The Goblin Diaries (previously Quitting Smoking)

Trying to feed Cam can sometimes be an art form. Yesterday he got his breakfast pepper but while he put his feet back inside the tent, left his head poking out and predictably dropped the pepper. Once finished chewing he looked down and then looked back at me like "can I have it back plz".

And then I gave them each a mint sprig earlier. Bann got his and ran, as he does. Cam got his and didn't move. At all. He stayed put with his front half still perched outside the flap, so not only were various mint leaves dropping to the floor but I also couldn't zip the flap back up. I had to stand there picking up the abandoned leaves just waiting for him to remember to go back inside the tent.

He reminds me more of Comet every single day, lol.
 
He's also learned the difference to me going to the front door, and coming in the front door, and he nearly got me in trouble with my neighbour the other day because, right as he'd walked past my door I'd opened the door door and groaned "ffs stop it I was only at the bin". I don't know if he quite believed me when I said it was my guinea pig's fault :coat:

He's been in hangry mode all day for some reason, but when I point out it might work out better if he stopped playing with his food... 🤷‍♂️
 
My Evri driver is great. Happy Hay have switched to Evri for delivery and I forgot to pause the subscription (again!). He's not supposed to have the larger deliveries, they're supposed to be on the van, but he said if he could fit it in the car he'd bring it to me and he did. I walked it round to the house (at my insistence, it's bulkier than it is heavy) and then he asked me where I was hiding the horse :))

Meanwhile I've been sitting telling myself to give the goblins a grape for three days and then I kept eating them instead. Mmm, black grapes. I did finally stop automatically shovelling them into my gob for long enough that they'd get their share but...black grapes, y'know?
 
So every night, after I've locked up downstairs and done all the Goblin stuff and switched off the light, and gone back upstairs, there's usually a scuffle in the cage. A few minor protest squeals, but no more. I mean whatever, right, that's their routine and they like it.

Except tonight, Cam screamed.

Bolted back downstairs, switched the light on, stood at the cage and looked. There's a momentary silent pause as I see Bann in the middle of the cage eating hay. No sign of Cam, no sign of anything amiss. Finally said, "What just happened?"

And just like that...remember as kids if the teacher left the classroom briefly and came back to WW3 having gone off in the classroom and everyone's too nervous to say anything, then when the teacher asks what happened everyone starts talking at once? Because that's what I got. The minute I spoke there was a large outburst of chatter from both of them, which is how I worked out Bann was eating hay in the cage 3' away from Cam who was in bed, cocooning himself inside with packing paper.

🤨

Send help. I think I might need it.
 
That scream genuinely had me thinking he was half an inch from death, I've not run like that in a while. Overdramatic little git. I still have no idea what he freaked out at, Bann wasn't close enough to have been the culprit this time.

He's getting older and beginning to lose a little condition around his bum, so I'm trialling him with some oats (he was a little perplexed by the pile of light brown things, but he still ate them) but it's good to know he still enjoys trying to scare me to death over nothing.
 
Oh, Bann. I offered Cam the tub of oats earlier because he was being slow about getting out of bed and Bann wasn't, and Bann would've eaten the lot if I'd tossed the oats in the cage instead. So okay, now both goblins have a head in the tub. This worked right up til I tried to take the tub back. Cam got the hint. Bann? Bann did not. Bann kept leaning forward to try and reach the tub again and fell onto my knee and then freaked out because my knee was Outside The Home. And when I rescued him and helped him back into the tent, his response was to act like it was all my fault and how dare I do that to him. Greedy git.
 
I went downstairs to feed the goblins. I came back upstairs with a wrecked back, wrecked thumb, a hatred for surgical gloves, a panic I'd lost my phone outside, and a mysteriously empty 30l bag of Megazorb. I didn't get the goblins any cucumber.

On the bright side, they got a spontaneous cage clean?
 
It's almost impossible to get a good photo of them in the tent because of the netting (that same netting makes it a bloody pain to get soiled hay out lol), and Bann does a runner the minute he twigs the camera is out. So any opportunity to get a photo, and I'll take it. Or take 5 and then be unable to choose my favourite lol.

Cam's currently asleep with his head buried in hay though. Anywhere he could sleep, and that's what he goes for.
 
So, now that I feel much more optimistic about his chances - I thought I was going to lose Cam on Friday.

He'd been a little off for a few days, including letting me stroke all down his back in the cage for several minutes. I thought it was maybe a hay change (Happy Hay timothy for life, apparently), or a mild stomach upset because he's prone to them but his weight was staying good, so I just kept an eye. And on Friday, he stopped wanting food. Not that he couldn't eat it, he just wasn't interested. He didn't even want a grape. And I argued with myself all day about taking him to the vet because there were no obvious signs of trouble Bar his appetite and if he was dying, so long as he wasn't uncomfortable I wanted to give him the chance to go at home.

I ended up having a drink next door on Friday night to avoid the inevitable doomsday thinking, since I could check on him frequently still. Woke up Saturday, he still hid in bed and Bann was doing his utmost best to keep him safe from the human which did not make me feel better.

An hour later I went to give the veggies, sliced a pepper in half, and he came looking for his piece. Took more effort than I'd like not to whoop out loud right then. Now it's like Friday never actually happened, the little sod.

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My amazing wee man :wub:
 
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I can't believe I was mentally preparing to say goodbye on Friday, when I've just had to tell him he got fed 5 minutes ago and no, I hadn't forgotten lol. Hell I even bought recovery food, only for it to turn up after he wanted food again :doh: oh well. The kitchen cupboard can keep an eye on it.
 
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