Hammy the Hamster's Great Escape
Hammy the hamster's escape and home renovation.
Our hamster liked climbing the stairs in our house. We had a chinchilla called Manwell and Hammy the hamster.
Both lived downstairs, the chinchilla had free reign and his cage door was always open, the hamster was let out under supervision, often in a ball, but sometimes with one of us close by.
One morning we came downstairs and Hammy had disappeared, we couldn't find him anywhere despite searching.
About 2 weeks later around midnight, we were in bed and I could hear a scratching sound from the bedroom wall. We lived in a mid-terrace house and the noise was coming from the internal wall.
I got up, went to the landing at the top of the stairs and just listened. A couple of minutes went by and I could hear something running down the wall to the floor.
The floorboards were always squeaking at the top of the stairs, very annoying at night.
I lay down on the floor and put my ear to the carpet that was covering the boards and waited, and waited, then I heard a rustling noise.
By this time it was 1 in the morning, I went downstairs got my tools, came up and proceeded to demo my landing as quietly as possible so I didn't wake the neighbours.
First the carpet, then one board, then another, with a crowbar and claw hammer I had successfully destroyed the floor as the boards were old and cracked.
I got my torch and put my head under but couldn't see anything moving. Not a sound.
I waited for at least a couple of hours and then his little head popped up. I grabbed him, put him downstairs in his cage and went to bed. I told Charlotte I found the hamster and to be careful going to the toilet as we don't have any floorboards right now.
That hamster made me remodel my entire house. I replaced the floor boards, the carpet, gutted the bathroom and put in new walls, bath and floor to ceiling tiles.
I am not one to give up on a hamster and I hope this made you smile.
The video is 25 years old, just before we had our first child, taken on a camcorder with tape.
I'm Andy, I may suck at many things but that doesn't stop me from trying.
Read more: Andy the Muppit