A Mouse Named Stuart

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm in love with a mouse.
This guy arrived at the shelter through a complicated series of events. Suffice it to say, his previous purpose in life was to be snake food. Luckily for him, he is now in the Room and looking for his new purpose - to be someone's awesome pet. I named him Stuart Little (cliches be damned!).

I have never met a tame mouse before. I mean, in the first place, we get them very rarely. And they are difficult to tame, especially if no one handled them when they were young. But this guy is the sweetest rodent I've ever met. He loves to be handled - jumps right on your hand and gives you little kisses!

I'm not going to lie, the first day I almost took him home. In fact, I proclaimed that if no one had adopted him within a week, I'd take him. That week is almost up....someone come get him??

Feeder mice are never socialized. I think what happened is that someone's pet had babies and they gave them to the pet store, and the pet store then sold them as food. I can't believe Stuart wasn't someone's pet at some point, he is way too nice.
He loves his fresh greens, as you can see! This guy goes crazy for healthy treats.

I've been promoting him enthusiastically all over the Internet, but while there has been a lot of positive response, so far no takers. This Monday I'll feature him on the Facebook page.
To prove how sweet he is, I even made a dorky video:

Somebody please adopt him - save me from myself!

Side note, baby hamster update: Sadly two of the little ones passed away, despite Arwen's best efforts. There is one more runt remaining, who is half the size of the others, so we'll see how he does. The rest of them are fat and very active, and their eyes are almost open - just a crack!

Baby Steps

I am totally in love with my latest foster family. That's Arwen sitting in the nest, various baby limbs sticking out from under her.She is the most amazing mom - I'm happy to say that all 12 babies are still doing well and thriving. In fact, I think there might thirteen.

They still look like little aliens, but they're mostly over the dangerous age when they might not thrive, or Arwen might eat them. Here you can see one of them yawning, and you can see a little bit of a tooth. They have little incisors and are able to chew on solids, which they do with relish.

Arwen will take up any food we give her and place it on top of them to encourage them to chew it. Here you can see one of the (adorable!) fawn babies chewing on a piece of peanut. We're giving Arwen lots of different foods to keep her healthy and fatten up the babies - peanuts for protein, fresh greens for hydration, pieces of carrot and fruit.

This little guy, one of the black & tans, has actually started wandering around the cage. This is driving Arwen crazy - she keeps picking him up and throwing him back into the nest. She'd better get used to it, though, because over the next few days the whole group of them should start wandering and exploring.

There are about 5 little black & tan babies, including the adventurous ones. There are also 5 (or maybe 6!) that look white or pale cream - it'll be interesting to see what those guys look like when they're older. And rounding out the group are two golden/fawn ones - they're my favourites.

All the photos probably look the same in small-view, so I suggest clicking large view. I love that little brown guy resting his head on his brothers. All the babies will be named after Lord of the Rings stuff, following their mom's name. We've made a big list, since there's so many of them!

They're about 11 days old now. Over the next two days, they'll start opening their eyes and running around, and eating more solid foods. By Saturday, I can start handling them without disturbing mom so much. A week after that and they'll be weaned.
They grow up so fast!

Easter Bunnies, Guinea Pigs & Mice

Of course we did an Easter shoot. Easter is not a great holiday for small animals, what with the unfortunate tradition of buying rabbits and chicks and then dumping them afterward. So we decided to reclaim the day with cuteness!
That's Pancakes up there - with the cutest photo ever. I love it!

Guinea pigs are so easy to work with - I tried to get a bunch of rabbits to stay in the basket, but with Martha, she just sat there. 

Callalily - she and her siblings are all grown up now, and man, they are huge. I love that "Bunny Crossing" sign.

Vanilla is our other adult guinea pig - she wasn't a big fan of the basket but she posed nicely in front of the main display. 

(We may have gone a little overboard with our decorations here)

Petunia, one of Callalily's sisters. This is another one of my favourite shots, I love the basket and fake flowers in front of her.

This is Stuart, a baby mouse whom I just adore. I am seriously in love with this boy - and this photo turned out adorably!

Lizzie, the punk rock guinea pig from a few posts ago. She really liked that Lindt bunny.

Rose, the last of the flowery siblings. I liked the little touch of the Easter plates on the wall - and for once, that ugly purple wall matched!

This was one of my favourite photoshoots. I think it turned out really cute! I hope you guys enjoy it too.

And one more of my favourite boy Stuart:

Shoeboxes & Duffel Bags

Happy Easter everyone! An Easter photo shoot will be coming tomorrow, but today I have a strange story for you:

A young woman showed up at the shelter on Good Friday. She had a large duffel bag with a sports logo on the side. She was surrendering hamsters.

As the staff at the front desk tried to decipher exactly how many she had, she would pull different hamsters out of the bag and wave them around, laughing. It was like a movie where the bag has no bottom. Inside the bag were shoeboxes,and inside the shoeboxes were hamsters. 
It was impossible to get a straight answer out of her. 
My favourite part was when we asked her if the females could be pregnant, and she replied that no, they were too young - and they were separated from the boys "most of the time". The girls are 8 weeks old - 4 weeks past sexual maturity.
When they asked her why she was surrendering them, she said her Dad was making her give them up.
Honestly, I can't really say I blame him.

The final count revealed a total of 16 hamsters in that bag - 3 adults in shoeboxes, and a mom with babies in a cage.

 This is the male, Legolas, a big handsome cream Teddy Bear with a chunk out of his ear. Yes, that Legolas - he has long blond hair, I couldn't help it. The Lord of the Rings theme continues!

This is Merry, named after the hobbit. She's sort of a half-hearted Teddy Bear - long fur, but not that long. Since we don't know the last time she 'might' have been with a male, we are forced to put her on pregnancy watch/no-adopt for 2 weeks.

This is Millie, the second female (the one she was waving around in the first place). Also on pregnancy watch! The good thing is that they're all very gentle and social. The bad thing is that the two girls are on pregnancy watch.
Oh, and then we get to the babies:

The mom is also a Teddy Bear, and now named Arwen. She and her twelve (yes, twelve) little ones were in a tiny cage, about 10-15 cm on each side. There was no nesting material, and the cage was packed with rotten food - mouldy pieces of bread, rotted pieces of chicken. It smelled disgusting. The water bottle was dry, and that wasn't new - it was dusty.
Hamster mothers eat their young if they are stressed, or feel they can't provide for them. This mother had 12 babies, even after 6 days of living in filth without proper water or nutrition. As soon as I placed her in a new cage and gave her some ripped up toilet paper, she made a magnificent nest and moved them all inside. I've never seen a hamster so determined to keep her pups.

Here they are, just yesterday. They went to my house immediately for foster. As of yesterday, I was still absolutely sure there were 11,and I could've easily missed one under the pile of wriggling pups.
I don't mind when hamsters eat their pups - it's just a part of fostering hamster families. But Arwen is super-mom. She seems so determined to provide for these little ones, I can't help pulling for her. I hope they all make it.

Also, shoebox/duffel bag lady? Please don't ever buy a hamster again.

There and Back Again

If you are remotely interested in the works of JRR Tolkien, you know that some sneak peeks at the filming of The Hobbit have recently been released. This has put me on a Lord of the Rings kick, and therefore all the most recent animals in the Room have LOTR names.
These guys, for instance, are Frodo and Bilbo!

This one is Frodo, and he has very handsome colouring indeed. Frodo is the gentler, loftier of the two - he tends to find a very high perch and stare at you intently.

This gorgeous boy is Bilbo, and he is just stunning. I love his feathers. Bilbo will nip you if you grab him, but I have to say he's my favourite. He's just got a funny personality. Very shy at first, but kind of mischeivous. Today, for instance, staff arrived at the Room to find he'd escaped from his cage!

 

I can't really blame him. These two arrived at the shelter with a large group of budgies, and all the other birds had to be euthanized. It was a big mess, with a lot of feather-plucking and disease. Their last home had clearly been terrible.

I doubt Frodo and Bilbo had ever been out of a cage in their lives. The first time I let them out, they ran into the wall and fell over themselves trying to fly. They didn't know what to do with their wings.

The second time, they were thrilled. And now they've got a taste of freedom, and Bilbo has decided to take matters into his own wings and get out whenever he feels like it.

I hope in their next home, these two get lots and lots of exercise time, and never forget what to do with their wings again.

Pancakes & Punk Rock

Check out that hairdo!
We got two new personalities in the Room last week. This little girl was one of them. While she arrived with the name 'Bella', it drives everyone crazy to have two animals with the same name and there was already a Bella (although she's now been transferred to THS). Therefore, this little one is now named Lizzie.

I like to call her 'Frizzy Lizzie'. I know the whole point of the Abyssinian breed is to have a bad hair day everyday, but that's ridiculous. She's also just over a month old and still a baby, so you know...beyond adorable.

It always cracks me up that guinea pigs can look totally different on each side.
Lizzie will grow up fast, but right now she practically fits in the palm of your hand, and I have no doubt she will find a home faster than you can say "Punk rock".

