Where have Harry and Elspeth been?!

That is the question that so many people have asked me, I had no idea so many people read our blog until I was inundated with e-mails from lovely people like you who were worried about the wonderful Flashmans.

Well first off let me say I am so very, very sorry to have kept you all waiting so very long for an update, I have been very busy with work but that is no excuse now is it?

Well let me see where did we leave off. . .

On July 25th Harry and Elspeth were meant to go to the Arc in Evesham for Exotic keepers awareness day. I was very excited about this as they were to be the only two foxes there bar the red foxes that reside at the sanctuary and loads of people were excited about seeing them. The night before I was getting their crate ready for the morning when Harry and Elspeth were playing and having a nice time but then Harry seemed to get the wrong end of the stick and thought that Elspeth was interested in doing more then just playing around.

Harry started pinning her to the floor which she normally would deal with by pushing him off if she is not interested but today when she did that she had rolled onto her back and Harry bit her leg quite a bit harder then he intended.

(I am quite confused in his behaviour as he seems to be 'in the mood' one hell of allot for an animal that is meant to have seasons for this.)

Anyway as soon as he bit her more or less there was blood all over the floor. Elspeth had ran away under the sofa.

I got her to come out and saw that Harry had nicked an artery in her leg. No matter how much pressure I applied the blood was not stopping.

I remembered that only a few days prior to this a member of Sybil's den had said that Cayenne pepper was good for stopping bleeding and so I ran to the kitchen
I was worrying which is very unlike me Elspeth is my baby and I was so worried about her.

I thankfully had Cayenne pepper. I sprinkled it....or more almost tipped the whole jar on her wound and hey presto it started to clot. About 10 mins later Elspeth moved and knocked the pepper off and the blood started again but I put some more on and we were safe once more. I took her to the vets the next morning.

So I was told to keep it clean and been given a cone for her head so she does not pull off the new dressing...Thing is the pepper I used the night before worked fine at keeping her off it AND she didn't have to look like a lamp.


So on July 25th instead of telling the world how great foxes are Elspeth was sleeping and being treated like a princess...A very, VERY grumpy princess. Oh well there is always next year.

One week after her injury she was totally fine bar a scab where the puncture was, amazing!

On August 28th our family gained two new additions, two beautiful fennec foxes Inari and Kitsune. We finally got after much thought, consideration and waiting. They are settling in really well but I have not let them meet Harry and Elspeth yet, I want to do that when they are more confident.

(Kitsune top, Inari bottom taken prior to first bath so quite scruffy looking)

Inari (the male) is much smaller then Kitsune even though he is meant to be older, he is also much more confident around me.

Kitsune was quite nervous around us and I was a bit concerned about her as she had various issues such as her front paws claws have been cut so short that the quick is right at the end of them, it looks like the quick has been cut, you could touch it. . . Her elbows and such are red and bare of fur she also (I discovered when I took her to the vets only a couple of days after getting her) had ring worm. . .

We treated her ringworm with the meds the vet gave us and then when bathing her every other day proved too stressful we decided to use vinegar as many people who had dealt with ring worm before had advised me that it would work, which thankfully it did!

It is amazing how different Fennecs are from Corsacs when I first got Inari and Kitsune I gave them a bath as they really needed it and it was amazing how easy it was! Unlike Harry and Elspeth they really did not like having a bath but as they are so small it was fast and easy. Also unlike Corsacs if you pick up a worried fennec it will go limp where a worried Corsac will wiggle to get free.

After we towled them off my partner and I took them into our bedroom with a hot water bottle each and sat with a hot water bottle each on our knees and then a fennec atop of that. They both seemed to really like the heat as it was then 3am and seeing as we live in an old house it was quite cold.


When we decided to actually go to sleep and we put them in their sleeping crate Inari sorted out the blankets for both of them and then lay down which was cute. I had put a water bottle in with them but they seem to have not noticed it was the water bottle and not me that was warming them up and so totally avoided it.

I must say it is so funny to see them eat. Harry and Elspeth go for meat normally over the veggies unless it is curly kale or basil (herb I know but they eat it like it is going out of fashion). Inari and Kitsune go for the veggies over everything else and wolf it down. Thus far Kitsune though the bigger of the two has always gone to take food second where with Harry and Elspeth it is always Elspeth who goes first.

I think that is more or less you all caught up!
Here is a video of Harry and Elspeth in their bedroom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfwxoFfMsEM

And a new one of them talking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kNHGE5C1FA

Harry

Harry

Harry on the back of his sofa in his bedroom.

Harry left Elspeth Right