[Lilysmommy]

The new betta tank looks really neat! I love the little wood shelter/platform.

Glad to hear Kerrigan is hanging in there. Give her a pet for me. ♥ I hope she keeps doing well with her liquid diet!

And glad things have improved for you as well! Have fun helping with the Saint puppy, I bet that'll be some work! My aunt has two of them and good lord, the fur. And the DROOL. Saints are very cute, but I couldn't stand to live with one due to the drool. :lol:

 

[FinnickHog]

Whew, I have been so crazy busy! I had yesterday off, but I had cage cleaning to do so I didn't manage to sit down here until now. I've been lurking all week, just haven't had time to post.

What's new... Well, animals-wise there's a few things. I decided I hated the betta tank. It's been remodeled again. I'll post a picture once I have a minute to take one. It has a glass bottle with a vine growing inside it floating around on the surface for the betta to play with now.

Brox got a small upgrade. I planted him a mini garden. I took my teeny tiny baby gecko tank and put the whole thing inside his cage. I've sealed the top and sides to keep the humidity away from him, and I have some basil and parsley seeds about to sprout any day now. I'll plant those in his garden and he can have them as snacks when they're big enough.

Kerrigan's lump has grown slightly and shifted, which means the vets have changed their minds on what it looked like. There's a gentleman here in town that used to work on wildlife in South Africa, so I'm thinking I'll ask him if he wants to have a look. I'm really needing someone to just do explorative surgery at this point. You can see where the problem is, and it's isolated, but it's on her belly now instead of at her lung. It has to be some sort of abcess or blockage. She's still eating her mush and still acting like herself, but I'm getting that feeling that something needs to be done quick.

Finn is going to have a tiny bit of salmon with dinner today! He eats just about everything, so I'm not too worried, but we'll have to see how his poops are afterwards.

Oz got to go to the groomer and I practiced on him. He tried to kill the dryer so I had to get him used to it reaaaaallly slowly. But he did alright considering he'd never been before.

In related work news, I've been either at the groomer's or at my other job, so I don't have much me time when I get home, what with all the pets. But my crappy job is paying better now, and the groomer who's teaching me thinks I can go for my level 1 certification at the end of May. Which means less free time while I study a lot, but it will be worth it!

Brox's head is shedding finally, so I'm planning to do his video tomorrow, and I'll take a picture of Keitan's place while I'm at it.

Now if someone would just buy me a Halloween Tuxedo Urchin that would be great. :lol:

 

[Lilysmommy]

Glad to hear things are good! Fingers crossed for Kerrigan...I hope the vet will be willing to do surgery & see what the heck is going on. And that it's removable!!

Brox's mini-garden sounds awesome, and the betta's vine too! Looking forward to seeing pictures.

Curious to hear what Finn thinks of the salmon. Bindi seems to like hers quite a bit. I've had no issues with poops with the salmon. But she got very stinky when I tried herring, so that got cut right back out. :lol: I have sardine to try next.

I'm glad the job situations are going better too! Poor Oz though. :lol: Dryers are scary!

 

[FinnickHog]

I'm planning on calling the vet tomorrow to see what he thinks. I'm glad she's at least still acting like herself. And she's put on 8 grams!

Ooh, I will pass on the herring then! Have you tried tilapia? The place I work gets whole ones and I could feed it to everybody.

Oz kept biting at the air stream and he couldn't figure out why it wasn't grabbable so he started chasing the nozzle. He's such a pest :lol:.

 

[Lilysmommy]

I haven't, it's not generally recommended in my raw feeding groups. Most tilapia is farm-raised & not terribly healthy, and it's not very high in omega-3s either (which is the main reason most dog/cat raw feeders include fish in the diet).

:lol: That'd be funny to watch! I'm having fun watching Ebony tonight - sprayed catnip spray on her stuffed squirrel for her to murder. :lol: And then also on a couple small toys that I tossed into her hidey-hole game and she's been going nuts trying to get them out. She's not as good at the game when she's high, apparently, hah.

 

[FinnickHog]

I knew there was a reason it was cheap.

Haha poor Ebony!

 

[Artemis-Ichiro]

Glad things are better and hope you get good news about Kerrigan.

Salmon is Ichiro's favorite, his main kibble isnwith salmon and when we make it he eats the whole thing and I don't even find crumbs.

Tilapia is not even recommended for humans.

