Help - hamster has escaped!

[NicEv]

One of the kids has left the lid off the hamster cage and he has escaped - either yesterday or this morning. After searching the house we have found no sign of him anywhere . Does anyone have any tips to help us find him ?

We found ours after four days, she was living in the back of the settee. She had ripped a shitload of foam up into a million little bits, but she survived! Hope you find him safe and sound

can you sprinkle some of his food around, sprinkle some flour on the floors so you can follow his footsteps. where have you looked? have you searched in the room the cage was in? all the cupboards, under the furniture, cushions. where was the cage?

Leave food out. Check really random places like under the fridge (friend found her hamster there) or anywhere else there might be crumbs of food.

Hope you find him!

Mine disappeared under the fireplace. She had a great time for a few days while we hunted high and low for her x

get an empty bin and put some of his favorite foods in the bottom and make some steps up to the top of the bin and leave it overnight and hamster should be in the bin in the morning

In laundry baskets as well. I think my DH once found his pet rat nestled in his washing pile.

Might not have gone far.

Set a trap overnight

Food in the bottom of an angled bucket, with some kind of access. Make sure that the angle is such that once in they can't get out again.

Ours escaped twice.

• once was behind the dresser in the same room, we could hear him scrabbling
• once had climbed the stairs(!) to find my daughter

After that we reinforced the external tube and made sure the door to the room was always shut.

Leave the cage open and a food trail to it. Also put a bowl of water somewhere central with flour around.

Buy growing basil/parsley and mint from Asda/Tesco. Only use a small amount of mint. They are all scented and should attract him.

God the amount of hamster we have had escape. Check all small spaces, amazing how flat they can go and get under things. Could put the cage on the floor with the door open, put food down.

We had 1 hamster that would escape up to the attic, during the day couldnt hear anything. At night i could hear it up in the attic, spent many a time waiting at the attic door. Caught the bugger everytime, even if it took me hours.

Ours escaped a few times and once made its home in the settee. We had to rip the bottom of the settee off to catch her.
Another time I was woken in the night by a hamster running across my face.

If you put a load of its favourite food in the cage there's a chance it might return there eventually.

All of the above..... Unless you have a cat then the cat will find him before you... I'm speaking from experience as a child

Never had a hammy escape but my snakes have escaped 5 times between them

I second putting food out for him. Loving the flour idea to follow his tiny little footsteps too!

Definately the sofa.

Under the fridge and the bath too.
Anywhere where they could have got behind skirting boards.

Ours used to scrat up the carpet in the corners of the room.

Had 1 hamster come down the stairs, sat on the sofa and it appeared in front of us. Another 1 escaped 3x and went to the same stop, bathroom, up the wall and into the attic. Checky bugger used to appear over the attic door, look at you then disappear again.

Ours had got down the stairs and behind the fridge. We put boxes of food out with some of his bedding also in it, so he could smell it. After two days of freedom he marched out into the kitchen one night when I was cooking. I heard DH whisper “Freeze, it’s the hamster.” Oh so slowly, I inched round and handed him a tea towel which he threw over the beast (we’d not had him long and he didn’t like being picked up). Thus we restrained the escapee, to the delight of Dd!

Put his favourite treats out...that always worked for mine!

My MIL always tells me the story of when my DP lost his. They finally found the hamster five days later living in the sofa.

You’re unlikely to find him during the day as he’ll be snuggled up asleep somewhere. Ours have been found in various places from the back of the fridge (beside the motor, nice and warm) to inside the cavity wall behind the washing machine to up in the loft (somehow made her way up from the ground floor and then spent a couple of very cold days and nights over Christmas one year).

Your best bet is to get up in the early hours and silently make your way round the house, listening for sounds. When you’ve managed to roughly locate him get out all his favourite foods, preferably strong smelling ones (cucumber, chicken, boiled egg, cut grape, cheese, quiche 😁) then sit tight and try and coax him out. If he usually responds to your voice you can gently call him at the same time but be aware that he’s likely to be a bit freaked out after his adventure so may not come to you.

Or you could try a bucket trap - instructions here

As long as your external doors have been kept closed he should still be somewhere in the house and we’ve always found ours in the end if it’s any consolation.

Good luck!

My friend’s hamster was hiding behind the (freestanding, 1970s) cooker where there were little bits of food.

Put his cage on the floor and make a slope up to the door so he can get in. Fill his bowl, leave treats in there and go to bed. Chances are he'll be asleep in his bed come morning.

Fun fact; Syrian hamsters are omnivores so use canned dog food as bait. He's running round your house eating spiders and living his best hamster life.

Another one that ended up in the sofa for a few days

oh and behind washing machine

I threatened to get another hamster, must have heard me as he appeared back in his cage.