Houdini

I realize Dallin named his hamster Brownie, but between you and me we'll call him Houdini. From the moment the sales lady put him in the little cardboard box he's been trying to escape. I was about halfway home on the freeway (in a snowstorm mind you) when I picked up the box to check on him and realized he had almost chewed his way out. The image of dead hamster somewhere in my van haunted me the whole drive home. I kept one hand on the wheel and one hand on his box to keep him from escaping.

When we got home I turned the box over and cut the tape only to realize that was all that was left to keep him in. He had chewed completely through the cardboard. Then to my horror I realized he wasn't moving in the box anymore. I dug through the bedding and cardboard and found fur. Then I uncovered his face. He was staring at me. I've since learned that when escape fails, he plays dead.

I put his cage together and made his home nice and comfy. He seemed happy and so was Dallin when he came home from school and discovered the birthday surprise. That night before bed Dallin spent some time watching Brownie run in his wheel. All seemed well.

Until the next morning when I happened to glance in his cage as I went to make the kids breakfast. No hamster. Dallin was coming up the stairs and, trying to manage the panick in my voice, I asked him to help me find the hamster. We began to search every room when out of the corner of my eye I see something black and white run into my room. We managed to trap him in my closet. He screamed when I picked him up and Dallin says, "See mom, I told you they squeek." He also mentioned that he read on Brownies toy ball that hamsters can run up to five miles in one night. Great.

I thought Dallin had left the cage open the night before and was extra careful for the next few nights to make sure everything was shut tight. But friday morning Ryan came into the kitchen and... no hamster. I heard him running around the living room with Austin trying to catch the thing. I finally cornered it and got it back in the cage. I enjoy a lot of things about this hamster, he's cute, fuzzy, and uncanny in the way he holes himself up during the day with a stash of food to snack on in his sleep, but the escaping was getting a little old.

Saturday morning around 2 am I heard a strange clicking sound. I flew out of bed, (no it wasn't Santa coming early) and ran into the kitchen and flipped on the light. I looked at the cage and saw a head and two little pink paws poking out of the tower on his cage. I swear his eyes popped when he saw me and he flew back into his nest. I slammed the lid down and grabbed the masking tape. Foiled!

So, since that last escape attempt we've had no other incidents but we've been considerate enough to put Brownie in his ball and let him run around the house in a controlled environment.