Halloween is here,Scaring time is here!

Its Halloween!Hell has come to town!

         Happy Halloween to all you Ghosties and Goulies out there every where!

                                                                Hehehe!

Speedy's busy week

"Mummy its been busy this week hasn't it?"Said Speedy "yes it has you've been able to come out side and play, you won that lovely award,you've entered that Halloween competition,Oh and your friend Nellie has been for a visit plus I've been busy painting the back bedroom but that's not finished yet."Speedy then replied "Phew that's a lot plus you've had me and lucky Hogwartz and daddy to take care of.Its shame LH wasn't awake when Nellie was here,still we had fun playing and she enjoyed he fish dinner that you made for her"I then said"Yes Nellie did enjoy her dinner,I do like her she's a good girl even if she's a Cat From Hell " Speedy then mentioned"And poor Allred  Nellie must be very worried with that nasty wound on his head,We if she needs any help she only has to give me a shout and I can be there in a jiffy" with that I looked at Speedy a little bit worried "Well you be careful I don't want to be taking you to the vets again, now off you go have a little run around this weather will soon be cold" Speedy replied as he went off "O.K Mum!"

Nellie and me Having fun!

Speedy Talking to me!

Speedy enjoying some warmer weather"

Speedy thinking of going for a zoom!

Thanks mum for letting Nellie come for a visit,Can we go in now ?I want a cuddle mummy!
"come on then Speedy let go in and have a cuddle!"

I've had something special!

I've had something special from a new friend.Coccolino a very sweet Micro mini pig has given me a new award called the Super Sweet Blogging Award!Coccolino is a very special pig who likes to have fun and adventures,getting into mischief just like me!So please pop over and say hi to Coccolino at my mini pet pig.
The award comes with some fun questions for me to answer!
1: Cookies or cake? Peanut cookies yummy!
2: Chocolate or Vanilla? I haven't tried either but I'll take Vanilla as Chocolate is bad for me
3:Favourite sweet treat? Raisins or Cranberries I can't decide which...hehe
4: When do you crave sweet things?Mornings but anytime will do!
5: If you had a sweet nick name,what would it be? Well that hard as I have 2 that my friends call me 1 is Sir Speedy and the other 1 is Speedster I can't choose!

Now for the Hard bit as all my friends deserve this,but I will try my very best!
Marilia at Repositorio da Marilia
Brandi B at Voices for Rabbits
Lalis at Lalis (&Nader) in Bunderland
Sweetie at Fairy Castle Farm
Nerissa at Nerissas Life
Jade and Mr Mick at Zen of Bun
Umbra at Blabber bun
All the Buns at Two Bunny Blog
Connie atTails from the foster kitten
Clovie at Clovie Boy

Coccolino!

Speedy's easy Sunday

Speedy....easy like Sunday morning!

After breakfast

After lunch

Guess who?

Can you guess who this is?

Hmmm I wonder?

I'm not sure are you?

For those wanting to know:The care of Pet Hedgehogs

This is the last post I will do on Hedgehogs apart from updates on LH.
So if anybody is thinking about getting a pet African Pygmy Hedgehog here is some info on their care:
The first thing you must know is they are solitary creatures you can't have more than one living in a cage 2 males or 2 females will fight and kill each other and a male and female will mate and kill the litter over and over again.Males grow Smaller than females so this should be a factor to think about too!
Housing:You will need a high plastic sided cage like a large bunny cage or large aquarium tank(size 40" by 15"minimum) as hedgehogs can climb quite well and need a lot of room.for bedding you can line it with paper shred but no ink as it is toxic or the shredded hamster/gerbil bedding or hay or straw.No bedding made from wood as Hedgehogs are allergic to wood oils,but some breeders say wood chipping or the wood type kitty litter is OK.I would also recommend a piece of fluffy blanket or a furry piece of fabric as it reminds them of there mothers furry tummy and they like it.but you will have to wash it and clean their housing daily.And it will need a quiet spin running wheel as hedgehogs can run 5 miles a night,this will need cleaning daily too as the poop as they run.
Food:High meat content cat or dog food with no fish or fish derivatives or animal derivatives ground up in it,left over meat with seasoning washed off chopped up,mince meat like beef or lamb,with cat biscuits or you can get proper hedgehog food from a pet shop or garden centre,for treats little bit of peanut butter ,peanuts,small bits of melon or banana,Berry's,meal worms and very occasionally a little bit of lactose free cheese and fresh water in a small bowel.Never give them Fish or milk as this will make them sick or even kill them.
Hygiene:Hedgehogs need to have a bath each day with about an inch or so of warm water use Johnson's no more tears baby shampoo or a kitten shampoo with a soft tooth brush to clean the spines and feet,Hedgehogs enjoy a bath and a swim in deeper warm water but supervised as when they get tired they could drown and don't let them mess in the water.Trim nails if getting long.See you vet about treatments for parasite's if needed other wise just keep them clean and their housing clean.
This covers most of the care a pet hedgehog needs.The other thing is Hedgehogs sleep through the day and are active at night so can be played with in the evenings,if you let them out to run about make sure the run area is free from nook's and cranny's that they can get into as you might lose them. They need to be handled at least once a day for about an hour to encourage them to open up and stop them getting grumpy,if you can handle as much as possible in the evenings they can bet a friendly loving pet.I would also have a safe enclosure that is hog proof with paper to run on for about 10 Min's  before handling as they are likely to poop and pee on you when first woken up and they can't help it.After handling wash your hands just a precaution as they could have dirt on there feet you can't see.

