Tag: #petmomma

BioActive Terrarium!

Sometimes you do something and it is so awesome you wonder why the heck you didn’t do it X-number of years ago. This was definitely one of those projects for me. Yesterday, I turned my bearded dragon tank into a living, bioactive terrarium! I’m so excited! My dragon was so excited she was nibbling at the plants on the ground as I was prepping the tank!

So, let’s start at the beginning.  This was my dragon tank:

This is kind of a stripped down messy version of the tank because I had already started pulling some decorations and changing things around to get ready to convert it.

Going bioactive means that my tank will help take care of itself. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting some isopods and springtails, affectionately known as my clean up crew. These little guys will live in the soil and will help keep the soil clean and aerated. They will help decompose dead plant matter, leftover lizard food, and even lizard poop.

Lots of research has gone into this project. It’s important to get the “dirt” just right. It needs to be the right combination of materials to help keep the right humidity for my species of lizard. Bearded Dragons like it dry, so I can’t have too moist of a substrate, but it needs to have a moist layer so that things can decompose properly, and the bugs can prosper. My hope is that my clean up crew will thrive and reproduce in the tank, so it is important for them to have the right environment as well as the lizard.

Besides holding just the right amount of water, it needs to be the right weight. You don’t want too heavy of a substrate that the insects can’t get around, and a  light substrate will just collapse all the time.

There are many companies that make substrates for this purpose. If you want more details, check out Josh’s Frogs, or The BioDude. Both have great info, instructional videos, and they sell the products you need to create your tank.

I ended up buying my substrate from Josh’s Frogs. I like that the substrate they sell is basically one bag for me to pour in my tank. The basic set up was to add about an inch of substrate to my tank, then water it until it started sticking together, and then add another 2-3′ of substrate on top of that. I bought some live oak bark from the same website and made some perches for the dragon to climb, these will also help nourish the soil and provide nutrients for the clean up crew. I added some dried leaves for hideouts for the bugs, and also to help jump start the bioactive process with an easy thing to decompose.  The next thing I did was add plants.

Lucky for me, I have many plants here.  I figured I would buys some new plants for the tank at some point, but that I would start with what I had available. First I did research on every single plant I wanted to use in the tank to make sure it was lizard-safe. It turns out I had many plants that would be perfect!

Close Up

The last few years I have been playing with succulents. I’ve planted a few terrariums, and restarted a bunch of plants. Succulents are such fun! You can break off a piece and plant it and grow a whole new plant. My succulents were honestly starting to over run my house. I gave a bunch away in the Fall, and I still had too many pots.

I also have many spider plants, like the succulents they are prolific!  When my son was in nursery school, he came home with a bit of spider plant. He had it stuck in some dirt, but it didn’t have any roots and kept falling out of the pot. He was SO proud that he had planted that little plant for his Momma.  I had to save it! I carefully rooted it and loved it, and it has now grown into a monster spider plant. To give you an idea of how long I’ve had this plant, my son is now in college! Over the years, I’ve given babies of this plant to friends and family, and I have many babies of my own that are doing well in their own pots.

Most of the succulents I have, and spider plants are lizard-safe! I tried to pick a nice variety, and also to consolidate some of my many, many pots. I ended up using about a dozen of my own plants, and the tank is pretty full! At some point, I’d like to add a nice big plant, maybe a jade or a big spineless cactus, but for now I’m very happy not to have to spend money on plants as I get this tank set up.

Here’s what the tank looked like when I first set it up yesterday. It still needs some work, but I’m really happy with it for now. I’d like to get rid of that green hammock in the corner and replace it with another branch that she could climb. I don’t love the artificial cave in the back corner, but I feel that it is important for the lizard to have a hide, and it will also help maintain the tank. I’m supposed to keep a protected/humid spot what I can water every week or so. I’ll soak that corner to help get water down to the lower layers of the substrate without having to soak the whole tank. I will also be lightly misting the entire tank once a day.

This morning there were a couple of plants with exposed roots, presumably from Wena running over them and uprooting them, but overall everything held out pretty well.  I’m sure she will end up munching on some plants and replacements will be necessary in the future. I’m planning to add some herb plants which grow fast, and lizards are known to like to munch.

This is the tank this morning after I fed Wena and replanted the plants that needed it.

Tomorrow, the Clean Up Crew arrives! I’m really excited to see how this tank grows and develops over time. I plan to continue splitting and propagating my plants that aren’t in the tank in case I need to replace plants. Maybe tomorrow I can also find the right branch to replace the ugly green hammock.

