Pierre the Squirrel

There are some things that I never imagined would happen in my life, and one of them, was that I would share our home with a one-eyed, one-ear, hat wearing, taxidermy squirrel named Pierre. Always in sympathy for animal rights, the mere thought of a dead one being stuffed, and used as decoration, really turned my stomach. But, as I got older, I realized that, like people, they all have different stories, and not all arrived through improper means.

Years ago, we weren't so concerned with protecting the lives of animals, and they truly were used for sport and food. I won't get into the politics of it, because we all know, but thankfully we have become wiser to the impact that our hunting pleasure had on the world, and there are rules about what can and can not become a trophy or an over-sized ash-tray.

What once seemed like a very macabre hobby to me, is now an art, and has become a powerful way to remember the past, and examine animals that may soon (or already are) almost extinct. However, my experience with taxidermy is less than exotic, and definitely doesn't involve a loved and protected species.

Several years ago, my daughter and I used to watch Oddities, a show about a small shop in New York City called Obscura. Each week, they would introduce a few customers, and take the viewers on a tour of their bizarre collectibles; everything from a shrunken head to a medical device that made you wince just to hear the name. It was an education into the (often) less desirable side of history; a place filled with curiosities and questions.

So, for her birthday one year, I decided to take my daughter to the store, as a surprise. She was thrilled, and, thankfully, the store was exactly how it appeared on television (even the misshapen, wooden mannequin was propped up crookedly outside, sweetly enabling the Obscura sign).

With all her money in her hand, I told her she could buy anything she wanted (while keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn't be anything too horrible). Not everything was expensive, but condition mattered, and the more unique, pristine pieces were definitely out of her league. Many didn't have prices on them, which made it difficult for a young girl with birthday money. Still, it was a wonderful place to look around, and the questions just poured out of us. The shop was empty, so we spent over an hour in there.

Every now and again, she would go back to the squirrel's on the shelf. There were two; one was very nice looking, with a shiny coat, and the other was very old, and very scraggy. We were told he was from the 1950's, had been used as a teaching aid in schools, and had just returned to the shop recently. I have no idea what they were teaching, but he was obviously well loved. One ear was missing, and a glass eye had popped out, but he was holding a nut, and the wooden mount had a lovely age to it. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of bringing him home, but it could have been something much worse, and I understood why she wanted him.

She felt sorry for him, and hoped he wasn't too much money when she asked for the price. It took every dollar that she had, but she was so happy that she could afford the broken squirrel in her favorite shop. They put him in a paper bag, and she immediately took him out, wandering down the street with a dead, stuffed squirrel in her hands.

I cringed as she carried him through the front door, wondering how on earth he would fit into our home, what type of crazy mother was I, and did it even matter? But, he had a kind face, and his past was unknown. He just needed somewhere to be. So, we found him a shelf to sit on, we gave him a small, blue hat to make him feel less injured, and then, with what seemed like perfect timing, his tail fell off...

If you loved this article, please feel free to contact me (wendy@thebluegiraffe.com) or, visit my blog and website, for more observations on life, style and decorating.

Miniature Pigs And What You Need to Know Before Getting One As a Pet

If you have heard of miniature pigs, then you should know that they can be affectionate and fun pets to keep around the home. Learn a bit about these furless animals and why you might want one as your next pet.

What are they?

Miniature pigs, micro pigs or teacup pigs, as they are also called, are a small breed of pigs which will normally not reach more than 30 lbs. in weight. They are very intelligent and sociable animals, and the best thing about them is that you can keep a pig and make fun without having to keep a 400 lb. animal in your home. Most of them are sold by respected breeders, and you could get one for a decent price.

Training your teacup pig

One of the main reasons why miniature pigs are popular as pets is that they can be trained just like dogs or cats. You can potty train your micro pig so as to not have to clean your home every time someone has had too much too eat. These small animals are also easy to teach commands to, and they can sit, walk with you on a leash or even play dead if you wish to see a pig in that posture.

These small pigs are not fussy when it comes to food, so you could feed your favorite pet almost anything you have in mind as long as you try to keep its diet reasonably balanced.

Keeping a trusted friend for years

These pigs will easily get attached to you, and another thing which distinguishes them from other types of pets is that they are very smart. Just make sure you train your micro pig if you don't want to have dominant display when trying to peacefully watch a ballgame.

These funny little pigs can live for 15 to 20 years, making them some if the most long lived pets of this type. What this means is that you don't have to worry about becoming too attached, as you will likely share many years in the company of your teacup pig.

