Love

25 July 2008 Y

BLINKBLINK **

In my previous blog, I had attached pictures of my 2 goldfish - Tazzy and Bamby, which are presently with me in Australia.

When I first bought them, they were really frightened. Whenever I place my hands near the tank or do anything which shakes my study table, they will swim around the tank crazily. However, they seem to be able to adapt to their environment much better now. When I place my hands near the fish tank, they will swim towards me and look very excited instead.

Previously, I didn't show you the food and tap water conditioner that I bought for them. Here are the pictures:

Fish Food (Goldfish Food Flakes)

Tap water conditioner (Aquarium Dechlorinator)

Anyway, in this blog entry, I will not describe so much about my 2 goldfish. Instead, I will tell you more about my other pets which I kept in Singapore. Many of them have been with us for quite sometime already. As I am in Australia now, my parents and sister, Grace will be the main people looking after them. In this blog, you will hear me mentioning about Grace frequently as most of the information provided by her when I am in Singapore.

In Singapore, I have 3 different pets.
Most of them have with my family for a couple of years.
They are:
(1) Lucky -Minature Pincher Toy Dog
(2) KiKi - Local Rabbit
(3) Twinkle - Sapphare Winter White Dwarf Hamster

Lucky

Our 10 year old minature pincher dog, Lucky.

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Profile of the minature pincher (also known as Min Pin) breed:

History :
This breed is believed that the breed is evloved from the ancient German Pinscher family of dogs. In 1936, Dr. H. G. Reinchenbach, a German writer, stated the Miniature Pinscher is a cross of the Dachshund and the Italian Greyhound. This conclusion of Dr. Reinchenbach is now generally accepted by historians and those who have researched the background of the breed. In any event, Germany is undisputed as the home of origin, where the Miniature Pinscher was known as the "Reh Pinscher" due to its resemblance to a small red deer, the Reh, which freely roamed the German forests many years ago.

Average life Span:
14 - 17 years (Long-lived dogs)
Average Weight:
Usually weight about 8 - 11 pounds (if the dog is of the correct height)

Height:
Correct Minature Pinchers measure only ~ 10" to 12.5" at the shoulder.

Colour and Coat:
There are many colors. These include:
(1) Solid Clear Red
(2) Stag Red
(3) Black and Tan
(4) Chocolate and Tan

Grooming:
This breed has short coat, making grooming element minimal.
Give them a good, brisk brushing every couple of days to ensure that their coat are clean and shiny.
Toenails need to be trimmed at least every 2 weeks to avoid them from growing too long.
Frequent bathing is discouraged as it tends to dry out their coat. It is more preferred to use a warm, damp washcloth, using plain water and wipe the dog dog from the face (particularly the area under the eyes) down to the tail.
Ensure that the dog is completely dry before a trip outside if the weather is cold.

Personality:
This proud little dog is often referred to as "The King of Toys" with its personality being:
Active
Affectionate
Animated
Assertive
Always full of Vim and vigor
Complete self-possession
Independent
Intensely curious
Fearless
Loving
Outing-going
Playful
Spirited presence

Things that they are good at:
Chase rats, mice and small varmint.

Things that they loves:
(1) Snuggling with people
(2) Burrow under covers to go to sleep
(3) Older Pins love to be lap warmers for elders folks
(4) Thrive on human interaction - obedience, lap sitting, agility, walks, anything that keeps them near the people
(5) Being together with children

Things that they hates:
Being alone for a long periods of time

Reminders:
(1) Incredible escape artists - Very difficult to catch them back as they are fast runners.
(2) NEVER let be be off lead - They will chase anything that runs due to their high curiousity level.
(3) NOT for breeders who are beginners due to their high energy level.

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Lucky with the scarf on him

In December 1998, my family and I went to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for a short weekend holiday. During that time, my family and I visited one of the pet shops in the chinatown of Kuala Lumpur.

When we entered the shop, we saw many different types of animals - cats, dogs, etc. Both Grace and I always wanted to own a dog as a pet. However, our parents disagreed to the idea. We wondered around in the pet shop and came across this breed (Minature Pincher). There were 2 of them - 1 female and 1 male. Both of them were of the same colours (Black and Tan) and small (size of our palm). Initially, both of us wanted a female breed but we only able to get Lucky instead. We pleaded our parents and after much persuasion, we finally succeeded. We were so excited and quickly went to ask the pet shop owner more details since both of us have no idea about the breed itself.

As there were 2 breeds, we wanted to purchase the female Min Pin. However, we were slightly late as one of the customer got her shortly after our parents agreed to it. In the end, we got our present dog, Lucky. We bought him many things - dog food, toys, etc. Pets in Malaysia was really cheap as compared to Singapore. He cost about RM$650. After getting all the necessities, the total cost was about RM$750. It is considered cheap as the breeds in Singapore are generally more expensive (minimal of SGD $800).

After purchasing Lucky we were really excited and delighted. We brought him around Kuala Lumpur. Many people asked us what we were holding. We told them that he is our precious doggy. Initialy, someone told us that he resembles a deer. We were surprized and laughed about he breed, we came across the history (described above) and there's acknowledgement for that too.

Anyway, Lucky has been with us for almost 10 years. I'm sorry that I do not have pictures of him when he is younger. However, the following pictures were taken recently by Grace.

