Chinchilla guillotine

Our youngest chinchilla, Kozmo, is a crafty little escape artist.  I let them out of their cage for an hour every night, like prisoners.  This is the time I clean their cage, which requires daily cleaning.  We have a section of the basement blocked off with tables, old doors, cardboard, etc., so they can run free without having free reign to poop all over the whole basement.  I would think they would just be grateful to be out of their cage, but no.  Kozmo is constantly looking for ways to escape the enclosed area. He is very smart, and even more fast and agile.  I'm amazed that he manages to juke me every night and find some new way to bust out. Then I have to chase him around the whole basement as he darts in and out of corners, behind boxes, and even under the furnace.  During one of these episodes, Sarah came down and wanted to know what was for dinner, and I mumbled, "Chinchilla bisque." 

Last night, I saw Kozmo sitting on the workbench across from me, watching me.  I could see him studying the layout, looking for weak links, and biding his time.  When I went to clean his cage, he made his move.  My head was inside the cage, and I was up to my elbows in poop, when I saw a gray blur out of the corner of my eye.  I turned just in time to see Kozmo get a running start and make an incredible ninja jump, ricochet off the side of the couch, and fly over the blockade. 

Shadow the cat was hot on his trail, so I decided to finish cleaning the cage and let Shadow herd the rodent back into the enclosure.  A few minutes later, I heard a ruckus upstairs and feared that Kozmo had figured out how to use the stairs, which he had never done before.  Mike was in the living room, and was quite displeased to see the rodent come flying into the room with the cat right behind him. 

So today, Mike (who is not known for his love of chinchillas) is strengthening the fortress.  Noah heard him down there and asked me what he was doing.  I told him he was building reinforcements to keep the chinchillas in, and Noah said, "Right. He's probably building a chinchilla guillotine."