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Original poster

Lost hamster !

233 replies

Bowbellsx · 21/01/2023 18:00

last night we cleaned him out and my daughter didn’t close the lid and he must of escaped over night, we’ve checked everywhere no doors were left open. I’ve literally searched every room cupboard? Any tips

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 21/01/2023 22:00

When one of our rats escaped it was behind the kick boards in the kitchen . As a child we had hamsters escape , one went behind the gas fire and chewed the wiring and another got caught in a net curtain and was just hanging waiting to be rescued. I hope you find him @Bowbellsx

Tilllly · 21/01/2023 22:32

You'll find him!!

We've had so many Houdini's and we've never permanently lost one

Did nearly hoover up Woodles tho

Original poster
Bowbellsx · 21/01/2023 22:45

Tilllly · 21/01/2023 22:32

You'll find him!!

We've had so many Houdini's and we've never permanently lost one

Did nearly hoover up Woodles tho

I’m really tired and need sleep after a long day with a toddler I feel bad going to bed I’ve been sat in the quiet and dark since 8 and nothing I’m just so tired

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Other pets & animals
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 21/01/2023 22:54

About this time last year I got up in the morning and found a hamster in our hall. We don’t have a hamster, but we do have a cat who gets shut in the kitchen overnight and was howling for her breakfast. It was totally surreal. I captured the hamster in a Tupperware box with some celery and birdseed, then messaged my neighbour to ask if they had a new pet. It turned out they had only got the hamster a few days earlier and her DC were distraught. it’s still a bit of a mystery how it ended up here but they can make themselves tiny flat and get through the smallest gaps.

The hamster is still alive and well, and sent our cat a nice card saying thanks for not eating it!

AramintaLee · 21/01/2023 22:55

Ours went missing for a week and one night heard some scratching... he was under the floorboards. We had to take the carpet up and some of the boards. No idea how he got under the floorboards but it was quite an old house and naturally hamsters will always find a way to get into any nook.

Best to keep an ear out rather than an eye as they're quite scratchy!

I hope he turns up x

Busybusybusydoingnothing · 21/01/2023 22:56

We had one (years ago) that got out twice - first time she made a hole in a portable dvd bag and got herself comfy in there, second time she got upstairs and chewed a good chunk of carpet in our DS room under his cabin bed. We thought she wouldn't return each time but you can hear them at night if it's super quiet rustling around. Good luck!

RunningFromInsanity · 21/01/2023 23:00

Ours escaped and our back door was open so we assumed the worst. Came downstairs in the middle of the night and he was just sitting on the kitchen floor.

Food in each room, cage on floor, scatter some flour at each door entrance so you can see footprints.
He’ll come out eventually.

Original poster
Bowbellsx · 21/01/2023 23:01

RunningFromInsanity · 21/01/2023 23:00

Ours escaped and our back door was open so we assumed the worst. Came downstairs in the middle of the night and he was just sitting on the kitchen floor.

Food in each room, cage on floor, scatter some flour at each door entrance so you can see footprints.
He’ll come out eventually.

Will I be ok to go to bed im exhausted

OP posts:
MissMaple82 · 21/01/2023 23:07

namechangedyetagain · 21/01/2023 18:02

As a child I once found mine under the kick boards in the kitchen. He'd made a little nest out of dog fur and a postage stamp. Looked most put out when we found him after a week!

That's so cute

RunningFromInsanity · 21/01/2023 23:09

Go to bed! Leave the cage open on the floor with loads of food around.
Hopefully he will be in it when you wake up tomorrow.

blankittyblank · 21/01/2023 23:11

Ours escaped once. He did actually climb the stairs, and we realised he got under the bath where there was a hole in the floor. We could hear him in the ceiling! We managed to get him out by putting a wooden chopstick in hole (he loved wood and always had to chew it!) we then pulled him out. So is there any chance he could have climbed the stairs (ours had carpet). And are you sure there are no holes anywhere he could hide in ?

blankittyblank · 21/01/2023 23:11

Agree with leaving the cage on the floor, open. They love their own beds and he'll gravitate back to it if he comes out

Clevs · 21/01/2023 23:26

My lost hamsters have been found behind the fireplace and behind the fridge making a nest out of the dust!

Userwoozer · 21/01/2023 23:34

Get a humane mouse trap. They're incredibly effective. The cat brought a tiny little harvest mouse in and it ran away behind the bookcases. I just set the trap, shut the door, and came back a couple of hours later to find the mouse in the trap.

AnnieMay55 · 21/01/2023 23:37

My daughter once left hers to play in the bath thinking it couldn't escape. It must have climbed up the chain on the plug got out and there was a little gap where the toilet pipe went in the wall. That's the only place we can think it had gone. A couple of nights later while lying in bed I heard it gnawing under my floor boards. I bought a humane mouse trap to put down but it was a nightmare trying to get the floor boards up as they were long boards that went through to the next bedroom so we couldn't lever them up. My dh had to saw through where we had heard him and his little nose popped up but it took a while to move the board enough to get him so at first I just put his water bottle spout through the hole and he had a good drink after 3 days missing. It was lucky he was ok as he was in amongst a load of glass fibre insulation material.

BigBadBoom · 21/01/2023 23:39

Just wanted to say, it's worth checking inside any boxed in pipes in bathrooms if you have them. That's where we eventually found my bastard hamster after I cried for a week over him, decades ago. He was tip top, in case you think I'm heartless.

Justleaveitblankthen · 21/01/2023 23:56

As a child mine, would end up under the floorboards or head under the bath where they could get in through a small gap.
I had completely forgotten about this until this thread.
Good luck OP 🍀

patchysmum · 22/01/2023 00:04

when ours escaped we propt a plant pot up with a matchstick and put peanuts inside the hamster went for the peanuts and was trapped under the plant pot. It helped that I knew which rom it escaped in and have very good hearing so heard the plant pot move

NightOwlNotEarlyBird · 22/01/2023 00:20

Hope he's back by the morning!

Nat6999 · 22/01/2023 02:54

When Harry one of my hamsters escaped he walked over my late dp's foot in the bathroom where he had gone for a wee during the night, late dp was so shocked he soaked him in wee. Have you ever tried bathing a hamster in the middle of the night?

Labradinger · 22/01/2023 07:16

namechangedyetagain · 21/01/2023 18:02

As a child I once found mine under the kick boards in the kitchen. He'd made a little nest out of dog fur and a postage stamp. Looked most put out when we found him after a week!

Ours did this too! Took us bloody ages to find him as he’d made his nest in behind the dishwasher. He too looked very offended when he was finally removedGrin

Raindancer411 · 22/01/2023 08:17

@Bowbellsx Any luck with anyone reappearing in their cage overnight, or look to be any food taken? Keeping fingers crossed as they can reappears days after :)

Original poster
Bowbellsx · 22/01/2023 08:34

Morning… no he not back and has not touched his food 😣

OP posts:
Deathraystare · 22/01/2023 08:38

Dad left out a cage with door open hoping the little sod would come back that way but eventually on a whim he (Dad, not Hamster) decided to pull up some floor boards under the stairs and there it was - drunk on cidery apples! L:uckily it decided not to fight my Dad! I reckon it must have slept it off when it got back in the cage. Sorry She not it!

IwishIwasSupermum · 22/01/2023 08:38

Oh no! If his cage was up high, have you completely checked the sideboard the cage was on, underneath, taken everything inside out? Checked inside everything inside the cupboard, boxes etc