Bye Bye Birdie

This month I am trying to sell Perth. Hence the title. Bye bye birdie. My little sisters are also selling their birds so ads for both are on ebay classifieds.

Perth & Amelia and Gizmo

Leopard Gecko Breeding!

I'm not sure why we go weeks without posting, then in two days we all do a new post, but that's just the way it is. So here goes my new post:



Leopard Gecko Breeding!

Here's my leopard gecko, Anthony! 

Now before I explain the steps, and the do's and don't's  I would like to explain why I'm writing this post in the first place. This weekend my male leopard gecko and a friend of mine's female gecko are going to be bred. And, if we are lucky we'll  have babies in July!

Alright, I think I'll do a step-by-step.

1. Make sure you pair of geckos includes a boy and a girl. Now, you can have one boy to more than one girl but for right now we're just going to say that it's one of each. It's unbelievable how many people think they have a female when in fact they have a male. If you would like to know how to determine the gender of your gecko, look in you leopard gecko handbook.

2. After assessing that you have a male and a female wait until mating season. Generally mating season is March through August. If it is already mating season then you can now put your male gecko into your female gecko's habitat. If you put the female into your male's he may be too territorial to mate.

3. Now you're probably wondering how long to leave your male in the female's tank? For starters, I am explaining a process that the male doesn't live with the female all year round, if that's your case, you're in the wrong place and should stop reading this post now. :)
Anyway, back to the topic: I would say three days is the minimum amount of time. However, during those three days you need to do two things: 1 you need to make sure they aren't fighting too much. The process of mating includes some pretty harsh fighting, but if they seem to be fighting 24-7 I'd say you should remove them from each other. And 2 you need to keep removing and replacing them. I'd say leave them together for an hour or two, then remove the male for three or four hours (or over night) and repeat this process over and over until you have either seen them mate, have given up, or have hoped that they have mated.

4. Depending on the age of your female you'll get a different amount of eggs. If she's about 4-6 (they shouldn't be too much younger than that, I'd say 2-3 is the absolute youngest I'd breed a female) they will lay anywhere between 6 and 15 eggs. If they are older than 6 they'll lay less, between 4-8. This is important to know for two reasons. First reason, you'll need to be prepared for all those babies! And second, you will need to re-mate your geckos every 2 or 3 clutches. (A clutch is a pair of eggs, geckos lay their eggs in pairs, so therefore four clutches would be eight eggs and so on...)

I think rather than making this post as long as a book I'll wait to post about all the egg details and such. I believe that as the process happens in real life (with my male and friend's female) I'll explain the rest of the steps of getting your own baby leopard geckos.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions, I would love to explain the rest to you personally if you are interested, and don't want to wait for them to show up on here.


As always,
    ~Moira J

Just 'Cuz'

Obviously, no one has posted in a long time-- we were just blown away by Emma's amazing post that we didn't think we could compete.

................................OK, yeah, not really. We just didn't post.

Anyway, Cocoa just recently discovered a new favorite toy (and no, it's not toilet paper!). Emma picked out a "Cuz Ball" for him; a.k.a. a 'feety ball' (or maybe that's just us O_o). Either way, he absolutely loves the thing! He carries it around and chases it and chews the feet. Most are just balls with these little clown feet on the bottom but his has little stubs for feet, no shoes. And it has eyes. At least it doesn't creep him out. Without further ado, here are some pictures of him enjoying his ball. By the way, if you're looking for a toy for a pet, this one is great! It's really the only toy he likes besides bones.

You lookin' at my ball? Don't even think about it!

Hello! It's stuck! Get it!

Must retrieve at all costs!

OK, yeah. how 'bout now?

Oops, lost it again.

*must--chew--feet--off*

TTFN, Rachel

Ooo, phew! I thought it would something intimidating like "Tim" or "Sheldon"

As you can tell by my tittles, I love Ice Age.

My fellow bloggers will be so proud of me.  Two posts IN A ROW!  *victory dance*  Go me!  Go me!

Okay, enough dancing.

My family is getting a new puppy, and the search for finding the perfect name has begun.  Obviously, we will have to see the puppy to make a final decision, but it's good to already have several names picked.

For Christmas, I got a book to help me pick a name.  It's called The Best Pet Name Book Ever by Wayne Bryant Eldridge.  Based on that book, this post is about Pet Names.

Out of the 23 categories in the Book, I have excluded some and combined others to create only 3 categories.

1. Common
2. Cultural
3. Crazy a.k.a Funny

1. Common
This category is the most usual responses to finding a pet name.  Names like "Bear", "Goofy", "Buddy", "Honey".  These names are based on Appearance, Personality, People Names, and Loving Terms.  I've chosen names from the book that you don't normally hear everyday.

