December 14th - January 14th

On January 14th my partner and I went out to Logan and Sapphire's enclosure to give them breakfast only to find that Logan who was still sleeping will never wake-up. . .
We were at the time and indeed are still shocked beyond words. He was making such progress and was so very happy, even just the night before and now to find him curled up dead. . . It was just so very shocking.

Somehow just looking at him curled up with his tail over his nose, the exact same way that he sleeps I knew he was gone yet I could not believe it. My partner checked him for a pulse and there was none. His body was becoming more and more stiff yet he was still warm from where Sapphire had been curled around him all night sleeping.

I burst out crying. Sapphire started licking away my tears as she was unsure why I was crying. At first I thought that this was as she knew Logan was gone but she had no idea, she thought Logan was still asleep so she went over and licked his face. She then nuzzled his head but she still seems to have believed he was sleeping. . .

We waited for a while with Sapphire before moving Logan's body, if an animal sees their friend is dead it is meant to help the healing process but no matter how long we waited she still did not understand. I called the vet and said what had happened and that I needed a necropsy urgently as whatever had killed Logan could possibly be a threat to all of my other fur babies. They agreed to do the procedure as soon as possible.

When we got Logan to the vet he looked him over and could not see any reason why Logan would have died so suddenly. Our vet had seen Logan multiple times over the mere month he was with us as we wanted to be sure that Logan's weight gain was steady as well as to give Logan both his distemper and parvo vaccines.

That evening when we arrived home Sapphire was sat at the door of her enclosure looking at the house. She called occasionally for Logan. We went out to spend time with her, she was not very interested in us but instead much more interested in trying to look into the house where she last saw Logan headed.  We stayed outside until she dosed off but when we went back inside she woke up again and resumed waiting by the door of the enclosure.

The next day we spent all day with Sapphire. We played with her and tried our best to comfort her yet when  we would cry she would try to comfort us which was very sweet but again whenever she was not entertained she would wait for Logan and call for him. Eventually we brought her inside which seemed like a good idea as we could not really sleep outside with her. . . This ended up being when she began to notice Logan was no longer here. . .

Upon entering the house she ran around looking everywhere for him; under the sofa, in the bath, under my duvet on my bed, everywhere and she started to have a bit of a mental break down. She started looking in all of these places again and again calling for Logan as she ran. She had no time for Sprite who wanted to play with her and pushed her out of her path, she was going to find Logan wherever he was. . . Or so she believed.

Eventually she fell to sleep, she was exhausted.

The next day we went and got her some new toys. We bought her everything that we thought would entertain her; Kong's, bones, chews, squeaky toys, tennis balls, ropes and dental chews which she adores as we decided we would keep her entertained to keep her spirits up. It helped a little but the best toy for Sapphire seemed to be Audrey, her 7year old human sister who apparently is brilliant fun to chase and watch Beverly hills Chihuahua with.

On January 17th the vet finally called with the results of the necropsy. It would seem that Logan's little heart just gave up when he was sleeping. The vet believes that it was caused by Logan's bad diet during the key stages of his growth so well before he came to us. The vet said that there was no way of knowing this would happen and that it is just one of those things. . .

Even though Logan was only with us for 1 month in that short amount of time he very much became an important member of our family.

Sapphire is still very confused but I think she is beginning to feel a little better. She is still not talking which is very, very odd but I am sure she will again in time.

So anyway, that's what has happened.

Before these recent events I really wanted to tell you all about how over X-mas Logan had been highly amusing but as I can't really talk about him without crying I shall past here the post I wrote on Sybil's den for you all to enjoy:


"So I was in hospital for a couple or days, not working which was odd for me as I have only been admitted to hospital a couple of times in my life. It was just very bad tonsillitis so no big deal. I am allot better now. 


ANYWAY when I was in hospital everything went wrong for Mr Elina; he fed my African Pygmy dormice and one got out which he could not catch and even after 24 hours has not gone into the humane mouse trap. He had to deal with Valla being of the belief that he had hidden me so she could not see me so she grunted at him whenever he went near her and argued with him when he put her to bed. Mr Sapphire climbing out of his enclosure. . . TWICE!


Mr Elina saw him the first time and was very confused. When he got over the top he came to the back door and Mr Elina eventually caught him, cut his nails which were quite long as we had not cut them yet as he is a bit freaked out by us and put him back. Mr Elina thought that he had jumped from the platform so he took that out too. A little while later he looked outside and Mr Sapphire was crouched atop one of the panels. Mr Sapphire then quickly got to the floor and ran off and as he had been caught once before he knew how to evade capture a second time. Mr Elina had to spend hours chasing Mr Sapphire around the 2.5acres (approx) he had access too eventually catching him and managing to put him in Sapphire's enclosure which has a roof. 


During this Sapphire tried to follow her man as it looked like he and her Daddy were having a blast but she just fell on her behind so I do not believe all arctics can climb BUT if one can I am guessing this is not some kind of oddity and thus others will be able too so make sure you put roofs on your enclosures. I think one contributing factor to Mr Sapphire's ability to climb is that unlike Sapphire he is underweight and thus it was much easier for him to manoeuvre himself. I am amazed that even with short claws he managed this. 


I just wanted to let you all know as I know a few of you got Arctics this year and though I am sure they are all nice and chunky right now come Summer time they might slim down and I don't want you all to be shocked at your foxes sudden cat like agility. "



Today Logan returned home, allot less furry and allot smaller. I have placed his ashes on the fireplace next to Freyja with his collar atop of him the same way Freyja's is atop of her.
I miss them both so much but at least now I can think that Freyja has a friend to play with while she waits for us at the rainbow bridge. . .

Mr Sapphire finally has a name!

Yes you all read right; Mr Sapphire finally has a name!

After weeks of trying different names out we have settled on a name and oddly enough it was one of the very first we tried. I guess it is like a wedding dress where you normally end up wanting the first one you ever tried on.

So without further a do I shall list our winners!

In third place is Michelle Roderick with Denim.

In second place is Laura Jane Nolan with Hinto.

And our winner of the Mr Sapphire needs a new name competition is

Nicola Carter Barnes

with

If the winners could please send me a message on here or Facebook I will get your badges off to you A.S.A.P. 

Thank you all for your wonderful ideas but there could only be one. 

I have of stuff to tell you all about the foxes over Christmas but I must be off to feed everyone their dinner. 

TTFN! 

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful X-mas and a fabulous New year and what better way then with a festive Fennec!

Have a great Holiday season everyone!

- The Flashmans

PS: Not chosen a name for Mr Sapphire yet, will inform the winner when I have but keep the suggestions coming!

Mr. Sapphire needs a first name

I am stuck for a first name for Mr Sapphire and would love the help of you all. Preferably something that goes with the colour blue as he, like Sapphire is a blue phase Arctic fox. Person with the best name wins 4 Flashman foxes badges, 4 runners up get 1 each!



So far my other half want's to go for Smurf but I don't see that one happening and my daughter again want's to go for Slush like she wanted us to choose for Sapphire as she likes blue slush puppies but I am not sure. . .

Either reply to this blog post or on our Facebook page with your ideas.

I very much look forward to hearing from you all!

Continued. . .

I am back as promised.

Here are some photos of Sapphire showing "Mr Sapphire" around which I forgot to post last night:

Mr Sapphire looking down on me when he eventually worked out how to get on top of the kennel:

Now where were we. . . Oh yes the next morning.

After waking up multiple times during the night to go and make sure the two of them were getting along I was quite sure and relieved to find that they were very much the best of friends!

When the sun finally came up off I went in my Wellington boots armed with their breakfast and the means to clean up any "accidents" as I was unsure of quite how litter trained Mr Sapphire was. 

Upon my arrival I was greeted by a very soggy Sapphire and the tail of Mr Sapphire as he retired to the shed. 

Sapphire was very happy to see me however it took her a while to get to me as she was attempting to avoid stepping in any of the "accidents" Mr. Sapphire had through out the night. 

When I walked towards the platform I saw quite how many the poor chap had had and felt a tad guilty about de worming him the night before. . . 

I saw lots of cute little beds that he had made of hay from the hay bale however on each bed there was a pile of what looked like Spaghetti. . . Oh no I thought, worms. . . 

Well it explained why a fox with the thickest coat of any mammal whose spine I could see through said coat had a belly and yet I was very confused how two house holds had had him as an inside pet and failed to notice this. . . 

Thankfully worms are easy to fix and as Sapphire is wormed regularly she is in no danger of getting them even though she had spent a fair amount of the night before "kissing" Mr Sapphire. I am so very glad she is not into rolling in excrement like red foxes do when they are young. 

That afternoon Mr Sapphire had his first vet trip booked but before we went I let the vet know about the worms and he asked for a sample which was easy enough. (Very disgusting though.)

Upon our arrival at the vets Mr Sapphire was checked over and I was told that he is very underweight as expected and also has been malnourished which was also as expected. His worms were some of the largest the vet had seen with one measuring 11inches in length so he probably had them since birth and was just never treated. The vet said that Mr Sapphire was very lucky to have found us and that he could think of no better place for him to be which I though was very nice of him. 

Here are some random photos I took of the happy couple. . . normally not together as it is actually very hard to get them to both stay still.

Mr Sapphire exploring me:

Mr Sapphire sniffing Sapphire's Kong, you can see how skinny he is and also his worm belly:

Sapphire at breakfast:

Mr Sapphire says "hi!":

Mr Sapphire looking quite handsome: 

Sapphire stood in the way when I was about to take a good photo of Mr Sapphire:

Mr Sapphire coming out of the shed:

Tails. Sapphire left Mr Sapphire right:

I just noticed I totally forgot to click to post this entry until now which I am afraid is 1 day late, forgive me?

The spare enclosure and other news.

Yikes I am SO behind the main reason for which being that my camera has been missing since November and my old camera was in storage. Needless to say is is not any longer.

I believe one of the foxes, namely Harry has nabbed it but I do like to wonder what someone would think if I lost it in a public place and they found it as on the memory card there are photos of Valla and Sprite in the Halloween costumes, Harry and Elspeth's second birthday party and various other photos of just foxes lazing around.

So anyway yes on November 13th it was Harry and Elspeth's second birthday! It amazes me that they have only been with me for such a short amount of time and yet they have shaped my life so very much and changed the way I think about so many things. . . Speaking of which as I type this I am sitting at my desk, at home with five and a half, maybe a quarter socks on my desk, one of my partners slippers and two felt tip pens all of which have been confiscated from Harry, Elspeth and Rudi in the last 45 mins.

The question is would I go back in time and change my predicament so my desk was once more free from their treasures? No way! I love all 9 of my fox kids and I would never have it any other way. I actually asked my partner and daughter the same question and my daughter said the only thing she would change is she would make Akiko sleep in her room so she could be her fox (this might I add shall never happen of else neither of them shall sleep). My partner just wished he could have Freyja back as well as having the others which we all wish could happen. . . And his slipper which he just noticed was among the treasures on my desk.

So what has happened since I last posted. Well ever so much as a matter of fact and as I got my old camera (which refuses to acknowledge it is not July) out of storage I have been able to document some of it in photos.

Now where to begin. . .

Akiko got a wonderful Tinkerbell hammock all the way from America with the help of our friend Dru (whose blog you can find here:  http://illustratedrat.blogspot.com/ ) . Dru is very much into Rats and when she put up a link to a rat rescue I believe it was that made cute hammocks for rats I just knew Akiko would love one and Dru was kind enough to help us get one to the UK.




Akiko loves her hammock and it is just so very perfect for her! She was quite unsure at first though so we had to put it up so that it rested on a shelf at first and the I slowly moved it higher and now she is always in there, if not sleeping she is rolling around it in just for fun.

Harry and Valla have a new favourite food: baby carrots!
I would not have expected it but yep, they love baby carrots. I am pretty sure it is just because they are really crunchy OR because Audrey and I are always munching them but either way it is very odd to see a fox turn down a chicken wing in favour of a carrot. . .

December 5th was Sprite's second birthday! Unlike Harry and Elspeth's birthday with is really the day we brought them home as Sprite actually has documentation of when her birthday is we can actually celebrate the right day. Much like Harry and Elspeth's birthday all the fur kids got their favourite food, Sprite got to go to pets at home and choose some toys herself (the foxes don't do that bit, I don't think it would go down too well).

We built a spare enclosure which we then moved Sapphire into to help us fault find (we chose her for this job as though she is an amazing escape artist she always comes and tells us she is out). This is the first time we have not put something solid down as the base to prevent escape as in Harry and Elspeth's enclosure we used cement, on Sapphire's we used galvanised wire covered in paving slabs which were covered in bark chips which is great but this time we just used galvanised wire covered in bark. It was all going really well until the third day when she had dug all around the outer edge which made me worry (she had not gotten through the wire) so I brought in some paving slabs and put them where the biggest holes were. I later the same day found out why she had been digging as she dug another hole and then after some rummaging around pulled out a large stone and took it inside the shed and there I see she has a collection of them!

The new enclosure is entirely the work of my partner on the designing front. It has a 9ft x 9ft outside run and an shed measuring 6ft by 8ft which unlike Sapphire's enclosure is not inside but instead the run is attached to the front of it as though the shed was a house and the run the front garden.

Though much smaller then Sapphire's enclosure which has been extended yet further it has many of the features including a dog house in the shed which I think my partner mainly did to amuse me and a platform however we made that too tall and had to buy a bale of hay to be used as a step and according to Sapphire it is also to be used to rub and roll on as it smells very nice (apparently).

Here are a few photos of Sapphire hanging out in there:



Sniffing Audrey's shoes:



Looking beautiful! :



Loving her Dad:



Don't try the above at home with a random fox or your pet fox if they are not accustomed to it. Sapphire has been hugged from an early age. I know it sounds odd to add that but there are really some stupid people about, not that I think any of you are but with the Holidays upon us one to many drinks can make people do some crazy things lol.

Seeing as I love foxes so much it sounds normal for me to have a random extra enclosure for no apparent reason just sitting there waiting to be filled with the next wonderful critter. We actually built this enclosure as there is somewhat of a distemper epidemic sweeping Britain and we were readying for a new member of the Flashman household.

You may remember my partner was not too pleased when I got him to move Sapphire outside. Well since she moved out I have been told daily that she needs a friend and that she is lonely and I have been asked just as often if she can come back inside as she really does not smell now.

Well, though Sapphire actually smells very little now and she does seem to live for when we went out to see her and take her for her walks I just did not wan't to move her back inside.It's not because I am mean which my 7yr old daughter informed me but because we have the heating on so much now she would cook with her winter coat. Long story short I agreed to look for a friend for her.

I looked high and low and was offered a few but then I found one that seemed to really need a knowledgeable home.

I would like you all to meet "Mr Sapphire":



Mr Sapphire is a blue phase Arctic fox just like Sapphire is just he has had a bad start in life.

Mr Sapphire's first owners basically has no idea and fed him on potatoes, no meat to keep down his "foxy smell" and bathed him every day using head and shoulders! (Neither of this would keep a fox from smelling "foxy" might I add.)

His second home did not have him for very long at all.

The day we brought him home we stopped in the kitchen to fix him some dinner before heading into the garden to take him to his enclosure, that was when I took the above photo.

Once he had finished his dinner we wandered outside to the enclosure, went inside, set down his travel cage, opened the door and POOF! there was Sapphire sniffing his nose!

You see little did I know that though we had the night before moved Sapphire to her enclosure that during the day when we were collecting him "someone" (I shall not name names hehe) took her for a walk and put her back in the wrong enclosure! We had not seen her as she was sleeping in the shed.

So anyway there was out great plan of segregating them gone and a gradual introduction gone but thankfully as all of our animals are inoculated against parvo and distemper and regularly de wormed it was not actually too big a deal for them to meet, it was just not how I expected it to go.

In all honestly I could not have expected it to go as well as it did!





After sniffing each others noses and all over each others body they took off together with Sapphire leading the way showing him around his new home, she even showed him that her humans are tame hehe.

As Sapphire is a total foodie I did not expect her to be okay with him licking the bowls but she was fine and showed no aggression at all towards him. They his it off wonderfully.

After about an hour sat with them we retired inside but checked on them regularly. I saw one of the most adorable things I have ever seen on one of the times which was the two of them sitting atop the platform licking each others tongues! I thought it looked very odd at first the two of them "kissing" each other with their tails wagging like mad but at the same time it was so cute to see them both being so happy!

Now though I am not done updating you all I must go as I have the flu and I feel totally, utterly gruesome so I shall bid you all good night and return tomorrow with the rest of my news. My photos are already on my P.C. so even if my camera should vanish I shall be able to continue.

Good night all!

Happy belated Halloween

Firstly I would like to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN for yesterday, as would young Akiko the fennec fox:



Yesterday was a wonderful day here in the Flashman household with many more treats then tricks. Valla and Sprite sported matching Halloween costumes of which both girls were very happy, Valla even more so then Sprite as she had cloths that were hers this did however not stop her from trying to take Sprite's too but what can I say, she is a fox and they do very much like to have belongings.

Though none of the other foxes got to dress up they still joined in the merriment with treats of various luxury meats mixed into their normal food such as venison, duck, pheasant and such which they very much enjoyed!

I have taken many, many photos for you all however I have misplaced my camera so I shall when I find it I shall post the photos as soon as possible for you all to enjoy. As for now to keep you all amused have this video if Sprite and Akiko playing:

It is quite long next to our normal videos but I urge you to watch right until the end to see the magic which is Akiko swapping from a white mouse to a black mouse without anyone noticing and no camera trickery at all!

When I said that none of the other foxes bar Valla got to dress up I might have lied a little but only the tiniest little bit. You see Sapphire has donned her fall coat which we have been joking makes her look like she was dressed as a ghost for Halloween.



You will have noticed that I said her 'Fall coat' which will have puzzled you as you, being a lover of foxes will know that they only have two coats; one for winter and one for summer. Well, I have dubbed Sapphire's current coat her Fall coat as whenever I think she is as light as a blue phase Arctic will get she gets lighter so I am not totally sure if she is quite done her transformation yet.

This photo was taken on October 17th:


And this one on October 30th:


I think you will agree that she has changed a fair amount in a very short time frame.

I must say it is very odd to think that this large pale grey creature was once the tiny little black one depicted here:

Well I shall go now to find my camera, it must be here somewhere but I suppose the question as always is where. . .

TTFN!