lost hammy

Question
Help!! I lost my hamster a few hours ago and I dunno how else to find him... He's quite a fat teddy so I assumed that it was easy to find him, but i can't. I searched everywhere, and I don't know what else to do...  what i did was leave some of his food on his bowl and left it in the middle of the room he was in... what else can i do? i know he might be sleeping since its only 2pm as i'm typing this message. I'm worried that he might get sick or have rabies from rats and mice if i don't find him asap??? help!!!

Answer
Dear Jan,
thank you for your question.
Hamsters can fit through very small cracks, so he may be hiding somehwere where you haven't look yet. Put a bowl with some food (just some sunflower seeds, bot so much that the hamster can begin storing it) and one with water into every room (even if you think he can't have gotten out) and keep the doors closed. Then wait overnight. In the room where the food is gone, you can use a bucket with a ramp leading up to the rim as a trap, put some food the hamster really likes at the bottom of the bucket. The hamster won't be able to jump out again as long as the bucket is high enough, 16 inches or so.

If he doesn't fall for the bucket trap, I would recommend getting a rat-sized humane trap, the kind that just traps the animal without hurting it. But so far the bucket has worked with all the Syrian hamsters that have escaped from me, so I'm quite confident that you will get your hamster with it.

As long as he doesn't come into direct contact with any wild rodents o their feces, he won't be infected with any disease.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer