Happy 2022!

Ichigo (left) and Akari from Aikatsu! in their new year kimono (Ichigo almost never has her hair up) Happy 2022!!

 

A new year, a new location! Well, sort of. Half of 2021 was on the awful side due to previously mentioned events that I will not elaborate on again. I thank God all that is in the past. Then in the later half I got to move to a beautiful new flat and that's where I'm starting my year! 

Tulip and Snow having floor time

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that mid December I adopted 2 beautiful rescue guinea pigs, Tulip and Fluffy. Fluffy got renamed to Snowdrop, although her full name is barely used now and Snow suits her a lot. I love Tulips so Tulip remains Tulip. And extremely greedy! Tulip for sure is the most confident piggy of the two. They both eat a lot, Tulip could eat far more veggies at veggie time if I let her but I don't. She is so greedy that initially occasionally she would almost cough when eating. I thankfully found an article online that was the same issue with other piggies - they do scoff their food too fast. So now I make sure any veggies are in smaller pieces and hey presto, no coughing! Obviously if she does cough continuously I will take her to the vet but so far the smaller food works. I do regularly check for any lumps and bumps just in case its something a bit sinister, but so far so good.

I can trust Snow to take a whole bit of bell pepper or lettuce, run away with it as they tend to do even though they then both choose the same spot in the cage to eat it. Snow doesn't gobble her food! She is extremely nervous though. She has gained confidence in the cage, and happily takes food from me in the mornings when I hand feed. Laptime in the evenings when I give evening veggies is a different matter. Neither like being picked up - guinea pigs are herd animals after all, but Snow does not like being in the cuddle cup. I like hand feeding the veggies as it means I know they both get the correct amount and that Tulip won't steal it all, plus it will help with bonding. As they much away I gently stroke them. I think Snow tolerates this - if she were truly scared she wouldn't eat - initially it would take a few minutes on my lap before she would start eating, now she eats almost straight away. But when the veggies run out she likes to do her ostrich impression, burying her head in the cuddlecup and hiding from me. I stroke her for a little bit longer then put her back. She quickly goes to munching hay so is not traumatised from it. 

I think Snow's nervousness dates to why they ended up at the rescue. They are around 2 years old and were together, but whoever had them couldn't care for them: Snow is long-haired, and her hair/fur was double the length it should have been, horrendously matted and they both had mites plus their nails were never clipped. So when they entered the rescue Snow would have had a lot of work done to her by people. I think she associates being picked up with awful things. Now I do brush her regularly - I have to as part of her care. My family helped me cut her fur. While it's winter I'm happy for it to be long, but come summer to keep her cool and safe from summer hazards she will get a very short haircut! Until then I will cut a little here and there as I can. Nail clipping will happen by the end of the month, trying to build up more trust before I start and I will undoubtedly have to do a paw a day to reduce the stress for them. 

Tulip up to no good!

Today I'm setting up a run beside their cage - I will be making it bigger soon, I just got 1 packet of supplies in case the quality was poor. I think it's ok, It's a similar style grid cage system like the C&C cage I have for them which is the biggest that Kavee Cages provide (6x2) 6 grids long and 2 grids wide. I did let them run around most of the kitchen, but setting that up takes a lot of energy from me, so having a slightly smaller permanently in place run will mean they get time outside the cage so I can clean up the poop - they poop an insane amountn - and also air their beddiing to help the fleece liners last longer. I use pee pads on the most used areas to lengthen the main fleece liner's life even longer before it has to be washed. Not having to set up a run means they can be put out their cage no matter how rough I feel, and I know they will be safer: with the boxes method Tulip managed to escape 3 times! Where there's a hole she would find it and Snow would try to follow her. While funny after the event, at the time it was nerve wracking as I didn't want her to get near wires or pee on the carpet.

I don't make new year resolutions anymore. I am trying to read a bit more, and working on jigsaw puzzles too. I try to make Friday's my quiet craft days where I sew as I rewatch Little House On the Prairie dvds. Anyway, that's it for now, I will try to blog at least once a week here or/and on Nayu's Reading Corner where my book reviews go. Time to go make a guinea  pig run! 

Ichigo from Aikatsu! in casual gear

Nayu's Craft Time #266 A Stubborn Cat

My adorable kitty! (Yes I'm very biased)

Those of you who follow me on  Twitter know that during the last week my cat has been reluctant to eat her dry food. She has 2 types of biscuits at the moment, one is a high protein variety, both she's happily eaten before. Okay, so she usually has a 3rd type (one with multicoloured biscuits), but even with that she's eaten the rest. 

Multicoloured cat kibble! I use natural coloured food (I think it's natural...it definitely has green bits in).

My family went on holiday last week and Belle decided to stop eating the dry food. I wasn't able to go out and get the 3rd type to create  her perfect mix. I didn't worry that much because she does this from time to time - she hates a change in routine and family being out is a change. This is the cat who picks up a few biscuits in her mouth and purposefully drops them on the floor for fun. Not eating dry food isn't unheard of, just annoying.

