How to catch a hamster

[Winterjay]

Hi all!

So, what do you do when your hamster has gotten out of his cage and is running around the house?

I ran into this problem earlier month (with gerbils tho, and a total accident that comes with having siblings:/ ) and its quite stressful to have your furry trouble maker run loose in an area filled with catastrophes waiting to happen.

While I do know a good way to catch a loose rodent, I realized many of you do not.

My favorite way is to make a bucket trap. Simply take a bucket put some soft things at the bottom so your hamster (or ect.) won't injure themselves, but not so much stuff that they can jump or climb out. Build steps (books, movies, what ever) up to the top of the bucket. Then I take a lid of some sort (metal danish cookie tin lids work the best) and balance it on the edge of the bucket so when your hamster climbs on it they'll fall in. If the bucket has a pouring spout that's a great place to put it. Make a small trail of your hamster favorite treat and place a small pile of it on the side of the lid that is hanging over the bucket.

Be sure that your trap is placed in a spot where your hamster has been sited or in the same room. I won't recommend placing it in the middle of the room as they may be less inclined to go out in the open. My experience is that they like to stay under furniture if along the walls.

This has worked for me in the past and I have yet to have any injured animals as a result. Sorry for the long post.

What other ways do you guys know of that are good for catching our loose little friends?

[InkyPen]

Inky made her first proper bid for freedom earlier this evening. She was found a few minutes later (though it seemed like an eternity) underneath the fridge, eating god only knows what. Luckily I was able to coax her out and pick her up before sending her back to her cage in disgrace (#hamstershaming)

However, as a child I remember several occasions where one of the gerbils escaped, and would invariably seek refuge under DM's double divan bed...! They weren't as tame as Inky is, but I do remember placing a bowl of gerbil food on the floor near the bed and then waiting for it to come out and investigate. Meanwhile, I'd be sat on the floor near the food bowl with an empty upturned waste paper basket, ready to pounce and place it over the offending rodent. Next step was to take a set of hardback books, build a wall around the now trapped gerbil, then lift the bin and quickly grab it. You could call it the reverse bucket trap...

[Winterjay]

That's a good idea.

I've also used a tissue box filled with food. The gerbil goes in the box to investigate, then I covered the opening and just had to carry the box to their cage and let her out.

My gerbils are new and not quite "come to me tame" like my older one was. So I have to resort to trying to trap them.

However my hamsters are really tame and on the one occasion one of them got out all I had to do was walk up to her and pick her up. It was funny because she just looked up at me and was like "Can I go home now? I've had enough exploring."