Family updates

Harley the Hamster - We've had her for a while, but this is our favorite picture of her cute little face.

Hikaru

L has adopted some animals--a pair of albino gerbil brothers (Hikaru and Kaoru), a dwarf hamster (Excalibur), and a young male rat (because apparently Star, her largest female has become naughty and unmanageable since her brothers died, so Neil deGrasse Tyson will keep her from picking on her sisters.  He's currently separated while he recovers from his neutering, but will join Star in another week.  They were all essentially unadoptable, due to unpleasant dispositions and/or appearance issues, so she helped to clear some space at an overloaded shelter.

Kaoru

Excalibur the Fierce

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Przemek the Bald

We adopted Przemek, the button quail a few weeks ago. I got a call and went to get him, knowing little to nothing about button quails.  Someone found him outside wandering around on a cold, wintry day. After pick up, we went immediately to the vet, because he had a nasty head wound. As it turns out, that's not uncommon for them--it's due to head bonking, which is jumping straight up as they try to fly and repeatedly bashing their heads on the cage top. We treated that and it cleared up in a few weeks. He's still bald yet, but I think we'll see feathers in a few weeks now. He's free in general population now, but he prefers to hang out in either his food tray, his sand dish, or on top of his produce/water station.

Friday morning we went to pick up nine finches from rescue.  I have never had finches before.  There are at least three different varieties represented amongst the nine.  They are very entertaining, and I'm enjoying getting to know them. I have rearranged the bird room to accommodate them--they're currently in three different (decent sized) cages, based on who gets along.  I'm not really happy with this arrangement, but it will work for now. I've been trying to enrich their cages and get them comfortable with eating fresh produce as they get settled into their new environment.  In a few days, I will make some more changes in there, as I'm brainstorming on the best way to allow them cage-free lives, while still remaining safe. I'm not quite sure how things will end up, but we will be progressing toward the largest, most enriched environments that I can come up with.  I got all of the long, curly, very tiny toenails trimmed yesterday, so I need to get to Mounds soon and pick up some natural perches that will wear the nails down as they walk. I'd like to not have to cut their nails very often.

My bigger challenge right now appears to be names. I'm having a hard time coming up with names. I don't yet have a good sense for personalities, so I need 9 names, easy to remember and with a fairly simple means of associating each name with each bird.

One of the finches is in a cage alone, and the note that came with them indicates that he didn't get along with the others. It bothers me a lot that he's alone. He's within a few inches of the others, so he can see/hear them, but I'd really like him to not be alone--that's detrimental to birds.  He (she?  I guessed "he" because the bird is very vocal, and typically males are more vocal) is the most interested in interacting with me. He will repeat a call back and forth with me, and his vocalizations are quite different from the other finches.

We were heartbroken to lose our guinea pig Oona, Luna's mommy.  It was very traumatic for Luna. We noticed a small sore on Oona's belly on Monday, took her to the vet Tuesday, where they said she was healthy and gave her antibiotics for the small abscess. Weds. afternoon when I entered the room for afternoon chores/feedings, I knew something was wrong. Luna was staring out of her little hidey house with huge, frightened eyes. I started looking around and found her mommy in the hidey next to her, dead.  Oona was an old girl, so not shocking but still a nasty surprise! It was really hard to see poor Luna so tormented. She's never been without her mom, and I feel so bad for her!

Our possum siblings continue to come eat almost every night. Seeing them together has been one of the few joys of this horrible, long winter for me.