Meet Stompy our new baby Tortoise

This week's video is all about my new baby tortoise Stompy, featured in the previous blog post.

Please take a moment to like, comment and subscribe to me here on Blogger, and also on YouTube, I'd really appreciate it.

Love
Rebecca x

Stompy the Greek Spur-Thigh Tortoise

My new pet - a baby Tortoise!

In my last blog post I mentioned some very strange plants that I'm trying to cultivate. The reason for these oddities is this little chap...

Stompy the Tortoise

Or chap-ess...it's hard to tell at this age!

We've named him/her Stompy (for now at least), and for ease I'll refer to this creature in the masculine from now on (otherwise I'll drive myself bonkers!). To be honest, I wanted to call him Om after the Great God Om (Holy Horns) from Terry Pratchett's book "Small Gods", but I think that got vetoed 😢

Stompy's Particulars:

• Stompy hatched in September 2017
• He weighs 63 grams (I haven't measured him yet - but his plastron is roughly 6.5cm long)

Stompy is very dinky - and I have small hands!

• He is a Testudo graeca graeca or Greek Spur-Thigh Tortoise (not to be confused with the African Spurred Tortoise Centrochelys sulcata, which grows enormous)

• He was bred by a work colleague, who has owned the adults Tilly and Trevor for years and years. Tilly had laid eggs before 2017 but they were never fertile. Then in August 5 babies hatched from a clutch of 6 eggs, then Stompy and one other hatched in September from two more eggs laid a little later.

• Stompy could live to be 100 years old, with the right care - I unfortunately will be long gone by then!

 Tortoise Habitat

There are approaching 300 species of tortoise and turtle in the world, 5 of them are known as Mediterranean, and they have all evolved to deal with slightly different environments.

The Greek Spur-Thigh Tortoise needs temperatures of around 20-35 degrees Centigrade during the day, the upper end being the all important basking temperature. UVA and UVB light sources are necessary for correct growth and metabolism, and a humidity level of around 40-50% is ideal.

While Stompy is so small, it's not safe for him to be left out in the garden to roam free, getting all his nutrients etc from nature, so we have to try to replicate his natural environment indoors.

The easiest and safest way to do this is by constructing or buying a Tortoise Table. Do not try to house your tortoise in a Vivarium, Terrarium or anything that the tortoise can see through. The first two are impossible to control environmentally, the latter will cause your tortoise to fret about the boundary line, constantly trying to get to what's beyond it.

Stompy's Tortoise Table

Research is King

I've spent months researching what Stompy will need to live a long healthy life, and while that doesn't make me an expert, it does mean I understand that Tortoise care is complicated and you can't take shortcuts. 

Initial cost is a big factor to bear in mind:

And then there's the cost of the tortoise itself. 

Expect to pay around £150 - £250 for a captive bred Tortoise with it's certificates. 

Admittedly once the initial set up is done, there will be less ongoing cost, but UVB bulbs need replacing every 6-9 month, substrate can be spot cleaned daily but needs totally replacing periodically, Vet bills must always be taken into account, and finding a good reptile/exotics Vet is harder than you might think, so do your homework, you need everything set up, tested and the basking temperature settled BEFORE you bring your tortoise home.

Stompy in his mini garden

Feeding

There are commercial tortoise diets on the market, but by growing the right plants, it is entirely feasible (and healthier) to never need to feed pre-prepared food to your tortoise. I have a several safe houseplants in the table; a Prayer Plant, a Boston Fern and a Spider Plant. I've also planted up six half sized seed trays with plants from my garden like violet, London Pride, hardy geranium, Couch Grass and plantain, plus I've sown seeds of cat grass, dandelion, harebell, zinnia, pansy, marigold and hollyhock, all of which are safe to feed. 

It's important to know that what you are feeding is safe for your tortoise to eat, that it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides, fed with chemical fertilizers. treated with slug pellets or been used as a bathroom for visiting dogs and cats.

You can download edible plant lists from The Tortoise Table, plus they have a really fantastic App that you can take with you on your mobile phone. 

I can't tell you how helpful The Tortoise Trust and The Tortoise Table websites are. There's a lot of conflicting advice out there, but if you start with these two sites you won't go far wrong.

So, please join me in welcoming Stompy to our family, we're captivated by him.

Love

Rebecca xx

NB All prices quoted correct as of April 2018.

