A conversation to remember
This may not entirely be animal related but since it did involve a wasp, well ok, part of a wasp, I thought it was close enough.
Below is part of a conversation that I saved between myself and Deek. No matter how often I read it, I never fail to laugh. These are the moments that are best. Spontaneous lunacy.
The Rockford flies says:
Well,
The Rockford flies says:
I found the decapitated head of a wasp.
The Rockford flies says:
Must have been there a day and IT WAS STILL MOVING.
Kate says:
Eww...
The Rockford flies says:
Exactly.
The Rockford flies says:
So of course, I gave it a lecture about death
Kate says:
HAHA...
Kate says:
What was the lecture?
The Rockford flies says:
1. When u die, DON'T wave your antennae around. 2. When your head gets separated from your body, DO TRY to give up the ghost all at once. 3. Just because you died horribly there's no need to take it out on the rest of us by being so damn scary.
Escape from mousetag 13. Film at 11.
This is an emergency news broadcast of the mousetag system. We have been alerted that a jail break has occurred within the mousetag system. Attached is a
recent 
photo.
If you see this highly dangerous criminal, do not approach her. We have had a report that she went totally round the bend after realizing that a "wheel" had yet again been removed from the camp.
Developments as they happen,
The mouse news team
An excellent Veterinarian clinic in the Dallas area.
If you live in the Dallas area and have pets, I highly recommend the Summertree Animal & Bird Clinic for great veterinarian care. I had quite a time finding vets in our area that care for reptiles but I got lucky and found this one. I'm so glad I did!
As most of you know from a previous post, my ball python, Sierra has been sick with pneumonia for the last couple of weeks. She's much, much better now and is eating again and seems more like her normal self. Pete and I have given her oral antibiotics twice a day since she saw the Vet.
When I first realized she was sick with some kind of respiratory illness, I started looking for veterinarians in our area. After calling half a dozen, I called Summertree Clinic and set up an appointment. I was so worried about Sierra and doubly nervous since I hadn't had any of our pets to this clinic before. It was needless worry.
Right from the start, the Vet we saw was great. Dr. Jennifer Wells has taken such excellent care of Sierra. Dr. Wells made both of us feel so at ease about Sierra's treatment. She is friendly, professional and it is very obvious that she loves animals. Huge relief for us!
If you live around the Dallas area Summertree is definitely a great animal clinic. They take great care of reptiles and birds too. From myself, Pete & Sierra, "Thanks Dr. Wells and everyone at the clinic"!
More on boycotting Petco.
The Petco boycott link listed gives details on the following information. Information listed here is the work of the webpage owner and not myself. I am posting this due to the seriousness of the problems associated with the poor care of Petco animals.
When you look at the link listed you will see that it is dated in September 2003. I have personally seen infested animals in Petco stores in 2004 and 2005 so it is still going on now and more than in just California, here in Texas too.
Boycott Petco
If you have a Petco in your area, please look carefully at the little animals, furry ones as well as the reptiles in their store. Most parasites are easy to see especially if the animals are infested as badly as the ones I've seen are.
The following is taken from the webpage that I linked. Please click on the "Boycott Petco" link above to read more of the details. This is very serious in regard to the health and welfare of innocent animals. Please help.
The PETCO Boycott
PETCO's Partners
BLOOD MONEY
Recipients
Resources
Pet Store Laws
Find the laws for your state
Anti-Cruelty
Statutes
by State
PETA Files Shareholder Resolution Asking PETCO to End Animal Sales
September 3, 2003
PETA is asking PETCO's board of directors to issue a report reviewing all operational costs and liabilities associated with the sale of animals in order to determine the viability of a policy to end such sales.
Read more here
What is a boycott?
A boycott is a form of protest whereby people abstain from buying or using the goods or services of a particular company or organization in order to cause a change. During a boycott, those who are protesting refuse to purchase or use anything from the company being boycotted.
Who is boycotting?
A group consisting of individual animal lovers and representatives from different animal welfare organizations has begun a campaign to stop the sale of live animals at PETCO stores across the United States. Members of the "PetNo" group are involved in letter-writing, petitioning, distributing flyers, protesting, and investigating and reporting their findings through a "neighborhood watch" of local PETCO stores.
Why boycott?
Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. Is the second largest chain of pet superstores in the United States. While Petco does not sell cats or dogs, they do sell many other species of animals. For years, animal lovers have complained to local Petco management and Petco's corporate headquarters regarding the treatment of the animals in Petco stores. Petco's corporate headquarters refuses to acknowledge any problem with their policies, blaming incidents of neglect and abuse on individual stores and store management, despite the fact that these are not franchised operations. A complete boycott of all Petco stores is the only way to get the attention of Petco's policy makers.
I spent what must have been 20 minutes talking to at least 3 employees and both the store managers, and they wouldn't DO ANYTHING! I asked at least 3 times if they would PLEASE sell me the rat so I could get him to the vet myself. They refused, citing their policy NOT TO SELL SICK ANIMALS!
The complaints against PETCO include, but are not limited to:
Obtaining and selling animals from pet mills
Keeping animals in overcrowded and inadequate housing/enclosures
Failure to separate sexually mature male and female animals
Failure to provide veterinary care for sick or injured animals
Your dollars speak for you! If you truly love animals and care for their well-being, don't support their needless suffering and death by patronizing Petco stores.
What you can do:
Show PETCO that the lives of all animals (not just cats and dogs) are more important than bargains or convenience.
Boycott PETCO! Buy your pet supplies elsewhere.
Consider adopting a pet in need of a good home.
Sign the Petition to PETCO to stop the sale of live animals in their stores, online at:The Petition
Write a letter to PETCO's CEO
Brian Devine
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121
Tel.: 800-765-9878
Mr. Devine's Secretary: 888-583-6044 x3046
Tell others! Put a bumper sticker on your car!
Order the new "PETCO kills birds" bumper sticker from the PETA Mall)
Other sites that address the boycott:
PetcoCruelty.com
KindPlanet.org
Visit the PetNo Home Page to learn more about the campaign.
Animal lovers unite - Boycott Petco
This is an important post. Important for all of us that love our animal friends. As some of you know, I have several pets. I have Sierra the ball python, Ginger the tabby cat, Velvet the rat, and two mice named Stewart and Minnie. If I had the room and money to take proper care of them I would have quite a few more reptiles since they are my favorite.
About three months or so ago I went into the Petco store not far from here to look around. Any time I visit a pet store I like to visit all the little animals and see what they have for sale. They had a few small ball pythons in a tank. As I looked at them I realized that they were literally covered with mites. You could actually see the mites crawling all over the little snakes.
First of all my heart went out to the poor little pythons who were obviously miserable since one of them had mostly submerged itself to try to rid itself of the parasites. Knowing how gentle and sweet natured Sierra is, it seriously pissed me off too. She has never had anything like that and if she did, I would have treated her immediately and never allowed anything like that to get to the point that I saw on the animals in Petco.
My husband Pete (Read Pete's article about Petco too at Augmented Reality) was looking for another place to buy Sierra feeder rats/mice since I've also stopped buying rats from Plano Pets (another pet store in this area) as well because I found parasites crawling on one fuzzy-size rat. That store is suppose to be USDA approved too.
So where the hell is the USDA people to check on those animals? Oh wait -- that's right -- the government doesn't actually do anything other than give that title to a store. They don't actually send representatives out to keep check on the conditions the animals live in. THEY SHOULD. Animals are getting sick and dying because of the neglect and poor care of the people that buy and sell them.
Back to Pete. While googling for another place to get rats, he came across an article about Petco.
Follow this link:The Petco Boycott The neglect and poor treatment and care of their animals is simply atrocious and should not be allowed. Where is the government to intervene and put a stop to this? Why don't they care? Does it take people raising so much hell about it that someone finally gets sick of hearing about it then they do something about it? I for one will never buy anything else from Petco since they feel that money is more important than animals that depend on them for care.
If you care about animals, please check out the link and do not spend one cent in any Petco store. I live in the Dallas Texas area and from the information on the boycott page this is a nationwide problem with that entire chain. The only way to stop abusers like that is to stop giving them business and turn them into any and all government agencies. If one won't listen, call another one. And another and another and another. And I think this needs help from the SPCA. If anyone affiliated with the SPCA reads this, please contact me immediately.
