Thank you
mangoandmimi, Thin Lizzy, cypher, Coco61, Sasha04, pinkpixie, BorisPasha and
dreamtree1234 for you sweet compliments Treacle was very flattered.
_________________
Treacle’s Christmas Cage
I have recently had to move Treacle into my IKEA Samla 130l bin cage from her Ferplast Mary after she became so fixated on bar chewing that she started to try to climb the bars, however due to her arthritic back legs this would often resulting in her leg being stuck through the bars which left me paranoid that she was going to injure herself if she couldn’t get her legs out to get down. So decided I couldn’t risk any injuries and felt the best thing would be to move her into a cage without bars. As I wanted to move her urgently I decide to use my Samla bin cage as her new permanent home, instead of buying her an entire new cage, so I spent the majority of my day of on Tuesday setting up her new cage to be almost identical in layout to the Ferplast Mary so the change wouldn’t be so overwhelming to her. I had to drill holes in the box to secure her shelves in place which was the most nerve wracking part as I couldn’t work out how high I wanted them to be plus had to make sure the shelves were level, but luckily I managed to do this. With the height I attached the shelves I have managed to provide her with about the same level of substrate as she previously had – although possible slightly more. When setting up her cage I decided it was time to decorate her cage ready for Christmas!
Treacle has been enjoying her new cage recently, although at the beginning she was quite confused to where the bars had gone but soon realised that she had other things to chew upon opposed to the bars. Although as I was finishing setting up the cage I encountered an issue – how was I going to attach her bottle – I considered drilling a hole through the side for the spout but couldn’t figure out the ideal height as I’m so used to Syrians.
I wanted another bottle holder like I was using for Liquorice, I didn’t think the pet store that I had initially gotten it from a year ago would have any -as they only had two then - but luckily they did have a bottle holder (not the same size as I had but the next size up – plus I think it was the same one that was there last year as it had thick dust on it). So the new bottle holder was slightly too tall for Samla so switched it for Liquorice’s one – so now they both have a secure bottle holder.
So this is how Treacle’s Samla looks now after she has been in it for almost a week - so quite a few seeds on her blue shelf from her chewing off the remainder of her treat stick.
Treacle has been doing well recently health wise although her arthritic back legs were giving her a bit of grief later on last week that she wasn’t finding it as easy to go up her ladder to her shelves that I decided to wrap the ladder in sisal string – so now she has no issue and can even race up it in remarkable speed. Plus she enjoyed getting to stretch her legs a little on Sunday, by having a run around the floor.
It has taken her a little while to get used to not being in a bar caged, so she did mistake my finger the other day for a treat which left her biting my finger – although her teeth didn’t puncture my skin – as she used to treat being handed to her and then when she wanted a cuddle she would climb onto my hand from her doorway. She has been getting more used to this now and is tolerating me picking her up occasionally to help her avoid any confusion – as her eyesight isn’t great due to her getting cataracts.
Apart from this Treacle is doing really well and is still my troublesome Treacle, who never fails to put a smile on my face. She is truly a special girl.
So here are some photos of her enjoying some peas, the first photo she was trying to figure out where she could smell the peas then once she realised where they were she grabbed on and ate it in the privacy of her hyacinth tunnel…