Help!

[Twiglet]

I've had my hamster less than a month and I've already let him get lost

He was in his playpen (just a cardboard one I knocked up) and he managed to get out and make a run for it.

The good news - I know exactly where he is as I can hear him munching on the huge amount of food he had pouched.

The bad news - he's behind the plinth under the kitchen cabinets. I can't get at him without pulling the kitchen apart.

He's not likely to get hungry soon as he took so much in to scoff. I'm just sitting on the kitchen floor hearing him scurry about Any ideas?

My husband is coming back from work soon - he's not going to be impressed. He never wanted a hamster in the house and I swore this wouldn't happen as I'm far too responsible...

[Cinnamon Bear]

Sorry this is happening! Hopefully you and your husband can come up with a good way to get to him without costly repairs needed. Must be really frustrating!

[Rads]

Twiglet,
If your kitchen is like ours the plinth fronts should be screwed on and then you can open them up easily with a minimum of fuss.
Don't make lots of noise as you could scare your hammy further under something and be patient hopefully you can nab him/her quite quickly

[Twiglet]

He's free! (Or from his point of view, he's captured.) Thank you! That was a horrible feeling. I had to prise up the beading around the plinths - annoyingly they'd been fitted after the boards were put in, but they came up cleanly, so they'll fit back ok with a bit of adhesive. The boards weren't screwed in, only stuck to clips, which with a bit of jiggling and painful fingers, I managed to pop off. Unfortunately, hubby arrived in the middle of this - oops!

Anyway, hammy was sitting happily nibbling on a bit of escaped, stale cereal (I'm hoping that's not going to be awful for him?) and apart from being a bit cobwebby was perfectly happy. He's now merrily digging up his cage again. Phew. This will definitely make me more careful in future.

Now to put the kitchen back together.

[Twiglet]

Here's the little escape artist

[Rsclio197]

The little bugger! So glad you got him back!

Look at that quiff haha

[pinkneon]

Look at that oh-I'm-so-innocent-looking face! So glad you've got him back I'd let him settle again for the evening. Maybe keep an eye on him to just make sure he's not hurt. Maybe give him some food scattered round the cage for him to find to give him something to do tonight?! As for the cereal ... Do you know what cereal it was? If it was only a tiny bit then he should be fine I know some people have given hamsters plain, sugar free cereals every now and then as a treat

[Twiglet]

It was a bran flake that I saw - although there was a fair bit of other food under there, so he could have nibbled on all sorts. He's currently running full pelt in his wheel, so I don't think there are any obvious injuries. I'll keep an eye in case he's eaten anything he shouldn't on his adventure that makes him poorly.

[pinkneon]

He'll probably be ok as a one off As long as he doesn't get regular trips to his new found play place to snack LOL

[oddlyoblivious]

Yup that's the face of a classic escape artist. Gives me shivers just thinking about it.