Yesterday the black male gerbil went to his new home. He's going to be well loved by a couple little boys who were very excited to pick him up!
Today I added new photos (taken today) of the New Zealand/Harlequin litter. They're out of the next box now and checking out the rest of the cage. I expect them to start eating pellets and trying the water bottle any day now. I also checked gender, and it looks like #1 and #3 are boys, and #2 is a girl.
Yesterday the black male gerbil went to his new home. He's going to be well loved by a couple little boys who were very excited to pick him up! I took new photos today of the Harlequin / New Zealand litter, the gerbil breeding trio, the two black gerbil babies that were just weaned, the gerbil litter that is still nursing (as best I could), and the baby guinea pig. I feel accomplished being able to update the website again. I just need a few more photos to finish the Meet The Animals page, but I forgot all about that today while I was taking photos.
My main goal right now is to find homes for all of the hamsters, all of the gerbils, and all of the kitties. I'm not as worried about chinchillas and rabbits and guinea pigs right now. So if you (yes, you - the person reading this post), happen to know someone looking for a hamster or a gerbil or a kitty... the prices on those three types of animals are negotiable to appropriate homes - so let them know there are animals looking for new homes here! Yesterday I bred Paris to Porkchop. Breeding was witnessed, but this will be her first litter, so we'll see how it goes. Today I attempted Sweetheart to Porkchop, but I don't think he achieved anything. She's just so fluffy it seems to be difficult for Porkchop to find his mark. I watched for several minutes as he attempted, but I did not witness any successful attempts. They were left alone for a while, so I guess it's possible, but I'm not holding my breath at this point. I'm a little disappointed, but Porkchop gave it his best.
The Harlequin/NZ litter is growing quickly and their orange coloring is darkening into a beautiful red shade. I can hardly wait for them to be bigger and hopping around. I think they're going to be absolutely beautiful. In other news, Starfyre the black and white male Syrian (teddy bear) hamster goes to his new home. Yay! The second level of the new rabbit shelves is now attached. It's just a matter of getting the separator part (to run under the top cages to avoid the bunnies on top from soiling the bunnies below), and the roof purchased and built. Sounds simple enough, but it's going to be very expensive and it's going to take a lot more work than the three days I've already put into building the shelving structure. After the roof is on, I'll work on the tarp walls and the heating system (still working on the logistics of that though). Once it's all set up, I can move the bunnies over to their new structure! Handsome little Buck 2 with the propeller ears has gone to his new home. He's the only one in the entire litter that ended up with one up and one down ear. Now it's just Doe 3 and Buck 4 left to find homes from this litter.
The three Harlequin/New Zealand kits looked good when I checked on them this afternoon after our rain storm had passed. Mom is diligent and gets stressed out when I open the nest box, so I only check once a day right now. I think she'll calm down a bit as the babies get older. They've got adorable markings. I'm excited to see them grow. Following the dog attack this week, I bought lumber, had it cut, and have worked for two days now on assembling a new stand set-up that will house all of the bunnies farther up off the ground, and offer a more organized space, and the possibility of fencing to avoid future issues. It's about half done. The main stand is set up, but the second level and the roof are not on yet. This is my first big project that I've designed myself, so it's pretty fun seeing it come together as we put our sweat and time into nailing everything together. It's 16 feet long and when it's all set up, it should be nice and warm during the winter, and able to be opened for a breeze in the summer. Today I tried Stew to Porkchop one last time. This will be her third breeding attempt. I watched them successfully pair three times, but pairing was witnessed the last two breedings too. If Stew fails to produce a litter this time, she will be sold. I'm planning to breed Paris to Porkchop tomorrow, and Sweetheart to Porkchop on Tuesday (as weather permits). This should produce two or three litters in October, which will be the last until next year. These are all test breedings. For Stew it's to determine if she'll be staying. For Paris, it's because waiting for next spring may put her over the proper age to begin breeding, and for Sweetheart it's to confirm if she can carry a litter, since she was supposed to have been pregnant when I brought her home. As of next year, I do plan to switch up which bunnies are paired with which, but as of right now, all of my other bucks are under age. All of the males should be ready for next year when I will start breeding them again. I'm so glad I couldn't sleep last night and was up late watching TV on the couch. I heard a scream and knew immediately that someone or something was harassing the rabbits. I ran to the door and as I threw it open the rabbit screamed again. No sooner had I stepped out the door, two large dogs ran past me. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good enough look to properly identify them, but the white one was clearly a thick muscular (bully) breed, and the other was a black dog, both with long tails (not docked) and both in the 65-75+ pound size.
