This is a little off-topic, but the circumstances certainly should concern
us all.  Last night I heard an animal scratching in the wall behind my bed.
Checking to be sure both ferrets were safe (and didn't I get a couple of
glares for turning the light on sleeping ferrets!) I proceeded to drag the
washer/dryer out from the wall.  The scratching was coming from near the
plumbing connections.  Figuring I had a rat, I primed my trusty pellet gun
and grabbed a flashlight and a set of tools.  A pilot hole produced frantic
scratching and a return shower of gypsum dust.  Strange rat.  I put away the
gun.  A few minutes with a knife revealed a nose, definetely rodent in
shape.  Too small for rat, too large for mouse.  And with orange fur?!
 
Sure enough, it was a hamster.  I figure he was stuck in the walls for at
least three days, as I heard him scrabbling around the inside of the bathtub
Friday evening.  He now is esconced in an unused cage, while I try and find
his old home.  In a 12 unit apartment building with a few recent movings, I
may be stuck with him.  At least I'm fairly sure he's from within my
building.  You see, I also have a stray cat on the back deck who just
kittened last week.  A lost hamster out there would've never made it across
the parking lot...
 
Bryan McCullough, trapped in the Menagerie
[Posted in FML issue 1910]