Pest controller called to report of rat in Southsea flat - which turns out to be escaped hamster

A black rodent was spotted by the residents of a ground-floor maisonette in Kings Road, Southsea, who promptly reported a rat to their letting agent.

Pest control rushed to the scene, with Lee Marshfield from Contract Killers Pest Control arriving 10 minutes after receiving the call.

He soon found the soaking wet animal to be a ‘beautiful black hamster’, assumed to be an escapee from a neighbouring property.

Lee was amazed the missing pet had not been caught by a local cat, fox or magpie, and made sure to knock on a few neighbouring flats before taking the small animal home to warm up.

He said: ‘Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find his “parents”, but obviously wanted the little fella to be OK, so I took him - or her - home and sat him in front of my Rayburn oven to warm through before giving him a sunflower seed snack and a drink… which he really did tuck in to!

‘My wife had to put her gardening gloves on to handle him because he was understandably nervous and a bit “bitey” at first, but soon settled down, once he realised we weren’t going to harm him.’

This isn’t the first brush with escaped pets Lee has had, having previously discovered a few corn snakes who had slithered out of their cages and made their way through chimneys to give the neighbours a fright.

He said it is not unusual for people to mistake black hamsters for rats, as they have a similar colouring, and has had a call-out of this nature before.

Lee took the hamster to the vets department at Pets at Home in Burrfields Retail Park, who are now taking care of him until his owners can hopefully be found.

If you think the escaped Southsea hamster may be your beloved pet, visit Pets at Home in Portsmouth to claim him and take him home safely.