I have just completed a major change to Sammy’s habitat. After much deliberation, shopping in numerous stores, carpet and otherwise, I came home with a 4′ x 5′ carpet roll from Target. It’s not natural – some artificial stuff that’s very low pile and stain resistant – but I was so frustrated with what’s available that I decided to go with Sarita’s advice to get cheap and simple and just cover it. 

Sammy has proven that she is not a carpet eater given any other option. She is demonstrating that right now by chowing down supper, after only briefly sniffing the new floor of her digs. I’ll know more when she settles down and I see if she bunches her flannel sheet for a pillow, [edit: I folded another flannel sheet and put it along the edge so she’ll have a pillow already.] or moves her cuddle cup around again.

Meanwhile, I have a much larger seagrass matte that holds all of her food and water dishes flat. And I’d solved the piles of poos problem next to her hay basket by adding a second litter pan in front of it, so she can munch her hay and poo there, or just go in her main litter box next to it.

The new rug extends farther out past one side, so I have her supply cabinet holding it down on that side. The x-pen is 4’x4′ so it’s a snug fit on three sides. Not as pretty, but I am hoping it will be cleaner and better to keep clean. She’s strictly a carpet bunny – never touches the floor in the kitchen or bathroom, so maybe this will work out.

I had to remove the tiles because they shifted out of place badly on the plastic liner they were stuck to. They got this sticky stuff along their edges throughout the rows, the fleece picked it up, there were leaks in the seams a bit, and they started cracking through their middles. Well, $10 a package at Big Lots, so I guess I got what I paid for.

One carpet option did make me drool: I could have gotten a remnant of SEAGRASS carpet cut to size, ie. 4.5′ x 4.5′, for $120. For that $ (I don’t have right now) I could have sprung for a great pen to attach to my x-pen. So, I continued the search for cheap but possible. I am not pleased using the man-made material, but it’s so flat, and she’s so used to carpet, that I will be very surprised if I catch her chewing it.

Pix? But of course.