It's nice to live in a place where, in the middle of winter, I can sit outside with a smoke under the (not quite completely adequate in width) awning while it's raining, and actually enjoy the feeling of ricocheting raindrops hitting the bottom of my bare foot, not minding that the hem of my skirt is getting dampened. That's very nice.
When I opened the patio door, Spodie was prepared to bolt outside. He hit the threshold at high velocity, then executed an immediate stop. Hey, it's WET out there!
I'm really glad that Shortwave likes the habitrail setup I put together for him. His previous mistress endowed me with ample bits and components. The trick was to make a structure that would bear its own weight, but it seems to have worked out alright for the most part. The only really unstable bit is the observation tower, but I put that into the corner where the two mirrors meet, so it has extra support.
I especially like that he approves of the food arrangement. There's a feeding chute I can use to drop his goodies in, and he's so okay with that, he doesn't feel the need to bury his food anywhere else. He just packs a bunch of bedding into the tube at the foot of the chute. Instant cache. He sleeps right there. In fact, he spends very little time in the actual cage itself. Very interesting.
He also highly approves of the exterior running wheel. He likes it so much, that I removed the interior wheel from the cage so his privacy block could go there. He doesn't use that either, though.
Shortwave is also pretty good with the exercise ball. He's got several sizes here, but I generally use the second to smallest one, pictured above. It's the one he was using when I first met him, and it seems about right for him.
The only problem with the setup is that he's terribly tempted to chew up the edge of the habitrail tube that connects to the feeding chute, or else it's the edge of the chute component itself. I can't really see in there well enough to tell. Besides the noise, it can't be all that good for him, and sooner or later the thing will come apart, surely. I'll have to figure something out for that.
