How to Lure a Hamster Out of a Heating Vent

Invariably, you're cooking, taking a well-deserved nap or occupied otherwise when you hear a sudden scream from your child's bedroom that indicates her hamster has escaped! Worse, as your child tried to catch her pet, the hamster squeezed into the heater vent. While you can hear him scampering around, you can't see him in the dark vent. You can't let your child down -- you must capture her hamster and return him to his cage. Knowing that hamsters are greedy hoarders of food, you can use a yardstick, a bucket and dried corn to lure your family's pet out of the heating vent.

Things You'll Need

Yardstick
Bucket
Hamster bedding
Peanut butter
Dried corn
1 large napkin

Instructions

- 1
  Turn the furnace off. If there is a separate control for the fan, also turn the fan off. Remove the heating vent cover.
- 2
  Put your other pets, such as cats or dogs, into pet carriers in another room.
- 3
  Place a yardstick at a 45 degree angle into the heating vent, pushing it all the way down until it touches the vent's bottom.
- 4
  Drop two large handfuls of hamster bedding into a large bucket. Place the bucket under the upper end of the yardstick.
- 5
  Dip a piece of dried corn into peanut butter. Using the peanut butter like glue, stick the corn to the yardstick, starting as far down into the vent as you can reach. Add a piece of corn every 6 inches up the yardstick, placing the last piece at the very end, over the bucket.
- 6
  Unfold and balance a large napkin over the bucket. Place one or two pieces of corn gently on top of the napkin.
- 7
  Wait until dark, then listen for the thump when the hamster falls into the bucket. Hamsters are nocturnal, so yours will wait until dark, when the house is quiet, before he climbs up the yardstick and tries to reach the last pieces of corn.
- 8
  Return the hamster to his cage, with his cheek pouches bulging with the dried corn.