Socktraption

This morning the boys seemed to be happy after their sleep in the nest. While we were eating breakfast Gizmo was brave enough to go up the tube. He was not, however, brave enough to go back down again. He sniffed around the tube and the edge of the platform, but didn't even get close to coming down. I lifted him down once in the tube, but decided to let him make his own way down next time, because I wouldn't always be there to lift him. He ran straight back upstairs, so I watched to see what he would do. He peeked down the tube, had a wash (including his tail) then nibbled at the bars and showed no sign of going down. Gadget came up to see him, I thought with Gadget to teach him Gizmo might go back down. Gadget went up and down the tube, with Gizmo watching, but Gizmo didn't follow. Then Gadget started taking paper upstairs to make a nest. It was getting late by this time, and I didn't want to leave Gizmo there when I went to work. Thus the socktraption was born. The socktraption is an odd sock, pegged to the bars of the cage from upstairs to downstairs. You can see what it looks like in the picture. Gizmo was still unsure and as usual Gadget was first down and then back up the sock. Gizmo got the hang of it though, and I was happy to leave them. We knew that they might gnaw at the sock, but it is only a short term measure to help Gizmo.

I gave them one of their wooden chew sticks from the pet shop. They weren't thrilled with it, but must have been chewing it in the daytime because it had moved from upstairs to downstairs. I also tried them with some swede, but again they weren't that bothered. They had a tiny nibble, but nothing much.

Tonight they made their nest in the teapot, so it should be more comfortable for them.