Seymore Panics

Life with Seymore requires you stick to a schedule or make adjustments along the way. There's the daily feedings, the play time and cleaning time. I normally cleaned Seymore's cage and washed his bedding at night, while Mike had him out to play. However, I hadn't the night before due to unexpected plans. While Mike was home for lunch, I took the opportunity and even washed the cage, too. His home was clean and ready for him to reenter.

When I went in that evening to feed Seymore, he was in a panic. He jumped around the cage and flung himself at the door. I opened it to see if he'd climb out to eat but he ran up my arm instead. Seymore desperately tried to escape so I called Mike. While we love the little guy, there's no way I'm allowing him run of the house. It's too dangerous.

Mike even had a difficult time calming Seymore and getting him to eat. We both were worried. We had to put him back in the cage early since he was becoming too difficult to handle. As a last ditch effort, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a nut ball. You'll find the article on nut balls here. I thought maybe the extra calcium in the balls would help settle him. When I put my hand in the cage, Seymore snatched the nut ball from me and began munching. What happened next surprised us.

The Problem
When Seymore was half way through the nut ball he stopped eating. He walked over to the side of the cage, put the nut ball between the bedding and the cage wall and left. He then retrieved a piece of torn paper towel, laid it atop the nut ball and turned looking straight at us as if to say, "Don't mess with my stash." Inadvertently, I had thrown out his stash of hidden food when I cleaned the cage. He went back and got another piece of paper towel, wiped his hands and face and laid it atop the nut ball too. He was calm the rest of the evening and the next morning.

Personal hygiene and a healthy stash of food is really important to our boy.