Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

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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Where’s DH?

December 22nd, 2009

Did the grinch steal Daddy Hamster away from me?

DH Christmas1

I finally have some free time & decided to make a DIY wreath. Cost: $0.

DIY wreath

ps: don’t mind the ugly beat-up door.

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Gifts

September 8th, 2009

I was recently in the Tiny Island. During my stay, I did not dare to brave the crowds and the expensive taxi fares of going into downtown despite all the new shopping places. Because of that, I didn’t buy anything for myself, but I didn’t forget to bring back some gifts for the animals:

Gifts from SG

Since I’m stingy & I don’t want these foods to run out too fast, these foods will only be treats & not part of the animals’ daily diet.

I like Marukan :-)

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Exotic Animals Become Drug Dealers Prey

February 9th, 2009

I saw this video news & it made me angry! It’s about Mexican drug cartels that use exotic animals, such as lions, monkeys, tarantulas, and birds, to transport drugs across borders – US & China as being the 2 largest markets for these illegal animals. It’s been rumored that rivals of the drug cartels have been thrown into lions for food. These animals can cost up to $90,000 and they are symbols of wealth. It’s simply not fair for these animals who have been taken away from their natural habitats for the furtherance of human greed & ego.

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Coldest Day of 2009?

January 14th, 2009

It’s cooollldddd today!!!! It’s -12°C, but factoring wind chill it feels like -20°C. The cold weather even made it to the news.

According to the National Weather Service:

LIGHT SNOW COULD RESULT IN ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY UNDER 2 INCHES TODAY. HIGHEST ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ALONG THE INTERSTATE 94 CORRIDOR. THIS WILL RESULT IN SOME SLICK CONDITIONS ON ROADWAYS. WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 15 DEGREES OR LOWER ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR TONIGHT ARE POSSIBLE.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL BE ON THE INCREASE THROUGH TONIGHT. A BAND OF HEAVIER SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ONSHORE WITH ___ _____ … _______ … ______ AND _______ _________ COUNTIES TO BE THE HARDEST HIT AREAS.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE ON THURSDAY … WITH SOME LOCALLY HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE…MAINLY WEST OF HIGHWAY 131. DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES COULD OCCUR ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR ON THURSDAY.

ANOTHER STORM MAY ARRIVE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE.

The chinchillas love it & the hammies are hibernating .. as for me, I’ll be staying at home dressed like a penguin with some hot cocoa in hand.

The (slightly frozen) window from the chinchilla room, looking out to a pine tree

A close up of the frozen capillaries on the window .. this picture grosses me out (I’m one of those people who can’t look at close-up pictures of insects)

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Long Flight Home

December 20th, 2008

I haven’t posted anything these past few days because I’ve been flying & flying. I flew approximately 1 1/2 hours from the Midwest to East Coast (that doesn’t include transit & delay times) + 18 hours from East Coast to a tiny island in Southeast Asia (doesn’t include transit time). Because it is winter in the States, my flights were horribly bumpy. I hate domestic US flights; not only that I have to pay for checked-in luggages, they are always (without a fail) delayed.

The instant I left home for the airport, I already missed my animals. I’ve hired a petsitter to come once every 2 days to check & play with the animals.

Once I arrived in the tiny island in SEA, I went to a couple of petstores. They’ve got so many cute Japanese stuff!! Like the scented dust bath for hamsters (in all sorts of fruit scents) and all the wooden toys. I’m thinking about getting some. I can’t believe they also sell puddings and dried crickets and shrimps for hamsters? I’ve read that Syrians like crickets & worms, but I don’t think I’d dare to touch the food .. let alone see how their poops will look like after eating dried bugs. I went to this one petstore (not saying where) where I saw the storekeeper taking out some baby hamsters out of the community tank. I think the hamsters weren’t sexed in the first place & those babies were the result of inbreeding. The babies were then placed in this tiny tiny plastic container … On a positive note though, I’ve never seen any white-face robos & this store happened to carry a lot of them. Very cute!

