The Second Great Hamster Escape

This was supposed to be a post to inform you that the mystery had been solved and through my incredible sleuthing skills happenstance and luck I had discovered the way our ham(mon)ster had escaped.  But, instead, this is a story about not learning your lesson the first time and putting too much trust in a miniature rodent (albeit an adorable one).

A few days ago Sonic's wheel began to squeak! It was awful.  And so, in the middle of the night, I removed his wheel from his cage to get some sleep.  When I woke up the next morning to return his wheel to him, I found the little man climbing the cage walls with the help of a running start!! He just ran right up them and it appears he's been able to do this the whole time. That wheel-loving nugget was trying to show me who was boss after I took his wheel away!

After snapping a few pictures of his amazing feat and that belly(!!!!) I took out his water bottle (which forces the lid to remain open a crack) and closed his lid completely to keep him in while I thought of a better solution.

I can't even be upset... I'm too impressed.

However, school/finals!/work/general busy-ness got in the way and I didn't have time to think of a different set-up and I couldn't leave the little guy without water.  So, I chalked it up to an act of teenage (he's like 50 in hamster-years) angst, and figured with his wheel back in place and the lid down in its usual position (the first time he got out it had been fully open) he would stay put in his happy home.

Fast forward to this morning.  Chuck and I got out of bed and sleepily headed to the bathroom where Sonic lives separated from his sister-cat.  Per the usual morning routine, I reached in his cage and said "Good morning, Little Nugget!" I didn't see him right away, so I assumed he was sleeping in his hut and lifted it.  Not there.  Now, I'm legally blind without corrective lenses and was glassesless at this particular moment, so I asked Chuck for confirmation- "Am I just not seeing him, or is he really not in there?!"  His lid had been and was still down, the bathroom door closed all night, and there was no tiny Sonic scampering along the bathroom floor.  Chuck got a puzzled look, then used his perfect, blessed, 20/20 vision to look across the adjacent living room.  "That might explain the situation in the corner," he said.  Cleo, our cat, was laying on the floor staring intently at the couch.

We ran over, grabbed the cat, and locked her in the bedroom, then carefully pulled the couch away from the wall.  A tiny ball of fat and fur waddled full speed across the floor and the chase was on... again! I have to admit that furry little butt running across the room as I imagined him squealing "freeeeedommmm," had me cracking up.  

After a short chase (his quarter-inch long legs can only run so fast) he was once again caught and safely returned to his cage and I was forced to come up with a new watering solution right then and there... no more putting it off.  He now has a small bowl of water in his cage instead of the usual hamster bottle and his lid firmly closed and locked!

If we can't even keep a hamster in a cage, three and a half feet off the ground, and locked in a room from sneaking out in the middle of the night, we're in trouble when we have teenagers some day! Although, if their sneak-outs are half as impressive as his have been, I don't even think I'll be mad.  

(Note to reader: don't show that last sentence to my future children someday, please and thank you.) 

The Mystery of the Escaping Hamster

Alright detectives, we have a mystery that needs solved!

About a week ago, I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.  This is not out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary, however, was that when I turned on the light I found our itty bitty dwarf hamster, Sonic, standing in the middle of the floor staring up at me!  I screamed, which woke Chuck, and the two of us were forced into a dreary-eyed, cat-led hamster-hunt around the apartment in the middle of the night.

We caught him! Put him in his cage and explored the area.  The bathroom door had been shut to keep the cat out and his cage was on its table, unmoved.  The only thing that was even remotely strange was that the lid to his cage was flipped completely open.  The lid is usually only open about an inch to allow room for our makeshift water bottle setup.  But even open, he should not have been able to climb the smooth plastic walls above and below the row of bars to get out and he certainly should not have been able to get from the top of his cage to the floor!  Sonic has been a part of our family for more than a year and a half now and he has never shown any inclination that he has the ability to leave his cage at his own will. 

Sonic's cage setup for reference.  It's really high up for such a little guy.

So how the heck did he get out and fall the equivalent of at least 3 hamster-stories to the ground without getting hurt?!?!

We each have our theories as to how it happened and each of our theories are equally ridiculous and likely impossible.  So, what do you all think? Does anyone have any ideas as to how our little man made his great escape?