How long do I leave an escaped hamster before assuming he's not coming back

[onetiredmummy]

DS has had his first hamster for about 12 weeks, he was a gorgeous little thing & was looked after properly. (I was Second Hamster Helper & was present at all cleanings of cage & ensured food & water was changed daily).

Although the roof of the cage looked like it was on properly with the safety catches in the right place he's somehow managed to lift up the non-safety-catched side of the roof & escape.

This was on Sunday, since then we have had bucket traps in all rooms with cheese & cucumber on & some hamster food & bedding in the bottom for him, but there's nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing in the traps, no scrabbling noises, no smell, no sightings or anything.

When is it time to tell DS the hamster has gone outside to live & the traps need to be dismantled? :(

No hamster expert but there have been many escaped hamster threads on here and it appears they can take a while to reappear sometimes. I would leave it a bit longer as he may still turn up.

I'm going to assume that you've taken each room on its own and gone through each one with a fine tooth comb? all units moved etc?

I've found hamsters settled down in a washing basket before now so check.there. also check holes in your sofa

it'll be around somewhere and it'll still be alive. I'd give it some time yet

We lost our hamster on a we'd night/ Thursday morning and we looked everywhere, thought he must be lost when we still hadn't found him by Friday ( back door near the cage had been open) but low and behold Sunday evening he scurried out in the lounge, so don't give up hope yet!!

Don't give up yet! I remember one going missing for weeks when I was a child, we had accepted the loss and were playing in the playroom one day when we heard shuffling behind the tall cupboards in there. Lo and behold a couple of days later and patiently setting up the bucket traps each night in the playroom and he'd been discovered!