One other point is they are not legal pets every where,some states in the US and some areas in Canada they are illegal,some US states require a permit and in the UK these are the only ones that can be kept as pets and the European wild hedgehog is illegal to be kept as a pet everywhere!So this would be need to be checked.

Hedgehogs differences between wild and pet

This is a wild European Hedgehog the type we have in the UK,this is what LH would look like if I was able to take  photo

African Pygmy Hedgehog is a domesticated hybrid smaller than the wild ones in the UK

Long eared version

Here is Lucky Hogwartz!

I could only manage this photo of LH sleeping as I don't want to disturb him to much,we put foam insulation around the shelter to give him extra warmth and to stop the rain coming in the entrance we have over hanged a bit on the roof too!


Luck Hogwartz sleeping

I have found out that LH used to visit a house down the street where they feed a lot of hedgehogs and they called him Panda but since he's been with us they haven't seen him but they are happy to leave him here nice and safe he is about 4 years old as for the name I shall stick with LH.


His insulated Shelter

And Speedy coming for a nose

And there is Speedy and look his ears are going darker for the winter!

The Hedgehog and the Speedy!

Speedy has been having fun in the garden the last couple of days but just for short stints as he isn't keen on the colder weather.He has a nosey about and then all of a sudden the ears prick forward and he looks intensely at the hedgehog's temporary winter home then creeps forward a bit and then in the next second Speedy is off running around again I guess he must hear little bits of movement.
As Speedy's secret pen pal has suggest a name for our temporary friend "Lucky" from now on but I kinda liked "Hogwartz" too so we will call the Hedgehog "Lucky Hogwartz" in all further posts,Thanks Secret Pen Pal.

And as I have been asked about what Hedgehogs eat I thought I would give you all a bit of info on that topic:
Hedgehogs are called omnivores they eat mainly insects with a small percentage of slugs and snail,berries and some nuts in the wild.But when that food source becomes harder to find with the cooler temperatures we can help supplement that diet with cat or dog food but it has to be of high meat content with none of the animal derivatives or fish or fish products,Meat craps from our left over but with the seasonings washed off,cat biscuits,plus small bits of melon or bananas or raisins or a few peanuts or a teaspoon of peanut butter or a bit of hard boiled egg chopped up.You can also get proper hedgehog food from pet food stores or some garden centres or on line shops.A hedgehog mustn't be given bread ,milk and dairy products as they are lactose intolerant and the can't eat fish or fish products either.
Hedgehogs hibernate when they find it too cold of food is scarce but normally just for a few weeks then they rouse and go looking for food when it is a little milder and then go back to hibernation,but if it stays cold they will hibernate all winter.
Hope you enjoy this info if I find and more I will add it to the next post.
 

Hedgehog Update!

Hi everyone I though I would do a little update on the Hedgehog.
Yesterday we did a little work on Hubby's mums fence and it looks like we may have solved the problem as we didn't see the cat come in so fingers crossed on that!
We also waited to put  the Hedgehogs food out until we saw him out nosing in the garden that was about 8:30pm,we saw him/her wondering about in the bottom garden then going back to the shelter so we went down with its food then.I woke a couple of times during the night and saw no sign of the dread thief cat so all looks good.We will keep you posted as things progress.

Just a quick Saturday post!We have a visitor!