That is one happy lizard!

 

Climbing Fun!

I know how to have a fun weekend! Yes, pandemic is putting a damper on things, but I found a new pet project to brighten up my weekend!

Hector D. Byrd wrapped up after a bath

 

Hector has been very entertaining lately. A couple of weeks ago she started coughing. I was really worried! Every time she coughed, I would get up and go check on her, but she seemed fine, breathing was good, no discharge, eyes looked good, eating, drinking, pooping normally, I was stumped! The next day she coughed and I ran to check on her and she started laughing.  I realized she was coughing for attention! It’s developed into a new routine around here: Hector coughs, I ask if she is OK, “oh poor poor birdy! Is my baby bird OK?” She coughs again, maybe a couple of coughs in a row. “Poor Hector! what a terrible cough! Maybe you need a treat?” She laughs, I bring her a treat. This is what it is like to be owned by a parrot.

As I’m writing today, Wena the dragon is hanging out on the back of my chair. Bean is very concerned that she is going to eat me, or maybe he just wants to play with her, but here’s the look I’m getting.

 

The gliders are settling in really well.  I’m still not sure they like me, but they don’t bite me, so it’s all good. I’ve been reading that a lot of glider owners use mosquito net bed tents to let their gliders run and play. While I think this sounds like an awesome idea, I also know how incredibly messy my boys are, and they believe the entire world is their bathroom. I wasn’t excited about the idea of cleaning up a tent, as well as not wanting to buy or store the tent.

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Mo have been hanging out with me in my glass shower stall. It’s a double stall, like bathtub size, and it works out really well.  The boys can run around, and when it is over, I can just clean the shower. The problem is, other than the corner shelf unit, there isn’t much for them to climb on in the shower. This weekend, I had the best idea!

This pile of PVC was a homemade parrot stand I made for Hector years ago. She never liked it, so it has been up in the attic. Rebuilt, I was thinking I could convert it into a climber for the gliders!

I took the original structure and made sure it fit in the shower, and it did! Next I took a bunch of the fleece pieces I had for the gliders and hung them from the stand to give them more climbing options. I wasn’t sure if I would need to wrap the PVC in fleece or add something to make it easier for them to climb.

As soon as I let them out in the shower, two of them climbed right up the PVC pipe! They had no problems with it at all, especially Miney, the tiniest of the 4 by far. He is also the craziest! Every night Miney is the one running like a maniac in the wheel. Climbing this structure was definitely right up his alley. It took him maybe 2 seconds to figure out how to get from the structure I built up onto the shower head. At one point, he was running up one side of the fleece and down the other, over and over again.

Mo found himself a comfy spot on the 2nd layer and mostly hung out there.

Meenie enjoyed climbing, and went all the way to the top, but was a bit more cautious than crazy Miney. He explored carefully and checked out all the different parts.

My Eenie is my big boy. He’s chunky. He’s the one I most often find at the food bowl when he’s awake. He never left my body while they were out this time. His friends would come over and pester him, but he just hung out with me.

He sat in my lap, he hung out on my shoulder, he did some climbing, but only on me. At one point he tried to climb across my face, ouch! Thankfully the scratch is small. Not looking forward to trimming nails again, but it might be almost time.

Eventually, Miney really got into crazy mode, and just started running and leaping. He made his way to the shower head, then made the leap to the top of the shower doors. From there he was looking around and I knew I was in trouble. I put away the other three boys, and watched Miney leap about 8ft from the top of the shower doors to the towel rack. Scooped him up from there, and they all went back to their cage.

I’m sure over the next few weeks I’ll be adding/changing toys to the climbing structure, but I’m so excited to have it! Now I don’t feel the need for a messy tent, and the boys have a great new play area. I just have to figure out how to keep Miney from the gap at the top of the shower!

Next project I’m working on is creating a BioActive terrarium for the Dragon! I’m learning all about substrates, clean up insects, and safe plants. I’ll update soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Cats, Dragon, And Glider Diet

Last night Puck was sleeping happily on the couch next to us. Logan decided to leave my lap and take over Puck’s spot. This is Puck wondering what the heck she’s thinking!

I’ve been wondering what the Dragon is thinking. Wena is still awake, and she’s a bit crazy. I’m not sure what is going on, but she is super active. She’s scratching at the glass of her tank, climbing everything. Basically knocking everything in her tank around every day lately. She’s never laid eggs since I’ve had her, but she could. I’ve added a dig box to her tank to see if that calms her down, but so far she doesn’t seem very interested in it.

