Archive for July, 2008

Chins & Degus

July 14th, 2008

Some cats can live with dogs & some dogs can live with chins. Some people may oppose to the idea of keeping chins & degus together. But just like introducing a chin with another chin, it takes time & patience. Same goes to introducing a chin to a degu. After all, they are closely related to each other (they’re placed in the classification of Caviomorpha).

This topic was recently discussed & explained pretty well here (warning! Major cuteness!).

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Sexing a Chin

July 12th, 2008

Many pet stores or not so knowledgeable rescues (usually rescues that don’t specialize in chins) tend to mis-sex chins. Worse case scenario is that 2 brothers or 2 sisters, are placed in a cage together, and woops! They turn out to be a brother & a pregnant sister. Uh oh! Inbreeding! Sometimes the pregnant chin is so young that she faces calcium deficiency after giving birth. Kits of young chin mothers tend to be smaller too.

This post isn’t only for potential chin parents, but also for current chin parents (I only learned of Tubby’s real sex about 3 months after he first got home), who are planning to bring home another chin companion if you don’t want any unplanned pregnancy. You don’t want to be bringing home a pair of what seemed to be same-sexed siblings, or bringing home an already pregnant chin.

Tubby was mis-sexed by the pet store where I got him from. I feel like blaming the chain pet store for not knowing any better. Good thing Tubby didn’t have a companion. It wasn’t until I had to go away, leaving Tubby with a friend, that my friend suspected Tubby was a boy. I didn’t believe her until Tubby started mounting me!

I just don’t want chin parents to have to learn through somebody else’s mistake. I was referred to this site, which I should warn is very graphic, but very insightful in guiding you on how to properly sex a chin.

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Chin Massage

July 12th, 2008

Scratches are like massages for chins. They looovvveee scratches during the day. But if you’re trying to scratch them at night when they’re active .. forget it! They’ll just push your hand away.

Tubby likes to be scratched by the neck. And he’ll definitely let you know exactly where! He’s so bossy .. he’d turn to the right or left to let me know which side of the neck he wants to be scratched.

Initially, I thought that Winnie doesn’t like to be scratched, because every time I tried to scratch his neck, he would try to wiggle away. Until I found out that he likes to be scratched below the neck, on his chest!

Nothing beats seeing a smiling chinnie satisfied from your scratching :-)

Winnie scratches

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Making Friends?

July 8th, 2008

I remember the first time I let Daddy Hamster out in his Run-Around Ball, he ran past Winnie’s cage & Winnie darted so fast into his hideaway box. Winnie wouldn’t stop squeaking for about 5 minutes! I thought something was wrong with him! Maybe he darted so fast that he hit his foot or his head or something like that. When I picked him up, he still wouldn’t stop squeaking! But, there was nothing physically wrong with him. I think the sight of Daddy Hamster in a ball freaked him out. Maybe he thought that Daddy Hamster has evolved this this giant clear round thing that can move around! HAHA!

Anyhoo .. at one point I thought to give it a try with Tubby, since Tubby is the fearless one compared to Winnie. It was the cutest sight: since Daddy Hamster rolls quite slow, Tubby would literally follow after the ball by walking on his hind legs! At times when Daddy Hamster would stop, both of them would sniff at each other, but they seemed friendly! No teeth grinding from either of them, Tubby wouldn’t chew the ball .. it seemed like they were getting to know each other! Now .. if only I could get Tubby & Winnie to become buddies .. that would take about 20 posts.

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Glow in the Dark

July 7th, 2008

  1. Buy a compact fluorescent black light (the normal light bulb labeled as “black light” doesn’t really work as effectively as the compact fluorescent black light).
  2. Hook up the compact fluorescent black light.
  3. Make the room completely dark, by turning all of the ‘white’ lights that are in the room, closing the doors, closing the windows, etc.
  4. Direct the the compact fluorescent black light to a fluorescent-colored object, in this case it’s Baby Hamster’s CritterTrail cage, and voila!

ps: when taking a picture of an object with a black light, make sure you don’t use the flash mode.

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Hamster Scuffle

July 5th, 2008

I came home on the night of the blackout, & found Baby Hamster walking around the apartment! I was shocked, because I thought I had locked his cage with a fastener! Well, apparently he managed to push the door open slightly so that there’s a gap & he squeezed out of that gap. As you can see, now I’ve even taken another measure by adding that coil to secure the side of the door.

