Friday, March 28, 2008

Climbing up the ramp

So Niko climbed up one of the ramps. Okay, climbed is an understatement. He knew his yummy dry cat food was up there and latched his little front paws to the top of the ramp while his back paws tried their best to follow him up. He finally scratched his way up...




I knew I had to add more traction to the ramp. My initial plan of course was to apply sandpaper on the ramps for purposes of trimming his nails, but I decided to have a little fun with it as well. So behold, Niko's faux rock climbing wall!

Also, Niko is currently sleeping in the faux grass in his play pen...

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hedgie Play Pen

I started making plans about 2 weeks ago for a play pen for Niko. The main goal being creating ramps with sandpaper so he can trim his own nails... also the reason why I got a clay pot for his cage (in hopes that he'd scratch at it).

Today after work I did my shopping trip to get supplies, the main component being cube organizers to use as enclosing walls.

I also found a cute welcome mat that I think would serve as a good alternate terrain for Niko to explore... and hopefully trim his nails on...

Then I went to Michaels... they had fake grass on sale (still expensive, but half off) which again, maybe Niko would like to explore. The flowers maybe are more for my pleasure than his though...

Okay, and this is where I'm really spoiling him, but I couldn't resist the wooden letters!

And then, the ramps, right, I was making ramps. Well I got plywood pieces!

And a hand-saw... and bowls to prop up the plywood...

Also another toy, I bought a mini glue gun, very handy.

And we have ramps! That Niko so far avoided on his first exploration of the play pen... but I'm sure he'll learn to use them.

Niko checks out his new digs:





This is Niko's new TV. I got a Chumby from work to play with (learn about, interact with, etc). I basically set all the widgets to animal ones, including a feed of the photos from this blog!

Burrowing in the Bedding

It's been a long while since a post, so ya'll deserve many photos! Here we go...

So Niko's favorite on the floor activity: chewing my carpet! (note the quick tongue lick below)

He also ran around below my sofa, going in circles around the legs of the sofa. You can see his hind leg is taking a little hedgehog step.

And then... he pooped on my carpet, so I put him in his bathroom (the smaller plastic bin with bedding in it). Which he proceeded to burrow into.

A pit stop to check out his reflection on the side...

An innocent face peeking out from under the bedding...


While that was my Saturday, I had a bit of a scare on Sunday night. The fire alarm went off in the building about a quarter to midnight. My mind raced as I tried to think of what I needed to take. "Purse, coat, heart necklace, niko (in niko's carrier... thankfully he was in his fleece bed which made him really easy to pick up and put into the carrier), work laptop? nah, don't need that" Anyways, I got outside with my other neighbors, most of whom had pet dogs. Two fire trucks arrived, and they surveyed the four floors of the building. It turns out that someone had pulled the fire alarm on the bottom floor, but there was no emergency and we were allowed to return back to our apartments. Got back sometime after midnight, but it took me a while to get to sleep because my mind was still racing... what if there really was a fire?

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Hedgie on a cloud


I bought Niko a little fleece bed for him to sleep in... in lieu of shredding the lining in the corner of his cage every night. Of course this morning I found him not in his bed, but I am convinced he can learn! Here's today lesson:

Niko: *burrow burrow burrow*

Niko: *nudge nudge nudge* ... it fell

Niko: ok mom, how was I suppose to use this again?


Niko: *climb climb climb*

Niko: I'm king of the cloud!

Niko: time to curl up...

Niko: hedgie ball on a cloud complete!