This is the dig box. Just a small area with some safe soil for her her to dig in and lay eggs if she wants to. So far she has been climbing in and out of it, but that’s about it.

Friday, I took her out while I was working. Sometimes letting her sit on my shoulder settles her down, not this time! She was sitting on my shoulder and all of a sudden she leaped about 8 feet across the room! I was horrified! She’s never done anything like that before and I was really worried she was hurt. She got right up and looked at me like “What?” I watched her walk and she seemed fine, so I put her back in her tank to warm up.

She’s eating and pooping fine, just very active. She doesn’t seem to be shedding, which has made her crazy in the past.

As you can see in the background, she’s taken down all the foliage that usually hangs near the top of her tank. I’ve gotten tired of constantly fixing it, so now I fix it in the morning, she messes it up all day, and I fix it again the next morning.

The free fridge I got is working out great! So nice to have all the animal food separate so I can just grab them and feed. The little built in freezer isn’t the greatest, but it works. Unfortunately, there is one control for the temp of the fridge and freezer, so I’ve had to play with it to keep the freezer as cold as possible without freezing everything in the fridge part. I’m using the freezer for things like glider fruits and veggies I’m currently using, and using our other freezer for anything I need to store long term.

Glider food is still an experiment around here. I’ve been doing a lot of research, and it seems that there are many theories on how to properly feed them, but three basic diets that most glider people recommend. The first is the BML diet. It’s a modified version of a zoo diet. My boys were on this diet when I got them, but it is kind of a pain. It uses many ingredients, and they are all very specific and you aren’t supposed to substitute any of them. I have yet to be able to find Gerber Mixed Fruit Baby juice anywhere. Every place within a 20 minute drive has been sold out, and Amazon wants about $40 for 4 bottles of it. I’ve been making it and substituting a mix of Gerber Apple and Pear juices, not perfect, but not sure what else to do.

The next diet is a brand called Critter Love. They make a powdered formula that can just be mixed with water and fed. MUCH easier than the BML, but it also has very specific salads that you are supposed to serve with the liquid blend, and my boys don’t seem to really like the liquid all that much.

The next diet is pellet based, Pet-Pro brand  Happy Glider pellets. I think this is going to be my choice of diets. The pellets come in about 6 different flavors, and the boys have been eating it pretty well for the last couple of days. The pellets get fed with one fruit or veggie per night. Once a week you substitute yogurt instead of a fresh food, and twice a month they get protein such as chicken or egg with the pellets. I like the simplicity of this diet, and not feeding a messy liquid is also a bonus.

This is a picture of my pellet experiment. I made a bowl with the same amount of pellets in each of the six different flavors to see which they ate the best. The first night, they ate most of the Honey Peach pellets (green bowl), and barely touched the fruity pellets in the red bowl. Blue bowl was the Chicken flavor and they ate that one pretty well too. My plan was to refill bowls and change locations of the bowls for a couple of nights to see if it was bowl location or flavors that they were actually preferring.

Last night was night #2 of my experiment. I forgot to get a picture, but basically the boys spilled all the bowls everywhere. There was no way to tell what they ate. So much for my experiment!

It might not be the most recommended thing, but since I have so many BML ingredients and a big pouch of Critter Love powder, I’m rotating between all three diets right now. It gives me a feel for what they eat and what is working for me. As I run out of ingredients, I’ll transition to the pellet diet fully.

The other experiment with the gliders is figuring out best cleaning practices. I started out using giant pieces of paper on the bottom of the cage like I do for Hector D. Byrd, but it was a bit smelly. I bought some custom made fleece cage liners from Tootles Original Suggie Shack on Facebook, and they are really nice! They definitely seem to help with the smell, and I have been easily going 3-4 days before I switch it out. They are also easy to wash, I shake them off outside and then wash them with my other fleece Suggie things, like their pouches. I’m still going back and forth on advantages of fleece over paper. It is nice to be able to change the paper and just throw it away, and I buy the big craft paper rolls for Hector any way. Unless… I wonder how a fleece cage liner would work for Hector? Then I would be creating a lot less waste without using a paper liner.  I might have to experiment!

The gliders still don’t seem to like me much. I keep reading amazing stories about people who keep their gliders in the hoodie all day, or in a pocket. Mine definitely haven’t bonded to me yet, but I’m working on it. Many people recommend getting a bed tent to put on the floor and sit in it with the gliders. I haven’t wanted to spend the money yet, so I’ve been bringing them in the shower stall to let them climb around with me. They seem to be spending a bit more time with me when I do that. Patience is key here I’m sure.

