Feeling proud of his ingenuity, Nathan scampered onto the wood shavings at the bottom of the cage.
Although the female mice awaiting his attentions attracted a great deal of his focus, tiny Nathan hadn't eaten anything in several hours, leaving his little mouse body with its exceptionally high metabolism famished for nourishment. He lowered his little snout into the plastic bowl with the tiny pellets of sweet-smelling mouse kibble. After devouring several of the tasty pellets, he turned his attention to some of the carrot slices, using his tiny teeth to whittle away at the orange carrot segments. A few of the females, impatient, brushed their furry bodies against Nathan's, but he couldn't be diverted from the freely available food. He ate until his tiny mouse belly began to expand, and then he ate some more.
When he finally finished feeding, he let his attentions wander to the available female mice. He had not harbored any mixed feelings about the food. He was hungry, he had eaten. Now, as the scent of the females packed into the cage overwhelmed him, he realized he was also horny, and all these female mice seemed eager and waiting.
He let down his guard enough to follow his instincts, as he picked a nearby female and tried to scramble on top of her. Getting his pudgy little mouse form into position was somewhat difficult. He realized he had overindulged in the mouse chow and carrots. He huffed and puffed a bit, and achieved success. The release took some of the edge off his tension.
He sniffed near the food and shoved aside one of the females for more of the tempting pellets. When he finished snacking, he decided he should make his exit from the cage. He climbed the ruler at a slower pace than he had used to descend into the cage. At the top of the ruler, he eyed the door. It looked more distant than he remembered.
He took a deep breath and leaped.
He missed, and plummeted heavily, doing a stinging bellyflop onto the wood shavings carpeting the floor of the cage. He issued a tiny squeak on impact.
Embarrassed at his clumsy attempt, he wheezed as he got to his feet and climbed the ruler again. On this leap, he got his tiny paws fastened on the door but his heavy body dragged him down. "No!" Nathan squeaked as he felt his grasp loosen. He plunged heavily back into the wood shavings.
Thorough chagrined, he realized his enthusiastic feeding had produced some heavy results. "I'm fat!"
Too fat to make the difficult leap from the ruler to escape through the door of the cage. He didn't panic. He made his way to the far side of the cage. He had noticed the large exercise wheel while inspecting the cage. He got onto the wheel and began to energetically run, causing the wheel to rotate faster and faster.
"I've got to shed all this extra weight if I am going to get out," he told himself as motivation to keep running even as he tired.