Remember a few months ago when those criminals escaped from jail after digging an escape route in the cell and covering up the hole with a racy pinup photos? Well little did we know that Miss Izzy would take her cue from New Jersey fugitives and make a run for it this weekend.
I can only blame myself for her escape – we tried out a new wheel (in our endless effort to get a quiet one) and I think it was stable enough for her to get on top of it because of all the bedding underneath making the wheel hard to spin. In the morning Mr. Dump and I were congratulating each other on finding a wheel that did not squeak all night. That’s when I noticed that her house, which usually has the door blocked with bedding, was free and clear. The equivalent of an unmade bed. And I could see inside but I couldn’t see Izzy. And I started to panic.
Izzy left at some point during the night, and sadly, despite spending literally ALL DAY Memorial Day looking for her, calling her name and putting out her favorite treats, we pretty much have to assume she’s not going to be coming back. The dog never found a trace of her (i.e. never acted like he smelled anything hamster-related). There were no tell-tale turdlets anywhere to be found. The weather was pretty darned warm the past two days, and without a steady water supply, I’m feeling like she signed her own fate when she leaped from the tank.
So, goodbye Izzy. I feel really horrible about losing you, even though I did nothing to encourage it, nor did I want you to break Junior’s heart that way. Junior, by the way, still holds out hope that we may find Izzy. Mr. Dump suggested the time-honored tradition of replacing the pet with an exact replica, but I’d rather Junior face the fact that Izzy is gone, and decide for himself if he wants to get another hamster, or perhaps go with something less nocturnal this time around. It’s not like I don’t have all the toys, a brand new bag of bedding, brand new wheel, and brand new bag of food available.
I can tell you that we will re-visit the whole top of the tank security measures.
Rip Izzy
Izzy, 2008-2008
🙁 poor Izzy. They make clamps for the screen tops. If he goes for a replacement, I suggest a dwarf hamster. We had one for 2 years and the other is 1. They are much friendlier and don’t get as upset about being woken up in the daytime. Also, smaller=less poop=less smell. Good luck finding her, sorry Junior.-Karen
We will definitely be getting clamps if we get a replacement. I was shocked to see that she’d completely chewed up the plastic lip of the tank at the top. If I’d known she could do that, I would have guessed that she was a millisecond from escaping.
Aww, poor Izzy! There’s still a chance that she could turn up, but the prognosis isn’t good.
When looking for them, the key is to think like a little prey animal. They want to look for somewhere that the big scary humans can’t grab them, somewhere small and dark and secure. I found one of mine in the guest room closet, which someone had closed since she ran in there. I’ve also found them under the couch and inside my laundry hamper (!!)
You could buy a Hav-a-Heart rat trap and set it with hammy treats but that might just create false hope.
I concur about dwarf hamsters. Sorta. That’s what I had when I was about Junior’s age. They’re more fun to watch than to cuddle, and if you get ones who haven’t been around people while they were growing up they nip like little mofos. There’s a reason they’re called furry piranhas. Their teeth are less sharp than a thumbtack, though.
They aren’t as determined to escape as Syrian hamsters, and you can get them in pairs so you can watch them interact. Those buggers are FAST, though, if you drop them.
We tore the house apart. We put her favorite treats in strategic locations and then went around counting them like security guards. I figured that over the course of 24 hours she really would have come out and taken a strawberry yoghurt drop. She used to come out of her house and look up at me when I would call her name into the top of the tank, so I spent the whole day saying “Izzy…Izzums” and dropping the food nuggets into her plastic dish thinking maybe she’d be attracted to one of the two sounds. We did not see a SINGLE little turd anywhere in the house. I mean, how would that even be possible? She was a poo machine.
I love love love the way hamsters look. Cutest faces on the planet. But I cannot handle another nocturnal animal right now. Do you know how many “silent” wheels we own?
I owned a dwarf siberian about 20 years ago. Cutest face ever! But he wasn’t very “handle-able” and I just assumed he would always bite me after he did a couple of times.
My sister had a hamster when we were kids that was a major escape artist. He could unscrew anything habitat made, and when we crazy glued things shut he would eat through the plastic. He escaped once and was lost for a week or so. We found him – alive – in my room. One night as I was sleeping I heard something moving in my trash barrel. Almost had a heart attack. He had made himself a new little nest under/next to my bed. We had also torn the place apart looking for him, so I wanted to give you a little hope!
Good luck.