Farewell & Introduction (warning... long post, lots of photos!)

This has been a bit of a rough week for me, with a mix of personal stuff that has led to some rather tough decisions, & the loss of one of my special furbabies on Tuesday.

Madoc, usually known as Maddy (or Maddles, Mads, Madster, Goofy, Clown, Idiot, Maddymads), came to me with his twin brother Coal from a petshop back in Palmerston North, back at the end of May 2009. The two of them had been at the petshop for about a month, & our oldest son & I used to go in 2-3 times a week to have cuddles. We'd walk around the shop with the boys, and they were just so placid. Then things changed so that I was able to bring them both home, & Coal became our son's special boy, while Maddy was mine.. we also had 3 girls at the time. Both boys were sweet & gentle... but also downright cheeky! Coal had an annoying habit every time we'd go to a rat meet of disappearing & falling asleep somewhere hidden away! He freaked me out several times doing this, worrying I'd lost him, and he'd always give me that sleepy "what did you disturb my sleep for Human?? Go away" look. Unfortunately Coal passed away several months ago, after what I think were several small strokes.
Here's a couple of photos of Coal from when we first brought the boys home:

Maddy was more snuggly than Coal, but far goofier! There were many times when they were all having "out time" to play, when he'd come over to say hi, I'd roll him onto his back & rub him around the carpet, then let him go.. he'd race off, then seconds later turn and come hooning back begging for another go! Even when he got a head tilt, it didn't take him long to adjust to it, & just added to everything by giving him an even goofier look to go with the goofy personality. Later on, his back legs started to give out on him, but even that didn't slow him down! He'd still race around like the others, hauling himself up to the top of the cage, right up into his last days, just so he could snuggle with his buddies at the top of his cage. He was a super special boy, always keen for cuddles & a chance to go exploring, & it hurt watching him getting skinnier and skinnier, his back legs getting worse and worse, until he was nothing but skin & bone, dragging his back half around. So many times I thought about putting him down, especially when he'd sleep so much more, & constantly gave me a heart attack by thinking he'd already gone, because I'd see him on the floor of the cage, and nothing would wake him! Not his cage mates running over him, nor me running fingers over the cage (which is what I do to get their attention for treats), not even waving yummy smelling food under his nose! It wouldn't until I'd freaked out and slammed the door open in a hurry to get to him, picked him up, and prodded at him (sometimes rather firmly), before he'd finally wake from a rather deep sleep & just look at me. Then I'd show him the food again & he'd dive on it & be back to his silly self within minutes! But.. I just couldn't bring myself to get him PTS.. not when he was still so full of life, when he was awake. He still bounced everywhere, dive out the door to go exploring the second he knew it was open, lick me like crazy every time I rubbed his itchy ears, still chewed EVERYTHING (he LOVED his tissue boxes, ripping paper, and chewing on the damn food bowl every time he found it empty. I'd hear this "ting ting ting" of someone chewing something ceramic, and EVERYTIME I'd check, it was Maddy chewing the bowl!) and just generally show no signs of being ready to give up. So I'd put it off a little longer. Although it was hard to know he was gone, I am thankful I woke up on Tuesday morning to find he'd passed away, in the cage, surrounded by his friends.
As I'm getting more into my needlefelting now, I have also decided to do a life-size, realistic needlefelted sculpture of Maddy. I've started, but haven't had a chance to work on it any more in the last couple of days. Here's what I did on Wednesday.. I will continue posting progress pics as I go along. This is my first attempt at both a life-size sculpture, and a realistic looking sculpture (except for one other I've been working on, that I've put aside until I've finished Maddy).

Still got a LONG LONG way to go!!

I miss you my sweet clown... love you always!

So big & studly here, just after we'd brought him & Coal home.. and so BLACK! He was silvery black here, but in later life became so rusted that his coat was more a chocolate brown than black.

Typical Maddy.. always exploring. You can see the change in the colour of his coat here too.

My favourite Maddy photo: "I am Maddy, hear me ROAR!"

Goofy boy! Showing the head tilt more here.

Off he goes again!

