Hamster went AWOL

It was the year of the RAT and its the public holiday I enjoyed the most. Yes that's right. It is Chinese New Year. It falls on the 7th of Feb this year. Apart from the long weekend, the goodies are what I enjoyed. Also don't forget the Ang Baos. I still don't feel ashamed receiving them as yet. haha

The recent escape of the JI terrorist leader Mas Selamat has triggered the idea of this little post. It reminds me of what my hamster did on the 1st day of the Chinese New Year. I have 2 hamsters and they live in seperate cages due to the fact that they are of different breed and cannot live together. On the morning of the CNY, I fed them extra helping of food along with cheese to celebrate the year of the RAT. haha. After that, I went visiting and back at home in the afternoon. I had a nap soon and woke up ard 5pm that day. I went to check on my hamsters.

Imagine the shock I got when I realised one of the cages is opened and the hamster is gone. "Shit!" I shouted. I cannot remember if its me who did not shut the cage properly when I fed them in the morning. Nevertheless, this sparked a frenzy rat-hunt all around the house. Whistling and knocking on the furnitures did not get any response. I was prepared for the worst. The hamster accidentally dropped into the waterhole in the toilet and drowned. Another bad scenario was that in the night, it was running around the house and when I go to the toilet, I stepped on it accidentally. Argh.. bad thoughts. After around half an hour of searching I gave up. I still had some hope though. I resumed searching later in the night but to no avail. I told myself that if the hamster was not found by Sunday, I would assume its dead and keep the cage. But I still did not give up.

The next day, I started searching again. I am in disbelief as I have basically covered every single corner and hole in my house and still I cannot find it. There is only 1 possibility. It had dropped into the water hole in the toilet. Other than this, I cannot visualise anywhere else it can be hiding. On the Saturday, I am still searching but hopes are dimming. I already started to tell myself to clear the cage the next day, Sunday.

Irony of this is that it's the year of the Rat and many people are rushing to buy hamsters as a sign of good luck. But my hamster went AWOL on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. If it died, what a sad ending. This was not part of the script!

Sunday morning. I was awoken at around 730am by my mum. She shouted to me, 'Come catch your hamster, it's in my room!' I jumped out of bed and was wide awake. This is the 1st time I can be jumping out of bed so wide awake on a lazy Sunday morning at 730am!! haha I went to my mum's room and indeed, the hamster was running across the floor. I caught it and brought it back to the cage. Oh my god! I have all but given up hope of finding it and here it came back. By itself nevertheless.

Come think of it, the hamster had gone AWOL for around 3 days. I was thinking how it can survive with no water. They can store a lot of food in their cheek but without water? Well, I guess 3 days without water is still ok for them. I believed it was hiding in the toilet of my mum's room. There is a cabinet built below the basin and stored lots of stuffs. I did search there a few times but did not notice it. Maybe I did not do a complete check. At the end of it all, I was glad that the hamster was well and alive and yes, I never forget to close the cage again and I put a little magazine as a weight on top of the cage to prevent anymore accidents from happening.

Linking back to the escaped terrorist, it was like he is hiding somewhere. Unless he is out of the country, the possiblilty of him exposing himself gets greater by the day. Hope he will get flushed out soon. My hamster went AWOL for 3 days and exposed itself. Mas Selamat went AWOL for 2 weeks and counting already. Is it time for him to expose himself? If he was caught, I will put him in a cage and lock it up. And yes, add a pile of magazines on top of the cage to prevent his escape. hahaha