hamsters lost

Question
i have a teddy bear and black bear syrian hamsters. they both were in their
cages in seprate rooms. both doors to the rooms were closed. this morning, i
checked the cages were out of place and the hamsters were missing. i live in
a 2 story house, the hamsters were on the second floor. downstaires, in a
closed room, were 2 cats. in an upstaires room, i have a dog who is also in a
closed room. is it possible they could have went through the cracks? also, is it
possible for them to have gone down the staires? any info to find them would
be greatly appreciated. and also, both hamsters have mated a couple days
before. could this have caused anything?  

Answer
Hello Danielle.  I will answer your message as best I can.
I will assume by your description that no family members were involved at moving the cages and that your other domestic pets had no access to the cages since the hamster were in closed rooms.  One crutial part to this investigation or process of finding hamsters would be: How long did you own these hamsters? Were they already tame?  ie. Would they willingly come to you if they noticed you approaching their cages when they were awake.  Now moving on

Hamsters can easily squeeze out of a room by the crack of the doors, so YES they could have very well escaped into the other areas of your home.  It is very important that you follow all these instructions as fast as you can. There are two parts to finding your hamsters.  Part 1 is a daytime search (and if this proves not to work then you would do the second part) Part 2 is a night time search.

Act quickly but do not panic. The reason you must act fast is because if your hamsters successfully mated, you have 28 days after the mating to find your hamsters before they give birth. So you will need many towels for the first part.

This process is only to locate the hamsters, it will be up to you to catch them. Remember that any small animal will get scared if approached fast, so you will also need patience and a light towel or basket to drape over the hammies if you do find them. Never act too fast or you may traumatise the hamsters.

Part 1:
*Contain your other domestic pets to a room temporarily where you are 100% certain the hamster is NOT in. This is only for a few hours depending on how fast you complete this part.
*Place a towel under the cracks of each room the hamsters were in and do a thorough check of the rooms before concluding that they are missing completely. Repeat this to every room in your house, leaving a towel under each door.

The towels will ensure that if a hamster is in a room, it will not escape by squeezing under.

Since the hamsters are nocturnal they will be more active at night. So daytime is the best time to catch them off guard, but you must also consider that the hammies may very well be asleep so they will not respond.  Night time is the best time to look for these guys.  In my experience hamsters always head towards areas that contain food, most likely they will end up in your kitchen after a few hours if you do not find them. Hamsters also do not have much fear of falling when they know solid ground is near, so they could have gone downstairs as well.

Part 2, will require a flashlight and absolute silence (or as close to silence as you can get) you will do part 2 at night, or during the late afternoon.

If you are 100% certain the hamsters are not in your other rooms, then I would suggest you start with either the Kitchen or any other area more readily accessible to the hammies that has food.

All the lights in your home must be turned off and your pets should again be quarantined for this.

Listen for any sounds of scurrying the hamsters might make.  I would check under the kitchen stove or refrigerator.  Likely thing is they would hide under the cabinet work and most cabinetry is all connected and usually there is an open crack near the stove.  Flash your light under the stove and wait patiently.  Hamsters are usually attracted to light at night so they will come to investigate.  

If you have not yet found your hamster then I suggest you make a hamster trap.

Fill a deep bucket with shreddings.
Using a few bricks (or books) make steps to gradually allow the hamster to climb up.
Inside the bucket place an irresistible treat.  (like a few veggies, fruit, or... even a donut) whatever floats the hamsters boat.
Make sure that you rub the food item up the steps you created making a trail ending up INSIDE the bucket.  You may also choose to leave small bits of the food (too small for the hamster to hoard away and leave satisfied)

Leave the bucket near the area you suspect the hamster to be in (like the kitchen)  or if you have yet to find any hamster evidence, just leave the trap anywhere.   

I do believe your hamsters would head downstairs,  is is much easier for a hamster to climb down than to climb back up.

I know this will not guarantee you to catch your hamster but these are things which helped me catch mine.  I too had cats and dogs during the same time I had hamsters. Cats will be cats and so this is why I suggest you keep them in a room... only until you find out where your hammies are.  I wish you the best of luck in finding them.