How do I trap the hamster????

twinklie

lol...my hamster is a nutter like yours. Ours has escaped 2 or 3 times now. And we have her cage up on a unit. Bless her little cottons, she shimmys up between the unit and the wall (hence lots of little hamster size claw rips in the paper) back onto the ledge, and back into her cage.

Last time she escaped she found all her food, must have made LOADS of trips back and forth cos she'd put it all in her cage!! And pulled a potato out of the kitchen, up the back of the unit and was in the process of trying to force it to fit into her cage when I came downstairs. I was gob smacked!!!

Ours also escapes from anything you put her in to let her have a run about the first time you put her in it. We should have guessed really....when we bought her on the drive home (5 mins) she had already eaten her way out of the box and was sat on my hand eating anything I could give her to stop her from running away. I was just very glad we hadn't decided to walk!!!!!!

Ladygrim

twinklie wrote: »

Last time she escaped she found all her food, must have made LOADS of trips back and forth cos she'd put it all in her cage!! And pulled a potato out of the kitchen, up the back of the unit and was in the process of trying to force it to fit into her cage when I came downstairs. I was gob smacked!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Kelinik

If the humane trap/bucket hasn't worked you can try leaving his/her cage (with the door open) in the middle of the floor of the room you think ham is in, you wouldn't believe how often I've heard of them putting themselves back to bed after people have tried everything they can think of to catch them lol!

Thanatos

I don't understand, cant you just use a regular mouse trap, they are a similar size....


No, I wouldnt do that, I was joking! When my kids hamster got out I balanced and upturned bowl on an upright pencil (took some balancing!) and sprinkled food around the based on the pencil.

No ramp building or anything tricky for the hamster to do, just a straighforward pile of food as far as he was concerned. Until he ate it and the bowl dropped, trapping him. As the bowl was flat against the floor he couldnt get paws under it to lift it and was waiting for me in the morning.

We watched him for a bit afterwards and you know, the little git was opening his own cage!!:T In the end we used a twisted paper clip to "lock" the cage door shut. Thats my top tip of the day for escaping hamsters

Raksha

Hamsters are a lot bigger than a normal mouse, most humane mouse traps just wouldn't be big enough for a hamster, and they could quickly gnaw through a plastic one anyway.

jessicamb

once they get out they can get out again and again - I've had to lock all the doors with little travel padlocks to stop mine getting out as he can push them open for fun now.

notlongnow_2

Ladygrim wrote: »

OP

Have you got him yet?

LG

Nope not got him yet. He is still around though because every morning the food has gone and so has a sheet of kitchen roll I leave on the floor. So hes building a mega-nest somewhere!!lol.

Tried to find a humane rat trap today but no luck. Have been advised to try Homebase so will go there tommorow.

Would be easier to just write this one off and buy another!lol.

Think il ltry the bowl trap tonight that someone suggested.

Is fly paper too cruel???(joking)

Ill keep you all informed.

Stephb1986_2

Turn off all the lights in the room you think he's in but sit inside it with some food on the floor when you hear scurrying put the lights on and catch the little monkey. Or borrow a dog, once my hamster escaped into my brothers room i didnt know thats where it had gone but my dog also slept in my brothers room it was the middle of the night and heard barking so we ran in my brother was prizing open the dogs mouth as she had caught him. He got it open and it was just sat there in its mouth it was dead funny!

He lived for a few years after that!

Steph xx

Raksha

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Turn off all the lights in the room you think he's in but sit inside it with some food on the floor when you hear scurrying put the lights on and catch the little monkey. Or borrow a dog, once my hamster escaped into my brothers room i didnt know thats where it had gone but my dog also slept in my brothers room it was the middle of the night and heard barking so we ran in my brother was prizing open the dogs mouth as she had caught him. He got it open and it was just sat there in its mouth it was dead funny!

He lived for a few years after that!

Steph xx

Yeh, dead funny that one - my hamster wasn't so lucky

Savvy_Sue

Friends had a Houdini hamster which could open its own cage, they bought a padlock and Houdini died soon after, didn't like being confined.

Mind you Houdini used to not only escape, but go and bite people in their beds, which wasn't a lot of fun!