In this video you will see me carrying my Hiway. She wasn't well. She had withered away to half her body size due to someone poisoning the perimeter areas of my enclosures. You will see they are all forced to be locked inside the Coondo itself and not be able to dig & climb in the perimeter. Of the juvies in this video that Hiway & I are checking on only 4 have survived the attack.
Showing posts with label Coondo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coondo. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Mid-July 2009 Rehab Season
In this video you will see me carrying my Hiway. She wasn't well. She had withered away to half her body size due to someone poisoning the perimeter areas of my enclosures. You will see they are all forced to be locked inside the Coondo itself and not be able to dig & climb in the perimeter. Of the juvies in this video that Hiway & I are checking on only 4 have survived the attack.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!!
Well. Things are interesting at the orphanage.
Bonzai finally had to be removed from the Coondo so he didn't freeze himself to death. He was spending all of his waking hours making little snowballs and eating them. Since removing him from the Coondo, the others are staying in torpor -- it would appear Bonzai has been keeping them all awake by his inability to hibernate. He's where he can see mama now and is sleeping like a baby most of the time. Manages maybe one temper tantrum in the morning, but it's the komd's fault -- they don't know each other [yet].
Bonzai finally had to be removed from the Coondo so he didn't freeze himself to death. He was spending all of his waking hours making little snowballs and eating them. Since removing him from the Coondo, the others are staying in torpor -- it would appear Bonzai has been keeping them all awake by his inability to hibernate. He's where he can see mama now and is sleeping like a baby most of the time. Manages maybe one temper tantrum in the morning, but it's the komd's fault -- they don't know each other [yet].
Monday, December 15, 2008
-15 in the Northwoods
Well. After all that snow it decided to rain. -15F with the wind chill today. Coondo locks, hasps, doors, everything frozen shut. But coonies all out and about. How strange is that? Coonies out in -15 in mid December? My poor babies all just a shakin asking mom what's going on here?
Unfortunately, since they aren't in torpor like they should have been for the past 6 weeks or so? They are going through 20lbs of dog food a day. Most expensive winter over I've ever run across.
Little Hercules muffin had his tail amputated. He still has a 4" nubbie and he looks absolutely adorable with it. Long haired kitten and just a little fluff of a tail. He's doing quite well and will be going home to his family for Christmas. What better gift could I give than to give him his own home and kids to love him? But alas. The time we've spent together? I fell in love and will cry when he goes home. But. If you love something give it freedom and the best you have to offer. I will be able to visit him so it'll be okay.
Little Bonzai is still just a little mama's boy. Would rather mama cuddle him than eat. Kind of concerns me though. His sibs are twice his size [but he rules the Coondo -- go figger]. Today they are all just shivering. One day we will have an inside space for the Coondos so they can go inside if they want to. But that's down the road a ways.
Keep warm and be safe.
Unfortunately, since they aren't in torpor like they should have been for the past 6 weeks or so? They are going through 20lbs of dog food a day. Most expensive winter over I've ever run across.
Little Hercules muffin had his tail amputated. He still has a 4" nubbie and he looks absolutely adorable with it. Long haired kitten and just a little fluff of a tail. He's doing quite well and will be going home to his family for Christmas. What better gift could I give than to give him his own home and kids to love him? But alas. The time we've spent together? I fell in love and will cry when he goes home. But. If you love something give it freedom and the best you have to offer. I will be able to visit him so it'll be okay.
Little Bonzai is still just a little mama's boy. Would rather mama cuddle him than eat. Kind of concerns me though. His sibs are twice his size [but he rules the Coondo -- go figger]. Today they are all just shivering. One day we will have an inside space for the Coondos so they can go inside if they want to. But that's down the road a ways.
Keep warm and be safe.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
early a.m. in the Northwoods
Snow's still falling, schools are getting cancelled [but not here yet]. Temps have been down in the single digits for days. The main water pipes broke in the Village a few days ago. We didn't have any water off and on for 3 days. Had it back on overnight at least.
From having no snow late in the year to it snowing every day is quite a rude change. Coonies finally decided to stay all tucked in the cubbies in their hay and fall into torpor until the weather warms up a bit. Particularly watching little Bonzai this year. He is pretty small and wants mama instead of sleeping with the littermates. He was just a shiverin up a storm calling mama to come love him ... so I did and then he went to cubby up with the others.