Bonsai - Let's begin with my trees - #1 Picea albies

"If you want to practice Bonsai, you need a lot of trees"

I can't remember which of my Bonsai guru's imparted that gem of knowledge, but it's certainly true. Once you've done a piece of work on a tree, you must let it recover, if you have only one tree, then that's a long wait until the next job can be done. You can't build skills and confidence like that.

In the few short months since I decided to reconnect with Bonsai I've amassed a small collection of trees and shrubs, spanning deciduous, evergreen, flowering, fruiting, hardy, tender, tropical. Hopefully that will give me a range of jobs I can do throughout the year. Here's what I have (so far!) ...

I had a Japanese Maple too...but I killed it #sadface

So you can see (maybe, if you zoom in!) that I have 18 trees right now, and knowing how 'invested' I get in hobbies, I expect that number to grow.

"You have to kill a lot of trees to make a few decent ones"

I can't remember who said this either, but I know I've killed quite a few trees in my time, mainly through a lack of learning during my teens.

Let me start to introduce you formally to my trees...

Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

I bought this for about £5.00 in early January, it was left over after Christmas.

A leftover Christmas Tree - Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

My first important job was to get this little tree out of it's bucket. It was planted straight in it, and there were no drainage holes. I was certain that the roots would be poorly formed, as a) the mass production of these trees means that time is money, and b) the non draining pot could have caused the roots to avoid filling any the sodden areas.

Left - Before root pruning      and Right - After!

I was right! The roots were a disaster. The tree had clearly been pushed down into the compost, causing the roots to be forced upwards, and to wrap around the neck of the trunk. Roots had then formed at the top of the trunk, immediately below the branches (left hand photo). 

I decided there were no kind ways of working on this root system, so clipped off the high up roots, all the upwards growing roots, the tightly wrapped ones and the overly thick ones (right hand photo). That operation also removed most of the fine roots too.

There were a large number of branches growing from the same points on the trunk, so I thinned them out, but left the remaining branches unpruned, so the tree had some foliage to aid recovery and healing.

Post-pruning and repotted.

Now this isn't a styling - this is damage limitation. Too many branches coming from one trunk location, moving resources to and from the foliage can cause the collars (where the branches meet the trunk) to swell together, and overly thicken the junction. When this area gets to the point where it is wider than the rest of the trunk (nb it can happen on branches too), it is referred to as inverse taper and becomes a fault that is hard/impossible to recover from.

After this initial work, I'll leave this tree well alone and see how it responds. You can see in the final photo (above), repotted it in approx. 75% Akadama (granular clay-like material used widely for bonsai), I've indicated a potential front for the tree (white pointy piece of plastic), and I've had to stabilise the tree with crocks on the soil surface, otherwise it was just falling over - not surprising really, now it has so few roots.

I've got the tree in an unheated greenhouse to protect it from cold, frost, snow and wind, and when I start to see signs of growth, I'll begin feeding this little Spruce with omakase japanese bonsai feed pellets.

Right! 1 down, 17 more trees to go!
See you soon
PB xx

Sad News about Molly & Gastrointestinal Stasis

It's with deep sadness that I announce the passing away of my beautiful Molly.

Molly Mumma

Molly had been poorly for a couple of weeks, and though she fought bravely, and we did everything within our power to pull her through, ultimately we had to make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep.

To make something positive out of this sad time, I wanted to share what happened.

Friday 29th December 2017

We had all seven piggies out together for floor time. Mr PB wanted to FINALLY connect all the hutches up together, allowing them to access all the floors. It was a big job and would take 2 days. At the end of Friday we decided the piggies were safe to leave out in their floortime run overnight.

Saturday 30th December 2017

Everything went well, until during the afternoon we noticed Molly had tucked herself away in a quiet corner of the run. She wasn't coming out for water, or to eat from the bowls as she had been that morning. We tried putting ReadiGrass and hay right next to her, and she was eating small amounts. If you held a bottle for her she would drink from it, but she didn't want to move.

We noticed a very soft poop where she'd been sitting, but not as many poops as I would expect her to do, considering how long she'd been sat there for. Worrying that Molly was going into Gastrointestinal Stasis, we decided to start syringe feeding her.

