Hamster problems how....?

[sba]

I noticed a hamster running across my room a few days ago,and can not find it anywhere!
It is not mine and do not know how it got here!
I don't want to kill it by using poison and traps.
My question is,how can it catch it alive without hurting it?
What do they live on?
How long do they live?
Are they filthy like mice?
Can they harm human health?
Can they damage property?

 

[glynndah]

I'd call the local animal shelter, or its equivalent, and tell them your situation. Maybe they can lend you a livetrap which doesn't hurt the critter or give you some other advice.

 

[Starbuck69]

See http://www.hamsterland.com/default.asp?cat=esc&con=0 Its about Hamster Escaped and how to catch them.

Hamsters are omnivorous, which means they eat both vegetables and meat. Their natural foods include grains, seeds, vegetables, and insects, and they will like corn, oats, or wheat mixed with dry dog food. Premixed hamster food from a pet store has complete nutrition, but some hamsters won't eat it.

 

[OrganAnarchy]

i had a hamster, a few at one point.i'd agree with glyns idea of live traps or from experience of having hamsters escape(they are very cleaver creatures). they are nocturnal creature and very active at night around 11pm till 5am or so. they it most probably has made a nest somewhere in your house. Maybe closet but somewhere dark, and secluded. try listening for the hamsters noise at night, i particular mean when it is chewing up stuff for its nest(its a pretty distinct sound and can be heard pretty clear if the area is quiet). just be prepared for it to run so have like some container.

for precaution i'd get gloves...they bite pretty hard. and in terms of property they will find anything kind of paper like material for their nest. hamsters life span is about 4yrs...yea not long but rodents can cause havoc in a house if they procreate.

 

[Nightbird]

This might be a dumb question but how do you know it's a Hamster?

I'm going with the rest of the group though, get a live trap and bait it with Seeds or Hamster food you get from the Pet Store.

I would imagine like just about any animal of that kind it would probably be very destructive chewing and damaging all kinds of things in your walls etc.

 

[GeorgeWBush]

Try cheetos, a hamster my brother had just loved those he would stuff 3 or 4 of those in his cheecks, and they were the puff ones.

We had a ferret that found a way into our house and he zipped passed me one day and it scared the hell out of me, and it is hard to scare me, and i chase rats they don't scare me unless they are the ones that are like 4 feet long.

The ferret exscaped his owners cage and he thought it was dead, and when i went around knocking on doors he came right over and was able to catch him and he was so glad he was not dead.

 

[sba]

Thanks all,for the informations,and the reason as how do i know it was a hamster? is that i saw it run across and it did not have a tail like mice do!
I have bought a glue pad from a local store which opens up like a game board and has pretty strong glue on it for the little tearaway to get stuck on to it.
I bought it this morning and placed it in a dark corner under the seat i saw it come out in the first place,i have been checking the pad every few minutes to see if it has been cought or not but with no success yet,and noticed from one reply that they are active from 11pm to 5am which explaines why it has not gone over this pad.
It has been through a draw which has my underware in them and has chewed one badly.
If this pad is not enough to catch it,i will buy more and after that,have no option other than dealing with it with deadly force .
From what i have read in sites about them,i am very scared form it to start chewing on expensive clothes in my room and even two silk rugs i have.
What scares me half dead is to wake up with it on my bed,which if it was a pet in another home before,they might have allowed it to that!
Last night i slept with the lights on and the window open to make the room cool,hoping it would avoid it.
For his own sake,i hope i catch it alive! But what should i do when i get it all stuck on a pad? GGGGGGGGGGGGoooood!
I hate cats,but i will bring one in when or if all fails.

 

[glynndah]

sba: If you do catch it on one of those glue pads, you will probably not be able to detach it without either killing it or tearing off its feet or wherever it is attached by. Are you prepared to do that?

 

[Starbuck69]

Dear SBA, from your other post I know that you are a very caring person, so I suggest not using a pad, the pad will most likely mean that you will need to kill it, it will be to scared to just let you take it off of its feet by gutting around it, you are much better to get a cage to trap it in, and then taking it to a pet store or some thing like that.

But I also under stand that you cant keep letting this little thing continue to damage things in your home, nor should you.

So good luck with it.

 

[wehstar]

This post reminded of me of a funny story from my past. Now when I laugh I feel I have to share it with people, not that this one is funny at all. When I was a student I was staying in my girlfriend's house, sleeping with the pillow against the wall joining onto the house next door. At about 2am I start hearing sawing and other DIY work going on in the house next door. The next night it happens again, and the night after again. The noise is definately coming from over next door, when I press my ear against the wall it is louder - the guy over there seems a bit odd, and what the hell is his construction project that takes him so long but only in the middle of the night? It actually turns out that the girl in our house in the next door bedroom had a caged hamster in there, propped against the wall I was listening to. Every night the hamster must have been trying to make a bid for freedom. When I found out I laughed at what an idiotic assumption I had made! Perhaps I have it in me to be an author - vivid imagination!

Oh, and to sba, sorry I have no advice. I know nothing about catching hamsters.

