living up your name!!

[Sunshinemeg]

When I bought my two newest degu babies, I didnt know what to call them. But one of them had a habit of trying to investigate anything that could possibly be an escape route, so I decided to name his brother Harry, and him Houdini.

Now Houdini seems to be living up to his name! Whenever I open the cage, who is first to be climbing up the outside of the bars? Houdini of course!!

When I have the whole group out in the hallway (secured room!!!) Who is first to see if they can jump over the solid barrier at the end of the room? Houdini!

Today was the best of all of Houdini's escape attempts. I currently live in a shared house with my fiance and a friend of ours, who happened to be sat in the living room this afternoon minding his own buisness. He happened to see something moving along the front of the sofa to his right, looked down and spotted a degu happily walking around the living room! This little degu had managed to get out of his cage, onto the floor of the dining room, around the dining room to the door, out the door into the hall, along and into the living room completely unscathed!!!

But our housemate wasnt quite so quick, and couldnt catch our little escapee, so got me. Managed to return Houdini to the cage unharmed, to three very cross degus who were sat at the door waiting for him to come back!!!!!

Do you think giving him the name Houdini was tempting fate?

[kioshiandtomeo]

Probably was tempting fate! :biggrin:

See, my last hamster, Elecktra, was a true Houdini. In the first 3 weeks, she escaped from her cage 5 times! First cage was a cittertrail X, which she shoved the outerwheel off somehow.
Next escape was in the old habitrail Safari cage. She even tried it in front of me after! She would grab the inside door ledge, pull it down, and shove it open!
The last cage i tried before the aquarium was the Habitrail Space Station, which had a locking door. To live it up in true houdini fashion, she nudged the inside part of the lock up, so it was unlocked, and did the same thing as she had for the other habitrail!

I definitely miss that little girl. She loved her cuddles. As well as escaping!

My little boys haven't gotten to any stage of thinking of escape. They only think about when the next treat is coming! ;D XD

have fun with Houdini!

-Rachel & The Zoo.

[diet otaku]

oh my goodness, what a brilliant little hamster elecktra was!

i have noticed my degus living up to their names though. when i first named rumble and frenzy, it was completely arbitrary - my b/f and i picked matching names, and then assigned rumble to the big one and frenzy to the little one. but gradually, rumble became boss, and would shove frenzy around, and frenzy proved to be possibly the most neurotic, high-strung degu on the planet. x__X spaz and ruckus are no better... anytime i see someone darting around the cage at breakneck speed, or falling off something, it's usually spaz, and anytime i hear a squabble, it's usually ruckus.

maybe they're secretly implanting their names into our brains via telepathy? XD

[skyeblu]

I certainly understand how you feel. My Charlie has figured out that when he hears me pull back the spring on his door it's time to make a run for the border! ;D It has become quite the contest to see if I can get the food and water dishes out before he can climb out the door. I've been giving him treats and a good scratch and praising him for "staying in" his cage.

In fact, one day when a teacher down the hall from me said they'd seen a "brown rat" run across the room, I immediately ran to check to see if Charlie was still in his cage!