I had the scare of my life today.
So a little background first:
I adopted a little Syrian Hamster around May/June. His name is Parker. He's a little blonde/orange-ish color. I kept him in a small cage that I already had at home but knew that when he got bigger I'd need to go a larger one. I found this really awesome cage on Amazon for Syrian Hamsters that's super fun, colorful and includes tubes that are bigger so the hamsters don't get stuck. It's a really great cage and the wire is spaced small so the hamster can't squeeze out of it. Never had any problems with the cage. Yada yada yada....
Anyway,
My room is getting really cold because of the weather and also that the furnace heat doesn't reach it very well. I moved his cage downstairs to the living room yesterday so he'd be warmer. Today I was sitting in the living room and I happened to ask my mom about an old Halloween book we used to have. She decided to look in the cabinets under the bookshelf in the corner. This corner is were we keep all the kids toys piled up on the floor. We never go in the cabinets much anymore. Really the only time we go to the corner is to clean up the kids toys or vacuum.
As she was moving a large toy so she could open the cabinet she called out "Becca,.....we have an animal over here". I first thought she saw a cat toy and then I could tell she was serious so shocked she couldn't speak so I thought that maybe it was a mouse. NOPE
(you saw this coming didn't you?)
It was the hamster.
Sitting all cute in the corner. It took a minute to catch him but he went right back in the cage acting as if nothing happened. I have cats. They play with toys that look just like him. Luckily they are older and dumb so they didn't even know he was out. I have just the slightest idea as to how he got out. On the door at the top where it closes you can latch it over two bars or just one. I always had it on one and I can see now that it creates just a slightly larger gap. Just in the last week or two he has discovered that he can climb the bars to the top and kind of "do the monkey bars" like a little acrobat. I'm assuming he did that and made his way to that small gap and squeezed out. There is no other way he could have escaped. Luckily it's and easy fix. That little bugger nearly gave me a heart attack. He must have gotten out very recently because he was nearby the cage and I didn't find any poops. lmao
* TLDR: (I don't even know what that means but I think it's like long story short?)
Hamster escaped his cage for the first time and my mom hadn't been looking for a book, I would have never found him alive. I don't think it was a coincidence that we happened to be looking for something right where he was. It was by the hand of God or a loved one guided us in the right direction. I don't know which but
I'm so glad I found him.