Jeffrey Kirk

Her name is Pookie.  We call her the hamsternator because of the power she exhibits when trying to escape her cage.  Cage terminating hamster from the future?

She can open every door, unscrew tops, and bust through latches.  We now padlock the main door and reinforce her nesting area with tape.  We put a book on top of the cage because she has already lifted the top from the walls.

A couple nights ago she escaped again.  Victoria cleaned her cage and then forgot to reinforce the nest with tape.  Quick escape…

But here’s where this story gets weird.  And maybe a name change is in order — to Hamdini!  She must be a magician.

She broke out of her nesting area.  See the area circled at the top of the cage.  (Notice the padlock in place on the front door.)  From there she must have dropped down onto the top surface of an entertainment center.  Then what?  She could have walked around up there for a while, but clearly she was not satisfied with her expanded space.

Her choice, assuming no magical skills, would have to be a jump to the floor, falling about 4 feet.  A successful jump would have placed her on carpet.  If she judged poorly she could have hit some toys or Play Station controllers.

She left no evidence on the floor.  We don’t know how much time she wondered around.  (We keep the door of the room closed at night because we know if she gets out of the room, we’d probably never find her.)

At some point she decided to climb.  About 3 feet away from the entertainment center, there’s a bassinet.  I cannot imagine what would go through the mind of a hamster to make her think that climbing a bassinet would be a good idea.  But that’s what she did.

Part of this climb would have had her upside down.  But we know she did this because when Bryn walked into the room, she heard Pookie sneeze.  And it sounded like the noise came from the bassinet.  Sure enough, that’s where Bryn found Pookie, in the bassinet, under a bunch of stuffed animals that are placed in there.

I cannot find any plausible way she made this climb.  Nor can I understand why she would make that climb.  There was no food in there.  What got into her to inspire such a feat? 

And that’s what leads me back to her skills as a magician.  Perhaps she didn’t fall 4 feet to the ground, or climb 3 feet, partially upside down, to scale the side of a bassinet.

Perhaps, she used hamster magic: elevation, floatation, teleportation?  You got me!