Careful when buying your teacup pig

One of the things you should be careful about is where you get your miniature pigs from. There are many unscrupulous breeders which may sell you an animal which is named a micro pig only to discover in a year that the small cuddly animal has reached over 300 lbs. You wouldn't want a huge pig wondering around the home, asking for food, would you?

Your best bet would be to search online for a reputable teacup pig breeder, and a good idea would be to also see the parents of the pig before you buy it. These are also sold above 1,000 dollars, so if the breeder is asking anything less than that, you should make sure you are buying an actual miniature pig and not a pig that is now small but who will reach several hundred pounds.

So get one of these cuddly miniature pigs from a trusted breeder and enjoy the company of one of the funniest pets around.

My name is O'Reilly and I hope you enjoyed my article on Miniature Pigs. To get much more information on raising one of these lovable pets and what to expect from birth to old age please feel free to visit our website HERE.

Bed Bug Management in Four Steps

Bed bug management is labour intensive, time-consuming and it requires lots of knowledge and expertise to eliminate the pests. It is important that you visually and thoroughly inspect the site, correctly identify the pest and determine the source and extent of the infestation.

The integrated approach to bed bug management has four steps: visual inspection, prepare the room for treatment, treatment and follow-up procedures.

Visual inspection: Step 1 in Bed Bug Management

Inspection tools

a. A strong flashlight

b. Magnifying glass

c. Plastic zipper bag

d. Crevice tool

e. Compressed air

f. Screwdriver

g. Small tool kit

h. Alcohol, cotton swabs/baby wipes

i. Sticky traps

j. Gloves, soapy water, cloth and sponge

k. Mirror with handle

l. A notepad

m. A camera

n. Adjustable spanner

o. Hammer

What to look for

a. Blood stains

b. Dark faecal spots

c. Eggs, eggs shells, cast off skin

d. Bed bugs (adult and nymphs)

e. A pungent mouldy shoes or sickening sweet odour from an oily liquid discharged from the glands in the thorax

Where to look

a. Inspect the areas where you spend most of your resting (e.g. the bed, couch and chair).

b. Inspect the bedding, pillows and pillow cases.

c. Inspect along the seam and in tufts and folds of the mattress and underneath labels.

d. Inspect the box spring and bed frame.

e. Inspect the perimeter of the room including floor boards, walls, baseboards, windows, doors and carpet edges.

f. Inspect all furniture inside the room.

g. Inspect magazines, books, files and newspapers on shelves and on the floor.

h. Inspect all wall hangings (paintings, pictures frames, mirrors etc.)

i. Inspect cracks and crevices in furniture, in the box spring, bed frame and on the floor and in screw holes.

j. Inspect wall voids and outlets, electrical switch plates, wall sockets, ceiling light fixtures and ducts.

Prepare the room for treatment: Step 2 in Bed Bug Management

a. Remove bedding, pillow cases and pillows from the bed and store them in seal plastic bags for laundering and drying.

b. Store all other personal items in sealed plastic bin bags.

c. Dismantle headboard and bed frame to examine cracks and crevices.

d. Empty all drawers in closets, desks, tables, chest and cabinets inside the room and store contents in sealed plastic bin bags.

e. Use a screwdriver to remove electrical switch plates, outlet covers and wall sockets.

f. Remove all clutter from off the floor and underneath the bed.

Application of Treatment: Step 3 in Bed Bug Management

a. Vacuum the mattress, carpet, drawers, closets and all surfaces infested with bed bugs.

b. Read and follow instructions on labels before the application of insecticide.

c. Remove the vacuum bag, seal it in a plastic bag and discard it in the outside garbage bin.

d. Treat the mattress with appropriate treatments (e.g. steam treatment) and use mattress encasement.

e. Apply appropriate treatment to furniture, closets, dresser, wall hangings and all other infested items.

f. Apply residual dust chemical to cracks and crevices in furniture, the floor, windows, outlets and other harbourages.

Types of treatments

Desiccant dust, insecticide sprays, heat treatment, steam treatment, freezing with Cryonite, fumigation or insect growth regulator

Surface applications

a. Liquid insecticide is used to treat carpet edges, mouldings and sometime cracks and crevices to flush bed bugs from the harbourage.

b. Treat flat surfaces of upholstered furniture with dust pesticide. Read instructions on pesticide labels before applying it to other furniture.

c. Dismantle guide tracks in wardrobe and treat it with liquid pesticide.

d. Apply spray insecticide to walls, carpet edges, underneath baseboard and where the carpet meets the baseboard.

e. Treat the bed frame and headboard including joints, grooves and screw holes with direct contact spray. Use dust insecticide in cracks and crevices.

f. Use mattress encasement after treating the mattress.