BH scuffle

When I was about to put Baby Hamster back in, I noticed Daddy Hamster was out too!!! He busted out from a cap that’s located on the top of the cage. He figured out how to turn it & popped it out! So, the tape is to secure that yellow cap.

DH scuffle2

I put both of them back without thinking much about them. What I didn’t realize until this morning was that they were out long enough to spot each other & had a fight with each other! Daddy Hamster got away with only a small bruise on his nose, but Baby Hamster has a biiig fresh scab on his chest & 2 fresh scabs on his side. I feel so bad for him because I didn’t notice his bruises sooner! But I’m glad that they’ve all dried up. I couldn’t get a picture of Baby Hamster’s bruises because he wouldn’t stay still. But I’ll keep checking up on Baby Hamster because it seemed that he was the loser in the battle. On that note, Tubby’s nose is healing very well!

O, as I already mentioned about Daddy Hamster & Baby Hamster fighting, I have to let you know that Syrian hamsters are solitary animals. They can’t live together, otherwise they would fight over territorial issues. They can live together when they’re young up to the age of 6 weeks old, but they have to be separated afterwards. Remember, 1 Syrian hamster per cage! Dwarf hamsters can live together.

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24-Hour Blackout

July 4th, 2008

Yesterday, at about 3 pm, the sky looked like it was 9 pm. Yep! It was a thunderstorm. I guess it was bound to happen, because we’ve had a couple of hot days in a row. I thought nothing of it, except that my car was parked on the street by a 2-hour parking meter, but I couldn’t be bothered to put more quarters because I didn’t want to get wet, at the same time I didn’t want to be ticketed.

No tickets, YAY! I guess the police also didn’t want to get wet :p Whatever. I arrived home slightly wet, no worries. I walked into my apartment building .. and it was DARK!!! At this point, I was annoyed because I had prepared beef stew in the CrockPot since that morning & was hoping to come home to a prepared dinner!

Never mind. This blackout wasn’t going to last, I thought. 5 hours later, I thought wrong. I was worried about the chins getting too hot & my food in the fridge going bad. So, I decided to buy 2 bags of ice & store them in the fridge. I was going to sleep through the hot night & I’d wake up to a power-restored morning.

……………………………

I woke up alright .. BUT IT WAS SO HOT BECAUSE THE POWER DIDN’T COME BACK ON!

Eeeerrgghh!!!

I never realized how much we took electricity for granted! I had no access to the Internet, my laptop & my phone ran out of battery, I couldn’t cook, no TV, no AC, no fan. I wonder what people did back in the day to kill time when there was no electricity .. I couldn’t even read with the help of a couple of dim candles, because it was too dark! I guess people just had to sleep earlier. Well, I slept at 3 am, so I had to stay up longer feeling bored with nothing to do.

After a trip to the movie & the mall, I finally came home to power-restored apartment. The chins & I finally could enjoy the cool air blowing from the AC.

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Tubby’s Bruised Nose

July 1st, 2008

Yesterday while Tubby had his daily out-of-the-cage exercise, he went back to his cage by himself!!!! He’s rarely done this (maybe once every 3 months) & I suspected that something’s wrong. So, I picked him up & noticed that his nose is bruised. I don’t know what happened & what caused it. I didn’t want to put any ointment, because the bruise is on his nose .. he might not like the smell, might rub it off, or might even lick it. So I left him alone & kept a watchful eye on him.

Tubby bruised nose

He’s himself today. In fact, his nose isn’t so red anymore. I don’t think the bruise bothers him at all. He always sits in the corner of the cage, with his begging look, his nose pressed against the cage .. which is what I don’t want him to be doing. No soreness, but I’ll keep monitoring his nose. Tubby is the fearless, bold one. Who doesn’t know any pain. He’ll jump anywhere he can gain height. I’m always afraid that one of these days he’ll break his leg or something.

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World Gets Happier

July 1st, 2008

According to a recent survey that will be published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe is the glummest country. The US ranks 16th.

I believe that what the article states is true:

Previous research has found that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn’t buy much of it.

And, the article also states the obvious:

Yet the new survey finds people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries. And controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others.

My dad always says that “money doesn’t buy happiness, but everything needs money” & that pretty much sums up the obvious reason why people in rich countries tend to be happier.

O .. another thing, people should at least have 1 pet. I’d like to think that animals, or a way to connect with nature also makes us happy :-) I don’t know what I’d do not having all these pets to play with & take care of .. I think I’d be bored out of my mind.

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