Oven ready Ginger
This is a picture of Ginger our cat sleeping on the bed. I can't see how he lays this way. He looks like one of those oven ready chickens. It seems unfair that he gets more comfortable than we do on our bed.
The Hyatt Rodency
After reading about a little bastard mouse on another blog, I thought I would repost this story. I have tried to be kind to the mice but still rid my house of them. Fortunately there aren't mice here anymore or the cat would eat them. Anyway, enjoy!
Well folks, it’s time for yet another commentary on what I consider to be an interesting or unique find. I think this one leans more toward the interesting as it isn’t terribly unique. The object I’m writing about is none other than a “humane” mouse trap. I have a problem with those nasty snap traps because I feel uncomfortable about killing the mice.
There are glue traps that aren’t much better. You place the sticky trap down and the unknowing rodent is drawn to the bait and once he/she steps onto the sticky gluck, they are there to stay. Unless you want to remove the rodent’s feet and I personally feel that this isn’t the best of options. I would then feel really guilty because I would have footless mice roaming the house on tiny crutches. Well crutches until someone designed prosthetics for mice.
This humane, miracle of the new age trap consists of a see through plastic tube/box with a swinging door that allows the rodent in and once he/she enters and retrieves the tasty prize of bread, cannot exit and is trapped until it is released totally unharmed as well as fed, into the wild again. This sounded great! Finally, an easy, safe way to rid my house of the unwelcome guests.
I “armed” the trap with a small piece of cheese. The packaging suggests smearing peanut butter around the outside of the door in order to attract rodents. Since this was too messy and we all know how much mice love cheese, (at least in cartoons anyway) I smeared a small amount of cheese on the trap door in order to lure the tiny beast into the trap. Now comes the hard part, the wait for an occupant. After a couple of hours, what I got when I checked was nada. Now for those of you who don’t know what “nada” means, it means “nothing”. And that is exactly what I got- nothing.
Disbelieving, I peered into the box and lo and behold, my eyes were not deceiving me, it was empty. No rodent, no cheese, no nothing. I picked the box up and inspected it but found neither defects nor any large holes gnawed in the sides where a jail break may have occurred. The tiny escape artist had apparently left the way he/she had come, through the trap door.
I was amazed that what I thought to be a trap was in reality, a small rodent dining car. Rather like a Hyatt Rodency. Accept that little Harry Rodini had vacated the dining car while dragging along a hunk of cheese. I couldn’t believe it. The furry little bastard had ripped me off again! I put the trap down and threw my hands into the air and pretty much gave up on even the slightest chance of any successful rodent removal.
Later that evening once my frustration had subsided, I decided not to give in to the fact that I would be “rodentized” regardless of my good intentions, so I gave it one more try. I re-armed the trap and placed it back in the same spot. Hopeful that yet another member of the Rodent Club would venture in for a midnight snack at the bar, I went to bed.
I slept that night and dreamt of large mice with hacksaws sawing their way to freedom from a cage with plastic bars. There was a big bar/club in the middle complete with tattooed (bearing the word “Mom”) bartender serving several rodents who were having drinks, smoking big cigars and chatting. This was to say the least, an odd dream. Upon wakening, I decided that mouse or not, this day was the end of it.
Sleepy-eyed I walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet and there in the Hyatt Rodency sat a calm and collect rodent still clutching and nibbling the cheese he/she was lured in there with. Now I don't know if the mice sensed my agitation at having one escape and simply felt sorry for me and decided to stay, but in any case, there it was. I could almost see the outline of a map to get back to the house in its tiny little pocket.
That the rodent might come back didn’t deter my glee at having captured one of the annoying beasts. If anything it had given me a jump-start on capturing more. The mouse was taken to a location of relative safety far away from the house and set free to roam the fields and begin a new life. Hopefully one that doesn’t include my house or me. I went home and replaced the cheese that Harry Rodini had taken to tide him over until his crops come in and began the long wait for another dinner guest.
These are the times that animal lovers dream of. A safely released rodent and the knowledge that more would follow. It made me feel good that my plan to use a humane mousetrap had indeed succeeded and that I could help relocate wayward rodents and their families into a new life of rural farming.
That’s it for now on the home front of the strange and unusual, until next time.
