They're starting to be a bit more adventurous. I've got a small crate in their pen so that they can start to get used to one. This is the 1st time any of them has gotten into the crate. A couple of them have stuck their noses in but didn't venture inside. That's Haymitch sacked out just inside the crate.
So far, he tends to be the 1st to do things. He was the 1st born and the 1st to climb out of the whelping box. He is the smallest and tends to be the quietest. He'll sleep a lot more than the others although he will play a bit if someone else instigates it.
Prim, however, seems to be getting the potty training best. She usually goes when I put her on the paper. The others take some time but she tends to go pretty quickly. Last night, I put her on the paper to pee and she did. I told her what a good girlie she was and put her in the whelping box. She climbed out and I put her back. We did that 3 times and I finally just let her go where she wanted. She went to the paper and pooped. Not sure if that was completely coincidence but I was excited!
I was able to get 4 out of 5 to pee on the paper this morning one time. That's about my best average. They don't all want to pee right when they wake up and once they decide to go, there is no waiting. So, for now, it's still pretty much a combo of catching them and doing a LOT of laundry. I'm letting them stay out of the box during the day unless they venture in which they might do once or twice. It's way easier to change the loose bedding on the floor than it is to take that whelping box apart and change it.
No teeth so far. I tried solid food again today with similar results. They will lick it off my fingers if I stick my fingers right in front of their mouths but not much excitement. Maybe they are getting enough from Gidget still. She still feeds them every 2-4 hours or so (sometimes longer between feedings and sometimes closer.) Basically whenever they wake up. She doesn't usually feed them for very long at a time, though. So long as they are gaining weight, I'm not going to get too excited. They will be 4 weeks old in 2 days (Wednesday). Plenty of time for them to learn to eat.
Peeta is the social butterfly of the bunch, at least so far. He will come to me when I go into the pen and he will try really hard to play with my dog through the pen. Gidget doesn't like that at all and growls at my dog. She gets along with him fine when she is not around the babies but she is still very protective of them. She did let my husband go into the pen with them the other day, actually acted as though is was pretty normal. She'll bark and have a fit when he looks over the side of the pen usually, though.
They are all pretty "mouthy". I guess that's a good thing because they'll learn bite inhibition. As they have no teeth yet, there's not been anyone, including me, who has objected to their chewing. And they can be very active with their mouths. They will grab on and shake their heads. I've been redirecting them to a toy when they chew on me (well, I let them chew on me a little because it is so sweet - I know - probably shouldn't but time enough to be more proactive in redirecting when the teeth come in.)
They are getting better at walking (some more so than others). I saw Peeta actually try to run for a few steps this morning.
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