Here’s a picture of a cab ride to the airport; I think this was going towards Outram Park. When I was in the tiny island, I was lucky enough that it didn’t rain.

cab by Outram Park

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Future Pets?

November 17th, 2008

I think, when I first buy my own house, I’d certainly take the (current & future) pets into consideration, i.e. whether there’s a playroom for them, or there’s a garden for the more outdoorsy pets.

I have so many pets that I want as part of my family. Of course at this point in time, I’m only thinking about getting them for the future. Currently, I don’t have enough time & space for so many of them. And I’ll only welcome a pet once I know that I will be dedicated to them in the long run.

Sssoooo, here are some that I can think of now:

  1. A pair of guinea pigs (one short-haired & one long-haired, preferably a Texel long-haired)
  2. A turtle (any would do, as long they can grow big & freely roam around in my garden)
  3. A pair of ferrets
  4. A girl chinnie (maybe 2, so each of the boys can have a missus)
  5. Bunnies (oo I want so many different types, namely: any dwarfs like Hotot or any long-haired like a Lionhead)
  6. A pair of electric blue crayfish
  7. A hhugge tank of fat clown loaches
  8. A Pembroke Welsh Corgi
  9. A Flame Point Himalayan (hopefully one who can get along with my existing 6-year old Cocker Spaniel, Joey)

Sounds like a mini zoo :-)

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102 Chins Rescued from a Hoarder

October 31st, 2008

Last month, 102 chinchillas were rescued from a hoarder in CA. I read the story from here & it is so heartbreaking! Looking at the pictures made me mad .. at the hoarder. It’s so upsetting to know that there are people who would ‘adopt’ animals with the pretext of giving them ‘good homes,’ but they end up in the wrong situation. That is why I’m super apprehensive when it comes to other people taking care of my pets or giving me pets away for adoption .. you just never know how others are going to treat your pets!

Not many people know this, but animal hoarding is a physical manifestation of some underlying psychological problem. What might be the worse hoarding case was Barbara Erickson with 552 dogs found in her possession to be neglected. She had been charged before for hoarding 293 dogs, but the charges were dropped. People like Barbara Erickson are also responsible for selling these dogs to local petstores! Unbelievable isn’t it? That’s why I don’t like going to chain petstores & prefer to visit breeders at their homes (or adopt), to actually see the living conditions of the animals before they go home with me.

Too bad those chinnies are all the way in CA. If I were closer, I’d love to be a foster parent.

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Winnie the Fish?

September 8th, 2008

I had the strangest dream this past weekend.

I dreamt that my car didn’t want to start. So, as I was waiting for the repairman to come & jumpstart my car, I was hanging out at a nearby cafe. For some reason, I had Winnie with me, like how people bring their dogs to cafes etc. He was surprisingly well-behaved (yea, it is a dream) & sat next to me. People in the cafe thought he was cute .. Until 1 waiter/waitress (can’t remember the gender) has never seen a chinchilla & thought Winnie was a type of a goldfish!!!! So, he picked Winnie up from where he was sitting & put him in the fish bowl (yes, the cafe has a fish bowl)!!! I was terrified & I woke up ..

Yes .. I think about my animals all the time, to the point that I still think about them when I’m sleeping 0_o

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Trip

August 29th, 2008

Was away for 2 nights & 3 days, but felt too long to be away from all the animals. I kept thinking if they were okay while I was gone.

When I arrived home, I was glad to see no animals had escaped, none had run out of food, and best of all, the chinnies looked excited when I saw them :-D The chins had 2 opportunities to play outside of their cages; in the afternoon & at night. For dinner, I made all the hammies their favorite: scrambled egg with tofu yum yum!

During the trip, I saw this & was so tempted to pick some to bring home for Tubby ..

but nnnooo! I was in a national park & I’m pretty sure picking on the park’s plant can lead to some fines (Note: those are pinecones, which I can wash & dry in the oven as treats for the chinnies).

Overall, it was a good trip .. enjoyed the views. Here are a couple:


(above) clear lake water

(above) an island from a distance

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