Molly looks unimpressed by her syringe feeding

Syringe Feeding a Guinea Pig - Method

We always keep small (1ml) syringes in our pet first aid box, but didn't have any Oxbow Critical Care, so instead we soaked Burgess Excel Tasty Nuggets  in plain water, ground them to a watery paste with a spoon, and sucked the mixture up into the syringe.
Hold your guinea pig's head in one hand, insert the tip of the syringe into the guinea pig's mouth, immediately behind the incisor teeth. Slowly squeeze the plunger of the syringe to dispense a small amount of the feed into the guinea pigs mouth.
Allow the guinea pig to chew, then repeat the process. If you try to feed too fast, you can make your guinea pig choke.

We aimed to feed Molly 2ml every 15/20 minutes. That doesn't sound much, but it is.

When we weren't actively feeding her, we kept Molly on her own in a big box with a towel, some hay, and placed a warm hotwater bottle underneath the box. GI Stasis is very painful - imagine when you have an upset stomach, so the warmth is soothing, but your guinea pig should not come into direct contact with the hotwater bottle, and shouldn't be allowed to get overheated.

We were also massaging Molly's abdomen constantly. Later in the evening she began passing tiny round poops, and then later as more fluids entered her system, the small poops started joining together into long clumps. Molly would also strain her tummy while we massaged her, it was clearly painful, but an important step to kick start her system again.

We constantly cleaned poops away from her bottom, and changed her bedding every couple of hours.

It's not a pleasant operation, your guinea pig is unlikely to think you are helping them, but you MUST be persistent.

Sunday 31st December

Despite our best efforts, and working in shifts all through the night, Molly was looking weak. We continued through the day, trying to tempt Molly with little bits of romaine lettuce, celery and carrot but she wasn't interested.

She'd lost 80g in just two days, so we had a frank discussion about how long it was right for us to continue. Molly is an elderly guinea pig - we don't know exactly how old, as she is adopted. Maybe she had just decided that this was her time? But her eyes were still bright and shiny, so together we agreed to keep trying through another night.

Monday 1st January
Molly looked a little brighter, and she actually began eating hay

Friday 19th January
We'd used our last Critical Care yesterday night, but more was due tomorrow. Molly suddenly looked weak again, and her weight had dropped another 60g. We fed her with mashed nuggets again, but she seemed to be straining, and her poops were getting smaller and rounder again.
We booked her an urgent appointment at the vets.

So What is Gastrointestinal Stasis (aka GI Stasis)?

Guinea Pigs have a very delicate digestive system, they are herbivores, but as one brand of pet food terms them, 'Fibrevores' may be more accurate. For good digestion and uptake of nutrients, they need to constantly eat long-staple fibre (ie long strands of hay). This fibre plus water feeds microorganisms in digestive system. The microorganisms then produce a type of volatile fatty acid. The fatty acid is what gives a guinea pig its appetite, and keeps its digestive system functioning properly. Any little blip in this delicately balanced system, in which the function of one part relies so heavily on another, and you would start to see symptoms of GI Stasis very very quickly. GI Stasis can lead to death in a matter of days. Early diagnosis and treatment are vital.

Symptoms of GI Stasis

The first thing you might notice is your guinea pig being quiet and not interacting with its cage mates or you.

You may notice it isn't drinking or eating as much as normal.

You may notice that your guinea pig isn't eating its caecal (pron: see kal) stools (the special softer poops that a guinea pig MUST eat to be healthy.

You may notice that your guinea pig is tired, eyes are dull, coat is puffed up.

You may notice that your guinea pig is passing very small, hard, or very soft poops, or worse still; isn't passing poop at all,

Any or all of these symptoms need investigating urgently. They could means any number of things are wrong with your guinea pig. If you are at all uncertain, then make an emergency appointment with your vet!

Molly's Final Trip to the Vet

Alex the vet listened to everything that had been going on, whilst checking Molly all over.
Eventually, he looked up and said "I can feel a mass in the left side of her abdomen".

This was a total bombshell.

To me it felt about 2.5cm long x 1cm, approximately torpedo shaped, hard and immobile.

Alex believed that this mass was probably the underlying cause of Molly's GI Stasis. He talked about the possibility of treating Molly with steroids to reduce the lump, but we knew it wouldn't be a cure, and besides, Alex's veterinary medicine handbook didn't give a steroid dosage for guinea pigs, so there was a strong risk of not giving enough, or giving too much.

Mr PB appeared to want to try, but I looked in Molly's eyes and said "I think it's time to let her go".
We shared a final cuddle with our gorgeous girl, and she snuggled in as close as she could.
Then Alex took her away to administer her injection.