A few of the pets had a nice nap together the other day. Today the house is chilly, so everyone has found their own spots to cuddle up. The gliders are all snuggled on top of each other as usual, Wena is under her basking light, and Hector is currently remodeling some cardboard boxes. Bean looks pretty cozy.

So Much Fun And A Little Education Interrupted By Bean!

Bean only looks like he is sleeping. He’s really waiting for a chance to cause trouble!

I had such a fun morning! A friend asked me to speak to her kindergarten class about all my pets this morning. I was a little nervous about it. It was virtual of course, but video and photos make me very self conscious. I like to hide behind the camera, but being able to talk about my passion made it all worth while!

We started the session with technical issues. When we tested the Team meeting last week, I did it from my laptop and everything went well. I don’t know why, but today I had decided to use my regular computer. My video wasn’t working for some reason. I quickly signed out and grabbed my laptop. I knew that worked! We chatted while a couple of the kids figured out their own technical issues, then it was time for the class to meet the pets.

Trying to decide how to handle and show all the different pets wasn’t easy. I ended up with Hector on a stand next to my desk, and Wena, and the glider boys were just in their cages, but of course right near my desk as always.

A cup of feathers was the first thing I showed on camera. The kids got all excited when they saw Hector’s pretty red feathers in the cup. Hector let me pick her up and she sat calmly on my hand for the whole time I talked about her. She waved to the kids when I asked her to, and she demonstrated how she can crack a nut shell with her beak. She was pretty lazy about it, and opened one side of the shell and ate out the meat, but she tried! We talked about how old she was, how much care parrots need, what she eats, where she sleeps, and what she says. Hector was so good. Bribing with nuts and bananas worked! She stayed calmly on my hand and seemed to enjoy watching all the kids faces on the screen. She was turning her head and looking at them as we all talked.

Bean interrupted. He wanted to swat at poor Hector’s tail feathers. Hector went back on her stand, and she actually sat there quietly watching everything for the whole call.

Next up was the dragon. Wena did great. I was able to hold her up close to the camera so the kids could get a good look at her. We talked about hibernation versus brumation, how old she was, what she eats, where she lives. I tried to get her to eat a worm for them, but it was tough to hold her and the worm and keep them close enough to the camera for the kids to see. One of the kids asked me if she was a REAL dragon. I told him she must be because it was in her name!

Bean interrupted. He was trying to get the dragon’s tail. My daughter had to come grab him and get him out of the room!

The gliders were a bit of a question to me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to present a nocturnal animal that likes to hide in a pouch on camera. Amazingly, it all worked out! The pouch makes them very portable. Just unhook it from the cage, and easy to transport. The whole pouch was easy to hold up in front of the camera. The boys did a bunch of crabbing when I first took them out which was perfect! The kids couldn’t believe the weird crabbing noise was coming from them!

Bean interrupted and jumped on my desk. I almost dropped the pouch of gliders!

We had a lot of fun trying to guess what was in the pouch making the weird noises! Eventually, with offered treats, a couple of the boys poked their heads out to grab one. One of them even climbed out onto me. I was excited they came out and the kids got a good look at them, but less excited when he peed on my laptop! Thankfully I was able to move him quickly and he mostly peed on the floor. The kids loved their names. They kept saying “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo!” and laughing. They could see how the gliders all look very similar so I started telling them how Mo had a white face, and sure enough, Mo popped out to say hello, well to get a treat, but whatever, it worked.

No one knew what a sugar glider was, but a couple guessed that they were squirrels. We talked about marsupials and pouches and kangaroos. One boy asked what they like to do when they wake up from sleeping all day. They wake up, go to the bathroom (lots of giggles), they find a snack, then they play!

All the kids were really engaged. It was hard to keep up with all of their questions. Other than one little boy who really wanted to tell me about his three cats, they all actually asked questions about the animals and seemed to generally be interested. At some point, mention was made about each of these animals being rescued. It’s super important to me to always let kids know how my pets came to me because they needed new homes.

We ended with random questions about any of the pets. Some of the kids told me about their pets. Hopefully I will get a chance to do this again for other classes one day.

Today reminded me, a few years ago I volunteered at a local animal shelter doing humane education. It was awesome! I loved doing it and I’m not really sure why I stopped. One of the managers at the shelter had a 3-legged golden retriever rescue that they let us use for Humane Education. He was great! I remember bringing him to a preschool and teaching the kids about how to safely approach and handle a dog. Maybe once this crazy pandemic is under control I can go back to doing that again!

