Moving Right Along: Snickerspants Part 6
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '21
Ha ! Thanks, y'all, but it's literally the birthday of Snick's HOUSE. His adoptionversary would have been a couple of weeks ago. Facebook just did its reminder thing about my very first picture of the Snickersplex, at that time a vast, shavings-filled 2x2x3 with one tiny Snickers in it. I can't at all recall why I thought that was going to be a good idea, but I did. And it was seeing him rattle sadly around his giant cage that made me realize he needed a buddy. Previously, in the "free cage" he came with (and in which, horribly, I made him live for a couple of weeks), it was utterly out of the question.
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '21
Well, I know there's a debate about levels, and I know the ramp area is lost space. It does limit the zoomie area on both levels. But I needed something movable, and it gives pigs a choice about general atmosphere, I think. Snick is much more frequently upstairs than not. He likes people and upstairs is where he can interact with them most directly. VickieWhiskers spent her first 2 or 3 months with us never leaving the cave under the ramp, and even still, she's a downstairs pig. The other two use both levels about equally. I like that they have the choice. Although I do manipulate it because the bigger hay rack is upstairs and all fresh food is served upstairs.
And, Clairey, Snick isn't sure he'd say it was "perfect" exactly. There was the time the doctor took his man-bits and he had to stop eating for a while to communicate his displeasure. He had to work really hard using charades to tell us every time Miss Ouiser made a bladder stone, and then he had to nurse her when she was sick. There was the time a new sow showed up and smelled weird and made him feel all rumbly and defensive, and then one day she just reached down into her nethers and procured two entirely new guinea pigs with no explanation whatsoever, and expected him to raise them. And now of course he has to work really hard explaining to three sows that he is the Top Pig and how they need to acknowledge him and quit their sow drama. It isn't an EASY life.
But on balance it has probably been OKAY.
And, Clairey, Snick isn't sure he'd say it was "perfect" exactly. There was the time the doctor took his man-bits and he had to stop eating for a while to communicate his displeasure. He had to work really hard using charades to tell us every time Miss Ouiser made a bladder stone, and then he had to nurse her when she was sick. There was the time a new sow showed up and smelled weird and made him feel all rumbly and defensive, and then one day she just reached down into her nethers and procured two entirely new guinea pigs with no explanation whatsoever, and expected him to raise them. And now of course he has to work really hard explaining to three sows that he is the Top Pig and how they need to acknowledge him and quit their sow drama. It isn't an EASY life.
But on balance it has probably been OKAY.
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AldenM1
- Supporter in '21
I had been lying on the guest bed reading for an hour or so. Every ten minutes, Snickers tentatively suggested that maybe NOW it was dinner time? I assured him that it was still mid-afternoon and not dinner time.
Then I heard a "pop." It was followed by another "pop" -- then several more in succession. They were pops I knew, from a time long ago. I jumped up and did a quick nose-count... three innocent sows gazing at me innocently... and one pig-shaped lump of fleece, running around popping binder clips.
After he was extricated and moved upstairs, Snick glared at me and said "NOW is it dinner time?"
The evidence.
"It's what she would have wanted me to do."
Then I heard a "pop." It was followed by another "pop" -- then several more in succession. They were pops I knew, from a time long ago. I jumped up and did a quick nose-count... three innocent sows gazing at me innocently... and one pig-shaped lump of fleece, running around popping binder clips.
After he was extricated and moved upstairs, Snick glared at me and said "NOW is it dinner time?"
The evidence.
"It's what she would have wanted me to do."
SHOP AMAZON