Will he be okay?

Yamazumi · 02-21-2012, 07:59 PM

My housemate is away for a few days, she left her door unlocked so we could feed her hamsters, let them out etc

I popped in earlier and one was up so I put him in his ball and I closed the door to so he couldn't get out... I came back to check on him after getting some food and the door had locked itself... it's not a yale lock and it should not do this. We can't get in without the keys, the window is closed and we can't get in touch with the landlord.

I'm ringing the landlord first thing in the morning, and hoping to god he has spare keys, but will the little guy be okay? He went in the ball at about 2.

I feel so bad, but hopefully the landlord will be able to get here and unlock the door by midday, by which point he would have been out for 12+ hours... I'm kind of hoping he'll have broke out of his ball somehow and gone to sleep somewhere...

**kyrilliondaemon** · 02-21-2012, 09:27 PM

Er... Theres no guarantee of anything, but I think theres a reasonable chance he'll survive it.

The biggest risk I can think of is dehydration, but our syrian once went on strike with her bottle and got all her moisture from daily cucumber for at least a few days before we realised so there is a realistic chance he'll get through it.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for him, and yeah, hopefully he'll get himself out and cope alone fine overnight.

Best of luck to the little guy!

Lynternette · 02-22-2012, 02:01 AM

I hope he's ok. xxx

TraceyH · 02-22-2012, 02:36 AM

I would have axed the door open after the first hour.

racinghamster · 02-22-2012, 03:06 AM

Puting a hamster in a ball unattended is not a good idea. I know the door latch locked unexpectedly, but the hamster shouldn`t have been left alone. The likelihood is the hamster will fall asleep in the ball (hopefully) and will need rehydration and a nice slice of apple. Has he been freed yet? I would class this as priority and have the landlord round as soon as possible. I know of a case of one person having their landlord tell them they can`t keep pets anymore when a similar situation happened to someone on another forum a few years ago, so hopefully they won`t take any action over this. Some landlords can be downright nasty.

StarlightSerenity · 02-22-2012, 03:39 AM

This is one of the millions of reasons they shouldn't be left unattended while in their ball.

I really hope he's OK and that he's out now.

CAB · 02-22-2012, 03:42 AM

omg, hammy in ball unnatended! eek. hope hammy is okay and hear about it soon. wouldent hope it would get out as then could call itself more mischief if out, dehydration most likely, think id have broken the door myself defo or be t
errified it was lodged near a radiator and, *shudders* not worth thinking about.

Yamazumi · 02-22-2012, 05:12 AM

The letting agent had keys, so we went to them as soon as they opened at half 8. Thankfully didn't have to go through the landlord. We're allowed pets and they know we have a few but getting them to come all the way to us because of a hamster might have annoyed them a little. There was literally nothing we could do, none of us had the strength to even attempt to budge that door and the biggest sharp item we have is a chefs knife.

It doesn't matter whether I'd been gone for 10 minutes or simply stepped outside the room for 2 seconds and let the door close behind me, I was probably gone about 2 mins as I was only making a sandwich and was intending on coming back up to watch him run around and get the other hamster out once he woke up. The thing is... the door doesn't have a latch, it's not that type of lock, I have no idea how it locked itself.

He's fine, was asleep when I found him, I gave him some apple but he was more interested in stuffing his face with his dry food and then went to bed.

StarlightSerenity · 02-22-2012, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yamazumi

The letting agent had keys, so we went to them as soon as they opened at half 8. Thankfully didn't have to go through the landlord. We're allowed pets and they know we have a few but getting them to come all the way to us because of a hamster might have annoyed them a little. There was literally nothing we could do, none of us had the strength to even attempt to budge that door and the biggest sharp item we have is a chefs knife.

It doesn't matter whether I'd been gone for 10 minutes or simply stepped outside the room for 2 seconds and let the door close behind me, I was probably gone about 2 mins as I was only making a sandwich and was intending on coming back up to watch him run around and get the other hamster out once he woke up. The thing is... the door doesn't have a latch, it's not that type of lock, I have no idea how it locked itself.

He's fine, was asleep when I found him, I gave him some apple but he was more interested in stuffing his face with his dry food and then went to bed.

You kinda proved our point there - they shouldnt be left alone when in their ball at all. Not for two minutes, two seconds or two hours. Something unexpected could happen and sadly did in this case, just glad it had the best possible outcome.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 02-22-2012, 07:02 AM

I'm glad he's ok, but this one does give everyone a lesson (or reminder) about hams in balls. Hopefully all this'll do is teach others to not leave hams alone in balls for even 5 seconds in future