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Palimpsest

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Hi and welcome!  We are going to put all the discussion of our other furry, feathery, scaly, and slithery companions here for the moment, but we can always break out them out into separate topics on request. 

So if you love your pocket pets, pigs, goats, and llamas, own a fish (it doesn't need to be a 5 figure one), love your birds, or insects, or reptiles - then here you go.  

Please introduce your pets and have fun. 

 

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I have two elderly zebra finches; they're males, about 6 years old, and still as noisy as they were in their youth.  they like to chirp at certain cel phone ringtones.  

this summer we unexpectedly acquired a pair of goldfish from a carnival.  definitely not five-figure value, and since i have to clean their tank every couple of weeks, they are definitely not constipated.  

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@catlady, I'm a bit surprised that you don't have any cats.

I had to google zebra finches.  They are very pretty.  How long do they usually live?

And I hear you on cleaning out the gold fish.  :)

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19 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

@catlady, I'm a bit surprised that you don't have any cats.

I had to google zebra finches.  They are very pretty.  How long do they usually live?

And I hear you on cleaning out the gold fish.  :)

oh, i do have cats (three, and a dog), but cats and dogs appear to have their own threads, so i didn't want to derail this one.  

Finches can live about 5-9 years, so my little guys are in their twilight years.  horror story:  we had five until the St. Patrick's Day Incident Of 2014.  one of the cats decided at about 5am to go hunting.  he knocked the cage over, set them all free, and um, exhibited cat-like behavior with two of them.  we rescued the other three (one has since passed on under more peaceful circumstances) and got them a sturdier cage.  they've been happy ever since.

our fish tank is just a little one-gallon that i picked up at WalMart at 11pm the night the little fishies were won.  (i'm actually surprised carnivals can still give them away; they are live animals, after all.)  Mr. CL and our cousin had come home with them at 10:45, and i said, "where will they live?  what will they eat?"  and he said, "ummmm...."  so off i went for supplies.  they appear to be your basic feeder types.  one is bright orange and has doubled in size since mid-August, and the other started out orange/white and has since turned all white.  he's still pretty small, but he looks healthy enough.

we also have three hens in the back yard.

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I would be interested if anyone has experience with hamsters. My almost 9 year old daughter has been campaigning heavily to get a pet hamster. I had gerbils as a kid, and I've taken care of rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, and rats, but I don't have any real experience with hamsters. Anyone have any advice?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi folks!  I'm Jo Ann (aka Bajovane) and I am the mom of a beautiful Sheltie named Buffy, who is 13 years old.  I am also the mom to three cockatiels, ranging in age from 19 to 9 (yes, you read that right, 19.  PB is my little old man, then Molly, who is 18 and Bailey Birdie, 9)

Howdy!

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Hi @Bajovane!  If that is Buffy in your avatar she is really beautiful.  I love the names of the cockatiels.

@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? - what is the hamster's name?  And is it one of the really fluffy ones?  

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@Palimpsest--He's a dwarf hamster of some kind. He's brown, black, and white, and only medium fluffy. My daughter named him Cutie. Fortunately, I don't think he cares what his name is. :my_biggrin:

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:D  Cutie is better than Wigglebum, as a guinea pig of my acquaintance was named.  The kid's mother tried changing it to Wiggles, but was unsuccessful. 

Just keep him safe from the kitty!  

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Wigglebum is an awesome name! (At least if it isn't our pet! :pb_lol: )

We are definitely going to do everything we can to keep Cutie safe from our cat. I had an unfortunate incident with one of our pet gerbils when I was about 6, and I wouldn't want my kids to have that kind of experience. (Details of incident under spoiler.)

Spoiler

Dad rescued the gerbil from the cat, but it bit his thumb and wouldn't let go. He had to shake and shake his hand to get the gerbil to let go. The gerbil died upon impact when it finally left his thumb. I was the one who accidentally let the cat get the gerbil, so I always knew it was my fault.

 

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2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Hi @Bajovane!  If that is Buffy in your avatar she is really beautiful.  I love the names of the cockatiels.

Yes!  That is my Buffy in the avatar photo!  

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How do you add photos?  NM.  Obviously figured it out

My Bailey Birdie 

IMG_20171206_185134_310.jpg

My Molly and PB 

IMG_20171111_193051_903.jpg

And Buffy

IMG_20171208_194415_261.jpg

Edited by Bajovane
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They are all beautiful, @Bajovane.  Bailey Birdie has 'tude and the other birdies are so pretty.!

And Buffy.:romance-inlove:

@Destiny, Lunacat is incredibly beautiful.  But she may have competition.  There are so many lovely cats around here. ;)

@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?, that is so sad.  But you were a child. 

