The Great Hamster Hunt
March 29, 2008 by Summer
This is Keri.
Three days ago she joined our family due to one of my, must have a pet, whims. Count Dooku picked her out and even named her all by himself. We brought her home along with a cage, bedding and food and spent the day getting to know her.
But Keri didn’t like her new home. It was too small. She decided to escape through the tiny bars of her cage that I was assured were impossible for even a dwarf hamster to squeeze through. This was the same night we brought her home. Now Keri is enjoying free reign of the house while we try in vain to draw her out.
Late last night as I was getting ready for bed, a small dark shape darted right past my foot and the hunt began. She ran under the piano, so I had hubby grab the broom to block the exit on one side. He also gave me a carrot. She came out and nibbled a bit on the carrot and I reached down to grab her but that Hamster is so darn tiny and so darn fast it was to no avail.
She was back across the room under the couch in a second. We tried again to draw her out with a carrot, and this time I had a collander ready to pop on top of her. She came out and I slammed the collander down, but it landed partly on the carrot, leaving an opening just big enough for Keri to dart out of. Foiled again!
When we spotted her again she had darted underneath the bookshelf. I laid the carrot out and waited a while, but after looking under the bookshelf with a flashlight, discovered she had somehow managed to escape without our notice. So we settled down to watch a movie while keeping an eye on the carrot. After the movie was done I went to bed, asking Hubby to please remove the carrot from the floor before he went to bed. But of course he forgot, and when we came out this morning we found this:
The little rascal had her fill of carrot. It’s time to lay some serious traps tonight and then it’s back to the pet store with the dwarf hamster.
O no! Don’t banish sweet widdo Keri back to the pet store.
Eeeck! That is so creepy! I hope you catch him!
aw. but keri is so cute!
good luck with that - i think i’d be too freaked to sleep. although one of my daughter’s gerbils somehow got out of the top of her cage and we found her in the pantry the next day. She just sat there and my hubby picked her up - glass walls after that.
Good luck finding the hamster! I’m sad she has to leave so soon. She is so cute!
What a fun story to read.
I’m sorry she escaped you, though! You will have to share with us how you finally catch her!
I guess this may explain why we always had hamsters in solid plastic cages when I was growing up.
Would you not want to keep her if the shop gave you a better cage?
Oh my! What a shame, she’s such a cutie! We had a hamster when I was a kid that wanted to escape so desperately he climbed onto his little hamster house and hurled himself at the cage wall. It was peversely funny to watch, as I remember. We used an old aquarium as our tank though so the poor blighter didn’t stand a chance!
She is cute, but that doesn’t mean I would like her running around the floor. I think I would be too scared to.
At least she’s eating well–LOL!
Hamsters are CRAZY! My brother had one that chewed through it’s hard plastic cage. They replaced the cage with one that was all metal bars, but it rested in a plastic tray. The hamster figured out how to flip up the metal and chewed it’s way through the plastic again one night and decided it would be fun to play on my face. It of course woke me up and I screamed until Kev chased it outside. He said he saw a cat pursuing it. I can’t say I had much sympathy for it. It may have been a gerbil, but they’re all the same to me. Ughhh. I am not at all an animal person, but especially not when it comes to rodents.
Oh my gosh. I just wouldn’t be able to sleep. I’d be too freaked she’d scurry across my face while I was sleeping. EEK!
Were you able to find her? She’s so cute!
Oh…I hope you catch her…I’d be a total wreck!!!
So cute, but your experience and others like it have been part of the reason why I’ve resisted my must have a pet whims.
Did you really return Keri to the pet shop?
I’m NOT a fan of anything that resembles a mouse. Good luck on the whole thing though!
LOL - it reminds me of a morning that I got to stay home from school when my pet gerbil escaped from her cage. My mom and I had my entire room torn apart (furniture and all) trying to catch her… Did you get her yet?