Ace
Agatha
Albino
Apathy
Banshee
Beau Beau
Beige-ing
Bright Eyes
Carmella
Chainsaw
Chiquita
Cutie Pie
Dennis the Menace
Ebony
Fatso
Finesse
Fluffer
Funny Face
Genius

Good Girl/Boy

Goony

Hey Girl/Boy

Hi-Ho Silver
Hobo
Impulse
Iota
Jinx
Jumbo
Kaffir
Khaki

Kissy Face

Lonesome

Lov-a-Lot

Lynx
Manly
Meathead
Nightmare
Nuffin
Nugget
Ocelot
Oddball
Pee Wee
Pliers

Precious (This is for all you Lord of the Ring fans)

Q Ball
Radar
Ronald
Runt
Sausage Dog

Sir Lick-a-Lot

Sweetums
Terminator
Toothpick
True Blue
Ugly
Valiant
Velcro
Weiner Dog

Wild Thing

Yvonne

Zane

Zeke

2.  Cultural 

This category is names from history, entertainment, etc from a certain culture.  Names like Brutus, Romeo, Baloo, Bugs Bunny, and Beyoncé.

Aesop
Aristotle
Aztec
Balto
Beatles    

Charlemagne
Cicero
Constantine
Mr. Darcy
Dr. Watson
El Dorado
Euripides
Flash Gordon
Fred Basset (or Flinstone)
Garth Brooks
George Harrison (from the Beatles)
Han Solo
Happy (or any of the other Seven Dwarfs)
Herbie
Igor
Indiana Jones
Jackson (Stonewall)
King Kong
Kramer
Linus
Louie (Huey, Dewey)
Lucy
Michael Jackson
Miley Cyrus
Napoleon (Bonaparte)
Newton (Sir Isaac)
Paramore
Paul McCartney
Rembrandt
Seaman (Meriwether Lewis's Newfoundland)
Socrates
Titian
Wile E. Coyote
Xena
Yogi (Bear)


3.  Crazy a.k.a Funny
This category includes some very unusual names.  They are either funny, crazy, or just plain weird.  Names like Blanquito(a), Justa Cat, or Budweiser.  I've chosen them from the fashion world, foreign terms, foods and drinks, and just the unusual.

Abogato
Al Poochino
Beeren (German for "berries")
Bier (German for "beer")
Cabernet (Sauvignon)
Cognac
Dobie Won Kanobi
Dough Boy
Escargot (French delicacy)
Foster's
Gigio (Italian for "cricket")
Hi Pockets
Hissy Fit
Ilsa
Jack Daniels
Ker Plop
Lemon Drop
Linguini
Meat
Monterey Jack
Nacho
Neiman Marcus
Oso(a) (Spanish for "bear")
Paraphernalia
PiCatSo
Quatro (Spanish for 4)
Ralph Lauren
Rolex
Singapore Sling
Starbucks
Toutou (French for "doggie")
UGG
Vodka
Wrangler
Xing Tao (Chinese Beer)
Vaquero (Spanish for "cowboy")
Zinfandel (Wine)
Ziplock

Wow, this post took forever to create!  So, appreciate it, because I put a lot of strenuous labor into it!  =)

You all love me.

I hope this wasn't too long and boring.  I tried my best to make it interesting.

~Emma~

Dog Biscuits

     After Emma's humorous Ice Age referencing title, I felt like this was a little boring, but oh well. I'll just have to make do. It does portray the subject accurately.

     As Emma said in her post, dogs do need treats. They need treats as much as we need candy--desperately!! Enough said. Let's make some dog treats!

     This recipe does call for some things that you may, upon first reading, say 'who in the world keeps these things in their house?!' but you should be able to find all of these things without too much trouble. Look in the bulk section of a health food store, or even your local grocery store. You never know, they may carry some of these ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 cup cracked wheat
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1 1/2 t. yeast
1 3/4 cup lukewarm chicken broth

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Put in a large mixing bowl the flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, cracked wheat, and skim milk powder.

NOTE: Cracked wheat is different from flour. I did mine in a hand mill.

You can see the texture is rough and there is still a semblance of individual grains.

Once all the above ingredients are in the bowl, combine them completely. Make sure they are mixed thoroughly so there won't be pockets of a certain ingredient anywhere in the finished product.

Skim milk power is especially good for puppies because of the protein. 

On the side, dissolve the yeast in the chicken broth. Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes.

Yummy yummy! You can see a weird glob at the bottom.
That is a spoon of Bacon fat just so there's another flavor in there.

Add the broth to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. I actually found it easier to spread it with a knife than to use a rolling pin. This particular batch was quite sticky so the rolling pin just tore it up.

Cut out the biscuits. I'm using a can that once had tomato paste or some such eatable in it in order to get a round shape. I normally would use a small dog bone shape but I couldn't find it this time around. Oh well. Tastes the same! (Not that I've tasted it or anything like that)

Transfer these to a baking sheet.

Place an egg in a small bowl and beat with a fork or small whisk until smooth. This is an egg wash.

Brush this onto the biscuits with a small pastry brush.

The egg wash will add flavor and nutrients and will give the biscuit a hard, shiny top after baking.
Bake biscuits for 45 minutes. I know it sounds like a long time but don't shorten it! They do take that long. Once biscuits are done baking, transfer to a cooling rack to cool and harden.

Your dog will love these homemade biscuits! Not only is it better for them because of the grains and protein, but the meat broth is so, so, so much healthier for them than artificial flavorings (and it tastes real!).

Recipe from The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.