The Snake Game - A White Nylon Cord

Lucius has a 5 foot white nylon cord with a knot on each end. It is soft, and I don't remember its origin. It has been a cat toy about our house for years. It is out, put away, found, reemployed, forgotten, found again, and so on. Lucius found it when we were in the process of organizing our house.

The day he found it, he carried it about the house as his prize. It made tracks about the lower floor. He would run around with one end of the cord in his mouth. He threw it up in the air. He would go up and down the stairs with it. If we caught an end, we would pull it. He would chase the end.

Now, in our home, I have a make-up chair. It has a white easy clean seat. We bought it from Home Outfitters. It was a not so cheap appliance add, which I share. These days, the chair sits on a carpet in the bathroom just in front of a warm vent. Lucius, all on his own, invented a game.

At night, while we are sleeping, and other times, if you hear unusual scraping (our tile will never mark), Lucius has begun his play. He pulls the cord around and through the risers of the chair till it looks like that cord art. He has pulled it through the chair multiple times. The situation is then, he pulls one end of the cord with his mouth, and the other end of the cord is somewhere in the middle or on the edge of the chair cord weave. As he pulls, the other cord end moves and he attacks it much like he would attack another cat's tail. He pulls and paws, sometimes gently and other times forcefully to kill the serpent.

On occasion, Lucius needs an intervention. You can tell when he pulls and the whole chair pulls across the tile. This is because Lucius made a knot with his weaving about in there. One of us pet parents needs to undo his knot so he can continue his play. Then, he launches back into the game. He entertains himself for hours a day.

This morning, Lucius pulled his string to a new chair to try it out. The rules are: the chair needs 4 legs and risers to weave through. This other chair is a bit more heavy, and in my opinion does not suit the game quite so much. Ideally, his reach should cover the breadth of the space below the chair seat. This way, he has the most fun.

I am happy he has found ways to entertain himself which are, for the most part, close to us and easy to monitor. His creativity astounds me. Yes, he entertains me.