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@Palimpsest--Thanks. :) I've usually looked at bad stuff like that as a lesson on how to do better in the future. Of course, as a human, I still keep making mistakes anyway. ;)

We gave Cutie a little time in his exercise ball. He figured out pretty quickly how to make it work. I'm not really sure how we're going to get him used to being handled. He really freaks out when we try to touch him. (He doesn't try to bite, he just tries really hard to escape.) I may try holding him quietly for little bits of time while things are quiet, like when the kids are in school.

@Bajovane, your cockatiels are very lovely! I don't think I've met any as old as yours. You must give them very good care to keep them healthy for so many years. :)

Buffy looks like a real sweetie. Does she like to cuddle and get petted? In her picture, she looks like she's begging for loves. :my_heart:

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On 12/11/2017 at 12:07 AM, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

@Palimpsest

@Bajovane, your cockatiels are very lovely! I don't think I've met any as old as yours. You must give them very good care to keep them healthy for so many years. :)

Buffy looks like a real sweetie. Does she like to cuddle and get petted? In her picture, she looks like she's begging for loves. :my_heart:

Oh Buffy loves a cuddle! 

Cockatiels have a lifespan of about 15 - 20 years but I have heard of a cockatiel that was 32 (or so the owner claimed).  PB and Molly are in their twilight years so I treasure every day I have them.  Their feathers aren't as full and lush as when they were younger, but they still get around well enough.  PB is prone to hurting one of his legs (they occasionally fall off a perch) and the other day I worried that he might be in trouble.  He's bounced back and is back to his normal sweet self.  I never thought they'd live as long as they have so I guess I must be doing something right! 

I joke to my husband that if PB and Molly were human kids, we'd be seeing them off to college!

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  • 9 months later...

@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?How is Cutie these days? I would love to have a pet, an extra pet as an addition to my unicorn Tulip. Due to allergies of Mr.S. we cannot have a cat or a dog.  So I consider either a mouse,  hamster, bird, or turtle. I am flexible, but I lean more towards the hamster or bird. And when I see these birds above and read about the hamster, I want a hamster and a bird. 

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@Scrabblemaster, Cutie seems to be doing well, thanks! ☺ He is healthy and active. He isn't cuddly, but he associates people with food, especially if we hand feed him some of his food. So, he doesn't really like being held, but he comes up and sniffs our hands to see what we have. I imagine that someone who spent more time handling their hamster than we do would end up with a pet who is more comfortable being held. 

When we went on a trip for a week in August, we left Cutie at my parents' house. My mom fed and watered him, but she said she never saw him out and about, because she took care of him while he slept. (Since hamsters are mostly nocturnal and my mom mostly isn't, she never saw him running in his wheel or anything.) But then, as soon as he heard my daughter's voice, he came right out of his little bed, to see if she had any food. I guess that's a good sign! ?

ETA--You mentioned that you might have a mouse or a hamster someday. My experience of pet mice was very limited, but they seemed much more smelly than hamsters, rats, or gerbils. We clean Cutie's cage weekly, and it usually isn't noticable. The daycare I worked at years ago had pet rats, and they were very friendly and sweet. I think the rats had the most individual personality of the pet rodents I've known. :mouse-shock:

Edited by WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?
ETA
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Mr. S. had a mouse when he was a teen and he said that the mouse needed time to get used to him but would climb up his arm and sit on his shoulder. I would love to get a pet from a shelter, most shelters have rats who were abandoned. But rats are so huge...that's why I voted for mice. But hamsters are cute little guys...

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8 hours ago, Scrabblemaster said:

But hamsters are cute little guys...

I believe they come in different sizes, too. Cutie is a "Robo Dwarf", so he's pretty small. (I think I said that before...) He only eats about a tablespoon of food each day. The book we have on hamster care says that overfeeding, or feeding too much of certain foods, can lead to diabetes. So, he can have a tiny piece of apple, or carrot, or banana, but not too much. I do wish we had a bit more room to add to his cage/habitat.

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We have this cupboard with mostly unnecessary stuff. We could put the cupboard in a different place and install a cage there. OR we could turn the cupboard into a hamster cage with various floors. Mr.S. is no Chad but I believe we could do this. That would be absolutely awesome. But now that I write this, I think it might be a bad idea because the cupboard is painted wood. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hurray! Since three days I am an official hamster mum and Mr. S. is an official hamster dad. She is a every adventurous little furbaby who loves to climb up and down everywhere, eats cucumber and does not like mealworms. She is very shy and afraid of our hands but has no problem to get out of her cage and enjoy an hour in her outside area for some exercise...and to get rid of some wallpaper. 

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On 12/12/2017 at 11:11 AM, Bajovane said:

Oh Buffy loves a cuddle! 

How did you know?  :) 

Just kidding - she's precious!

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