We will be having Molly cremated, and keeping her ashes, like Pudding, there was something very special about her. In the 2 years and 2 months she was with us she touched our hearts very deeply.

I just hope she knew how much we love her, and that we gave her a happy retirement from her life as a breeding sow.

Sleep tight my Molly Mumma xx You are loved xx

My Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) collection.

New YouTube video

I've just uploaded a video all about my Moth orchid collection. Come along and see what I've got.

Love

PB x

Introducing my Family - part 6 - Daisy

Daisy

Friday 31st March 2017 was a particularly bad one at work. We needed to pick up our mood, and some more hamster and guinea pig food, so dropped in to Pets at Home on the way back from work.

We started our visit with a look at the baby boy guinea pigs, so many colours, so many hairstyles, so much cute! Then we moved round, past the bunnies to the baby girl guinea pigs, they were really outgoing! There were around 8-10 girls in the pen, definitely at least three different age groups, and probably from more litters than that, as they were all so different.

One of the larger girls looked very like Molly, Rex coated, but in white and lemon - very cute! then suddenly another tiny baby appeared from under a hidey! She was tri-colour, with long wavy hair...Oh My Goodness!

Daisy
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

MrPB spotted her first, and instantly fell for her. He started talking about where we could house her, who she might bond with!! I agreed she was lovely, but we already have five piggies, could we really have two trios? A quad and a pair? One big herd?

I suggested we go and look in the adoption area, just to give us both a minute to think. We looked at the beautiful Lion Head rabbit, multiple hamsters and a trio of HUGE adult female guinea pigs who obviously needed to be rehomed together. Definitely no space for any of them!

We went back over to the the babies and looked at the tiny little girl again - she really was beautiful! MrPB gave me final say, but I knew she was coming home with us, and I reasoned that as we don't know how old Molly is, it might be wise to bond Emmeline with a younger piggie now. We know Emmeline isn't the most sociable creature in the world, but maybe she would accept a baby better than an adult. With the baby being so small, Emmeline shouldn't feel threatened by her.

An assistant got her out and let us have a cuddle with her. I checked her over, made sure she was definitely a girl, checked her bottom was clean, eyes bright and nose clear. We explained our intention of bonding her with our existing pigs to the assistant, hence why we weren't looking at more than one baby. He asked us lots of questions about our set up, feeding regime, our experience of bonding piggies, and quickly he recognised that we knew what we were doing.

By this time MrPB had already named her, she was to be Daisy.

Please Note:

I do not advocate impulse buying pets. Remember that I am an adult with my own home and a good job to cover any unforseen expenses (ie. vet bills). I have kept guinea pigs and hamsters since I was very small, I have five guinea pigs already so I know what I am doing by taking on another one. I would prefer to adopt if possible, but sometimes a little face just steals your heart.

...Back to Daisy

I believe she is (at least partly) a Lunkarya. She has the curly sideburns and two rump rossettes that differentiate the Lunkarya from the Texel. This means her coat is going to get very crazy as she grows up. At the moment the fall is quite short and tidy, but we'll keep it trimmed so that it doesn't get tangled or matted.

When we got her home at about 3pm, we separated off one level of cage, cleaned it thoroughly, put in fresh newspaper, hay and Burgess Excel nuggets, and put a fresh water bottle on the bars of the cage. We also made Daisy a little hidey area, and then put her in the cage. We also gave Molly and Emmeline a dose of Ivermectin 'Spot On' treatment to be sure they wouldn't pass any parasites on to Daisy.

We left Daisy quietly until 10am the following day. She had been silent, very nervous and desperate to hide in the cage, so we decided to try bonding her with Molly straight away. She was so relieved to see another piggie that she dashed over to Molly, squeaking excitedly. Molly gave Daisy a little reprimand to calm her down, chuttered her teeth and had to keep defending her food. Daisy was trying to eat anything Molly ate...as it disappeared into poor Molly's mouth!

Daisy was very keen to interact with Molly
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

...very keen
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Initially we thought we would bond Daisy with Molly, then put them back in their own cages overnight, and start again in the morning, but Daisy was so desperate to be with others that we decided she would hate to be on her own again. So later that day, once we were happy with Molly and Daisy being together, we put Emmeline in too.

