Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Frightening Case of the Run-Away Rodent


See this little guy? Well we actually have two of them. TWO!! However, this is not OUR hamster. (the photo can be found here) Mostly because our hamsters bite first then run away faster than my sister to an Old Navy sale (Sorry, LorLor but you know its true).

These two little rodents joined our family on a whim. It took about 20 minutes at home for the children to become disenchanted with the idea of cuddling them close. So these two little guys keep themselves company. When the cage starts to smell like goat cheese, I put it outside on the patio until I can talk Spiderman into cleaning it. (I think he secretly loathes the day he swore to always clean the cage if we only got the hamsters)

Somehow, after the last cleaning (which was much too long ago, thankyouverymuch) one of the little tubes to the cage was left off. Of course, we were oblivious to this until, by some small miracle, Staff Srgt. Huzzah saw them scurrying past the piano. After much effort, only one of these little guys was caught. The other was left to 5700 sq ft of hamster paradise.

Two weeks later, after losing all hope of the hamster’s survival, HHOBL shouted that he found the other one. ALIVE! And running through our room. Now, Ms. Princess and the Gladiator were sound asleep on our bed, but all thought of them was gone as Spiderman, Staff Srgt. Huzzah and HHOBL attempted to chase that creature through our room. This is when I entered the room.

HHOBL was racing around with sweat dripping down his face; Staff Srgt was squealing that he couldn’t catch it and Spiderman? Let’s just say he was living up to his name as he flung himself around the room. And still, with all the bravery these men had, this ROBO hamster eluded them.

After moving the sleeping children to the quietude of their own beds, I joined the chase. I scootched under our bed only to have that infernal thing race between Staff Srgt’s legs on the other side. As I started to back out from under the bed, my breeches snagged on a loose nail in our bedframe, anchoring me quite securely to that spot. Eventually I freed myself only to see that $15 fuzz ball run past HHOBL under the rocking chair. Spiderman flung the chair on its side while I, with a hole in my pants, threw a towel over the hamster.

On the count of three… we were going to lift the towel and scoop of the terrifying creature. One. Two. Three!!!

We missed. But not before EVERYONE of us screamed like a little girl.

This time it raced under my hope chest, then towards the door. Which, even though it was shut, we were sure would be the escape for our furry friend.  With the reflexes of a cheetah – ok maybe a hippo – I threw the towel over it again. This time, Spiderman was able to place our “trap” in the exact right spot and before our eyes even focused, our hamster was caught.

He is safely in his cage now with his brother. After a few minutes of territorial battles, (and some pretty clever behavioral conditioning on my part – ifIdosaysomyself), he is content as can be.

But you know what bothered me about this whole thing?

How on earth did that thing survive in my house for two weeks? What did he eat? What did he drink?

The only conclusion I have come to is that I must not really know what’s under the furniture at my house. And, after a hamster survived two weeks on the Unknown, I have decided I don’t want to know.

EVER.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Okay that was funny! Enough said!