Inari and Kitsune - Love is in the air!

So recently when I have left the room Inari had made the oddest noise, I had no idea why he did this but it sure did sound odd.


One day last month I accidently left my video camera on for over 5 hours filming them and I had not gotten round to watching it all until the other day. (Less watch more listen). I noticed I had captured this sound!

So after I played the 'call' to Inari he started to reply weather I was in the room or not and then he started to get frisky with Kitsune. This happened for about two days, every time he would see her he would mount her.



After those two days he became the most loving mate following her everywhere, snuggling her and even letting her sleep in HIS bed! This has continued and as I type they are curled up together in his bed. (Inari being the little spoon as he is much smaller then Kit hehe!)

I think it is safe to say they love each other.

Today I played the sound for him once more and he did not reply, he also has not been calling at all since his two days of love.



Happy Holidays!



Happy holidays everyone!


We are so sorry we did not post on Christmas day but we have been very, very busy celebrating Christmas on three days with three groups of people (and animals of coarse). If I never eat Turkey again it may well be too soon and I think Harry and Elspeth feel the same as by day three they were turning their noses up at it.

So what did Harry and Elspeth get? Well they got some toys from their favourite company. Now the reason I say it is their favourite company is that they love every toy I get them from Play-n-squeak as the toys from there make the most annoying sound (or at least I find it annoying, you can hear it here: http://www.playnsqueak.com/) and they seem to withstand being pounced on, thrown across the room, shaken vigorously and chewed very well. We got them the 'Ball of furry fury', 'Dangle mouse', 'Spring fling' (which I had to screw to the wall in their bedroom as when they flipped it over they gave up on it) and a few 'mouse hunter' toys which they like very much!

Elspeth:

Inari and Kitsune got some kitten toys as the fully grown cat toys seem often to be to big for them but Sprite ran off with half of them within 30 mins. Oh well, at least they like to play together! I also got them some morio worms but they have those every other day so was nothing special really, they just had more then normal. I filmed Inari eating some a few days before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUzQYDG5dhk (You can see their "Ball of furry fury" at the back of the cage.)

Inari:

My partner got me some wonderful gifts including an ornament of two red fox kits, a plush little red fox and 'Biology and conservation of wild canids' which is a VERY interesting book, I actually started reading it the second I unwrapped it. Of coarse the first thing I read was 'Corsac foxes' (did you expect anything else?), though I have read most of it before in various other places over the years there was one thing I had not read before which was: 'One limiting factor is snow height in winter, as the species avoids areas where snow height exceeds 150mm'. Well now I know why Harry and Elspeth will not go out in the snow for love nor money and why they go nuts when they see it falling from the sky; it's what they all do! It is good to know that my kits are not totally crazy hehe!

December seems to be the season of foxy love as Harry and Elspeth will not leave each other alone. They are constantly grooming each other, curling up together and playing with each other it is so cute!

Well we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Harry:The flash woke him up so he was in a mood.

November 13th 2009- Present

Oh gosh it is hard to think that Harry and Elspeth have been part of my family for one whole year. . .and three days as I had no time to post anything on the 13th (forgive me?).


Everyday I learn something new about them; for example I did not know until yesterday that Elspeth could jump over a four foot barrier in a single pounce and then proceed to dismantle said barrier until she managed to get to the chair that the barrier was protecting! How bout that?! That is one hell of a skill to manage to hide.

I also learnt recently that Harry who always tries to steel a sip of my coffee is quite happy to have his very own coffee cup but filled with water as long as he THINKS it is mine and I do not want him to have it.

A few months ago I moved Harry and Elspeth into their very own bedroom. I decided loosing my duvet to a cheeky fox every night just would not do so now they have their own room with their own sofa and their own duvet which they like very much.