The dynamic of the three together was fascinating. Daisy rushed over to Emmeline to say hi, Emmeline ticked her off soundly, displaying all sorts of dominance behaviour, Then Molly faced-off to Emmeline to quieten her down. So Molly wasn't exactly defending Daisy, just asking Emmeline to respect her dominance. Daisy obviously felt much safer with Molly, but was still excited to be with everyone, popcorning, zooming and squeaking all round the pen!

Emmeline joined in the bonding session
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Eventually all the excitement was too much for them, and they all flomped out for a nap, Molly first, then Daisy, then Emmeline.

Exhausted, they all flomped out for a nap
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

When we were satisfied that the bulk of the dominance behaviour was over and they were being calmer, We cleaned out Molly and Emmeline's cage really thoroughly and put them all in together.

With lots of levels in the cage, everyone found their spot, Emmeline tried to keep Molly to herself by blocking her into a corner, while Daisy set up camp in the hayloft. We monitored them closely, as dominance behaviours can start up all over again when the environment changes. When we were happy with them, MrPB and I went into the next room to watch some tv.

About an hour later, there was some alarmed wheeking, which became a whimper. I rushed into the kitchen to find Emmeline now in the hayloft and Daisy down on the next level looking terrified. I scooped up Daisy and gave her to MrPB to hold while I went and got Molly and some lettuce. We all sat together for a few minutes, then slowly moved Molly over to be with Daisy. Daisy was so relieved she tried to burrow under Molly as if she was going to nurse from her. Molly was not interested in that (it's been a long time since she had babies of her own!), so with the help of the lettuce we persuaded Daisy just to sit next to Molly.

The following day we bought Daisy a toy giraffe (one suitable for a new born human baby, so no plastic eyes or loose bits). We made sure the giraffe smelt of us and we put it up in the hayloft with Daisy. She loves it! When we get her out for a cuddle, Giraffe comes too, and Daisy tries to burrow underneath. Giraffe even came out to play on the grass with everyone yesterday!

When I posted on Instagram that this was the fastest bonding session ever, I might have been a bit over-optimistic, but they are doing very well. Good job girls!

Six guinea pigs and a giraffe enjoying the grass and sunshine
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

How We're Coping with Bird Flu in 2016-2017

DEFRA Set up Prevention Zone across UK

Avian Flu has again been discovered in Europe and the UK, and as a precaution, all keepers of poultry and birds have been instructed by DEFRA to prevent their birds mixing with the wild bird population. This applies to farmers, backyard poultry keepers, pigeon fanciers, the size and type of bird 'collection' is irrelevant. THIS IS LAW!!

The government’s chief vet, Nigel Gibbens, has declared a “prevention zone” for England that requires commercial and individual bird keepers to keep their birds inside for 30 days or take steps to separate them from wild birds.

The order, which was texted to poultry farmers on Tuesday, comes after a type of highly pathogenic avian flu, H5N8, was found in dead wild birds and some farm birds across Europe.

The stories you need to read, in one handy email

 

Read more

“The risk that we are trying to prevent is to our British poultry flock … to make sure these birds are protected against disease,” Gibbens told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added: “Everybody should do what they can. Pet bird keepers should do their best and take sensible measures to separate them from wild birds, while looking after their welfare. I don’t want people putting them in a box in the dark and keeping them there for weeks on end.”

Extract taken from The Guardian 07 Dec 2016, read the full article here

The Prevention Zone remains in place until 28th January 2017, at which point  the risk will be reviewed and either end, or be extended.

Avian Flu and Bio-security Measures

This may sound like something Border Security needs to worry about, but if you want to keep birds outside, than you really need to think about bio-security before you even decide what birds you want.

Chicken run before the roof is put on

Our trio of Orpington hens have a coop inside a permanent, fixed run. Under normal circumstances they would also have access to our garden, but for this period they need to be contained. Our permanent bio-security measures include:

• A fixed polycarbonate sheet roof over the entire run

Polycarbonate sheeting covers the entire chicken run roof

• Entire run enclosed in 25mm x 12.5mm Weld mesh
• Run door with two separate latches (prevents accidental opening).
• Run secured to hard standing, not grass or soil
• Feeders and drinkers always kept inside the run.
• Wearing disposable rubber gloves when entering the run, handling the birds or anything they've come into contact with.
• Anything we use to feed/water wild birds is kept exclusively for them and never used for our hens.