 

[FinnickHog]

Got a few videos and an update on my snakelady today. Kerrigan's lump has grown again, but now it's growing underneath her instead of side to side, which really makes me think it's an impaction. She's booked in for Monday for the specialist to have a look and do surgery if it's needed. Turns out you can give a snake an enema and that can clear up some impactions, so we may try that first.

Here's a video of how crazy the lump has gotten in the past two weeks.

And, finally, here's Brox's video!

Everyone else is doing well. Finn is loving the salmon!

 

[FinnickHog]

Little update on Kerrigan today. With where the lump is located and how it's twisted and ovaloid, I'm starting to think she's eggbound. Which means surgery and the snake equivalent of being spayed. I have to move the appointment to Tuesday because I'm stuck working Monday night. The main concerns now are if she's going to make it to Tuesday, whether she's strong enough to handle surgery or not, and price. It's tough to gauge vet costs, but it looks like removing bound eggs via surgery can be 250 pounds in Britain, which is about $475 Canadian. Blech. I can afford it but it won't be pretty.

 

[Artemis-Ichiro]

That really sucks. Hope everything goes well and she recovers so you can relax.

 

[FinnickHog]

Thanks Artemis! I've got my fingers crossed. And she's still very active and drinking. It's just the muscle loss in her back end that worries me, surgery-wise

 

[FinnickHog]

She's home. The x-rays showed nothing at all. I'm treating for a partial impaction now, but I'm doubtful since something should have shown up in contrast, but there was nothing. I'll give this two weeks and then she'll go back and get further testing. The vet thinks cryptosporidia parasites, but I'm doubtful of that too, since there's nowhere she could have contracted it. Cryptosporidia is manageable but there's no cure, so if that's the case she'll be medicated for the rest of her life. The other option is gall bladder issues, for which the vet knows of only two successful surgery stories. So I still have no idea what's wrong. She's out and exploring now, as per doctor's orders. Hopefully it's an impaction of something containing no calcium and no density and it's all fixed up in two weeks.

 

[Artemis-Ichiro]

That's hard. The not knowing is horrible. Hopefully at this point is something that will go away soon.

 

[FinnickHog]

So here's a really late update. Like three years late?

First and saddest, Kerrigan passed very shortly after my last update. Best guess was she was born with an unusual gallbladder, and no one was willing to attempt to fix it. It was kindest to her to just feed her her slurry until she passed away.

Mister Finn left me in late 2018 after a long fight with an oral tumor. The tumor was removed and unfortunately re-grew in a position that was inoperable. The vet felt that she may have missed some tissue which may have led to the second tumor but we can't be sure. It could easily have been a whole new lump.

Before Finn passed, I started having an allergic reaction to his annointing. I'm guessing it was a mild saliva allergy combined with the slight pokes from his quills getting it into my skin. I haven't held a hedgehog since, so I'm hoping it's passed. If not, I'll find a way to treat it.

What else is new? I'm back in the city again, so no more struggling for supplies. I unfortunately sold a bunch of my critters because I thought I was moving back out to nowhere again and figured they'd have easier times in the city. And then my plans fell through, everything changed, and I'm living with my parents again. It's been a rollercoaster!

My current list of critters is:
-Oz the cattle dog
-The saltwater tank and inhabitants
-Illidan the ball python
-3 new snakes, two variable kings I'm hoping to breed, and a Mexican hognose
-A giant day gecko
-A brackish goby fish tank
-Two ****atiels, Pippa the baby, and Kashi, the Oldman I'm birdsitting while his dad is at college
-Nova the budgie
-Tater the button quail
-Two ghost mantises
-Two jumping spiders
-And seven tarantulas

So I've still got a houseful, it just sadly isn't the same bunch I had when I left.

In awesome news, I'm on the waitlist for a baby hedgie from a breeder in Hope, BC. So I wanted to revive this blog to have a spot for baby pictures and whatnot!

It looks like I wasn't the only one who moved on, so I doubt any of the original readers will see this, but if any of you are still here lurking, hello! And a big hello to all the new forum members!

 

[OddDarkMatter91]

I’m so sorry for your loss, and I’m glad everything turned out well for you!
A massive hello back to you!

 

[FinnickHog]

Thanks very much, OddDarkMatter91!

 

[FinnickHog]

Bandit is here and settling in well! Here's a quick video of him being high-centered. He's SO BIG!

Clumsy Boy!

 

[SunnyLeslie]

Bandit is here and settling in well! Here's a quick video of him being high-centered. He's SO BIG!

Clumsy Boy!

What a cute video! The animal is very cute and charming. How long has he lived with you?