Water Fountains and Gliders

It’s Puck. This cat knows how to snuggle himself up!

The gliders are doing well. Their food is tricky. I’m currently feeding them what the rescue recommended, a diet called BML – Bourbon’s Modified Leadbeaters. I think it started as a zoo diet and was modified for pet use. It is different types of baby food, hard boiled egg, fruit, honey, etc. It’s messy and requires a lot of ingredients, some of which have proven hard to find like Gerber Mixed Fruit Baby Juice. The bigger problem is that the gliders don’t seem to eat it very well. I’ve been messaging with some experienced Glider owners I found on Facebook, and I think I’m going to switch them to another diet called CritterLove. It’s a powder. You mix it with water, and serve it with fruits and veggies. We’ll see how it goes. The problem is that gliders in the wild eat nectar and honey, insects, leaves, berries. Not all of it is easy to replicate and in the right combinations in captivity. I did learn that in the wild Sugar Gliders only have a life expectancy of 4-5 years. In captivity, I’ve been told they live an average of 12 years!

Reading more and more about gliders, I’m learning that they can be really tough to get along with. I see stories of people getting bitten all the time. I guess I’m really lucky with the boys I adopted. They don’t love me yet, but they tolerate me. I can take their pouch of of the cage and stick my hand in to pat them without fear of bites. They crab and complain sometimes, but that’s the worst of it.

I think little Tiny Miney is starting to trust me. More than others, he will climb onto my hand when I open the cage. He will hang out on my hand and eat a treat while I pat him. Each day that goes by, he hangs out with me a little longer before he choses to go back to his cage. I know a Mom shouldn’t pick favorites, but this little guy is definitely stealing my heart.

All four of them sleep on top of each other in a pile in one of their fleece pouches. I guess it is a good way to keep warm! So the gliders overall are doing really well. I’m enjoying learning more about them, and they are settling down.

Update on this WoPet fountain I purchased, I returned it. I really liked it to start. It was easy to clean, and the pets were definitely attracted to it. After a week or two, I started having more problems. The pets were drinking so much, which is a good thing, but I was having to fill it every day, sometimes twice! While the base looks like it holds a good amount of water, the pump stops working when the water level gets down to about half. With the very shallow bowl on this, when the pump stops working, there is very little water available for the pets.

While trying to figure out a way around refilling all the time, I started having another problem, the bowl seemed to be leaking. I don’t know how. I took it apart, cleaned the filters, I have no idea how it could possibly be leaking, but it was, and not a little. I was putting towels on the floor under the bowl and they were totally soaked. When looking the bowl up on Amazon, I realized my return window was still open, so I just packed it up and shipped it back. I’m back to using my ceramic fountain. No leaks, plenty of water, the pets are happy. My quest for a stainless steel fountain continues!

Gliders Week 1

 

The boys are definitely taking their time getting settled here. They are still pretty timid and I wouldn’t exactly say I can handle them. I can pat them. I’ve been trying to spend time with them, but also give them time to adjust to being here.

This week, they have been out of their cage at least once a day. A couple of days when I had the time, I brought them up to my bathroom, closed the door, and patted them, fed them treats, and tried to convince them to come out of their pouch.

Some days I just bring them with me in one of their fleece pouches while I watch TV and pat them. They are so soft! I’m trying to get them used to my smell.

Today I tried something a little different. I brought them upstairs into my shower stall. It’s a big double shower stall with glass doors. Seemed like an easy place to clean up. The boys pee and poop A LOT! It also seemed like a pretty safe place to play with them where they couldn’t escape me.

I  used some treats to lure them out of their pouch, and then I put the pouch out of the way. The boys were a little bit panicked, but they mostly stayed close to me. I finally got to see what amazing climbers they really are. One climbed up our shampoo shelf.

Another amazed me by climbing up the tube for the shower attachment all the way to the shower head!

 

Making his way up the shower head

 

 

Trying to figure out his next move

The one on the shampoo rack ended up leaping and landing on my head. I guess it’s good he wanted to come back to me?

I was afraid of where the one on the shower head might try to go, so I got him down before he could get into trouble.

The boys got lots of treats, and they climbed all over.

Mo with a yoggie

When all four are out, I’m definitely getting better at telling them apart.