After losing Maddy & having other crap happening this week, I was contemplating whether to get another rat since there was now a gap in the cage. The distraction of a new furbaby after losing one of my really special ones has always helped... so today I went and visited my favourite petshop. They had 6 boys to play with & cuddle.. and it wasn't long before 3 in particular had grabbed my attention. A sweet wee black hooded boy, bit nervous but quickly settled down in my hands once I took him out for cuddles. A gorgeous wee dove boy who was so sweet and gentle (a typical Dove coloured rat ... pretty much all the dove coloured rats I've had have been like this, both male & female, so it has become 1 of my favourite colourings). And lastly, a handsome black berkshire boy who was a bit older than the other 5 rats in there... he was already getting the adult wirey coat in, with hints of buck grease, and definitely had that BOY smell! The black boy really did NOT want to be caught, which had me & the staff member who was helping me, think he hadn't been handled much before he'd come in. Took me a while to grab him (quick lil fella he was!) without trying to scare him too much. The other two were quite easy to catch. Because of this, I was pretty sure the black boy wouldn't be an option.. I wanted a cuddly boy, and was already very strongly thinking of getting the dove boy. But once I took him out and held him for a while, he started to relax, then quite happily stretched out along my arm and just stayed there, preferring my arm to my shoulder, which is where the other two younger boys were. Wandering around the shop, I was finding it harder and harder to decide between the three, because they were all quite happy to chill out on me while we walked around. After a while, I finally decided the black hooded boy wasn't for me. He was sweet and all, but I'm not a huge hooded rat fan, & he just wasn't grabbing me the same way the other two were. Right.. now to decide between these last two! This was a really hard choice... my favourite colour with a very sweet snuggly personality, vs one of my least favourite colours (although I do still love blacks, just they're lower on my list of favourite ratty colours) who was acting even more cuddly than the dove boy! Then I tried flipping each of them in turn onto their backs to rub their bellies, and see how they reacted... dove boy was very squirmy and did NOT like it, black berky boy just lay there and started falling asleep on his back, bruxxing and boggling at me! Ok.. that (along with a hint of a sympathy pull since I knew being black, male, and almost adult size he would be a lot harder to home than the other 5 boys), made the decision for me. The one I had originally thought LEAST likely out of all 6 to want to take home, ended up being the one that I just could not put aside & who tugged at my heart strings the most. So... he came home with me. This week, I lost a black berk, and took in a new black berk!

Since bringing him home.. there have been NO regrets! This boy LOVES his cuddles, bruxxes and boggles easily, and will lie on his back every time I flip him over, and bliss out. So.. Meet Rufio!!

Such a handsome boy!

Just chillin, on his back, loving the rubs behind his ears, & showing off his gorgeous berky belly!

Well hi there!

He looks so squishy here.. I weighed him and he's 251g.

Plotting mischief?

During the photoshoot, he didn't like being left on the bed on his own. If I knelt at the edge of the bed, he'd come running over for cuddles, & every time I got up & walked away to try and get a shot from a different angle, he'd come running over again. For some reason, once I put this teddy bear down on the bed, he was happy to snuggle with the teddy bear so I could get photos.

Checking out this thing that the Human keeps pointing at him.

LOVE his markings! 

This is where he's been pretty much all afternoon and evening since we got home, after taking all the photos. Curled up asleep in his little bed, on my computer desk. Such a good boy!

This shows his colouring more.. quite a silvery grey more than actual black. My other black boy Koda is VERY black in comparison!

Human, why did you walk away from me AGAIN?? I was cuddling!!

Right.. that's quite enough ramble and photo spam for today.. hope you enjoyed meeting my new boy. Now I need to go set up his cage before heading to bed, then have a busy weekend ahead, so offline as usual until Monday. Have an awesome weekend everyone!! ;o)

New tank set up

Over the weekend, we got the new frog tank fully set up & all the frogs & tadpoles settled in. As soon as they'd all been put in, we set about catching them some dinner (it's kind of become a family activity now! LOL! All 4 of us running around with a net, catching flies etc.), and within minutes, the 2 older frogs (caught as tadpoles last summer) & most of the younger froglets (only lost their tails within the last week), were all hunting & learning the new layout of the tank. They seemed happy enough (kinda hard to tell frogs' emotions really), & all had big bloated bellies by the end of the night.

As promised, here are a few photos of the new set up/tank & some of the frogs:

I tried to get it looking as natural as I could, without using dirt which would make the tank harder to clean. Lots of hidey holes & big leaves to rest on, as well as some plants I've gotten in the hope they will grow over the stones & become nice soft ground cover right throughout the tank. Definitely a work in progress!

Our 2 1yr old frogs & 2 of our newest froglets.

It took a while before he started paying attention to the fly, which sat on the leaf beside him for ages, but as soon as he turned to actually look at it, of course it flew off!

The 2 older frogs

Such an awkward angle for his little foot!

Love their blue thighs!

Little froglet hiding in the Birds Nest Fern leaves. There are 3 of these plants in the tank & they seem to be the favourites for hiding in. 

Also, for those not following me on Twitter, a few quick photos of my beloved Kitty boys. I've had these brothers (who are now 10yrs old if I've remembered correctly) since the moment they were born, and they are so different. Simba is very nervous & shy, but has patches where he comes out of his shell & will demand affection, but the slightest movement too fast near him, or even a funny look, & he'll be diving for the nearest exit. *sighs* I have no idea why he's like this, but I truly treasure those rare moments when he is smoochy & loving... and RELAXED! Tigger (Tiggs) on the other hand is forever demanding attention, & spends more time inside than out, where as Simba is more comfortable outside. Tiggs is one of those cats you just don't get a choice about whether you want to cuddle him or not... he will just appear in your lap, no matter what you're doing, purring & headbutting, while sprawling out across my arms or legs. Tiggs is usually the first to appear if I'm in a low mood, & will happily snuggle for hours if I let him. Loves his belly rubbed, paws played with, and is slowly learning NOT to run away as soon as our youngest son comes running anywhere near him. Love my boys!!