This, an empty cat bowl, is what I'd wanted to see over the last few days.

It meant that she kept asking for food, and I'm mean so didn't give in to the mega cute eyes and pleading cries. Some of my family may give in, some definitely won't. I don't because she has eaten the biscuits before, she's just being fussy! 

On Sunday there was a bit of progress, she actually ate some! No empty plate, but it was less full. It only lasted one meal though. 

So this morning my family return...and Belle finally starts eating a few biscuits. Cats! They may not be able to talk (unfortunately), but they know how to protest against things they don't like. I'd love to hear if your pet does something similar. 

I'd planned to post last week, but I wasn't feeling well so took it easy ^o^  Plan on posting around the weekend so long as nothing else crops up! I will be posting about the mocha cupcakes I made yesterday.  See the follow up post A Not Entirely Stubborn Cat for details on whether she ate her food or not after new biscuits were added!

Nayu's Craft Time #203 Goodbyes and Hellos

My much loved crested bengalese finch Tanuki and normal bengalese finch Ushio (right)

So Monday I did get some craft done while I visited a friend, but it's not quite neat enough to show you yet (ends need sewing in), so I'll do that another day. This is a quick post detailing what happened when I got home. Please skip the next paragraph if you don't want details of some sad news. 

I got home to some odd chirping from my birds. Found Tanuki (funky hair bengalese finch) dead in the nest, with Ushio beside it (still no idea who is male/female). Poor Ushio died a few minutes later in my hand. I'm not sure why they died, but they did. It was totally horrid having no birds in the cage when I went to sleep and when I woke up. Even when they sleep I get the occasional chirp and shuffling about. It was a bit of a long night. 

Fast forward to mid-morning the next day and I have 2 new feather babies! The silvery traditional looking one is Tomoya, and the paler one is Hibiki. They are male zebra finches (females are extremely rare). It's a joy to have zebra finches again, their sound is distinctive and I'd missed it a lot. 

You can't see the fawn parts on Hibiki, but hope to take more pictures soon.

I'm super sad that I didn't get longer with Tanuki and Ushio, who while not zebra finches were fun in their own way. I was still getting to know them, and I love them very much and miss their little selves ducking in the nest when I peek in on them. 

It won't surprise long term blog readers to hear that the names were chosen from anime characters (I'm enjoying having Japanese names). I had to think quite a while for names not because there were so many to choose from like girls' names, but I wanted to pick nice guy names (and I pay far less attention to the guys in anime shows). Tomoya is from the classic and one of the best anime ever, Clannad + Clannad After Story.

From left to right Tomoya, Ushio (Sound familiar?!) & sweet Nagisa

Tomoya in the anime/manga is a lone ranger but it's a sweet romance (nothing imappropriate, he and Nagisa (who I adore) barely hold hands, watching the two grow through their teens and start a family. A lot of tissues are needed for that anime! Tomoya the bird worried me a little because as he was being caught in the pet shop he seemed to be going for the other birds. When I first got them home he did go for Hibiki. Males can be terrortorial, but he seems to have calmed down. 

Hibiki is from the skating anime Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream. He is a singer in a boy band, and eventually becomes engaged to Rhythm, one of the main characters (they also feature in Pretty Rhythm Dear my Future). I realise Rhythm's name may sound odd, I'm so used to it that it seems perfectly normal to me. She's impulsive, works super hard on her skating, and has a big heart. Hibiki the bird is holding his own against Tomoya and  sometimes sings along with the latter. 

Hibiki with one of the main characters, Rhythm

Last night I spied them huddled together on top of the nest at  my bedtime. If they don't figure out they can go in the nest by  the weekend I'll buy them an open style nest (the current one they have to duck into.) I want them to be able to snuggle down somewhere at night - sleeping on the perch/on top of the nest can't be that comfy for them. Maybe they will have a brainwave and realise what the nest is for, if not I'll make things a little easier for them. 

Anyway, that's all for today. Having a quiet day tomorrow which will be nice after a mixed start to the week. 

Pets are precious.

Nayu's Craft Time #177 Meet my newest winged family member!

My beautiful Bengalese finches Ushio (left most head & body) & Tanuki!

As I mentioned in the post the other day (so sorry this isn't posted on the day I'd planned to, I hadn't uploaded the pics and wasn't feeling well enough to do blog work) today's post is all about my new birds! I was meant to be catching up with a friend on ThursdayI haven't seen for a while, only it didn't happen. When I removed the towels I use to cover my bird cage at night off, I spotted Zack the zebra finch sitting on the bottom, very quietly. If you own a bird you know that that usually means something is wrong. I was 98% certain he was going to die, so I shoved my cat out of my room, picked him up, and was able to spend the last few minutes he was alive with him, chatting to him and crying lots. 