 

[Emes]

Sba....i have a little experience of hamsters having 2 here at the moment!

I too dont like the sound of that pad...if the glue is strong enough to hold it firm its going to be difficult to remove the poor thing without hurting it.

I would suggest an humane trap. Once caught, it will be a lot easier to take it to a shelter or somewhere like that. I would put some food in the trap along with a small amount of bedding. Our hamsters love being cosy and well fed! Hamsters are generally nocturnal although one of ours here isnt....seems to be on the go 24/7!

Good luck catching it.....

 

[InsaneWolf]

There is a method to get it off the glue trap .But it has to be done quickly and not like a day later when half its entrails are glued to the damn thing.
Ok you take the trap with the hamster attached to it and take out a bottle of mineral oil and pour the oil between the hamsters body and the trap.Dont drown the sucker while your trying to free it. Have a bucket ready for when it gets free its gonna bounce and probably escape if you dont have one under it.
This WILL work .Make sure you use mineral oil and not any other type of oil.
The mineral oil is harmless to them and it will dry off thier fur with no lasting damage.Hope that helps you and good luck with catching the rodent

 

[glynndah]

sba hasn't posted in a couple of hours. Do you think the hamster got him?

 

[sba]

Hamster got him? I am actualy a girl,20 years old.
I take what you have said about the pad! I have removed it now.
One of my ex boyfriends has promissed to make me a live trap,since i could not find any in stores!
What the trap has cought so far is 1-dady long legs 2-spider. both savaged to death by glue!
I am scared to open drawers or even kitchen cabinets now without giving them a tap first to give it time to escape if it is there.
A guy living next door is trying to fish from this muddy water affair by offering me a place to sleep for the nights if i am too scared of this tearaway!
It is making me go crazy,every time i look on floor or carpets i think a hamster just ran across!
I am very good in taking my time on a project but this S.O.A.B is eating away my house .

 

[InsaneWolf]

Another fast way would be to borrow someone's cat for the night.The cat will sense where the hamster is and this way you will have an actual location of where to catch it.If this is indeed a hamster and not a mouse or rat,then they are not as fast , and you may have a good chance of catching it alive and remember both mice and rats can loose a tail without losing thier life.And most hamsters are more afraid of you then you are of them .I would probably do a Wile.E Coyote and devise my own trap lol

 

[sba]

Bip..bip.......................................
No success yet guys,a sweet left on the table went missing too,this guy can climb chairs too!
Live trap is 70% ready and will be delivered tuesday for the world's number one hamster hunt downs!
Mean while i have made my own live trap by making a jam jar stand on a hair peg upside down,with some cheese inside it,hoping the hamstr would shake this hair triger jam jar........YOU KNOW IN ALL THE EXCITMENT I FORGOT MY SELF AS TO... DID I FIRE 5 BULLETS OR 6! YOU WANT TO TRY YOUR LUCK? WELL DO YOU PUNK?

 

[Malaria]

a big plastic ice cream tub, put hamster food in it, cut the lid in a star so the hamster falls in and build a ladder up to the top with books or something, we cought a runaway hamster that way.

 

[sba]

Wish you could see the stuff i have made as prototypes to catch this thing.
My time is 90% spent on this.

 

[Starbuck69]

So are you ready to get him then?

 

[glynndah]

Hamster got him? I am actualy a girl,20 years old.
I take what you have said about the pad! I have removed it now.
One of my ex boyfriends has promissed to make me a live trap,since i could not find any in stores!
What the trap has cought so far is 1-dady long legs 2-spider. both savaged to death by glue!
I am scared to open drawers or even kitchen cabinets now without giving them a tap first to give it time to escape if it is there.
A guy living next door is trying to fish from this muddy water affair by offering me a place to sleep for the nights if i am too scared of this tearaway!
It is making me go crazy,every time i look on floor or carpets i think a hamster just ran across!
I am very good in taking my time on a project but this S.O.A.B is eating away my house .

Sorry. I'm just curious. Hamsters just don't run free. Is anyone around you missing a hamster?

 

[KINDGIRL]

OH GOD, no glue traps PLEASE!
You can rent "Havaheart" traps - tiny ones for mice and such. Poor guy must be hungry and thirsty!

 

[Starbuck69]

Its ok kindgirl, she already got rid of the glue traps

 

[Nightbird]

Ya glue traps aren't very pleasant. We use them at my place of work it's not pretty what it does to mice etc.

I'm still not sure this critter is a Hamster though. It could be a mouse or something.

 

[KINDGIRL]

Its ok kindgirl, she already got rid of the glue traps

PHEW - I couldn't read anymore after that. Those are illegal in many states (as they should be). Talk about prolonged suffering

 

[Starbuck69]

PHEW - I couldn't read anymore after that. Those are illegal in many states (as they should be). Talk about prolonged suffering

I think they should be as well, except for things like flys, ants and spiders, even though I dont use them at all. I personally don't like anything to suffer, but I think SBA is just getting desperate and thought she could get it off of it with out harming the animal, when I seen what she was trying I did a post and also PM'd her right away.