Follow-up procedures: Step 4 in Bed Bug Management

After about 10 days, use monitoring devices to observe bed bug activity. Inspect and treat all the harbourages once more. Repeat the process until all the pests are eliminated.

Bed bug management requires focus, patience and time. It is best to hire a pest management firm to do the job if you are not willing to dedicate yourself to the task. If the harbourages are not treated thoroughly you won't get rid of the pests.

Why A Rose Hair Tarantula Could Be Your Perfect Pet

Keeping a tarantula as a pet certainly isn't for everyone, but some species will make surprisingly good pets. The most popular kind is the Rose Hair Tarantula, also known as the Chilean Rose Tarantula. This is mostly because they're attractive, docile and easier to care for than most of the more run of the mill pets out there - looking after them is very straightforward compared to cats or dogs for example.

If you've never had an exotic pet before, a Rose Hair Tarantula would be an excellent choice. This is not only because of the aspects mentioned above, but also because of the wealth of available information about them in books, online and elsewhere. They strike a good balance between being unusual enough to be different but being kept by enough people to make them cheap, readily available and well studied.

One natural concern about caring for a pet arachnid is the potential danger involved. Many people don't realize that tarantulas are often far less dangerous than much smaller spiders, and the Chilean Rose Tarantula is no exception. This species is more likely to run away from a threat than to act defensively, and will only very rarely bite. If they do bite, the amount of venom injected is very small and it isn't particularly potent, so this isn't serious unless you are allergic.

As these creatures come from the deserts and scrubland of South America (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina to be specific), they should be kept in a warm environment and they can be kept in relatively low humidity. Catering for these requirements is straightforward - a basic heat mat can control the temperature simply and effectively, and allowing the water dish to overflow a couple of times a week should provide sufficient humidity.

Rose Hair Tarantulas don't take up very much space and can easily fit into all but the very smallest of apartments. A 10 gallon terrarium should definitely be large enough, and they are often kept in smaller tanks as well. Many Rose Hairs will use burrows in the wild, and so a simple small shelter should be provided to keep your pet happy - even a coconut shell or flower pot will do nicely.

The normal diet for a pet Rose Hair is gut-loaded crickets, two or three of which should be given to an adult tarantula every week. They don't have regular feeding schedules, and can even be fed just once a fortnight and then left alone, as they will naturally gorge themselves when they have the opportunity in case of a famine to come.

The decision to buy a Chilean Rose Tarantula should not be taken lightly, as some will live for twenty years or more, but rest assured that they are easy to look after and are very unlikely to cause you any problems. They're also a brilliant talking point, and are the perfect arachnid for your first exotic pet.

If you want to find out more about Rose Hair Tarantulas, there is an excellent and comprehensive care sheet available at ExoticPetsResources.com here.

Bed Bug Inspection: How to Inspect the Room

You may have noticed itchy welts on the skin, blood stains on the sheet or have seen an insect in the house you suspect is a bed bug. The first thing to do is to correctly identify the pest and do a bed bug inspection. Inspect the bedroom first. The pests tend to stay as close as possible to the host's resting area.

If after inspecting the bed you discover the infestation is severe the next place to inspect is the perimeter of the room. In severe infestation, the pests tend to move away from the bed to other locations.

What to look for

a. Blood stains

b. Dark faecal spots

c. Eggs, eggs shells, cast off skin

d. Bed bugs (adult and nymphs)

e. A pungent mouldy shoes or sickening sweet odour from an oily liquid discharged from the glands in the thorax

Inspection tools

a. A strong flashlight

b. Magnifying glass

c. Plastic zipper bag

d. Crevice tool

e. Compressed air

f. Screwdriver

g. Small tool kit

h. Alcohol, cotton swabs/baby wipes

i. Sticky traps

j. Gloves, soapy water, cloth and sponge

k. Mirror with handle

l. A notepad

m. A camera

n. Adjustable spanner

o. Hammer

Inspect the perimeter of the room

a. Remove all wall hangings (e.g. mirror, paintings, pictures etc.) and inspect them.

b. If framed photos or art are on the wall open the frames and inspect inside and underneath the paper backing.

c. Check behind loose wallpaper and peeling paint.

d. Remove curtain rods and examine them carefully.

e. Check underneath hardware on the walls.

f. Inspect all door frames inside the room including the bathroom, closet and other door frames.

g. Inspect inside the bore hole for the latch on each door.

h. Inspect ceiling lights and fixtures. If bed bugs are found in ceiling lights it may indicate they are moving from the upper floor unit.

