BLERK! She likes to sit in here and eat hay and poop and THEN she eats her poop. I mean really! She’s all prim and proper and perfect and there she is eating her poo!
But she explained to me why she does it:
There are two kinds of Squiggles poop. The round ones that look like cocoa puffs and squishier ones that look like a bunch of brown grapes. The grapes are called cecotropes and that is what Squiggles eats. There are nutrients in the cecotropes (called cecals for short) and Squiggles munches them to take advantage of the work of her gut bacteria in generating crucial vitamins. On the first pass, her intestinal bacteria break down and convert many chemicals in her food, which she can then absorb properly once she re-chews and sends the food through her system a second time.
Squiggles says that if I prevent her from consuming her pellets, she will die of deficiency diseases.
I don’t believe a word of it and I won’t be sleeping here again! Aren’t you glad I didn’t provide photos.
Ok ok maybe this cartoon from HAZFRAME explains her weirdness better:
