Thursday, September 22

And then there was one. . .

So here we are 21 days since my last post and my lap is decidedly empty with but one Phoenix kit sitting on it; Princess, who has become very clingy since her brothers Giggles and Churchill and her sister Amali went to their new homes.

Giggles went to a pet home on September 11th, the same day Amali went to live with http://debonaireexoticanimalencounters.com/  and hopefully the future love of her life Pharaoh who is a few months older then her who I had the pleasure to meet at the Ark exotics awareness back in July.  Here are Pharaoh and Amali together:

Pharaoh was the sole survivor of a litter of two kits and I think that is why he seems so mellow next to Amali who grew up with 3 siblings (and a Papillon) to play with at all hours of the day and night. I am sure he will become more accustomed to her idea of play in time. Thankfully she really seems to like him!

Churchill stayed with us  for an extra week before going to his new pet home in Wales. He seems to be having an amazing time with his new family especially his new mum Paula.

Here he is in his new home where his new name is Phoenix:

Doing his favourite thing, eating! I am glad the move did not effect his appetite hehe!
Exploring:
Phoenix: 'Shh I'm hiding! :



And then there was one.


Young 'Princess' took her big brother moving out worst then when her Amali and Giggles left as 'Churchill' was her great protector. He was the ring leader and the bravest of them where she was very much the most fearful when it came to exploration.  Now instead of eating Morio worms being great fun she is a little worried of them and yesterday actually ran away from them! Before her big brother would have saved her but now that job belonged to Sprite the papillon who also does not like them so insects being a staple of her diet was not going so well so we downgraded her back to meal worms which she seems allot less worried about.


Here is a video of 'Princess' and Churchill eating moreo worms:


I think 'Princess' needs a man in her life, not necessarily a mate, just someone to protect her as now she has decided that my partner is her favourite of the humans and will sit and watch him for hours calling to him whenever she cannot see him to be sure he has not gone far. She also likes to sit on his lap but that is tricky as the other lap fox in my partner life Sapphire the arctic fox is SO big he cannot hug them both at once for fear that Sapphire will crush 'Princess'.

You may wonder why I keep writing 'Princess' like that, well I am still not sure what to name her. The other day she was 'Prinseski' as my other half watched something about Russia, she has been Persil as she is small and mighty I just do not know what to name her. Should I name her something Japanese like Inari and Kitsune or maybe something Egyptian? I cannot decide so if any of you have any ideas let me know. My 7 year old daughter thinks Tinkerbell is nice or Tinker but she already named one of my Asian garden dormice Tinkerbell so we can't reuse the same names. I thought maybe Pixie as they are meant to have pointy ears and then I would have Sprite and Pixie. . . I don't know, I like the idea of all the corsacs names matching and all the fennecs names matching. . . Is there a Japanese Pixie?

Here are some random photos of the Phoenix kits last week or so together:

Bath time! 

A visit to see Auntie Nix:
Together:
And then there was one: 

I have so many more photos I need to upload of everyone and videos I need to edit but sadly I have to go now, I am falling to sleep at my desk so good night people! 


Thursday, September 1

Trials and tribulations of photographing & bathing foxes

Sapphire has a very busy life style between playing with the dog, playing with Valla, sleeping, eating those second and third breakfasts we talked about before and visiting friends.

On Sunday we took her to visit a friend she had not met before. She was a little worried at first which made her a weee bit smelly as her violet gland was working over time so we had a look around their garden and made sure there was nowhere she could escape and let her go out and play. 

We all actually ended up evacuating the house as Sapphire had made it so smelly! With all the windows and doors open and Sapphire in the garden the only challenge then was to keep her in the garden she she was quite sure the smells of cooling were some new way to call her inside. 

As I had forgotten my camera the iphone had it's work cut out for it, especially with it's 2 second pause before it actually bothers to take the photo you have asked it to take and little fox who will not stand still for two seconds. 


So here is our first photo. Not too sure what she is doing but I am sure when the button was clicked to take the photo it was something adorable.
Sapphire heading for the kitchen. 
Coming at the kitchen from the other direction.
Eating the sea shells from on the path. At least this time we have her face in the photo.
I think this one is actually pretty cute! I love that you can see the shape of her and how her tail is more white then 'blue'.
Oh she found a leaf! We know she loves those!
She looks a little like a show dog here with this pose. You cannot see most of her harness as though it is not tight to her body her fur is so fluffy it covers it.
And she's off again!
Can you spot her?
Eating sea shells again!
And again. . . 
Sapphire loved these yellow flowers she was looking at in this photo. She lost interest when she found one on the lawn, chewed it and found out it was NOT yummy hehe. 
Sapphire- "Oh wow a whole load of leaves! Where do they come from?" 
Sapphire- "I will just take a look."

As you can see out of 13 photos we have but 2 good ones! 
This often also happens when I take photos with my camera as opposed to my phone. I normally try to post only the best or most amusing ones but today I thought I would show you why photographers (of which I am not) often say that they will not photograph children or animals. 

On Tuesday I was playing with Valla in my bedroom but then when we came to leave she would not as our bengal cats were stood at the bedroom door hissing at her. I am not sure why they hate her but they do so I took the chance to film her playing on my bed with her Eeyore.

The video has no sound as I removed it as all you could hear was the cats.

When we finally left the room Valla was quite worried as we made our way to the living room and checked every room along the way for cats: 
She came to collect me and escort me past the rooms once she knew they were safe: 

I think she was trying to make sure I was safe or maybe she needed backup but wanted to appear brave hehe. 

Earlier the same day the Phoenix kits had their very first bubble bath as they decided to hide some of their food in their bed. . . And sleep on it. This had created a sort of vomit coloured, meaty hair gel and would not come off with a damn cloth nor a rub and roll in the sandbox so a bath was our only option.
If you watched the video with the sound on yes, you heard me right I use conditioner on them. Why is as it is a puppy one and it is meant to be good for their skin so I am all up for that. And yes I used lavender scented bubble bath and shampoo on them as it is meant to be calming. 
I actually spoil all of my foxes like this, they all have very nice bubble bath and other things and this is because I think it will make it a nicer experience for them all, I mean we must remember Harry and the cherry bubble bath:
I am quite sure they do not all have expensive taste like Harry and, would like the bath to be over as fast as possible but you can't blame me for trying! 

Sadly after the bath while I was towel drying them I let them lay on my lap when I dried their backs which resulted in my new blue jeans dying their tummies blue! So all of the little phoenix kits have blue tummies hehe! 

Do any of you remember when I first brought Sprite my papillon puppy home and she was adopted by Harry and Elspeth? Well here we are 1 year later and Sprite has now adopted the Phoenix kits! You would think that the phoenix kits would now think they are dogs but as Sprite is quite sure she is a fox and acts like one 95% of the time I think they have turned out more foxy then if they had never encountered Sprite. 

Here is Sprite with 'her' two little girls:
I had put the two of them on my chair to take photos of them but Sprite was upset as she had just gotten them to sleep oops!

Here are some of the photos:
'Princess' aka Persil small and mighty hehe.
Amali being weary of the camera.
'Princess' having a hug. She is so small she makes my small hands look HUGE! 
'Princess' on my lap
'Princess' on my desk chair.
'Princess' on my chair.
'Princess' on my chair
Amali and Princess on my chair.
The girls stare down the camera
Amali (left) 'Princess' (right)

So I think that is enough for now. I shall bore you all again tomorrow maybe if I have any free time and/or space on my camera's memory card. 

TTFN!