Houdini hamster!
amanda Johnson, 43, from st athan, got more than she bargained for at the pet shop
The little terror was making a meal of my lovely Ford Kuga!
With four cats and four kids, you could say ours was a madhouse. And my two youngest begged for more pets!
‘Can we have a dog?’ Oliver, 4, asked me.
‘Or a rabbit?’ Samuel, 3, said. Thankfully, my older two – Harry, 17, and Amy, 12 – were more into pop music and films.
But Oliver and Samuel kept pestering until, one day in August 2018, I weakened and drove them to the pet shop.
Running around the store, they giggled with excitement, pointing at lizards and fish… Then we got to the hamsters. Sprinting manically around in its wheel, one caught our eye. It was a female Syrian hamster, just a few weeks old.
We bought it, and the shop assistant put it into a cardboard box with air holes and inside a cage. Then I put the cage in the boot.
Starting the 35-minute drive home, we couldn’t stop chatting about our new pet.
But, as we drove onto a busy country road, I felt something tickle my leg. Scratching my calf, I carried on driving.
Then I felt it again – there was something furry moving across the side of my left ankle. I peered down, then froze. The hamster was sitting by the clutch pedal, looking at me. She’d somehow escaped! ‘Kids, the hamster’s by my foot!’ I shrieked.
‘Silly Mummy,’ Oliver said. I couldn’t help but panic, as its fur brushed my ankle again.
And there was no hard shoulder – I’d have to drive all the way home with a hamster on the loose!
It scurried to the back of the car, then forward again.
The kids were laughing, but I was terrified the little tyke would get crushed.
After the longest journey of my life, we finally got home.
I could hear the hamster squeaking somewhere in the car, but couldn’t see her. Then I realised the noise was coming from a seat-belt column.
‘Where is she?’ Samuel cried.
I assured him we’d find her safe and well.
But we had no luck. Even though we set humane traps baited with cheese.
Then I realised the little terror was making a meal of my lovely Ford Kuga!
Over the next few days, she shredded seat belts, gnawed the plastic interior and wrecked a passenger-door airbag.
Clearly, thousands of pounds worth of damage. It took eight days to catch the rampant rodent.
We set a trap with peanut butter and she fell into the sticky stuff. Gotcha!
‘We’ll call her Houdini!’ I said.
Now, our hyper hamster lives in a nice, roomy cage in the house. The damage to the car has cost me an arm and a leg, but it’s worth it to see my kids happy with their new pet!