Our Feathery and Furry Family Members
Here are our other family members.
Petit LaoTzu
August 6, 2003
Petit LaoTzu is our blue budgie. I got Petit (puh-tee) in September 2003 when I was living in Chicago. I was very lonely without any pets, and realized birds weren't banned by my lease. A friend of mine told me that male budgies could be taught to speak, and I thought that'd be cool, plus I knew birds are intelligent and can be friendly, so I went in search. I got Petit because he was the bully of the habitat. It took the poor associate 45 minutes just to catch Petit, and another 15 to get him detached from the net. I wanted a bird with spunk, and I definitely got one.
Petit has an extensive vocabulary, and uses words intelligently and in context. Petit also has a wicked sense of humor and loves to laugh. He likes to bite unsuspecting people on the finger, then ask "did ya like that?" and laugh. Petit calls himself "Peachy" when he's in a good mood. He calls me "Narni" and my husband "Kel". He does love to talk and have little conversations with us, but also with his friend Ari and his bells. He can identify some colors, and names his bells (things like "narnibell"). His favorite channel is the Home&Garden channel.
Aristophanes Loki
December 5, 2006
Aristophanes is our green and yellow budgie. We got Ari in February 2007 as a companion for Petit because we were both working days and couldn't dote on Petit as much as before. Kjell picked Ari out as he was the most comical and active of the lot. He also had a fair bit of personality ala Petit, and we figured that would mean Ari could hold his own against Petit's bossiness.
Before we got Ari, he had never had access to toys or bells. As a result, he is still afraid of bells. It took him two months to learn to play with toys, but he really only got the hang of it after he and Petit started sharing a cage. Ari is learning how to talk and can say things like "I love you" and "You're such a pretty bird." Ari's favorite channel is the Design channel.
The budgies are very spoiled. One of their favorite "games" is to do the Alarm Chirp/Call and then watch and laugh as the rabbits dive for cover.
Sweet William Ashe
June 16, 2005
William is our (neutered) Netherlands Dwarf rabbit. When I bought him from the store near Chicago in August 2005, he was sitting in the window on a pile of other rabbits. I was searching for a rabbit companion, and when I saw him, I just had to rescue the little guy! He was light grey with dark purple eyes, but his coloring has grown out and he's now pointed with dark purple eyes. I named him Sweet William after the flowers, he's very laid back and sweet. In Chicago, he was also a guard bunny, and he'd lunge at people he didn't like and nip them in the ankles. He's a very good judge of character, it turns out.
When we first got William, he started having seizures whenever he'd have a bit of carrot. I took him to Animal 911 in Skokie (near Chicago) and discovered he's got an allergy to carrots. Now, I know that's terrible, but the irony is so wonderful: a rabbit that's allergic to carrots! Oy vey.
Calendula Rose
December 14, 2005
Calendula is a dwarf mix we got from a local petstore in Oviedo, FL. She came to live with us in June 2006. She has chinchilla coloring and light blue eyes. Calendula is the latin name for Marigold. The cashier offered to give me Calendula for free if I'd buy a cage. She'd already been bought and returned once, so I decided I'd buy her and took her home.
When we got home, I was giving Calendula a check-over and found numerous scabs and old injuries. She cried constantly. I'd never heard a rabbit cry the way she did. She cried if we gave her hay, she cried if we picked her up, she cried if we moved in any way. It was so sad. She had a runny nose which turned out to be snuffles. Calendula was longer than William, but weighed only two pounds. So we took her to the vet and he prescribed Baytril, which she got for 2 months. She is now 4 pounds, very solid, and rarely cries.
Calendula is spayed, and she and William are best friends. They do everything together, tear around the house, dig through phone books, throw their toys around. Calendula is a very assertive rabbit, but she's coming around. She loves to stretch out on my legs and get "brushed" with the lint remover.
Clover Sarai
April 13, 2007
Clover is an angora-mix rabbit we got from a local pet store in Oviedo, FL. I'd had my eye on her for 4 months, when I went into the store one day. There at the register, a girl was cutting all the fur off a guinea pig that was "too big." She was preparing it to become snake food, because no one bought it as a pet. We then found out that it is the store's practice to sell unpurchased pets as snake food. We knew time was running out for Clover.
I ran home and gathered together all the money I could find. The next day, I went back to the store to buy her. In the 24 hours it took me to gather all the money, the price for rabbits jumped up by $5. The girl gave me a dollar so that I could save Clover.
When I got her home, I did a basic check-over. Clover was covered in mats. They were so bad that she couldn't even sit up on her hind legs, and could barely hop. She had pine shavings and guinea pig poop matted in her fur. After calling all the rabbit groomers and being turned down, we went out and got a clipper and shaved her. It took me three days and I still didn't get all the mats. I brushed her fur out, sprayed her with detangler, did everything. It took months to remove them all.
Once the initial mats were removed, we took her in to the vet, where he diagnosed her with malnutrition (she was a pound and a half and larger than both our other rabbits) and overgrown molars (lack of hay). We put her on a nutritional regimine and helped her gain weight over the next two months.
Clover is a very happy, well-adjusted rabbit. She's finally at a safe weight for anesthesia, and so she is going to be spayed soon. She loves to stretch across my lap and get brushed. Clover also follows me around much like a puppy would. Though she was sold to us as a "dwarf," Clover is 7 pounds. She's larger than most house cats.
Sadie Jane
no idea on her birthday
Sadie is our Great Pyrenees. We adopted her in March 2010 from a high-kill shelter south of here. We went to meet her, and Sadie took right to us and our little boy. She's very sweet and easy going, but she also makes an excellent guard dog. Sadie loves and guards the critters here. She takes her job very seriously.
We've been looking to adopt a Great Pyrenees for a few years now. They are very loyal to their family and their "herd", and they do not trust strangers, nor do they allow strangers to come onto the property without the family's permission. Great Pyrenees are incredibly intelligent dogs, they were bred for independent decision making and guarding of livestock. They are not big barkers, they only bark to alert intruders to their presence, and to warn us of potential threats.