This blog follows the lives of four Corsac foxes, three Fennec foxes and two Arctic foxes that live in captivity.
It will cover how they settle in, how we and they adapt and their general daily lives.
I hope that it will make for an interesting read if nothing else!
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. . .
Sprite, the papillon has become more and more fond of playing with Akiko the fennec fox the bigger she grows. I think now Sprite is not as worried as she was before about breaking the tiny delicate little fennec.
As always Sprite will only play rough on a bed or sofa which is great as I am quite sure that if they played on the wood floor someone would get hurt.
Akiko is getting quite good at understanding how to play, she knows that is Sprite squeaks she should let her go.
I took a few photos of the two of them last night along with the above video, I hope you guys like them!:
In the last photo Akiko's eyes are the oddest colour, they are not like that normally before anyone asks.
Though Akiko may understand that when Sprite squeaks it means to leave her alone she has yet to learn that when I squeak I mean the same:
My poor toes!
You may have noticed the red patch on Akiko's thigh? That is from her red feather cat teaser, she slept next to it the other night and it dyed her fur and I cannot wash it off so she is stuck with this red patch for now. I do not think I would mind so much if it was a funny colour but that it is red makes her look wounded! Maybe I can pass it off as a Halloween costume on the 31st? hehe!
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.
The other day the fennecs were eating their dinner and I decided to film it. We all know fennecs can be pretty loud as adults right? Well the phoenix kits are also pretty loud and they were only 6 weeks old when I made this film AND their mouths were full!
They are so cute and so very funny I watch them for hours when I have the time.
I bet you are wondering why the fennecs have salt on their food, maybe it's a bit bland for them?
Hehe nope, it is actually taurine and calcium which I sprinkle on their food I then mix it in and then it becomes this:
A brown icky mess. . . But they like it so the vomit inducing look of it can be excused.
The Phoenix kits have their food in the same bowls most people use for reptiles as they are shallow but also hold a fair amount. They have a flat base too which means their food is not spilt everywhere when they eat which means I have to clean up after them a little less. . . Only a little though.
PS:
Wesley Kenyon owner of a fennecfoxes.webs.com has decided to attempt to slander my name as I am sure anyone who has ever read his blog or joined his website will know. I am not like him and I know I do not need to go around spouting nonsense to gain friends but anyway here is my side of it all:
