Member pics

[Distracted]

Well, at least all you have to worry about with your "fourth child" is a missing stitch or two. Mine (our ferret, Cinnamon) decided she didn't like her new water bottle. The old one was leaking all over, so hubby bought her a nice new one. Unfortunately, ferrets are rather primitive little critters who are pretty much incapable of learning new skills once they hit adulthood, and she's six. (Ferrets usually live around seven years.) Anyway, she couldn't figure out how to drink as much from the new bottle and nearly died of dehydration before we figured out what was wrong. We were up til 11 pm the other night on the phone with the exotic animal intern at the veterinary hospital in Baton Rouge learning how to rehydrate a ferret. Apparently you just inject sterile saline under the skin at the nape of the neck. 10 cc's later (I did it myself) and a couple hours of sleep and she was back to her usual self...almost. Then we took her to the vet the next day. He did an ultrasound to look for tumors, charged us enough to buy a new ferret AND a new cage, and then told us to give her her old water bottle back. She wasn't eating there for a few days while she was lying there dying, so now she's skin and bones, so last night I had to feed her this liquified high calorie food with an eye dropper. She hates the stuff. Joy. But my 10 year old is overjoyed. She's the one who noticed that Cinnamon was having trouble with the water bottle over a week ago. It would have been a lot cheaper and less traumatic to listen to the child.

[TPoptarts]

Awww poor baby

[Bether6074]

I remember a little trick with animals to check for dehydration from when I worked at an animal hospital. You lift the skin up at the nape of the neck and if the skin stays up, your pet is dehydrated. If it goes back down, they are hydrated enough. Or so I was told by the vets there anyhow. I'm glad the ferret is feeling better. Hopefully it was just a water bottle issue.

[JadziaKathryn]

These are pictures from a couple days ago when I went to a wildlife park:
You get a bag of food pellets. With your admission, instead of charging extra like they do in the US. Here I am feeding a kangaroo (an Eastern Grey kangaroo, to be specific):

They also like to be scratched on their necks, which they lean into:

The iconic (and endangered, due to Devil Facial Tumor Disease) Tasmanian devil, at feeding time:

[Linda]

That looks like fun. I haven't been to a zoo in a long time.

[JadziaKathryn]

It was super fun! I got to see all kinds of Aussie animals (and I took a ton of pictures). I even got to see joeys! This is a Bennet's wallaby and her baby:

This is an echidna:

[justTripn]

That ecinda is weird looking! So kangaroos are friendly? At the Pittsburgh Childrens Zoo, you can walk into the kangaroo pen, but I don't think you can pet them.

Nice family photo, Bether. Looks like you are well loved.

[JadziaKathryn]

The kangaroos are super friendly. Of course, when you're walking up with food in your hand, things tend to like you...

These are obviously not wild kangaroos. Wild roos, especially the larger males and the larger red kangaroos (which are in more arid parts of Australia), can be dangerous because they rear back on their tails and kick. The claws can basically shred your torso. So the moral of the story is, give wild kangaroos their space.

My camera can take video clips, although the quality isn't superb. Click here to watch a young wombat eat.

[justTripn]

What an amazing age we live in. Beam me that data from your tricorder! lol

[Asso]

What an amazing age we live in. Beam me that data from your tricorder! lol

JT, your enthusiasm is splendid!

[enterprikayak]

So, back in Nov 07 this government film crew came over and filmed
Aureilia for this public service ad dvd that shows how
you can, like, interact with your kids!
Ooooh! And like, teach them stuff yourself a little bit
(y'know, not leave it ALL up to Ms. Smith in the 1st Grade).

So yesterday, a DVD shows up in the mail, and Aureilia and I are on the inside sleeve!

Here we are (Priso too!) playing harp and playdoh and helicopters with Aureilia...she was only 27 mos! So cute!

Click to play...

[Linda]

That is lovely, Enterprikayak!

[Alelou]

Yes, very nice. I'm tempted to send it to my stepdaughter, but I'm afraid she might take that as criticism...plus I think she does pretty well already. I just wish they turned their TV off more often.

I was checking out infant swings when I couldn't remember where the hell we'd lent the thing out most recently (turned out my brother had it in a shed). I was appalled at the number of shopper reviews that referred to setting it up so the baby could swing and watch TV and be entertained for hours!!!

[justTripn]

When mine were little, I worked part-time, and sent the kids to daycare like every other day (I forget the exact schedule). But one of the home daycare providers packed up all her 5 or six babies once a week and took them on a field trip! I was so impressed. And of course there was book reading time and activity time. So I figured I better be doing at least as good a job as this day care provider. So when I had them at home, I would also aim for a once a week "field trip." Once we went to the top of a skycraper and looked out the window. Once we caught a bus and went to the airport to watch planes take off. Of course we went the museum and the science center. And little Christopher (my artist) was required to draw two pictures a day, which he happily did. When they got to kindergarten, the teacher told me, "They're experience is so broad!" She said that they did a section on bats, and one of the twins told her he'd seen a bat in a cave and then pulled out a rock he got at the gift shop. The other twin IDENTIFIED the type of bat the teacher was showing (from seeing it at the museum).

I am all for encouraging parents to think of their child care as an important job. And it was all fun.

[Asso]

Very, very nice, EK!