Tiggs laying down inside, with his brother Simba watching him outside.  A very rare photo as Simba doesn't like me taking photos of him, so I hardly ever get a decent shot of him, nevermind one of the 2 of them together!

My sweet handsome Tiggs

Tiggs' favourite sleeping position... begging for his belly to be rubbed. How could you resist that soft belly fur??

I didn't actually get much crafting done over the weekend... was extremely slack & just enjoyed a bit of quiet time reading and spending time with the family instead. So hopefully next weekend will be a lot more productive, and next Monday I will have lots of creation photos to share. This Thursday, as long as the weather's good, I'll be heading out to Raglan, so no zoo photos coming this week, but definitely planning another trip next week, providing the weather co-operates. Have an awesome week everyone! :o)

Update & Tamarin experience

Hi all! Definitely time for an update after over a month's absence! Depression & life stepped in and have kept me distracted from blogging and much else since my last visit, except for the last couple of weeks where things have started to improve again, & I've actually been getting out with the camera a little. My 30 day photography challenge has been put to the backburner for a little while, but I will definitely be doing one soon, followed by a 365 project! I've slowly been getting back into my needlefelting, which has been a lot of fun, even though it's meant that my knitting is not getting worked on as often as it should. With 3 shawls, 1 hat, & 2 pairs of gloves still on the needles, I really need to make sure I still make time to knit! Next week I should be able to show you the 1st of this year's felted projects, along with a few from last year that just need a few finishing touches, which I will be doing over this weekend. We've also gone and gotten a few more frogs/tadpoles, which meant we needed a bigger tank. Luckily, I was able to get one at an affordable price on Trade Me, so tomorrow our first 2 frogs plus the new tadpoles and froglets will all be moving over to the new bigger tank, and I'll get some photos to share with you next week as well. 

As for the photography... for the first time in MONTHS, I've started finding the joy and passion I used to experience with photography before I took my big break from it, & am finding myself itching to get out & about with the camera in search of wildlife once again. This has lead to a couple of zoo visits, along with some time spent at the lake, all then followed by some rather long sessions at the computer getting back into editing. BOY am I rusty! Both with the photography & the editing. I now need to relearn my camera, & really start learning Photoshop & Lightroom again. This time though I'm already pushing myself further than before, especially in Photoshop, experimenting with things in there I've never even touched before. With my annual zoo pass in need of renewing next month, I'm going to make sure I use it a lot more than I did last year, so there will be plenty of zoo photos hopefully popping up on the blog in the coming months. To get things started, I have photos to share from Thursday's trip to the zoo, where I had the amazing fortune to get the opportunity to go into the Cotton Top Tamarins' enclosure to get more photos and feed them. I was so excited that my camera shake got pretty bad.. lol! So a lot of the photos didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but to be honest, this time I don't really care. The experience itself, being surrounded by one of my favourite animals, all calling their high pitched squeaky whistle, racing above my head, eating their favourite treat of wax moth larvae straight from my hands (they are sooooooo gentle!!), even just being able to get a closer look at the tiny 2 month old baby they have (as well as their previous bub who's now about 10 months old).. it was all an incredible thing to experience and even now, a few days later, I'm still buzzing!! So.. now to overload you with photos of these adorable wee creatures (along with a couple of others). It was really hard narrowing down which photos to share, but here we go. 

Munching on their favourite treat, wax moth larvae

The youngest baby, about 2 months old, has only just recently started exploring instead of constantly being on an adult's back. The keeper who let me feed them said this was the 1st time he'd seen this little guy explore so much on his own. So cute, so cheeky, so teeny!!!

I love the comparison of paw vs hand here!

Even using his tongue to help hold on!

Can I have another bug please?

Silly happy baby!

I gots food!!!

Nom nom! A pawful of wriggly larvae!

A Pygmy Marmoset. The zoo only got these creatures in just before Christmas, & this was the first time I'd ever seen them. They were even tinier than the Cotton Top baby! I'll certainly be spending a LOT more time taking photos of these guys in the future! They're small enough to sit in my hand, with plenty of room to spare!

Mother and son

Love their little moustaches!

Spider Monkeys

This guy so makes me think of Stripe from the Gremlins movie!

Another keeper spotted me taking the photos of this guy on the ground & said they were rare photos as apparently the Cotton Tops hardly ever go on the ground! He's busy looking for some of the larvae they dropped when we were feeding them.

Found one!!! Nommmmm!

And a few photos from my zoo trip a couple of weeks earlier.... 

Serval... such a beautiful cat.

Another of my favourite creatures... the shy, quiet Ruffed Lemur

He/she was REALLY enjoying this egg!

Why hello there!! Water Dragon

Right, that's enough photo bombing for now. I'm offline for the weekend, but will hopefully have plenty to show you next week. Have an awesome weekend everyone. :o)