Hi everybody just a quick post this Saturday to tell you that we have a visitor in Speedy's garden.Which is exciting to say the least.
We have a Hedgehog staying in the garden in Speedy's shelter hut so we have filled it hay and some old furry slippers cut open as they like furry stuff and put a front door panel too,he or she sleeps a lot but does eat some of the food we put down,I say eats some of the food as a black cat seems to found away into the garden from next door through hubby's mums garden and keeps stealing it so we are going to do something about that today as I don't want any cats coming into the garden.Just when I thought we had finished cat proofing and we find a weak spot.Well we'll put a stop to that,we have to keep Speedy safe and the Hedgehog safe too.
We'll keep you posted !

I have some Exciting News!

Today I got some really exciting news my friend Nellie from Cat From Hell she won an award called One Sweet Blog award and she has given it to me!How Exciting is that!She really is the sweetest but Shh...Don't tell anyone!
Isn't it cute they are cup cake animals.Anyway I have say who gave it to me so that's that bit done and now I have to pass it on to 5 blogs I think deserve this award and that's tough as you all are but here we go:
1:Raspberry Rabbits Auntie Shell has Bunnyville and sweet bunnies!
2:Fuzzy Creatures Because Lorna does the best stories!
3:Me&Me(gan) Everything about Megan and Maddy and Co. is Sweet!
4:Poetry of the Iguana Cause there is cute Bunnies and a Duck!
5:The adventures of Moshi over the Rainbow Bridge This is the sweetest tribute to a lost pal!

I'd also like to thank everybody for coming to my Birthday party!It was the best party ever and so much fun...THANK YOU!

And I've been Spooked by Mollie and Alfie

Speedy's 1st Birthday party and you're all invited!

I had a great start to my Birthday,Mummy came and got me early this morning for an extra long cuddle then she gave me some treats.After an early morning nap Mummy woke me up,as she was decorating my pen just for me!
Then she let me out to play out side as it has turned out nice while she and Daddy did my lunch,after lunch Mummy and Daddy let me into the kitchen to play and it was already for my Birthday Party with a cake with a candle on it and some presents and a card.Now I'm just waiting for all of you my friends to come and have fun at my party!

Mum Decorated my Pen just for me!

Then Mum decorated the Kitchen just for me!

This is me with my Birthday cake and Presents!

This is me looking at my Decorations!

This is my Birthday card that Mum made for me!

This is me with my Presents!

This is me Nomming my Herb poesy

This is me nomming again!

This me having a rest while I wait for you guys to come to my
Birthday Party!

Mummy Play!

Mum play with me,Mum you're not playing!

Mummy I'm bored

Mum play with me!

Mummy!You're supposed to be playing with me!

Bunny Glaucoma

You can see in this photo the difference in the healthy eye and the Glaucoma eye

I was recently asked to do a post about Glaucoma in Rabbits and Speedy's Glaucoma so I thought this was a good time to do the post.
There is basically 2 type of Glaucoma in rabbits the first is the type that has an underling cause like cataracts that develop when a bunny gets old like in Speedy's old pal Weasley,this can be treated with drops to control some of the symptoms caused by the Glaucoma.
The second is genetic found to be more prone in white breeds of rabbit with the albino strain, the bunny develop the symptoms from  the age between 3 months and 6 months old as in Speedy's case we had him from 4 months old and he already had the symptoms,we just didn't realise it at the time what it was.His pupil in his left eye was enlarged and not reactive to light and fixed at a twisted angle facing forward and the whole eye was a bit bigger than the right eye but he seem to be able to see out of it so we let it go and just kept an eye on it.
Then in the summer after coming back from vacation we noticed that eye had developed a hazy appearance too,so we decided to take him to the vets after doing some research we suspected Glaucoma and that he was probably born with it.After taking Speedy to the vets it was confirmed it was Glaucoma and it was genetic.But the problem with this type drops do not work very well so we was advised to leave it alone as it was not causing Speedy any pain or problems.
The vet told us that the eye is full of fluid that is constantly draining away and replenishing to keep it healthy and when Glaucoma develops that doesn't happen properly so the eye becomes enlarged and becomes hazy after at time when the pressure builds up,In rabbits because their eyes are very stretchy they can take the pressure with out to much problem and cats eyes are the same but dogs eyes aren't as they are fibrous can can be quite painful which is why the eye is often removed in dogs.
So the prognosis is as long as Speedy does develop any infection or other problem they eye won't need to be removed,Speedy has already lost the vision in that eye but he isn't bothered by it and in my book that makes him a Super Hero!