The Midwest Bird Expo in Kane County

My daughter and I attended the Midwest Bird Expo at the Kane County Fairgrounds this past Saturday. My main goal in going was to find some cockatiel seed without sunflower seeds in it and I thought I could get some other bird supplies for cheaper than the pet store. One item I found that I wasn't looking for is a metal cage clip for fastening big leaves of lettuce or millet spray or other foods to the side of the cage. These were only 75 cents each. I also picked up cuttle bones for only 50 cents each. They're at least $1.99 in the pet store. We took a few pictures of some of the animals on display such as one very large chameleon. I learned of a bird I had never heard of before called a lineolated parakeet. I thought they were Pacific parrotlets at first. I also thought I knew my bird species pretty well.


We spent several hours there and left with three bags of supplies and one very young and very cute new pet rat. I will post some photos very soon.

Here is the lineolated parakeet (Bolborhynchus lineola). The ones we saw were this color or kind of an subtle olive green. You can see how they resemble a parrotlet of similar coloring.

Carolina Rat Is Still With Us

It was just two weeks ago that I took our pet rat, Carrie, in to the vet to be euthanized. I didn’t feel completely confident with the idea because she wasn’t doing as poorly as other pets I’ve euthanized. She was lethargic, not very responsive and frail looking, but she was still eating and drinking though we had to place food in front of her to get her interested.

While we were in the exam room and waiting for the doctor, I noticed that the lump on the side of Carrie’s face had gone down. I had thought this lump was a tumor, but tumors generally don’t decrease on their own right? Once Doctor Katie started her exam, I soon realized there was a chance I would have to run the errands I had planned with a live rat in the van rather than the dead one that wouldn’t have caused any problems.

Carrie was diagnosed with a pretty bad ear infection and a slight respiratory irritation. The doctor set us up with some oral Baytril and some Baytril drops for the affected ear.  I knew this would likely only give Carrie a few more months, but I was thankful for the chance to make things right by improving how she felt. I also felt more at ease knowing I couldn’t possibly put her down for an ear infection.

That day was the day before my son’s birthday, so I had a lot of running around to do. Since we live in a small town and the vet is in a big, busy town, I still intended to do my shopping. I made Carrie a little tent within her pet carrier and she was just fine to stay in the van on that cool spring day. My kids had been reminded to say goodbye one last time to her that morning so they were happily surprised to see her twittering around in the carrier when I arrived home. They’ll have to say goodbye again some other day.

Carolina is feeling much better now. She’s walking around and investigating things like a good rat. She can’t climb or jump much anymore, but she sure hasn’t given up on life. She’s eating heartily all on her own and still can’t resist anything with peanut butter. To be sure, I’ve never met a rat that could.

This is Carrie. We sometimes call her Blackie though she's more of a dark brown. She'll be three years old in July of 2012.

Crested Gecko Minus One Tail

Back in September of 2011, I wrote about how our gecko lost its tail. I finally added a photo to that post of what she looks like without one. I thought I'd add a couple here as well.

She's nearly two years old here and about five inches long. She's resting on a pot holder. This gecko has great color which is one of the reason's I chose her. We use the plastic container to feed her crickets. I used to put them in her vivarium, but would later find a dead cricket here and another there so I started removing her to this container where we could watch her eat. I think she had a hard time chasing them in the vivarium. She never learned these things from her own mama so I had to make it easier for her. Plus, this way we know how much she's eating and that she's getting her calcium from the dusted crickets. Also, it's kind of fun to watch. 





Little Joe Photo

One of the staff at Moorpark's Teaching Zoo took this recent photo of Little Joe so here's the real thing.