our countertops to get her body out. It was awful. She was soooo sweet too. She was a bigger hamster, and very tame. Very rarely did she bite, compared to the dwarf hamster that we previously had- we could hardly hold that one.

 

[Applemomma]

Some of these stories have just had me rolling in laughter! and reminding me of my childhood!

Take heart, Dawn! We had a hamster as kids that routinely got out! Never did figure out how she did it. She was first missing for weeks but one night my father noticed her trying to pull a full size sheet of newspaper under our piano presumably for bedding. Every escape after that she'd head straight for the piano and we'd go straight there looking for her. One night I felt her crawling up my leg in the dead of night as though to say "Hi Mom, I'm out!" Little bugger's lucky I didn't reflexively toss her across the room! The best was when, after one freedom excursion, the neighbors on our old party line (yup, I'm that old) were all calling the phone company saying their lines were constantly busy. Repairman traced it to our line, looked at the line in my parent's room and asked "M'am? Do you by chance have a hamster?" Apparently it wasn't his first chewed wire repair call....

And we had cats at the time so yours could certainly get by the dogs!

 

[torinsmom]

Ours escaped this summer. We turned the house over multiple times. It took us a week to find the body- basically we had to wait for the 'odor'. She got wedged behind the water heater and couldn't get out, which is under our kitchen cabinets. It's still sad for me to think of. I knew that she kept getting out of her cage, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on a sturdier cage. I sure wish that I had. I'm so disappointed in myself.

My DH had to take off our countertops to get her body out. It was awful. She was soooo sweet too. She was a bigger hamster, and very tame. Very rarely did she bite, compared to the dwarf hamster that we previously had- we could hardly hold that one.

I'm sorry

I have had quite a few hamsters as a teacher. One kept getting out, no matter what we did. Well, he pushed his luck a little too much the last time. He scampered out of the top of his cage and fell into the open aquarium that sat next to his cage It was a very sad discovery for me the next morning, but I sure am glad I found him before the kids did.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Dawn, no word yet?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

FYI I have some new pics of Gus and my dog in a thread here.

There is a poster on page 2 who had an interesting hamster thread eariler this year (about an injury and going to the vet) who just lost her hamster.

I've linked all three threads for us hamster lovers. Lots of good info.

 

[5stljayhawks]

My brother hamster made it ALL the way to the furnace. That was during the summer, we didn't know it untill the fall or winter. Also see hamster and guenue pigs get up under the cabinets. Check in the batheroom, there is the toe kicp plate as well as space for them to jump up under neath.

 

[squirrel]

I had a hamster escape from a brand new cage. I called up the company that made it and told them it could escape from the door. The company sent out a new door and the hamster never escaped again.

I found the hamster hiding under a wardrobe. I also had cats that were very helpful in pointing me in the right direction when the hamster escaped. It happened a few times until the new door arrived for the cage.

 

[Cdn Gal]

I don't think that I ever want a hamster after reading about all of the their Houdini tricks.

 

[teacup princess]

My daughter's hamster used to escape out of his critter cage alot. He would come straight into my bedroom into the armoire by my bed where I store all my pictures and proceed to eat all our precious family photos for bedding. It would scare the #*@$ out of me when I'd wake up in the middle of the night and hear scratching sounds next to my bed. We quickly dumped his old crappy critter cage and got him an aquarium with a cage topper:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Pet-Fir...UL64/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291473948&sr=8-1

He no longer escapes unless my daughter forgets to close the lid (gotta love kids). It's a great investment if your hamster is an escape artist.

 

[DawnM]

Still no sign. I am wondering if they have left the building. After reading about them chewing photos I am hoping they aren't tearing apart the house.

We don't hear anything though and we have sat in the dark listening.

Dawn

 

[3dog2kidmom]

I don't think that I ever want a hamster after reading about all of the their Houdini tricks.

Exactly. My daughter asked for a hamster for Christmas. This thread decided it for me... "no."

 

[Dizneydaz]

I posted about our little escape artist earlier but I wanted to post here that I sold her old Crittertrail cage the other day (Craigslist) to an unsuspecting family. When DD was 8 she (thought) she really wanted a hamster. Once she had it for a few weeks she quickly got tired of it and it had to be moved out of her room since it was too noisy at night. Guess who got it? Yep, me. It went into my home office. And guess who cleaned the cage, yep, me!

Would we ever get another one? No. When I total up all the damage she did (pants, bedskirt, carpet, carpet, carpet) against her play value, it's really a no brainer. I'm sure many people love their hamsters, but for us, it wasn't a good choice.

Dawn, I hope you do find them (alive) soon. Good luck.

 

[dixonismydog]

Still no hamsters, huh?????

 

[DawnM]

NO!

People keep telling me they are nesting somewhere in the house, but we see NO SIGN of them. We have looked all over and we listen at night with the lights out. We put out food and it isn't eaten. We have a live trap set too.

They seem to have vanished.

I know that when we had a problem with field mice coming into the basement the dogs would hear them if they even moved and would bark like crazy from behind the closed door to go to the basement. So, I really was counting on my dogs to hear them and bark too. So far nothing!

One of my dogs even caught one of the field mice in his mouth and didn't bite down, but caught it and brought it to us! She has caught a wild rabbit in the backyard the same way too as well as many lizards. She doesn't bite down, she just catches them and brings them to us. It is really cute. But she hasn't found one either.

So sad.

Dawn