Pogglebee Growing Up

Little by little, Poggles is growing up.  He's getting bigger, fatter, and a little more used to his new life with my family.  He's also developed some nice habits that make my life a little easier.  

First of all, he doesn't randomly poop anymore.  It used to be that he'd poop all over you if you tried to handle him.  He just couldn't control himself.  Now, you can play with him and you'll stay clean (Phewf!).

Secondly, he only poops on his wheel and inside of his litterbox.  What a champ!  The rest of his house stays poop free.  Well... almost.  He has the unfortunate habit of dragging his dirty paper towel into his house.  I think he uses it like a blanket to curl into, and as a plug for the door of his pouch.  

Each morning I have to steal his dirty blanket away from him.  Ewww.... 

I found a solution though.  (Owning Pogglebee is all about problem solving.)  I got rid of his corner litterbox and put the big, rectangular litterbox directly under the wheel.  Now the litterbox catches all of the moisture and poop, and the paper towel is just a floor towel for when he climbs out of the box.  The paper towel stays pretty clean, and I don't mind as much that he hugs it at night.  

Another big plus lately is that he has become more friendly.  Guess how?  I switched from letting him free-feed to hand-feeding most of his meals.  I still leave him a snack out during the day, but he has to wait for me to get the bulk of his food.  Yes, it takes more time to feed him one piece at a time, but he knows I'm nice now.

I've upgraded from scary cleaning lady to food lady.

I can lure him out of his house with a piece of food, and after that, I can pet his forehead or gently scratch or rub his chin while he's eating.  I find it really nice that I can touch him without him freaking out now.  I had to start with just touching his nose, then it moved to chin rub, and now it's small forehead strokes.  He's still against being touched on his back, but I'm working on it  :)

Oh, and just now, I used my stethoscope to listen to his heart through his fleece pouch.  His heart beats so fast!  My classmates in the Maternity ward have been telling me about how baby hearts beat super fast too.  Maybe I can practice counting Pogglebee's heart so that I'll be more prepared to count super fast baby hearts?

 Have a great day!