He's less of a nibbler, really, and more of Tasmanian devil but the name suits him nevertheless. He sleeps through the day and when night falls comes out of his burrow and wreaks havoc: climbing, running, hopping about, carrying stuff, rearranging bedding, coming out to ask for a treat, jumping from balconies.
He does not like to be petted but he enjoys eating and taking treats from extended hand.
He appreciates frequent changes of fresh drinking water and not having his house cleaned too often as all his scent cues are lost when cleaned.
He also likes toys and having someone watch him do stunts and award him with linseed or sunflower seeds afterward.
It takes a lot of watching and trial and error to learn how to please solitary crepuscular animal but learning that is immensely rewarding. My daughter also seems to share my pleasure of learning that and her caring for Nibbles is exemplary. In many things Nibbles is, beside being wonderous creature and a family member, an educational prop. With his help I mold raising my daughter and through caring for him I share my thoughts and notions of ethics, of common ground, of interconnections of worlds and of caring for people.
Caring is important. Society is important. Hand washes a hand and nothing gets left out of the loop.
You do not do unto others what you would not want to be done unto yourself.
Only individually tailored care is good enough to be called care.
And caring is home.
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This is sixth post in the series "What is home?". Read posts one, two, three, four and five below.
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