Archive for April, 2010

Edible Chinchillas

April 29th, 2010

Don’t let the title scare you!

Earlier this month, there was a birthday (not mine). I had 2 sculpted cakes custom ordered to look like none other than:

Tubby cake

Winnie cake (small)

Tubby & Winnie!!!

Winnie & Tubby cakes

This is the only time that the 2 of them can be seen next to each other ^.^

Not only that they look good, they taste good too! Tubby (the cake) is a chocolate rum cake with Swiss meringue icing, and Winnie is a chai tea cake with Italian meringue :-) In real life, the Tubby cake is more realistic looking than the Winnie one. But I like Winnie’s pose better :-D

Tubby cake 2

Winnie cake 2

As you can see, the Winnie cake is rich with icing (too rich for my taste).

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Severe Overgrooming

April 18th, 2010

In the middle of last month, I noticed that Pinky’s backside was completely bald:

Pinky fur loss

According to the vet, the exposed skin looks healthy, no flakes to indicate dryness or possible mites. I initially suspected ringworm or mites because during a mites breakout last year & all of the hamsters, except her, were affected. So I thought that maybe it’s her turn to contract mites.

The vet thinks that it’s a psychological issue, mainly that she’s so bored that she overgrooms herself. She can’t groom anymore than the lower back of her body because that’s as far as she can reach.

I don’t understand how she can be bored because she has a lot of things in her cage: a wooden hidey house, a relatively large wheel for her size, plastic & cardboard tubes, ledges to climb on. I’ve since added more stuff in her cage & given her some chewable sticks that I have for the chinchillas & a 42-puzzle playground (that she NEVER goes into even though I hide treats in it!) to the point that there’s little walking space in her bin cage. The vet also suggested that I give her foods that are rich in good oils to encourage fur growth and more toys to keep her entertained. She doesn’t like the plastic ball because it scares her so I’ve only put her in the plastic ball a couple of times when I first got her.

Well, fast forward to today (about 4 weeks later), Pinky has certainly stopped overgrooming herself:

Pinky fur grown1

Pinky fur grown2

Lesson learned? Pack your hamster’s cage with tons of toys!

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Venting

April 12th, 2010

I was watching a video about Gohan-Chan (a hamster who was supposed to be a meal for a zoo snake, but snake decided to befriend it) on Youtube. Youtube has a list of related videos on the right side of the page, so I clicked on one. Not good! It happened to be a video of someone’s pet snake eating a dwarf hamster (one that looks like Brain mind you!). The instant the snake attacked the hamster, I was grossed out. What’s even more disturbing is that there are more amateur videos of other pet snakes having hamsters as meals :-( In my opinion, these kinds of videos are not funny nor they are entertaining. I really enjoy watching documentaries, especially ones about animals & I don’t mind watching (with 1 eye closed) a lion attacking a baby elephant because even though it’s cruel, it’s recorded for educational purposes & that is how mother nature balances order in the wild. As for pet snakes, I am sure that pet owners do have a choice on what to feed their snakes. I used to keep 10 piranhas and despite popular beliefs, feeding them frozen mice or feeder goldfish isn’t always the healthiest thing for them (not to mention the cleanups I’d have to do). In fact, that’s how diseases are transferred from one species to another.

Ok, enough venting for now.

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Whisker Craziness!

April 8th, 2010

Check out those whiskers!

Tubby robe sleeve

Winnie whiskers

In memory of Baby Hamster

DH sleepy whiskers

And those long whiskers are not for looking cute only, according to Live Science:

Most rats have poor vision, but they make up for it with the “whiskers on their snouts. They use the long hairs, also called “vibrissae,” in the same way that blind people use canes. By whisking the hairs across objects the come across, rats and other rodents form mental pictures of their surroundings.

:-)

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Happy Easter!

April 3rd, 2010

From Tubby!

Tubby easter 2010

Here’s a picture from behind the scene that didn’t make it onto the blog.

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