Last night when I was going to let the dogs in from their last perimeter check, I noticed a golden golfball in the middle of my kitchen floor. It was the largest of Tulip's week old kits!!! Come to visit? Well, she'd had to escape the nest box, and the cage bars, survive a 4 inch drop, waddle across the pantry, squiggle through the diamond mesh baby gate (the purpose of which is to keep the dogs OUT) and across the vast wasteland of linoleum.
Not only is this the most intrepid adventurer, this kit still has his/her eyes shut, she is also the most lucky of buns. If I'd let the dogs come rushing in from their romp in the snowy yard, she'd likely have been crushed in the stampede. I'm thinking of naming her after an explorer, possibly Marko Polo, since she was found in the middle of nowhere like a child in a swimming pool with it's eyes shut.
I returned said adventurer to the nest box and hurriedly counted wiggling noses. All present and accounted for. This indoor cage is actually a dumb cage to use for kits, but it's the biggest cage I have with a tray. It's a re-purposed guinea pig cage with big wire clamps on the sides that held the cage to the tray before I put floor wire under the cage part, to suspend my woolers above their waste. Now these wire clamps just flap about, getting in the way, and make it impossible to add a screen to the outside of the cage. I tried putting a cardboard "bumper pad" inside the cage to stop any future wanderers but mamma-Tulip instantly began digging, shredding, tossing the panels about. DH suggested that I wrap a beach towel around the baby gate to stop any future romps inside the pantry and away from the dogs. (This partial solution does not solve the problem of the house mouser...who's prime hunting grounds include the pantry) I have tried and failed to remove the clamps, so unless DH can figure out a solution, I'm stymied. While I wait for him to get his sleep in, (He's on 3rd shift this weekend) I'll cut a screen out of 1 inch cage wire to wrap around the cage at floor level. Off set from the bars, it should be too small for another bink-about break-out.
Not only is this the most intrepid adventurer, this kit still has his/her eyes shut, she is also the most lucky of buns. If I'd let the dogs come rushing in from their romp in the snowy yard, she'd likely have been crushed in the stampede. I'm thinking of naming her after an explorer, possibly Marko Polo, since she was found in the middle of nowhere like a child in a swimming pool with it's eyes shut.
I returned said adventurer to the nest box and hurriedly counted wiggling noses. All present and accounted for. This indoor cage is actually a dumb cage to use for kits, but it's the biggest cage I have with a tray. It's a re-purposed guinea pig cage with big wire clamps on the sides that held the cage to the tray before I put floor wire under the cage part, to suspend my woolers above their waste. Now these wire clamps just flap about, getting in the way, and make it impossible to add a screen to the outside of the cage. I tried putting a cardboard "bumper pad" inside the cage to stop any future wanderers but mamma-Tulip instantly began digging, shredding, tossing the panels about. DH suggested that I wrap a beach towel around the baby gate to stop any future romps inside the pantry and away from the dogs. (This partial solution does not solve the problem of the house mouser...who's prime hunting grounds include the pantry) I have tried and failed to remove the clamps, so unless DH can figure out a solution, I'm stymied. While I wait for him to get his sleep in, (He's on 3rd shift this weekend) I'll cut a screen out of 1 inch cage wire to wrap around the cage at floor level. Off set from the bars, it should be too small for another bink-about break-out.
No comments:
Post a Comment