Back By Popular Demand: Recycling Rodents
For anyone who missed this :-) Or just wants another laugh out of it.
Observing pet gerbils and hamsters, and mice, I came to realize that they embody and utilize the perfect ideals of a recycling, reusing, and reducing. We can all learn a few lessons from rodent behavior and benfit from having them around!
1. Bedding. When I first got rodents, I bought shredded pine bedding. It's very nice and smells good, but when you have to clean the cages frequently, it can get expensive. I started to look for ways to 'stretch' the pine bedding so I wouldn't have to use so much. First thing I reached for was craft scraps. I knit, crochet, and quilt so I always have a lot of yarn and fabric scraps hanging around. Instead of throwing these out, I started putting them in a bag and using a handful for a nice, soft bed. They don't care that the color is ugly or the yarn is kinked up. To them it is a soft, warm bed and an ideal nesting material. I started also tossing in the swatches and odd misfires from my needlework projects. A poorly-colored granny square or a too-small hat will make a cozy bed for a rodent!
2. Paper Shredders. In seeking pine shaving stretchers, I saw the mounds of nice shredded paper the paper shredder at my office made. I asked the boss for a bag of it and he was happy to oblige me. I have a huge bag of shreds that has outlived 2 animals already. Paper shreds give a nice volume to the cage for burrowing and digging. They are free, too! Then one night I was looking at a statement from a bank account. I didn't want to toss it for fear of identity theft. And we don't have a shredder at home. I thought about taking it to work, but it was the weekend. Finally I tossed it in the gerbil cage. They banded together and shredded that page in less than half an hour. Won't replace a commercial paper shredder on a large scale, but they got some exercise and extra bedding, and I got to shred a potentially sensitive document. Very thoroughly.
3. Food scraps. When I cut the end off of a carrot or drop a spaghetti noodle on the floor, I rinse it off and give it to my animals. We wouldn't necessarily eat it, but it is still good food and someone can get nutrition out of it. This also reduces the amount of animal food I have to purchase. Animal treats are madly expensive, but small animals are just as happy with a piece of carrot, a piece of cereal, or some spaghetti, and it is less expensive for you and better for them.
4. Cage furniture. Sure, you can buy a gerbil dish but why? Don't you have any Tupperware lids that have lost their bottoms? Or ashtrays that aren't in use since you stopped smoking? How about a little mismatched dish from the clearance bin? I promise the rodents won't care!
So, now that you all have positive evidence I am certifiably nuts, think too about how pet rodents can be our recycling partners!
Observing pet gerbils and hamsters, and mice, I came to realize that they embody and utilize the perfect ideals of a recycling, reusing, and reducing. We can all learn a few lessons from rodent behavior and benfit from having them around!
1. Bedding. When I first got rodents, I bought shredded pine bedding. It's very nice and smells good, but when you have to clean the cages frequently, it can get expensive. I started to look for ways to 'stretch' the pine bedding so I wouldn't have to use so much. First thing I reached for was craft scraps. I knit, crochet, and quilt so I always have a lot of yarn and fabric scraps hanging around. Instead of throwing these out, I started putting them in a bag and using a handful for a nice, soft bed. They don't care that the color is ugly or the yarn is kinked up. To them it is a soft, warm bed and an ideal nesting material. I started also tossing in the swatches and odd misfires from my needlework projects. A poorly-colored granny square or a too-small hat will make a cozy bed for a rodent!
2. Paper Shredders. In seeking pine shaving stretchers, I saw the mounds of nice shredded paper the paper shredder at my office made. I asked the boss for a bag of it and he was happy to oblige me. I have a huge bag of shreds that has outlived 2 animals already. Paper shreds give a nice volume to the cage for burrowing and digging. They are free, too! Then one night I was looking at a statement from a bank account. I didn't want to toss it for fear of identity theft. And we don't have a shredder at home. I thought about taking it to work, but it was the weekend. Finally I tossed it in the gerbil cage. They banded together and shredded that page in less than half an hour. Won't replace a commercial paper shredder on a large scale, but they got some exercise and extra bedding, and I got to shred a potentially sensitive document. Very thoroughly.
3. Food scraps. When I cut the end off of a carrot or drop a spaghetti noodle on the floor, I rinse it off and give it to my animals. We wouldn't necessarily eat it, but it is still good food and someone can get nutrition out of it. This also reduces the amount of animal food I have to purchase. Animal treats are madly expensive, but small animals are just as happy with a piece of carrot, a piece of cereal, or some spaghetti, and it is less expensive for you and better for them.
4. Cage furniture. Sure, you can buy a gerbil dish but why? Don't you have any Tupperware lids that have lost their bottoms? Or ashtrays that aren't in use since you stopped smoking? How about a little mismatched dish from the clearance bin? I promise the rodents won't care!
So, now that you all have positive evidence I am certifiably nuts, think too about how pet rodents can be our recycling partners!
posted by knittykat @ 9:48 AM
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