Pickle is home and fine after his op. He seemed quite perky and exploring his hospital cage, the next minute skitty and then dived into the hide and went to sleep. I think he just wants to sleep really. Not surprising after such a strange day. He has recovered well from the anaesthetic. I only managed to catch one snap of him before he dived into his shelter and that's on OH phone which currently has no battery so will post that later - he is shaved on one side with a thin red line where his op was.
Slightly nerve wracking after dropping him off. Especially when we phoned at 1pm to see if all was ok before setting off to pick him up and they hadn't done his op yet! So all the way there we wondering if all would be ok. It was all fine. He is on metacam for a few days and then needs a post op check in 5 days.
Anyway this is the hospital cage set up. I spent ages trying to find suitable cardboard box for a house yesterday and didn't have anything - plus cardboard edges can be surprisingly sharp when cut (for a wound). So OH and I spent ages yesterday sawing up his old long 3 room rodipet house (which never quite worked). The initial idea was to saw out the two centre compartments and make it open inside so nothing to rub against. But after cutting out the first centre comparment, one room came adrift from the back panel.
So I was left with one room and an extra bit at the back which made a kind of house/shelter with open entrance. So we sawed out the second compartment but not right up to the edges. Lots of sanding by me to make sure it was all smooth.
Then it needed a roof. Couldn't use the granite square as it has sharpish corners. The original wood part of the roof had a hole in and a pointy corner sticking out over the open bit. So after messing about for a bit, reversed the roof and turned it upside down and cut off the rodipet tab. Sanded that so smooth all over. And glued it on top for stability. So it's an open shelter really but enclosed at one end. The hole is now over the room/nesting area so needed to find something to put on top of the hole a) so he doesn't use it and b) as that's the nesting end. Luckily a little terracotta dish from Nugget's old house fitted perfectly.
So lots of diy yesterday. I am quite pleased with the open shelter! Sanded down the other room that came off and now have another mini shelter! All the corners have been sanded smooth and rounded as well. So hopefully nothing to catch his wound on.
It would have filled up that little cage too much anyway if it was still 3 rooms long.
When Pickle went in the hospital cage he went straight into his little ceramic hide then explored a bit then dived into the shelter and went to sleep.
Lots of saw marks on top of the house where we had to saw off the lugs and it cut into the wood - but all sanded smooth despite the grooves. The dark square on top is where the roof used to be the other way up over one of the rooms so it's gone a different colour.
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This is the third/end room that came adrift from the back, turned on its end to make another small shelter - could be useful
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