Bruce Atchison - author wrote:
> Greetings;
>
> I'm new to the list so if this has been recently discussed, please
> pardon
> me. I had a hamster once who loved toilet paper tubes. While I
> changed her
> cage, I let her loose in my bath tub with a number of the tubes. It
> was so
> funny to see how much that little creature had with what most people
> consider garbage. Too bad I didn't have a video camera back in 1982.
> It
> would have been fun to see over and over.
Yes mice love tubes of any kind and kitchen roll ones too, also cardboard
eggboxes which seem to be made of the same stuff (like recycled paper
etc),
with these I just cut a few holes in them and they think it's fantastic,
because it's like a maze inside...they don't stay like that for long
though,
the vandals amongst them usually shred them to a million pieces within a
day
or two....it all becomes bedding within a short while.
I cut a few lengths of plastic drainpipe, about 1.5 inches diameter and
around 14 inches long, then cut holes out here and there, on opposite
sides
and put these in along with a plantpot filled with compost and soil
(compost
alone is too light and they empty it within minutes), they spend hours, or
even days digging, and running through the maze of tubes - there's no
limits
on what you can use without spending a penny, small plantpots laid on
their
side make hidey holes where they can feel safe with a tasty morsel without
getting bullied by a cagemate, a small branch for them to climb up offers
endless fun as does a small wall (piece of flat timber) that they have to
climb over to get food, these all keep them fit too, obesity is a major
killer of small mammals, another thing I do is never put bedding in their
nestbox, if they want a warm bed, they have to make it themselves, I
spread
it around and leave them to gather it all and stack it up how they want
it,
even the idle ones get the idea after sleeping on rough shaving for a few
nights.
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