New animal compadres are always fun and yours does sound seven shades of intriguing.
I find myself amusedly having to comment on the Pepsi thing too, I think a great deal of animals dislike things that smell sickeningly sweet. In fact, I recall a Hamster I once shared my domocile with (whom I'd let out of his cage because no matter where he went, a curtain line and a Cheerio would lead to his retrieval) had such a disliking. In fact, he'd quite routinely do backflips at anything that smelled sweet. I mean it, really. Akin to a fuzzy ball of Xena, he was.