Pictures for Auntie Jen!

A few pictures for Auntie Jen of the menagerie!

 This is the new chick and duck set up! We've got chicken wire as a lid so the cats don't try to take any off as a snack. So far we've got 5 chicks and 2 duckies. We've got a new batch in the incubator that is much more promising than the first - that ended up with none hatching out. BUT, we did figure out why several didn't hatch (we accidentally cooked them) and why probably several others didn't (they appear to not have been fertile when we put them in) and then figured out that flipping them with dirty hands may have introduced bacteria into some of the others.. SO. While the first batch *failed* like any experiment - it was not a true failure.

 This is Oreo. Or Domino. Or Ol' Smitty. Or well. Whatever the kids happen to be calling him that day. He is the shy-er of the 2 boy bunnies we have. We are going to be adding to the herd whenever we can (as in we already know where we plan on getting it from, it just has to be old enough) to get a girl so we can start a small rabbit hatchery. (Yes, I know it's Rabbitry.. or something similar but spell check REALLY hates that word.)

 The boy really likes helping with the animals. They both do. If they didn't we would not have as many as we do.

 This is Black Foot. The Boy has claimed this one as his.

This is Goldie - the Ducky. The Girl has claimed it as hers.

 Both bunnies getting raisins. That's their favorite treat. 

This is Thumper. He's much more friendly and out going, but since we got the bunnies from didn't treat them well at all, they don't like to be snuggled. We are going to snuggly the new one so it will tolerate it better. 

This is the frog tank and frogs. Yes, there are frogs in this picture. I just poured a ton of fruit flies into the tank so there are a bunch of flies and frogs - can you find them?

 Black Foot and Goldie close up. 

Peek-A-Boo Ducky. 

Girl was being a super helper with all the cages.

A feisty boy!

Still to come are the Rupert (the Biggest Puppy Ever), Bear (Deaf dog), and Kitty Galore. Oh the Hamster! I always forget the hamster.

The Zoo Says *Hello*

It's been a while since a full pictorial of the zoo has been given. I figured it was about time to give an updated *Hello* from the full Family Zoo..

This is Bear. He's about 9 months old now. He's learning his signs very well. It took us long enough to figure out he was deaf. Smarter than the rest of them really though.

This is Merlin a.k.a. or Grandpa Hissypants. He's the oldest of the bunch.

Domino. He's the more shy of the 2 bunnies. 

Thumper. He's more adventuresome. 

I think we all know which crazy animal this is! 

Thumper and Domino together.

The ever elusive Toby. He rarely comes out when people are over. 

Ulee, also our people flee-er. He likes to eat plastic. 

 

Fuzzy, aka Jinx, is the fluffiest of the bunch. He also lets the kids get away with allllmost anything. 

The Frog Tank. It has umm.. somewhere between 12 and 16 frogs in it. We also have an experiment of fruit flies going on to feed this little herd of frogs. 

Squirtle. That cat, as you can see, is the Boy's own personal toy.

Dance fever boy!

Toby and Vinny. Vinny is our only female cat. And of course has the most male name. Go figure. 

Squirtle wearing a harness. 

And last, but never least, Killer the Crazy Beagle. Ok. His name is really Timmy. But he keeps catching things outside and bringing them to me as "treats". He's only in his crate because he wiggles too much to catch a picture of. His entire body shakes with happiness like he has some kind of seizure disorder. He's crazy I say. Crazy.

The Puppy!

We've been working with the puppy quite a bit, you know.. Training them. Like you're supposed to. And we've discovered that our puppy (the 60 pound Great Pyrenees) is mostly deaf. Which is a relief that he's not being just THAT stubborn, but at the same time D'oh! He's actually taking to the slight variation in training (using more hand signals, trying to use a flashlight, guiding him with out hand, etc) fairly well. Mostly, he's just a good puppy with a lazy personality that likes hot dogs. We're gonna just roll with that for a while.

 Several people have suggested the great need to go to the vet and see exactly what he can or can't hear (well, he doesn't turn his head to his name or middle range sounds.. at all.. It's good enough for me.) and several have suggested it's *my* fault he's lazy and stubborn about coming when called. Which I would agree with IF he wouldn't come bounding when he could see me and when I did the hand motion for Come. But he does, which only supports the deaf and not the stubborn lazy. If he was a high energy, naughty, misbehaving dog - I might see these as potential issues. But he's not. He lopes. He lazes.

He loves to rest on the sofa too. The girl is holding on to him because otherwise he falls off like a limp, overcooked noodle.