I was getting ready for work the other day and noticed that Alice had pushed some aspen shavings into her water bowl. When I opened the top of her habitat and reached for the water bowl, she rattled her tail a little bit. She was stretched out and she feels vulnerable in that position. She never even drew her neck into an “S” shape. It is just a nervous reaction and passes quickly. As soon as I started to move her water bowl, she gets curious and wants to find out what is going on. She crawls over and starts to smell of the water bowl and my fingers and hand. She finally satisfies her curiosity enough to sniff around elsewhere and I am able to remove her bowl. As soon as I lift it out, Alice is in the opening where the bowl was sniffing around and burrowing into the aspen shavings. Once I have cleaned the bowl and am ready to put it back in, I cannot keep her out of the place for her water bowl. I would lift up the upper part of her body and move her towards the other end of her habitat. No sooner than I set her back down, she heads right back to where I moved her from. I ended up picking her up just so I could get her water bowl back where it belongs. This is another reason why it is a good idea to have a separate feeding area. I do not have to think about her biting me in a feeding response when I am working in her habitat.
Today is feeding day and it looks like she is on the leading edge of another shed cycle. Her general body color is darker, however her eyes still look clear. Most likely she will miss next Monday’s feeding.