We fasten The Em's "mattress" with blue ribbons! We tie a ribbon
around each corner, far enough up the corner to make a "mouse's
ear"...and then we pull the ribbons taut and tie them around the
bars of the cage. The mattress is placed on his "upper deck."
  Then he has two nest boxes, one on the middle platform and one
on the cage floor. I punched holes in the cardboard and fastened
them to the cage bars with plastic leaf-bag twisties--the kind
that loop through like a "topsy-tail" hair fastener--with the ends
outside the cage.
  His quilt is in one box and his sleeping bag in the other and he
usually leaves both of them in their boxes.
  This makes for easy weekly clean-up--throw all the cloth stuff in
the washer and dustbuster the boxes!
  We learned the hard way not to fasten things with yarn--Em tried
to untie and ended up swallowing some, which fortunately went right
through him (changing color along the way)--we were lucky!
  We also punched holes in the litter box and fastened it down so
he couldn't tip it over (one of his early "fun" games)
  Many thanx to Dr. Williams and to Jim L. for reassurance about the
"blue" strip at the corner of Em's eye! I am happy to know this is
normal (especially since he has 'em on both eyes)
   Kate Pappas and Emmett Kelly Point-Three
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p.s. Em panics on washday--he hides toys under his mattress and, when
it is being washed, the toys are *visible* and when he notices this,
he frantically climbs up to the platform to "rescue" them and hides
them under the chair! The chair framework makes "shelves" under the
chair and he very neatly arranges his things along these shelves. I
wish I could get the kids to put *their* things on their shelves!
 
 
[Posted in FML issue 0690]