I immediately checked cages and discovered Porkchop missing and his cage door bent and open. My husband ran for a flashlight to start looking for Porkchop while I checked the other bunnies. Paris's cage was also torn open with the door hanging, but due to the odd shape of her cage, she had been able to get into a second compartment that the dogs were not able to grab her from. I secured her cage as best I could, and went on a search for Porkchop. I found him halfway across the yard laying on his right side. He was breathing, but not moving. I stroked him and spoke gently to him. I ran my hands over him in the dark to try to check for injuries. I picked him up and gently rolled him over to check his other side. He was completely limp except his breathing and his eyes were wide with panic. I tried to set him upright on his feet but he flopped over. I thought he'd probably broken his back, and that I would have to face the consequences of responsible ownership by humanely ending his struggle. I decided to put him back in his cage while I called animal control. In the amount of time it took me to go in the house, get my phone, and leave a message for animal control, Porkchop perked up. I was surprised to see him sitting up in his cage. I checked on him an hour later and he was moving around and seemed to be alright. This morning I did a thorough examination from head to toe. Porkchop is terrified and he tried repeatedly to kick and get away when I touched him. I'm sure he's sore and scared. That said, he's alright. His fur is stiff and cowlicked with dried dog slobber, his coat is full of dirt and loose fur, but no blood. I did discover his ears need some ointment, but that's likely from itching, not the dogs. He'll be medicated today to relieve the ear issue, and I'll watch him and hope his temperament returns to normal following this near-death experience. I have added an additional latch to Porkchop's cage to prevent the door from being forced open. I repaired Paris's cage somewhat, though it can still use some other repairs to be ideal. I'm buying lumber today to build a new stand that will house all of the bunnies in a row and keep them even farther up off the ground. From there I plan to add a roof and sides to make a little bunny barn (when completed it will have heat in the winter and a fan in the summer). This will hopefully prevent future issues of this type. In what seems like lesser news now... Dora has started pulling fur this morning in vast quantities. She has fur in her nest box, fur in her cage, fur all over the ground, fur flying through the air, and fur in her mouth carrying more into the nest. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she ends up half naked when she's done. I expect babies today or tonight, so I should have a head count (hopefully) by tomorrow morning! Today Doe 1 and Doe 2 went to their new home. That leaves Doe 3 (fluffy lionhead with lop ears), and Buck 2 and Buck 4 (both with short fur and lop ears) left looking for homes.
The angora does turned out not to be pregnant. I suspected as much when I originally got her home and realized just how emaciated and matted she was, but I still hoped. She was very expensive, but I'm glad we were able to get her and give her proper treatment. She's back up to normal weight now. We're planning to pair her with Marshmallow next spring for angora babies. I tried my New Zealand buck on two does last month, so we'll see if he did his job. If he did, we should have two litters by the end of next week. One litter of New Zealands, red dad to white mom (1st and 2nd place in their categories respectively at the 2013 Crow Wing County Fair), and one litter of New Zealand/Harlequin cross. No nesting behaviors yet, but we'll keep watching. These would be our last litters before winter, and no planned breedings until spring. If our buck fails to produce, he'll be sold and a new buck purchased in his place. I picked up some new cages today too. Eventually they will be used for grow-out cages for baby bunnies that don't sell right away, and for the angora bucks, as I expect them to be quite big. They've already doubled in size since we brought them home. Today I took new photos of the bunnies because after yesterday's extreme heat, all of the bunnies suddenly have lop ears! Every last one of them went lop within the last 24 hours! So, new photos are posted in the Rabbits tab. In other news Buck #1 has found his new home.
This morning I met a young woman and her mom, and they fell in love with my little blue doe. I had originally hoped to keep her for future breeding, but after much thought, I decided I just didn't have the space, nor an appropriate buck. With the addition of the two new Harlequin does, I no longer have the additional cage space to keep the blue doe and a buck to match. I've also decided to stick with my bigger breeds as I had originally planned. Besides, I know she'll have an excellent home with this family.
In other news, a second litter of gerbils has arrived in the color point cage. The 6/20 chinchilla brothers are both spoken for, and they'll be able to stay together! The younger chinchilla litter is doing well and growing quickly. Right now I have plans in place for Maganda, the blue doe, and both of the older chinchilla boys to either meet potential families or go to new homes this month. I'm hoping to find homes for more of the hamsters, kitties, and bunnies this month too. I would be thrilled if I could place all of them before the school year starts! Trouble went to his new home today. He was one of the 4/24/13 twins. I'm excited to see him go to an active young family who will put the time into handling him and taking excellent care of him.
In other chinchilla news, three new arrivals made their debut yesterday. One beige male, one white female, and one (I assume) standard male. He looks like a standard, but his tail is oddly white, which could be just a fluke, or it could mean that he's a reverse mosaic. We'll see how he looks as he gets older. The baby bunnies are continuing to grow. There are three that are bigger than the rest (milk hogs), but otherwise, nobody is noticeably behind (no runt). I tentatively sexed them as 4 males, 3 females and one that I'm still not sure about. They'll be re-checked as they get older and bigger. Four of our five rabbits are now signed up to be shown at the county fair next week (Pickles will be staying home with her babies). Hopefully we can take home a ribbon or two. Since we're mostly breeding for meat and pet, show potential isn't a huge thing for us, but it'll be a fun experience for the kids. Tomorrow we're going to check out some new bunnies that we may be adding to the herd for fiber potential (harvesting their fur regularly to be sold for yarn making and felting crafts). What a fun new potential venture! We aren't planning to breed fiber rabbits (angora) right now due to lack of cage space, but maybe in the future. The baby bunnies are growing so quickly! Most of them have their eyes open now, and they are wandering out of the nest house and out into the wire portion of the cage. Today was the first time the babies (those brave enough to leave the box) got to discover a frozen water bottle. It was super hot today, but the babies (and mom) are just fine. They're getting handled every day, and now the kids are handling them too. Here are some updated photos from today (12 days old). The odd colored bunny. If this one is a doe, I'm considering keeping it (her) back. This one is gorgeous and continues to get prettier by the day! The nose is dark, eye rings are light, and it's starting to get agouti ticking throughout the coat. Not sure what color this is considered, but I like it!
|
AuthorFollow along with the joys and heartbreaks of one small-time hobby breeder. Archives
January 2016
Categories
All
|