Other measures in place during an Avian Flu warning are:

• Disinfecting the coop, dustbath and perches in the run. Use Vircon S or Stalosan
• Disinfecting boots/footware before entering or after exiting the run. The best thing to use is a washing up bowl or tubtrug with a solution of Vircon S. Make sure you can get the entire sole (ideally more) of your footware in the bowl and covered with solution, and change the solution regularly.

DEFRA confirm that Avian Flu is not a risk to public health or the food chain. Keeping backyard flocked in bio-secure enclosures helps protect them from coming into contact with the wild bird population which could be carrying the virus.

Members of the public are encouraged to report dead wild waterfowl (swans, geese or ducks), or other dead wild birds such as gulls or birds of prey, to the Defra helpline on 03459 33 55 77. Defra will then collect some of these birds and test them to help us understand how the disease is distributed geographically and in different types of bird.

Preventing Boredom during bird flu confinement:

The Run

Our trio don't go outside the run very often, in fact in squally, wintery weather they'd rather be under cover in the run anyway.

The Activity Centre and Maggie's Six Coop in place

Young Hetty fits through the expanded
door easily

Our run measures 3m x3m, and includes; a Maggie's Six hen house from Flyte So Fancy, Dorset (we had to expand the door width a bit to accommodate our ladies large bottoms ;) ); a covered dustbath with perches (from Flyte So Fancy but not in their current catalogue, we call it 'the Activity Centre'); galvanised drinker and wall mounted feeder which is attached to our run wall and has it's own integral cover. 

Having a decent size run is important, stress and overcrowding can lead to nasty vices such as feather-pecking, bullying and egg eating. The smaller the bird, the more active it is. Our Orpingtons are very docile, and hardly ever bother to run for something...unless it's corn! They are very contented to spend most of their day on the perches of the Activity Centre, or luxuriating in the dust bath. We add diatomaceous earth to the play sand to help the hens combat any outbreaks of lice or red mites.

Smaller birds or a larger flock in the same run would probably not deal with confinement so well.

However, here's a little lesson I learnt when I worked at Forsham Cottage Arks (now Granddad Rob Designs). Hens will accept a run as the end of their world for as long as they are contained within it. If one day you open the run door, it will take them ages to use it, partly from fear of the unknown, but mostly because they don't recognise the door as a way to enter or leave the run. But, once they have discovered their new environment, you have effectively expanded the edge of their world, and they will always want to explore that boundary. If you have to enclose them again, like now, they will try to rush at their old boundary, they will get distressed that they can't get out to roam their world. This should only last a few days, but finding ways to entertain your flock will help calm them.

Essentially then, a hen that is always confined to a good size enclosure will be happy in that enclosure for ever. She won't feel confined, or be looking to get out. That is the edge of her world.

If you expand the edge of her world and then have to reduce it again, that is when trouble can start.

Jane the Orpington hen is normally an explorer

Feed and Foraging

I don't advocate feeding human food or kitchen scraps to chickens. The old adage "Put rubbish in, get rubbish out" is ingrained in me. We feed Smallholder Range Layers Pellets. Ideally I would prefer to feed Layers Mash, as it helps combat boredom by making the chickens eat longer to take in the same amount of food compared to eating pellets, but mash is not recommended with the feeder we use, and it is less easily obtainable locally.

Our hens do get a scatter feed of corn (1 teaspoonful each) just before bed if they are still up when we get home from work (not in the winter, they retire long before we get home from work!), but this doesn't keep them busy for long, maybe half an hour. They are expert at carefully pecking up the corn, avoiding all other ground cover, but do spend quite a long time scratching through the hardwood chippings to find any strays. We only ever feed the corn inside the run, it's our little way of encouraging them home if they've been free ranging (not at the moment obviously). When they hear the rattle of the corn tin, they know to head straight for their run.

The completed run with hard wood chippings down

At the moment I am also giving them a scatter feed of dried mealworms and Hentastic Foraging Treat, just a small handful of each between the three hens, and again this is only while they are up and about. Never leave quantities of scatter feed lying around as it will spoil and can attract vermin

My cheeky Hetty Wainthrop

A final attempt to occupy my hens' brains comes in the form of hanging treats. Pets at Home do a hanging corn block. I wouldn't use one normally, but the corn is pretty difficult to get off, so they can't eat too much, but it gives them hours of entertainment watching it swing back and forth...hypnotised by the pendulum action!

Hopefully the hens will be able to free range again once the weather warms up

Introducing my family - part 1

Welcome back!