On the 13th to mark their birthday we had a little party with their favourite foods (pheasant, duck, venison and rabbit), unwrapped their gifts, looked at photos of them from their first year with us, played with and tried on their gifts and just had a nice family evening. I made a slide show for those interested the link is:

http://www.slide.com/r/sCMEZMfVxj-rc6SUKcML4YverdTZVLlc?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Harry and Elspeth are the most wonderful fur kids a girl could ask for and I am so happy to be part of their lives.

MINE!

So the night before last I was in Inari and Kitsune's bedroom feeding them, cleaning up after them, playing with them etc. When I was about ready for bed I went to leave the room and Inari shot past me into the hallway and right into Sprite (my papillon and Harry's best friend)!

I was a little worried as she a fair amount bigger then him and accustom to playing with the Corsacs.

Inari froze and Sprites tail started wagging like mad, she was so excited. She shoved her nose in his left ear and looked at me with this really happy look on her face, Inari looked at me with the most worried look on his face. I knelt down to pick him up and he suddenly spun round to look at Sprite squealed and started wagging his tail up and down then started to sniff her all over. Sprite seemed a little confused but went with it, she lay on the floor as dogs do and he put his head in her ear which she took as 'lets play!' so they started chasing each other up and down the hall Inari squealing with delight.

I am so happy my big eared kids (well 2 of them) like each other! It was so funny after though when I went to put Harry to bed and he rubbed himself all over myself and Sprite as we are HIS and it seems playing with a different male fox is just not on! He sulked for a little while but when I dozed off on his sofa he decided to clean my feet which seemed to mean 'I forgive you'.

I do wonder if I should ever let Harry meet Inari, they may argue over me which sounds big headed but Harry is a Mummy's boy and Inari seems quite fond of me. . . We shall see.

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

Elspeth talks

I was looking through a SDHC card and noticed I had loads of videos of my babies I had not got round to uploading so heres one of Elspeth:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdQxzbUexh0

Enjoy!

Elspeth's corner

As you may all have noticed I have not been posting many blogs as of late. Do not worry nothing is wrong, just my internet security has decided that nothing is safe including my blog which make no sense at all so today I went to get a new internet security so now everything is back to normal.

So with the warm weather Harry and Elspeth have had no idea what do do with themselves! They have mostly been sprawled out in front of various fans around the house trying to cool down, they have also both decided they they are quite partial to frozen Mango now weather this is just as it is cold or they like the taste I am unsure but it keeps them happy.

Bedtime in their crate has been nothing but arguments as Harry wants to cuddle the same as in the winter but Elspeth really does not and gets very mad at Harry when he tries to. I tried getting them their very own fan so that instead of sharing mine which oscillates they could have one just pointing at them but this did not help so I tried separating them into two crates which also did not help as they screamed for one another even though they were next to one another. I decided in the end to get a second HUGE crate and attach it to the first and put Harry's favourite carrier and his blanket in there so maybe he would get the idea that Elspeth wants peace. It worked and I really have no idea how! I mean when they were in one crate Harry would not sleep away from Elspeth but now he seems to think of the extension as his own little night time play room.

I have also changed their suspended bed in Elspeth's crate to instead of being made of a pillow case and a pillow to being a baby changing mat, still with the bars through it of coarse to suspend it. I did this as Elspeth has gained weight and when she would sit on the fabric one after about seven nights is would rip and the pillow would fall out so I thought the plastic may be more hard wearing.... Well actually the day after I put it up she had half pulled it down and by the next day she had created herself a cave sort of thing at the back of the crate! It would seem she had been pulling it down all along! What a sneaky fox.

So now Elspeth has this very girly bit of the crate with her pink fleece blanket and her pink wall, it looks very nice! She also keeps everything she liberates back there which as of late has changed from underwear and onto soft toys and throw cushions.

The other day my partner got seven pairs of socks with foxes on them. He got me so many as Harry is a sock monster and always runs off with my socks and with 7 pairs there is a chance I might be able to retain a pair hehe!

Given they are red foxes but foxes none the less!