Well rats

Brian the rat passed on last night. He had suffered some sort of injury near the base of his tail. We’re not sure what it was, but there was a lot of blood in his cage when we found him. He stuck around for several hours but was clearly in shock from the blood loss, and it was only a matter of time. Unfortunately I woke up this morning to Logan walking down the hall towards my bedroom crying, and knew what had happened.

Brian was the last of our rats; Sniff the rat also died a few weeks ago. As much as they were smelly, dirty animals, the rats were also wonderful pets. They’re very affectionate and gentle, and genuinely intelligent. We all really enjoyed them, particularly Brian. From a very young age it was clear Brian was the more adventurous of the two. He was never afraid of us, and always wanted to come out of his cage to play. He would gently lick your hand when you held him, and would even give you a kiss if you let him. If you stood three or four people in a row and held out your arms, he would run from one person to the next across their shoulders and down their arms. We tested him on this many times to see if he could use this technique to make it back to his cage, and he always did. There was clearly thought inside that little head of his. He bit Logan once, but as Logan says “it wasn’t his fault and he wasn’t mad at him for it”. He even had the common decency not to go to the bathroom on us while he was out, something I can’t say about Sniff.

We’ll be burying him outside later today.

 Print This Comments (0) Posted in Pets by Bryan

Obituary for our beloved BJ

One of our original gerbils died the other day. BJ, the brown gerbil on the left, was found lying on his side in his cage. He was cold and appeared to be sleeping. I picked him up thinking he was already passed, only to realize he was still breathing. He had no noticeable injuries or signs of illness. Logan and Conner were able to says their final goodbyes to him while he was still with is. Conner was very upset; BJ was one of his favorites and held a special place in his heart. I held him in my hands for another hour or so. He twitched occasionally if stroked, but it was clear where this was going to end. Finally his tail jerked a couple of times, he stopped breathing, and that was it. He was buried out beside the house in our ever growing pet cemetery the next day. BJ is survived by his wife John (also pictured on the left), and his umpteen million children.

Conner wrote BJ a note that read as follows (exact spelling, etc remains intact):

“a loved gerbil named B.J. was was very sweet and lovable. He was fat but very strong, no one could stand his cuteness. B.J. good luck in the sky!”

 Print This Comments (0) Posted in Pets by Bryan

Not a good month for pets ..

We woke up this morning to more bad news. Logan found his guinea pig Fluffy dead in his cage. He seems to have passed some time over the night. We’re not sure what happened, I have to assume he was sick but it’s very hard to tell. He wasn’t displaying any symptoms and had no visible injuries. From what I’ve read guinea pigs are a prey animal, and instinctively hide signs of illness or pain to discourage potential predators.

Logan got Fluffy last year while I was in Korea still. He was his eight birthday present. He was about one year old, and was his first real pet. He was heart broken but took it pretty well all things considered. We buried him out back under the deck this morning. Logan left him a goodbye note which we buried with him, along with some of the grass he liked to play in and some of his favorite food.

Logan desperately wants a new pig but I think I might wait a bit on that to give him a chance to think about it. We loved the little guy very much but he did require a lot of care and I’m worried if we get another one it will just meet the same end. We’ll see how he feels in a week or two.

In other news I uploaded a bunch of pictures from 2007, and a few videos. Check them out of you’re interested, they’re mostly kid related but there’s a few others tossed in.

 Print This Comments (0) Posted in Family,Life,Pets by Bryan

The tragic rise and fall of Chewy

Three weeks ago, Conner’s gerbils (BJ and John .. don’t ask, we had an unfortunate gender mix up at the time of purchase) had their first baby. It was tiny, hairless, and resembled nothing so much as a jelly bean with legs. He named it Chewy. Conner was absolutely delighted, and who wouldn’t be at that age? His pets were producing more pets! A potentially endless supply of pets! Interestingly enough, I was a bit dismayed for the exact same reason; an endless supply of pets.

We read all about raising baby gerbils on the internet. How to feed the parents while they are child rearing (high protein and plenty of water). When to wean them (around four weeks). How to make sure they are safe (take all the extra stuff out of the cage). Sadly, the last one didn’t quite get followed as diligently as it should have, and it appears Chewy paid the price for our mistake. Conner found him dead in the corner of his cage yesterday afternoon. We suspect foul play on the part of the hollow coconut the gerbils use as a little shelter. If I had to guess I would say he got stuck between it and the aquarium glass. It’s a shame too, as he was very healthy and his parents were taking excellent care of him. He had a full coat of brown fur and had recently opened his eyes for the first time.

Conner was devastated. He told us he could not go on in life without his Chewy. He begged him to come back, please come back! He’s never really dealt with death before so it was all very hard on him. Fortunately he mostly forgot about it about a half hour later and was back to his usual mischief. The gerbils were also very upset, I don’t think they really realized what happened and were searching desperately for their little son. As it turns out gerbils have a memory just slightly longer than Conner’s, and they seem to be back to normal now as well.

It was a very sad day. Give it a few weeks though, and mother nature will fix everything when the next batch of little jelly beans comes along.

 Print This Comments (0) Posted in Family,Life,Pets by Bryan