Today I thought I'd introduce you to our family of pets and how they found their way into our life. In future posts I'll take you back to look at previous members, all of whom hold special places in our hearts, but let's start here...

Guinea Pigs

We currently have ten pets in our life, 4 guinea pigs, 3 hamsters and 3 hens. Lets start with the piggies...

The girls live in two hutches which have been wonderfully modified by Mr PB to form a 'library' of piggies in our kitchen.

Tilly and Phoebe live in the upstairs half, and Molly and Emmeline in the downstairs.

Each hutch has 3 full levels, and a half level which we call the 'hay lofts'. Ramps access each level, and the girls have places to eat, sleep, stretch and run around.

We'll talk about the hutches properly another time, today is about the piggies themselves.

They all get fed Burgess Excel Tasty Nuggets with Mint, daily, with the majority of their diet being good quality hay, plus a range of vegetables, grass and occasionally fruit. I don't give them supplements, you shouldn't need to with a good balanced diet, and as you can see from the photo (right) they have two bottles of water per pair of piggies. With so many levels, it's important they can find water whenever they need it.

Part 1 - Phoebe and Tilly

Phoebe

Tilly

Phoebe and Tilly came to us in the summer of 2015. We had just lost one of our previous pair of girls to sarcoma, a particularly invasive type of cancer. That left behind Poppy, who was very down and struggling with health issues herself.

We wanted to try to bond Poppy with a pair of baby guinea pigs to encourage her to enjoy her life again, and so that when she eventually passed away, we would not be left with another single piggie that needed to be bonded with a new friend.

Time was of the essence, and we went to our local Pets at Home to see if they had any youngsters available. We checked the Adoption section first, but there were only rabbits, hamsters and gerbils looking for new homes, so we moved on to the 'new' pet section with fingers crossed and holding our breath.

The boys' half of the enclosure had lots of baby guinea pigs in a multitude of different colours, and a couple of different age groups all in together.

In the girls' half I could only see one baby, which not ideal. She was mostly white with one brown ear and a brown patch coming down over one eye. Her other eye was quite quite blue! As we talked to her, she darted into a nearby pile of hay, out of which sprang a much smaller tri-coloured tortoiseshell baby! Judging by the size difference, they were probably from different litters, but were already used to living together. Two baby girls for Poppy!! Success!!

With MrPB standing guard over them, I went and found an assistant, and after answering lots of questions about our set-up, guinea pig knowledge etc, these two little bundles of fluff came home with us.

We moved the babies into a smallish indoor run on the kitchen floor, with lots of hay, hiding places, water, dried food and some vegetables. After letting them settle in for a couple of days, getting used to the sounds and smells of their new environment, we divided the run in half and put Poppy on the other side of the barrier.

Poppy and Tilly

Poppy was unsure of the new girls initially, but as she had got older she became a very gentle girl, and quickly we were able to start removing the barrier, allowing them to be in together. Things were going so well, but then poor Poppy took a turn for the worse. We took her took the vets and agreed that the time had come to put her to sleep. It was so sad, and Phoebe and Tilly were left slightly confused.

Now they are approximately 18 months old, both are very well with real personalities, Phoebe thinks she should be in charge but Tilly likes the quiet life and tends to ignore her. In frustration Phoebe starts plays both sides of the argument, being grumpy and rumble strutting one moment, whimpery and oppressed the next. She absolutely ADORES Mr PB! She will fall asleep on his lap, let him fuss her in the cage, speak to him, but merely tolerate me, she's such a daddy's girl! Little Tilly is adorable with both of us, showering me with piggy kisses on my nose, but she seems to have a teeny tiny bladder, as she can only manage to be out for a cuddle for about five minutes before she's asking to go back home again. They are a very special five minutes though.

They both love going out on the grass for a run around, and are very effective lawn mowers. Indoors they interact with us constantly. Phoebe is very feisty and shouts loudly when she thinks it's time for her tea, or she hears the fridge door open, and both have learnt that when we make a double 'kissing' sound or hold our hands above our head saying 'Doodoo!' (like exclaiming 'ta-dah') they have to beg at their bars for a treat (vegetable or forage, not shop-bought), this trick is also known as 'up-pig'. Phoebe like to taste all the fresh food before Tilly gets a look-in, she nibbles all the best bits off and then moves onto the next piece. It's a constant game of trying to out-wit her so Tilly can have something that hasn't been pre-chewed!!

Next time...Molly and Emmeline