Stupid animal
It's Saturday morning and I'm up. I got up at 7:30, not much later than I do on weekdays. Why? Because Sophie was making noise. I've gotten pretty good at sleeping through her noise, or at least stubbornly staying in bed and waiting for her to get off the wheel long enough for me to fall asleep. But this morning I realized the noise--a scritching, scratching noise--was coming from the wrong place. It was coming from my fabric bag. On the floor. Several feet away from her cage on my dresser.
I drag myself out of bed and listen, and sure enough it sounds like an animal is in there. So I start pulling out fabric. Then it occurs to me that I don't actually know it's Sophie, and her cage is pretty secure. So I go to check the cage, just to be prepared if I'm about to find a rodent or something icky. No lump under the liners. No ball of spikes in the tube. But the connector tube is secure, the cage door is closed on the tall cage and the lid is on the long cage. The glue holding the screen on the long cage, however, didn't stick to the plastic well. I knew this already, but I'd never seen Sophie stand on her back legs or try to climb, so I hadn't worried about it. Oh, what a fool I am.
Convinced it was Sophie and not anything else, I finish pulling out the fabric and sure enough, there's Sophie. Looking rather annoyed at being found. I scoop her out and put her back in her cage, and she promptly burrows under the liner, makes a lap of the cage, and curls up for the day.
I try to weigh down the screen until we can find a glue or tape that will stick to the plastic, but can't think of any way that's heavy enough to stop a hedgehog but won't be too heavy for the lid or block all airflow. So, even though she's settled in and usually sleeps the whole day without moving much, I move her to the other cage, give her a rag to sleep under, and block the connector tube. Sophie does not like this. The tall cage is for food and the wheel, the long cage is for sleeping. And escaping, of course. She scurries around and pokes her nose under the rag, runs in her wheel, goes to check if the tube is opened yet, runs in her wheel some more, and in general gives the impression of an animal who won't go to bed if she can't sleep in her favorite spot.
I say if she wanted to sleep in her favorite spot she shouldn't have escaped and tried to sleep in my fabric bag. Now I have to check every scrap to see if anything needs to be washed.
She's finally given up and gone to sleep. She's probably tired. I don't know when she escaped. She ate a little less than normal last night, but didn't eat when I put her back. She's moving okay. No blood, no signs of pain, no distressed noises. Supposedly hedgehogs curl up when they fall, and their quills act as shock absorbers. I'll make sure she eats okay tonight and keep an eye on her for the next few days, but I think she's okay.
Why couldn't she have done this on a weekday? I'd be up anyway then. But at least I did hear her and find her easily. If I hadn't, I would have had to tear my room apart looking for her.
Little trouble maker.
I drag myself out of bed and listen, and sure enough it sounds like an animal is in there. So I start pulling out fabric. Then it occurs to me that I don't actually know it's Sophie, and her cage is pretty secure. So I go to check the cage, just to be prepared if I'm about to find a rodent or something icky. No lump under the liners. No ball of spikes in the tube. But the connector tube is secure, the cage door is closed on the tall cage and the lid is on the long cage. The glue holding the screen on the long cage, however, didn't stick to the plastic well. I knew this already, but I'd never seen Sophie stand on her back legs or try to climb, so I hadn't worried about it. Oh, what a fool I am.
Convinced it was Sophie and not anything else, I finish pulling out the fabric and sure enough, there's Sophie. Looking rather annoyed at being found. I scoop her out and put her back in her cage, and she promptly burrows under the liner, makes a lap of the cage, and curls up for the day.
I try to weigh down the screen until we can find a glue or tape that will stick to the plastic, but can't think of any way that's heavy enough to stop a hedgehog but won't be too heavy for the lid or block all airflow. So, even though she's settled in and usually sleeps the whole day without moving much, I move her to the other cage, give her a rag to sleep under, and block the connector tube. Sophie does not like this. The tall cage is for food and the wheel, the long cage is for sleeping. And escaping, of course. She scurries around and pokes her nose under the rag, runs in her wheel, goes to check if the tube is opened yet, runs in her wheel some more, and in general gives the impression of an animal who won't go to bed if she can't sleep in her favorite spot.
I say if she wanted to sleep in her favorite spot she shouldn't have escaped and tried to sleep in my fabric bag. Now I have to check every scrap to see if anything needs to be washed.
She's finally given up and gone to sleep. She's probably tired. I don't know when she escaped. She ate a little less than normal last night, but didn't eat when I put her back. She's moving okay. No blood, no signs of pain, no distressed noises. Supposedly hedgehogs curl up when they fall, and their quills act as shock absorbers. I'll make sure she eats okay tonight and keep an eye on her for the next few days, but I think she's okay.
Why couldn't she have done this on a weekday? I'd be up anyway then. But at least I did hear her and find her easily. If I hadn't, I would have had to tear my room apart looking for her.
Little trouble maker.