No water in this deep freeze. They must eat snow or ice for liquids -- it freezes too fast and they wouldn't be finding any pools of water on the Big Adventure right now. Any wet on their paws and they'd be sticking to the chain link and hardware cloth harming their foot pads. And if coonies see water? Automatic get in it and get all four paws wet time.
OK days'a wastin and much to do....
From having no snow late in the year to it snowing every day is quite a rude change. Coonies finally decided to stay all tucked in the cubbies in their hay and fall into torpor until the weather warms up a bit. Particularly watching little Bonzai this year. He is pretty small and wants mama instead of sleeping with the littermates. He was just a shiverin up a storm calling mama to come love him ... so I did and then he went to cubby up with the others.
No water in this deep freeze. They must eat snow or ice for liquids -- it freezes too fast and they wouldn't be finding any pools of water on the Big Adventure right now. Any wet on their paws and they'd be sticking to the chain link and hardware cloth harming their foot pads. And if coonies see water? Automatic get in it and get all four paws wet time.
OK days'a wastin and much to do....
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Snowing in the Northwoods -- whoda thunk?
Guess you could call it snow. Looks like maybe a whole inch might be covering the GeeWiZ van. Lots of 4 a.m. banging around in the Coondo but no faces peeking out anywhere. The mini-coondo sounds pretty quiet. Hiway & Shazbot must be sleeping. Lillian & Benjamin would rather be out in the forest now. But they'll have to be patient until the weather is more food foraging friendly.
Feels pretty balmy out there at 30 degrees. Might sound odd to some folks to hear 30 degrees feels warm -- guess you just have to experience Wisconsin weather for a while to understand that one. :^)
Feels pretty balmy out there at 30 degrees. Might sound odd to some folks to hear 30 degrees feels warm -- guess you just have to experience Wisconsin weather for a while to understand that one. :^)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Mini-Coondo Graduation Day
With Lillian and Benjamin in the big Coondo, now that the big boys have gone onto their Big Adventure, things at the orphanage are changing. The weather is getting down to the 20's and 30's at night.
Lillian & Benjamin have settled nicely into the Coondo and are enjoying having more room to roam around. Plans are to introduce Sarah Shazbot to Lillian & Benjamin at around 3:30 p.m. Central time, when her Mariah comes home from school. This is hard for Mariah watching her Sarah grow so quickly. She won't even listen to any discussion of future Big Adventure plans for Sarah Shazbot. The twins already know Hiway from being cagemates a few months ago. But they don't like Hiway much. Since Hiway doesn't bother to fight back if someone challenges her -- she just sits there trying to figure out what's happening -- the transition may not be able to be completed in one day. Shazbot needs to be caged with Hiway and they cannot be separated. For all practical purposes, they are now littermates and need to stay together.
Shazbot gets pretty testy with Hiway at feeding time. She tries to nab all the food for herself. Hiway, being the gentle soul she is, just moves over or goes to do something else. Shazbot always was a lot more feisty than Hiway. Even though Shazbot's half Hiway's age, she calls the shots in the mini-coondo. This attitude may cause problems with Benjamin, since he considers himself the 'big honcho' of he and Lillian. But -- he's got a surprise coming with Shazbot I think. She doesn't back down too quickly.
The four of them have been side by side in two separate mini-coondos for the season, so integration shouldn't be a big issue. But - as always with coonies -- we'll just have to watch and see what happens.
Photos are me and my bestest girlfriend Hiway the other day. She's just such a big baby ... and getting quite heavy besides. She is approximately 6.5 months old now and it's a miracle she's here.
Lillian & Benjamin have settled nicely into the Coondo and are enjoying having more room to roam around. Plans are to introduce Sarah Shazbot to Lillian & Benjamin at around 3:30 p.m. Central time, when her Mariah comes home from school. This is hard for Mariah watching her Sarah grow so quickly. She won't even listen to any discussion of future Big Adventure plans for Sarah Shazbot. The twins already know Hiway from being cagemates a few months ago. But they don't like Hiway much. Since Hiway doesn't bother to fight back if someone challenges her -- she just sits there trying to figure out what's happening -- the transition may not be able to be completed in one day. Shazbot needs to be caged with Hiway and they cannot be separated. For all practical purposes, they are now littermates and need to stay together.
