Steve's dogs have turned into rabbit killing machines
They're both fine with Steve's pet bunnies - supervised, obviously - but Penny and Joseph have been killing wild rabbits like crazy. It's very upsetting for me as a wildlife rehabilitator. The dogs are confined to a yard, not roaming wild, but since they have an "invisible fence" bunnies still regularly come into the yard. Thisspring alonePenny has killed and partially eaten at least four rabbits, and the other day they massacred an entire litter of five. I'm trying to think of effective deterrents that can be applied to the property, since apparently the reek of dog urine and feces and thedin of boisterous barkingisn't effective enough (not very smart rabbits, apparently). I looked up some scents and non-toxic irritantsthat rabbits are supposed to really despise, and am going to see if sprinkling those around the yard's perimeter - OUTSIDE of the e-fence - will help.
In less bleak news, however, I finally launched the Betta Blog for the forum I moderate! I've been a moderator at UltimateBettas.com, the biggest betta forum on the web, for a good four years now, and the staff team recently decided after many members expressed interest that we'd start a blog. The goal is to attract members, but also to spread betta care information for people who don't like to join forums. The best part about it (IMO) is that it really involves the membership. In addition to member photos, polls, and anectdotes being included in the articles, several members will be contributing authors. I am the admin for this project and got it up and running a mere two days behind schedule (oops). If anyone wants to check it out, it's
http://ultimatebettas.blogspot.com - so far there is only an intro post and one article, but we'll be updating weekly with care advice, and will also have a monthly feature with product reviews and the like.
I'm also trying to amp up my involvement on Frog Freaks, another forum I am an admin of. The root admin wants to make the site more conservation geared and child friendly. He's enlisted Steve to help out with the children's section, and me to help out with the conservation section. We're hoping to add kid-friendly frog info, contests, etc. plus feature the profile of an endangered or threatened frog species in the conservation section. I'll also be uploading my hand-outs and powerpoint that I'm preparing for Save the Frogs day in case anyone else wants to give a talk on the 30th as well. Fun fun!
I haven't forgotten about my critters in the hustle and bustle of course. Today was rodent cleaning day, and everyone got fun little enrichment boxes filled with bugs and my home made rodent mix. I took photos of all of the rodents since no one here as seen the lot of 'em, and it might be nice of me to post a mammal every now and again for those not fond of reptiles and amphibians
So here they are!
Not the most becoming photo, but here's Fivel and Frank hanging out in their bedding basket. They're supposed to take the fleece pieces out and stuff their nests with it, but they apparently like the "hammok effect" and sometimes cram both of their big fuzzy butts in there to sleep.
Captain Paul Watson, my winter white hamster, squeezing through a paper towel roll. He's my resident"dignified older gentleman"rodent; everyone else is under a year old, and he's closing in on two years.He's got to be the laziest hamster ever. I'm used to them being balls of energy that need constant enrichment, but ever since he came in, he's been a total couch potato. His *cough*ample frame might reflect as much.
Penny Dreadful the foster hammie, settling in to her new home. She's very active and seems to be loving all of the enrichment and new toys. She still doesn't seem to grasp the concept of a wheel - poor deprived gal - but enjoys rolling her wicker ball around, chewing her hanging toys, running through tunnels, etc. Still working on a less-than-perfect temperament, but she's getting nice enough that she should be able to be placed, I think.
Opus (top) and Kiamesha (bottom), my African Soft Furred Rats. I picked these two out as pupsto beeducation animals for Learning Gone Wild, as Steve was selling off his colony (where we normally sourced our education ratties). Surprisingly enough,his ample population of large snakes, lizards, and frogscouldn't eat enough ASFs to keep up with the breeding, and we wound up with a feeder colony of over 300 x_x which was way too expensive to maintain. We sold them to a guy with a LARGE breeding collection, but I'm glad I snagged these two, because they're total sweeties - often rare for the species. I do feel bad though; Opus has a slight head tilt and it's my fault. When he was a pup, he nipped me. I jerked my hand a little in surprise, and it shouldn't have been an issue, but it spooked him and he took a very dramatic flying leap in response, head-planting into the hardwood floor. He's had a tilt since then, though it doesn't seem to affect his quality of life. In fact, he's very good at foraging toys. Check out the boys digging in:
On a final unrelated note: I upgraded the fire skink to a 20g long and he's totally digging it. The schneider skink is next!
