So with the thought of this GOLIATH harming the children I slowly crept behind the bar....
I flashed my light slowly towards the noise hoping not to startle it and after a few seconds of searching I saw my NEMESIS!!!

[More:]

It was Rascal!

I looked down behind a cardboard box and saw a hamster looking back up at me. I knew it was Rascal, but how? I thought maybe, in some fluke manner it wasn't our Hamster but a runaway... a runaway with RABIES! So I ran back out to Rascals cage to see if he was in there, and sure enough the top of the cage was left open.

So I went back to the bar, and picked him up while laughing at the thought of what just happened.

Now you must think I was over exaggerating all of this but I wasn't. The box he was hiding behind was up against the bar with has very flimsy doors. So when he scratched the box it would vibrate and make the noise sound 10 times louder... I SWEAR I TESTED IT!!!

So I gave him a cookie and put him back in his cage, where he instantly took that cookie straight to bed. That poor hamster was out cruising the basement since the night before so he was pooped. What happened was Sarah went to give him food but didn't close the cage properly so during his usual overnight exercising, he must have seen the opening and made his break.

So all is well now and I had a good laugh at how this little

VERMIN made a complete

of me.