Just set out a trap-line in my study.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A few weeks ago, the Cub acquired a hamster. I pointed out that since we have Piper Cat, we should keep the hamster in a room with a closed door.

So Piper Hamster took up residence in my study.

Then one morning, well before Christmas, I woke up to a noise in my study. I went to investigate.

Piper Cat was in there, in hunting mode. The door to the hamster cage was open. No Piper Hamster.

I feared the worst. We gently broke it to the Cub that Piper Hamster may have gone to join the Choir Invisible, via Piper Cat’s digestive system. Great unhappiness.

But wait - when I went back into the study to tidy up the mess from the cage, I saw Piper Hamster, her two little eyes peeking out from under the radiator!

Rejoicing!

Unfortunately, having gone through the traumatic experience of escaping from Piper Cat, Piper Hamster was in no mood to be returned to the cage and scampered away before I could catch her.

That was the last time I saw her. But I know she’s there still, because when the house is quiet at night, I can hear her scrabbling around. Piper Cat has noticed it too, and stares up at the ceiling to where the study is, on the second floor.

I’ve set out water and Hamster food so she’ll survive.

So, the trapline. I started with one old rickety live trap that a friend loaned to me, hearing my plight. No dice. Returned it to my friend.

I upped the ante and bought a new one. Still no capture.

Today, I went to Canadian Tire and invested in two more.

I now have three different live traps in my study, baited with hamster food, celery, and peanut butter.

Two are designed for mice and use little ramps as the trap mechanism. The third is more of a cage, with levers and safety catches, a trap plate trigger, and a gate that snaps shut, all more suitable for a rat than a wee hamster.

I await results, but with some resignation. She seems to be a smart Hamster.

Piper Cub, the fons et origo of all this, appears to have lost interest in Piper Hamster. {{sigh}}

2

FYI SPCA or humane societies will usually rent these for free or cheap, if you want your TireBucks back.

You should bait it with hamster babies, I hear those are tasty.

3

The best hamster trap I ever used: a smooth bowl, preferably spun-steel mixing bowl, with food in it, and a staircase of books beside it so the hammie can climb into the bowl. She will slide down to get the food – even if she’s not hungry, hamsters are hoarders and she;ll want to collect the food – and she won’t be able to climb out due to the smooth sides of the bowl.

Keep the cat closed off by a door, and simply come by in the morning and retrieve the hamster.

This has worked perfectly for me numerous times (hamsters are escape artists).

4

Many years ago, I had a friend who had a hamster that she kept in a Habitrail. One night she had a hard time sleeping, because there was this almost inaudible rustlerustlerustle noise going on all night long.

When she got up the next morning, she discovered that the hamster had escaped the Habitrail (possibly through a poorly fastened top) and had spent the entire night chewing a hole into a new bag of hamster kibble and then ferrying its entire contents back to the Habitrail.

She didn’t have to feed it for weeks, and the hamster got … rather portly.

5

This is exactly what I’ve done in the past. Though, I used a bucket with a sheet of paper placed across the top. I cut an X in the paper for Laverne to fall through and put a towel in the bottom of the bucket to soften her fall. I used cheerios to bait her, one on each step and then one right on the X.

6

Never had any luck catching escaped hamst ers. Never found corpses either. I assume they lived out their lives in the hidey holes. And went on to hammie heaven.

7

The Piper Hamster is trying to find a way to help power the SDMB.

8

It’s refreshing to read a hamster thread without seeing the word “hampster”.

9

Not sure why but I am super tickled this morning at the image of a den littered with an increasing number of traps, each more intricate than the last haha.

10

I understand that Acme makes various products that might be helpful in apprehending critters.

11

I’ve set up a trap line in my bedroom only because it’s a rat, not a cute li’l hamster, they’re sticky traps. Somehow a tunnel was made a minimum of eight feet under the slab with the exit in my closet. Steel wool and plaster has been obtained with the intent of stuffing/pouring it down the hole to render the tunnel ineffective but in the meantime should it come a-visiting again I’m ready.

12

In my younger days, I had a guinea pig named Eno that escaped during an evening outing on the front lawn. He scampered off despite my best efforts to corral him, and I figured (what with the roaming cat population) he was probably going to wind up as dinner.

The next day when another member of the family returned home, he was heard shrieking rodent cries in the near distance. Apparently the sound of the back door opening and closing was something he associated with mealtime. Armed with this information, I was able to trace the little escapee to a neighbor’s patch of pachysandra, and with careful stalking and hunting on my part, grab him before he could dart off. This same guinea pig shrieked when he heard cellophane crinkling noises (associated with unwrapping of lettuce).

Does the hamster have any sounds associated with feeding time?

13

Dee doot da dee doo

Finding a wild one in your home is one thing, but pet rats are 100x cuter than hamsters and that’s not negotiable.

14

Yep. We have demon rats in our barn. That’s where feed is stored. It’s a full time occupation. Mr.Wrekker spends a lot of time trapping them. And it’s not humane or live. The deader they are the better he likes it.
But a cage raised hamster couldn’t last long outside. I doubt he’ll leave the heated house on purpose.
OP, Any activity in the trap today?

15

OK, I’m amused imagining the hamster spending all that time moving the kibble from the bag to the Habitrail. But why didn’t the friend open up the Habitrail and confiscate the stolen kibble?

16

It was mixed in with the bedding. She’d have had to sift it by hand.

17

Mice too, in such situations. When we were living in Carson City we had horses and DesertRoomie told me about visiting an aunt and uncle’s farm when she was about ten. A cousin and she went out to the barn, a hay bale was shifted, and a nest of pinkies exposed. The cousin immediately started stomping on the nest while she was horrified. “You’re killing the baby mousies!” then went on to say, “Now?” and shrugged.

I said “Lemme guess. This change of heart was around the time you started buying grain.”

18

Caught him yet, Piper? Nosy minds want to know.

19

{{sigh}}

I checked the trap line last night and my heart soared: all the bait in the big rat-trap sized trap was gone! Gotcha!

But then I looked more carefully, and Piper Hamster was not actually in the trap.

In fact, the door was wide open, just like when I set it down.

When I set it down with the safety latch on. :smack:

Which evidently worked, and enabled Piper Hamster to saunter in, over the trap plate, eat her fill, and walk out again. :smack: :smack:

Ah well, it shows that she’s aware of the food and not afraid of going in.

I reloaded the bait bowl, then this time carefully undid the safety.

I have high hopes for when I return this evening …

20

I had read somewhere, about how to catch your escaped hamster. Just leave the hamster cage on the floor, with the door open. The critter will go back home, all on its own. That’s how I caught ours. Actually, I heard the hamster wheel spinning, while I was upstairs. When I went down to check it out, there was the hamster, happy as could be, running in his wheel. I closed the door, and all was well.