Someone asked me recently about my pipe toys and if kittens get stuck in them. I'll be honest, I hadn't had a litter use them at that point, however I always thought the pipe would be too big and if they did get in, they'd be able to easily get out as the end caps are deliberately loose flaps and oversize. But I can now tell you the answer!
Since Nils's kittens have started eating solid food as well as her still feeding them I've been trying to make sure that she has her own separate stash of food as the babies are basically tiny gannets, and as their parent Nils still needs to be able to provide for them. I popped a pipe toy in with some extra food in for Nils as the babies were too small to reach it. But they've been going crazy trying to work out what it is and how to get to it. After watching their mum get food out of it now for well over a week I was excited to be able to capture the moment where one baby cracked it. It was pretty impressive, my little cham buck seemed very happy with himself. He also very easily popped himself back out when he was done gorging on his reward. The little chocolate buck quite quickly cottoned on after that. It's actually really rewarding seeing them grow and learn from something that's quite simple but has apparently been teaching them how to puzzle solve.
Thank you so much to everyone that bought my pipe toys for their babies. My initial run has now sold out, I'll be making a new batch shortly and will have some with me when I attend the NFRS Scottish Champs show on 2nd September.
Thanks to Charlotte at Goedric's Hollow for sharing her kids exploring the toy.
Baby Ruthie is the sweetest bean.
How do the babies learn not to bite? By biting. Mostly test bites to learn that fingers aren't tasty. Piranha mode engaged.
I would die for this girl.
