Weatherizing Cricket’s Bed

All day today the icy wind was pummeling people, pushing them this way and that and making it difficult to breathe as well as drive on flat stretches of highway. it was a mess. The high was in the fifties today and the wind gusts made it feel much colder. The low is scheduled to be in the thirties tonight. I tried to bring Cricket inside to get some shut eye in the heat last night and she hated every minute of it. She wanted to hunt and roam and she tried to chew the pet taxi to pieces. I put her back outside and she was fine. It became apparent to me that cricket would not be able to spend cold nights indoors. I immediately began worrying she would freeze to death and began plans to weatherize her pet taxi. I put the plywood on the porch to shield her from wind and rain. I made the bottom layer of bedding hay, then a t-shirt, then several layers of cut up blanket, then a cut up fleece lined sweater/jacket. I used the scraps to cover the tops and sides of the pet taxi, blocking the wind from coming in through the air holes. Cricket tried it out several times throughout the afternoon. Thats how i knew she liked it. Finally i made a tunnel with the box the mini Christmas tree came in incase she needed to make a quick getaway from a predator.

When nightfall came i watched her finish her supper, turn and immediately run swiftly into her new bed. She stayed there hunkered down instead of going on adventures or hunting. Tonight it’s cold and windy. Im very glad she’s in there and i hope she stays warm overnight. I hope her new winter bed/nest is super comfortable and cozy enough to keep her skinny self from being chilled in this weather.