If you find bed bugs on the wall they may be hiding under ceiling mouldings, in smoke detectors and in thermostats.

In an established infestation, bed bugs will spread throughout the perimeter of the room (walls, mouldings and rugs) and hide in clutter on the floor and underneath the bed.

i. Inspect mouldings and where the floor joins and examine the walls closest to the bed. Swipe the crevice tool in an upward motion behind mouldings to chase bed bugs out of the harbourage.

j. Gently fold back the edges of wall-to-wall carpet and look for the pests. Pay attention to the tack strip of carpets.

k. Inspect beneath the edges of areas rugs.

l. Remove electrical switch plate and outlet and phone jack plate with a screw driver and inspect behind them.

Inspect unusual locations

a. Inspect the television and battery compartment in the remote control.

b. Inspect cell and cordless telephones.

c. Inspect lamp and alarm clocks.

d. Inspect computers and other electronics.

e. Inspect children toys and stuffed animals.

f. Inspect jewellery boxes.

g. Inspect books, magazines, newspaper and files.

h. Inspect brick walls and textured ceilings.

i. Inspect air condition unit, ducts and heating unit.

j. Inspect wheelchairs.

In severe infestation, the insects sometimes make their way into adjacent rooms or unit by going through electrical, heat and phone line conduits. They can also crawl under doors and make their way across hallways. In this case, it is important to extend the bed bug inspection into rooms.

Evidence that suggests the insects are moving across rooms includes:

a. The pests are found in ceiling light fixtures.

b. The pests are moving in and out of electrical switch plates on walls and excrement found on the side of switch plates or near ducts.

c. The pests are often found in the bathroom or kitchen.

In this case, the pests may be coming from a severely infested room adjacent to the kitchen and bathroom. They make their way into the kitchen and bathroom along water pipes.

Bed bug inspection requires much time, especially in severe infestation. You must be very patient to locate all the harbourages to eliminate the pests.

Raising Crickets for Fun and Profit

Crickets are one of the most popular foods for your reptiles and amphibian pets. They move around really fast and grab your pet's attention. Crickets are very nutritious and you can provide your pets with as many as they can eat.

Adult crickets grow to around one inch in length. Male crickets are smaller than the females and can be spotted easily in a colony as they are the ones making the noise. You can tell the female crickets by their ovipositor i.e. a long needle like structure which is used to lay eggs.

I have raised crickets a number of times and found out these basic tips that will help you grow your own.

· Crickets need warmth.

· Crickets need food and water.

· Crickets need a place to lay eggs.

First thing you need is a container to store and breed your crickets; this can be a plastic storage container with a snap on lid. Take the lid and cut some 3 to 5 inch square holes out of it and hot glue some screen over the holes, this will provide ventilation for your crickets. Use some ground up corn cobs as a substrate for your habitat and put about an inch of this in your container.

Place your container in a warm area; you may have to provide something to warm them. Crickets like to be at about 85 degrees.

Make your own watering dish this can be as easy as a plastic lid from a peanut butter jar, cut a sponge to fit inside of the lid and soak it with water. You will have to add some water every couple of days.

Crickets need protein to eat, I would feed my crickets cheap dog food, corn meal and oat meal. Your crickets will also need some fruits and vegetables you can chop up some apples, carrots, celery, lettuce, and even potatoes for them to eat. Keep citrus away from your crickets.

Set up some egg laying containers for their habitat, use some foam egg crates not the paper ones; fill a couple egg holes with sand at least 1 inch deep. You need to keep the sand damp but not wet and the female crickets will lay eggs in the sand. Place these in the habitat where you can get to them and keep them damp. Place some other egg cartons in the container for the crickets to hide under and to explore.

Give them a few weeks to deposit their eggs and remember to keep the sand damp. You can move these egg laying areas into a new container and keep them warm and the baby crickets will hatch. Make sure the babies can get some water and food by burying your dishes level with the substrate.

When the babies hatch they will be just a miniature version of the adults. They will shed their skins a couple of times and sometimes you may even see a white one or two and this is normal.

Keep some crickets of different ages in separate containers and you shouldn't run out of fresh crickets for your pets.