Our other newbie is this three-year-old Holland Lop, Pancakes. Pancakes is not very pleased to be in the shelter, and I'm pretty sure she was treated like a princess in her last home. Her incoming card notes that she had lots of playtime with her last owners' small child. She is a super affectionate girl, but like many rabbits, hates being picked up. Get down to her level and she will be tooth-purring for you in no time.

Unfortunately for her, she also has ear mites, but they are easy to treat. I think they were making her a little grumpy - they itch like crazy!

There are some big things coming up for the shelter - kitten season has begun, the Easter rush is right around the corner, and we're exploring some new options for adoption events. It's beginning to feel like summer (even though it keeps snowing - what is up with that?).

Rat-tastic

No posts all week because I've been battling a mighty battle with U of T exams, but happily the worst of them are over and it's back to the shelter this weekend.
I mentioned in my last few posts that we have recently receive quite the group of rats. Thanks to the amazing community of crazy rat people (and I do mean that in the best way possible), a bunch have been adopted already!

It started with a pair of 6-mos-old siblings. The two were transferred from Etobicoke at the very end of March. BamBam, the male, was adopted to a multi-rat home and renamed Fred almost right away. Pebbles (above), the female, came with us to the Pet Valu event - and started to show signs of pregnancy. When we inquired, we found out they hadn't been separated properly. Sigh! Pebbles is now in limbo, but unless she gave birth this week while I was away, I think she's out of the woods.

Soon after, Scarborough received a huge litter or two of rats (don't ask me why Scarborough always gets these big dumps of rats). I stupidly suggested we transfer some, since we normally have such great success. We received two pairs of babies. The boys, Ernie (above) and Bert, were adopted at the Pet Valu event.

The girls, Emma (above) and Charlotte, were still at the shelter last time I was there, but they have disappeared from the website and I suspect they've been adopted. I wouldn't be surprised, Emma in particular was a big sweetheart.

What I didn't know was that Etobicoke was transferring a litter to us at the same time Ernie, Bert, Emma and Charlotte arrived. Oops.
Meet the Beatles! John, Paul and Ringo are cuddled up here, with George off somewhere else. Yes, these brothers have that lab rat look, but come on - cute as buttons!

Awww. They make an adorable group. While there are four of them and they aren't the most popular colour, I think their chances of attracting a rat-friendly adopter are pretty high.

They are impossible to tell apart, except for personality. Ringo has a slight eye infection, so he stands out, but that will go away. Anyway, they are at Pet Valu now, waiting for that special someone.

But wait - there's one more! The Beatles came with their mom - Lucy (huge kudos to whoever named these guys).
And Lucy arrived with the boys, who are almost 2 months old, so - pregnancy watch! She is now nestled in foster care and, we are playing Wait and See.

Rats everywhere!

Pet Appreciation Weekend

This past weekend was the Pet Valu event, and it was lots of fun. It wasn't so much about the adoptions (although two rats got adopted and trust me, that is a very good thing, because we have rats coming out our ears). It was more about raising money, spreading information and getting some good PR.

One of the educational things we were trying to convey is that Easter and (real) bunnies do not mix (aka don't buy an Easter rabbit for your kids, geniuses). We didn't get much of a chance to talk to people, but we did give away a lot of chocolate and left some info at the store.

This was our display table - info packets on small animals, standard TAS flyers, cards for sale, chocolates, and a rabbit! The first day it was super sunny, while the second day started out with ominous thunder and ended super sunny. 

The first day, we used the animals that were at the store already - six rats, two rabbits (Callalily and Petunia) and Maggie the guinea pig. While Maggie looks adorable on the harness, she's a very shy girl and spent most of the time inside.

Petunia was equally unimpressed with being outside, as you can see. The young girl rabbits need some more socialization, so we've moved them back to the shelter, a more 'in-your-face-socialization' environment.
Nothing gets people to part with their money more than a rabbit on a harness, so I knew we needed somebody outgoing. On the second day, we brought Holly.

Holly has recovered wonderfully from losing her sister. She is one of my favourite rabbits, just so sweet and friendly. 

She made an excellent fundraiser rabbit, letting everyone pet her and gush over her. In the first five minutes she was outside with me, we got $8! Ok, it slowed down after that because unfortunately, it's not an area with much foot traffic, but still - that's impressive.

Here she is, guarding our very professional bag o' money. In all, I think we raised about $50 at the table, and Pet Valu did a whole bunch of fundraising in store (which will continue throughout April!). 
It was a fun weekend. It's always nice to be outside with a rabbit, raising money for something I believe in, even if I should be studying for exams (studying: it's overrated). 
I leave you with some of the wonderful Pet Valu staff who do so much for TAS animals all year round: