Hazels social life

[Sommer]

Okay, so I have a couple questions. I have Hazel's big cage out now and I'm working on it. She's not quite ready to go in but I'm just working on it so it's ready when she does. Little by little. At least she can come out and play in it for now when I'm with her. Her baby cage is still in my bedroom because it's very low traffic and quiet. But she really wants to be with me all the time. She likes to ride around in a purse on my neck. I do this a lot with her but sometimes I'm just doing tasks where it doesn't work out. So I have to put her in her cage. And she tries to hang on to the side and look for me. Anytime I walk through the room she wakes up and hangs on the side and wants me to come get her out. So what I started doing is during the day pulling her out into the living room so that even when we can't hold her we are right there with her. I have her on a tall piece of furniture that is only as big around as the cage. So the one cat we have in question has nowhere to go up there. All she can do is sit on the floor at the bottom of it and Hazel can't even see her from there. But she does seem very happy to be with us. of course at night she goes back to the bedroom where she always is with us. Yesterday we had my husband's brother over for dinner. He sat next to her cage in the living room and tried to talk to her. She was acting aggressive toward him and making noise I'd never heard her make. She looked very brave and I was proud of her for her discernment. But I wanted to ask you guys and make sure is this a sign of extreme stress? She is 8 weeks old. I don't want to stress her having her in the quiet room but I don't want to stress her having her in a little more traffic now that she's up and likes to be around us a lot. What do you think is a better situation at 8 weeks? Bedroom only? Living room during the day and bedroom at night?

[Sommer]

Her baby cage is not tiny so she does have room in there. And she does well with people she is not familiar with if she's on me. She does not prefer to get too personal with them and I always make them respect that. Not that we have a high traffic household but we do have a couple relatives that stop by from time to time. I'm just starting to feel like my bedroom was a good setting when she was more of an infant. But she really appreciates having us move around her and interact with her even if we can't give her total attention and go in the room to play with her or carry her around. I feel like she'd be happier with her cage out during the day and in the bedroom at night. Anybody advise against that? It is very safe and locks and she is in no danger.

[CritterMom]

If she was stressed out when your friend came in, she would have been hiding. If she was out and about and up at the cage bars fussing, she was basically telling him to get packing and get his ugly mug out of HER space. Good for her! She doesn't know him so she doesn't trust him and that is a very good thing. If she is happier out there, by all means let her spend the days in the living room and sleep in the baby cage at light. Make sure she has a place in both cages where she can sleep completely away from prying eyes, and make sure it is up at the top of the cage, not the bottom. The hanging cubes are really nice and they just LOVE them.

[Sommer]

Oh good! Yeah my gut feeling was that it was bravado. But I wanted to make sure that wasn't stress. She loves to be out there with us but normally it's just the people she knows. She also loves to hang out anywhere I am. I set her a play cage up on the deck so she can go out there with us too. I do not plan on putting her in it or leaving her in it when I am not right there with her but with the nice weather we spend a lot of time on the deck and for now it's just a safe place for her to play and be right there with us.

[Sommer]

Her outside play room. I made a loft and bought a bunny hideaway for a nest in it so she has somewhere to tuck away and hide if something scares her and it was cheap and easy to toss since it's not the one she actually uses. I have her nest at the top left in her baby cage but she prefers the purse I carry her around in so I stuck that in there too. It's up at the top but not the very top. Working on a wood nest for her that will be her permanent big girl nest when she's ready for a big cage and getting used to being outside so one day we can transfer it to the trees.

[Sommer]

Sorry, don't know why some of the pictures go sideways. She's just now 8 weeks. So you think that's okay to just have little play spots for her everywhere we hang out? Not too much territory for a little squirrel? She seems to really prefer it as opposed to being away from us. The only one I leave her in without supervision is still her baby cage in our quiet bedroom.

[Sommer]

At this point keeping her in her baby cage in the bedroom, you can't tiptoe past her quiet enough. She pops out and clings to those bars like you've got to take me with you! So I just move that to the living room during the day and back to the bedroom at night. And now we have a place where she can spend more time with us on the deck. She doesn't want to be alone and we can't hang out in the bedroom all day. I just know y'all say to follow nature and at just 8wks they probably still wouldn't be going far from a permanent nest so I wanted to make sure you guys didn't think all this territory was too overwhelming for her.