Shazbot gets pretty testy with Hiway at feeding time. She tries to nab all the food for herself. Hiway, being the gentle soul she is, just moves over or goes to do something else. Shazbot always was a lot more feisty than Hiway. Even though Shazbot's half Hiway's age, she calls the shots in the mini-coondo. This attitude may cause problems with Benjamin, since he considers himself the 'big honcho' of he and Lillian. But -- he's got a surprise coming with Shazbot I think. She doesn't back down too quickly.
The four of them have been side by side in two separate mini-coondos for the season, so integration shouldn't be a big issue. But - as always with coonies -- we'll just have to watch and see what happens.
Photos are me and my bestest girlfriend Hiway the other day. She's just such a big baby ... and getting quite heavy besides. She is approximately 6.5 months old now and it's a miracle she's here.
Friday, September 21, 2007
So Quiet in the Coondo
Leon, Oliver & Louie have been so quiet since the others left them in the Coondo. Oliver's swollen ear is slowly getting better. The boys look smaller to me today for some reason. Perhaps it's wishful thinking so they can stay longer. April 29th brought in the first infants this season. It's the last weekend of April like clockwork around here it seems. The Menard's babies were about 2 weeks old on intake. Their eyes opened a week later, except Leon's. Leon needed extra tlc and intensive care. Then the three monster boys arrived. The church bus lady that brought them said their were just opening. But they were huge compared to the Menard's babies. Amazing what an extra week or two with mother does for the growth of neonate coonies.
Looking at the videos on Youtube of them as toddlers all trying to fit into the cake pan food dish - and to think a short 3 months later they are huge and healthy. None have ever come close to the size of Nip & Tucker though. At release they were both an easy 60 pounds. Guess it was a good year in the Coondo with only two wintering over. They didn't eat much over the winter. Pretty much just left everything frozen for a few days -- they enjoyed the grapes frozen anyway.
Today Hiway wanted to be with me more than other things. She got put back in with Lillian & Benjamin several times but they are sassy today and were ganging up on Hiway. So she stayed with me a lot. We put Shazbot into her outside enclosure and she kept trying to get by Hiway on the outside. So Hiway & Shazbot are roomies for a while today again. Looks like Hiway decided to take a nap with Shazbot and quit pacing up and down for a while.
Yesterday Leon, Louie and Oliver pretty much stayed curled up together -- not using the pool much at all. Kind of strange seeing the pool not be muddy in about two minutes after cleaning it. My apple trees were gracious enough to provide one or two five gallon buckets of apples a day for the babies. Frost hit a few nights ago and the apples are done for the most part - have to go find trees with more close by for them now. Corn's done for the year. It was a pretty good frost the other night. For two nights and days it was in the 30's & 40's. Yuk. But it's been balmy again - even in the 80's -- quite unusual in the Northwoods for September weather. Wonder if that means we have a longer rehab season again this year? Will we rehabbers not get a chance to hibernate again this year?
Looking at the videos on Youtube of them as toddlers all trying to fit into the cake pan food dish - and to think a short 3 months later they are huge and healthy. None have ever come close to the size of Nip & Tucker though. At release they were both an easy 60 pounds. Guess it was a good year in the Coondo with only two wintering over. They didn't eat much over the winter. Pretty much just left everything frozen for a few days -- they enjoyed the grapes frozen anyway.
Today Hiway wanted to be with me more than other things. She got put back in with Lillian & Benjamin several times but they are sassy today and were ganging up on Hiway. So she stayed with me a lot. We put Shazbot into her outside enclosure and she kept trying to get by Hiway on the outside. So Hiway & Shazbot are roomies for a while today again. Looks like Hiway decided to take a nap with Shazbot and quit pacing up and down for a while.
Yesterday Leon, Louie and Oliver pretty much stayed curled up together -- not using the pool much at all. Kind of strange seeing the pool not be muddy in about two minutes after cleaning it. My apple trees were gracious enough to provide one or two five gallon buckets of apples a day for the babies. Frost hit a few nights ago and the apples are done for the most part - have to go find trees with more close by for them now. Corn's done for the year. It was a pretty good frost the other night. For two nights and days it was in the 30's & 40's. Yuk. But it's been balmy again - even in the 80's -- quite unusual in the Northwoods for September weather. Wonder if that means we have a longer rehab season again this year? Will we rehabbers not get a chance to hibernate again this year?
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