Zack's on the right, Flower is on the left and is the one who Ushio replaced

Zack, also known as Zack Zack, was a gobby/chatty & loud zebra finch. I've had him at least 5-6 years, which for a finch is a decent length of time. He's been through 3 wives: 1 escaped from the cage into the big wide world (who I still imagine as having a new hybrid family somewhere because thinking about reality of a cage living bird in the wild is too awful to consider), 1 died in her sleep, and the 3rd who I only got a few weeks ago (& who could be male) survived Zack. He was so noisy I could hear him wherever I was in the house, he loved making his presence known and communicating his happiness/displeasure about pretty much everything.

I feel extremely blessed to have been with him when he died. As awful as it was, that time with him really helped, just as it did with my last bird who died, Flower. Needless to say I cancelled my friend, mostly because grief sucks and uses up a lot of energy so I wasn't up for being social. I cleaned out the cage ready for the next newcomer - I hate only having 1 bird, and do my best to eliminate scent of the deceased bird so it's nicer for both the current bird and the newcomer. I bought a new nest at the pet store, as I just think it's too weird for the birds who need to keep using it. 

Tanuki (left) getting used to its new home while Ushio watches on. It's not overly clear how scruffy Tanuki's 'crested' head is - the wayward hair rivals the lack of tail feathers!

I'd hoped to get another zebra finch, as I adore their type of tweeting. Unfortunately at the pet store, which is the closest to me that isn't over 1 hour away) their policy was only to sell zebra finches in pairs. For some reason bengalese finches could be sold individually, so I could only get another bengalese (which Ushio, my current bird, is). My choice was limited because there weren't that many Bengalese finches, and most of the ones there had a lot of feathers missing around their tales - birds can be bullies/easily stressed and feather shedding/pecking does happen. 

I spotted one I really liked, then saw it had a dodgy foot so I ignored it and tried to find one without many feathers missing. There really wasn't one, and I as I watched the birds to see how they flew and waiting for them to turn around for me to inspect (which of course they took their sweet time about doing so), I kept looking at the bird with the poorly foot. I loved it's colouring. It looked healthy, was able to sit on the perch resting the not so good foot on the perch, and had pretty much all it's feathers, minus the tail ones (but no skin exposed). 

You can guess what happens next! I phoned my family to explain the situation, and what I wanted to do. They said to ask the pet sore about the foot, and to be sure I wanted to bring it home. Of course I did! I couldn't leave the poor thing at the pet store, knowing it might get bullied by the other birds. Who would want to buy a bird with a dodgy foot? The pet store staff said it was a recent injury, it hopefully will heal on it's own, and I got an extra 3 days on the existing 7 day return policy (due to the foot). I really appreciated that gesture, and feel that it's fair given the fact I'm buying a bird which isn't quite perfect. It probably helps that I'm a regular at the pet shop so they do 'know' me a little. 

At the time of writing this post I'd hoped to not reveal Tanuki's name until this point, but it felt wrong not giving the name at the start of the post.

Meet Tanuki! Tanuki means raccoon in Japanese, and would have suited a zebra finch who frequently have grey and white stripes somewhere on their body. I was attached to the name so Tanuki seemed a fit for this cute bird! I'm not sure if I've shown you Ushio yet, sorry if I haven't. They are both bengalese finch, which you can see in the colouring, only Tanuki is a crested bengalese - hence the funny hairdo. Used my tablet camera hence no close ups, but you can see how cute Tanuki is! I won't know if either is  boy or girl unless I get eggs from them. 

I hope that they become friends quickly and share a nest together - Zack was bit stroppy when Ushio arrived, making poor Ushio spend the night perched on the bath (which is their water supply) or on top of the nest while Zack slept inside. Thankfully that lasted less than a week, so I have great hope for Ushio being friendly to Tanuki, more so as Ushio isn't chasing Tanuki around like Zack did to Ushio. 

I keep calling Tanuki and/or Ushio Zack - going to take a while to get used to him gone. It is so quiet without him: Ushio and Tanuki chirrup, but not to the strength of Zack's tweets. Whoever dies next I may then leave on their own so that I can eventually get zebra finches again, but hopefully that won't be for a few years. Until then I am getting my zebra finch fix on Youtube each day - they are so funny! I love seeing the new ones.

Tanuki is blocking Ushio from view - it is so hard to get the pose I want as they won't do as I ask!

Updated after post originally written: There's something to be said for getting birds of the same species, but on the very first night Ushio let Tanuki in the nest!!!! So exciting. They currently spend most of their time in the nest, poking their heads to watch what goes on in my room (not much). I'm thrilled they seem to love each other! Ushio needs it's claws cutting, but my family will help with that as the last time I tried it myself I managed to take too much off and was terrified Flower (now dead) was going to bleed out (lose so much blood she would die). Thankfully that wasn't the cause of her death, but I'm too scared to do it without supervision.