Meanie and Mo

Our “shower” time needed to be short. I didn’t want to scare the boys. After about 10 minutes, I gave them back their pouch and they all cuddled back up. It makes it really easy to carry them around the house! Shower clean up and a shower for me took longer than the time I got to spend with the boys!

Miney was barking again when we were watching TV tonight. I’m not sure why, he did have food tonight. He is so little compared to the others!

They are definitely getting more comfortable in their cage. I’ve seen them jump from the side cage bars onto a fleece pouch a few times now, and they don’t climb around the cage corners anymore, they jump. I look forward to the day when they want to climb on me more!

Gliders Day 1 – Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo!

We are definitely getting to know each other. I’m trying to balance spending time with them, and giving them some peace to adjust to their new home. It’s hard!

I had them in a towel in my lap for a little while last night. They let me pat them, and they only “crabbed” at me a couple of times. I am going to have to get a video of the crabbing noise. It’s kind of a whiny complaint. It’s amazingly loud for such a small creature.

I left them alone this morning, but took them out this afternoon. They were all sleeping on top of each other in a pouch, so I was able to take the pouch out of the cage with all of them at once.  I brought them up to my bathroom and closed the door to see if they wanted to explore a bit. They crawled in my lap a bit, and one climbed up to my shoulder and ran down my back and back up to the other shoulder! I only kept them out for about 10 minutes.

Two of them spent a little time in the bonding pouch that I carried around for a bit. Apparently sugar gliders are very scent oriented, so it’s important for them to get used to your scent.

I took them out a couple of other times, always for short periods. It’s still hard to tell them apart, but when I have all four together I’m starting to see differences. One has a white face. One is much smaller than the others, and one is bigger.

Oh! names! They are Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Mo! Mo is the one with the white face. Miney is the tiny one. Haven’t decided which is which with the other two yet.

I have to say they are fascinating little creatures. Unlike any other pet I’ve had, but I’ve never had a marsupial as a pet before! Gliders have opposable thumbs on all four of their little hands. When I hold them, I can feel them holding on with little hands. I’ve watched them pick up treats and hold them in their little hands as they munch. So cute!

The boys are about 4 years old. I got them from a glider rescue. Life span of gliders in captivity is 12-15 years. Their food is really interesting. I’ll write more about it next time.

 

Product Warning – DreamBone

Happy New Year!

I saw this product all over Amazon before the holidays. Sounded good to me, no rawhide, made with chicken. I should have known better. It’s made in China, and for some reason so many pet treats that come out of China seem to lead to problems.

Over the weekend, a friend of a friend shared a story of their 8 month old puppy who had these treats and ended up needing surgery because they blocked the puppy’s intestinal tract. I searched around online and found many similar stories. This is NOT a safe product.

Cali has had a couple of these, and they didn’t seem to cause her any problems, but I just don’t see a reason to take chances. This bag is headed for my trashcan.

Just a reminder to be careful what you buy for your pets.

New Arrivals…

BIG NEWS for PetMomma, I’m adding some new friends to the family! I’m not going to give out details quite yet, but I’m curious about how people prepare for a new pet. Do you research the pet? Do you learn about diet, care, housing, etc.? How do you decide what kind of pet you want?

This is a pet I’ve wanted off and on for awhile. I keep seeing posts about friends and neighbors getting Pandemic Puppies. It’s been making me itch for another puppy, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. In some ways I like having one dog.

I started researching this other pet I want. I’ve been reading all about them!  What kind of diet do they need to keep them healthy? What are the housing requirements? What kind of vet care do they need? Do I have a local vet that would take care of them? How much attention does it need? What kind of maintenance will be needed? Can they be trained?

I learned that this pet naturally lives in community groups, so they shouldn’t be kept alone. I guess we get a pair!

This pet does require a very special diet, and from what I’ve read, there isn’t a good one available commercially, so I’ve got to make my own food. I’ve made my own parrot food for years, so that doesn’t bother me.

I do have local vets, I’m OK with the time commitment, housing requirements, etc. So what do I do next? I start looking for rescue groups. I found one in my state, and I applied, not knowing if they even had anything available at that time. I heard back that my application was approved!

The only animals they had available for adoption, are 4 males. After the research I did, I didn’t have a preference on adopting males or females, so I said great, I’m interested in a pair. Well, apparently this is a group of four bonded males. They all need to go to the same home. Good news, they come with their own cage!

So now I have to ponder, do I want four? They will all live in the same cage, so the work is really the same as a pair. Do I have time to spend time with all of them? Do I wanted the added expense of four?

Check back for another update soon!