Lucky loves his piglet toy which I got from Australia

Lucky is camera shy

Lucky is looking at my sister while she was taking his picture

This video was taken by Grace. From the video, you are able to see how much he loves the attention of people.

KiKi

Anyway, now I shall talk about my second pet - KiKi. She is not our first rabbit which we own as a pet. I remembered that when I was a younger, I used to own plenty of them. Most of them were either a gift from my parents, friends or I purchased it myself. All of them varied in colours and sizes too. Anyway, it's time to go back to Kiki.

KiKi is a local breed (a mixture of breeds of rabbits) of rabbit which we bought her in Malaysia (Johor Bahru) at the cost RM$10 (~SGD$4.00). That is also considered very cheap as the usual cost of a local rabbit is about SGD$20 or more, depending on the breed, colour and gender of the rabbits.

We went to Johor Bahru for a short 1-day trip again. When we were there, we saw this pet shop selling many different animals - birds, rabbits, hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, etc. Initially, our plan was to purchase food and stuff for Lucky and Twinkle (details and pictures are shown below). We decide to buy KiKi too. There wasn't much persuasion needed as my mother also simply fell in love with KiKi too. She was simply adorable and cute. Among all the other rabbits, she was the smallest. I love her colour.

Anyway, Kiki is still considered as young for her age as she is about 1 - 2 years old. The average lifespan of a rabbit is 9 - 12 years old. When we first purchased KiKi, she was merely the size of a hand. However, she is much bigger in size now. She is a very obedient but yet timid rabbit. Sometimes she will hop around the house which makes her look as if she is dancing. That actually indicates that she is very happy. Anyway, the following pictures were taken when KiKi was still a baby bunny.

Look how small size Kiki was when we first got her

KiKi chewing on her veggies

The day we got her and make the box into a house

Twinkle

Previously, I used to own 2different types of hamsters - Siberian (Nocturnal - awake at night) hamsters and dwarf hamsters.

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Profile of Russian Winter White Dwarf Hamsters

History:
Originates from Siberia, Manchuria and Mongolia. A robust, pretty little fellow compact and more 'rounded' than the Campbells. A Winter White hamster's head is longer and deeper than a Campbells’ with large eyes set closer to the ears than the nose, whereas the Campbells' eyes/ears are set at an equal distance. The breed has a thick black stripe down his back from head to tail and the contours of colouring are very clearly defined. His grey summer coat turns into white for winter in the wild , hence this name.

Dwarf Winter Whites Hamsters

Average Lifespan:
18 - 20 months (but it can live longer)

Average Length:
8 - 10 cm (3" - 4") long

Personality:
Friendly
Outgoing
Easy to tame and handle

Phases (colouration):
There are several phases of Winter White hamsters:
(1) Normal (dark brownish-grey colouring
(2) Sapphire (blue-grey colouring)
(3) Pearl (white with coloured hair) - sometimes exists in either normal pearl or sapphire pearl.

The Winter White hamsters, also known as Siberian hamsters, can moult into a white winter coat. This camouflages them against the snow and hence their name.

This moulting is brought on by the amount of day light. If the hamster is kept in an enviroment with short duration of day light

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Anyway, Twinkle is a female dwarf winter white sapphire hamster. I got her 2 years ago at Simei Pet Safari pet shop. Grace and I wanted a female dwarf hamster. However, we didn't want to keep 2 or more hamsters due to:
(1) Cost
(2) Having too many hamsters which will be very costly
(3) Prevents of injuries and deaths due to fights

Last time, I used to keep dozens of hamsters. I realized it is very costly and troublesome to keep too many as they multiplied very quickly within a short period of time. We faced many difficulties trying to give them away. Therefore, this time, we try to prevent such situations from happening and we got Twinkle.

When we went to the pet shop 2 years ago, there were many hamsters in the shop. Our aim was to look for a female dwarf winter white hamster. The pet shops have discounts for hamsters during that period of time. We bought her at SGD$8.00. We looked into the different tanks containing different types of drawf hamsters and saw Twinkle.

When we first saw her, we knew it instantly that she was a girl. The pet shop person told us that she was too active, hence nobody wanted to buy her. However, both Grace and I felt that she was really cute.

Before purchasing her, both of us wanted to determine her gender. As she is very active, I was quite terrified of her. I was afraid that she might bite me without any notice. However, I carefully tried to carry her from the cage and managed to discover her gender. After lifting her up from the cage, she was really cute. I wasn't that scared of her anymore as I knew that she was actually very scared of people as not many people had carried her before. It was then, we decided to buy her back as our pet.

Twinkle when she is younger (about 2 years ago)

Picture taken of Twinkle before she wakes up

Blur Twinkle just woke up from her sleep

As time passed by, she grew fatter. Both of us have no clue to why is that so. She enjoys running on her wheel. As what I had learnt before that exercise should keep one look lean and healthy. However, the ironic part is that Twinkle actually grew much fatter and rounder after quite sometime when she kept on running on her wheel. I realized that she simply loves her running wheel alot. She even slept in the wheel.

Previously, I'd owned so many hamster before. None of them have slept in such weird position. The following are pictures and videos of her in her favourite wheel.

Twinkle always sleep in this position until the favourite wheel broke.

Video of Twinkle trying to get a comfortable position in her favourite wheel

Video of Twinkle cleaning herself up and eats after that

I reckon it is time for me to stop now. Hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Stay tune for more to come.

Friday, July 25, 2008