I ideally would like the first, and not the second, ^^, but then, that wouldn't be the way life works.
So, today was going well. Accomplished some major non-chin things in the morning, and then came home and went through quite a few emails related to adoptions. So hopefully some of those pan out. Fingers crossed.
Purchased (the other day) a one of those storage shelving unit things for cages, because I have quite a few small cages for the rescue, and always seem to need the bottom one. Set it up today and started cleaning cages before I set them on it. The one cage that must go on top due to size and won't-break-down is like this_close to the duct-work above the shelving unit. PERFECT fit.
Clipped the rabbits nails.
The guinea pigs are separated into cages, male and female, and the cage with the males is a lot smaller (because usually there's only one in it -- my male, Truffles... but now he's got babies accompanying him). All my other cages I can clean about once a week and be ok with that, but this cage needs cleaning like every 2-3 days, so I cleaned that and gave them fresh dry bedding.
Watered everyone. Discovered free water awhile back, and by free water, I mean, I have a dehumidifier running in the summer. While that water itself does not go through any filters, it is water pulled from the air, so it is relatively clean. Well, I have a katadyn filter system where you pour the water in the top and as it filters, the water goes into a bottom chamber with a spigot so you can get it out. So, when the dehumidifier is full, I pour that water into the filter. Free water. And considering, like today for example. I filled up water bottles 2 days ago. So, with only two days of use, to fill all those bottles to the top again (mind you, most were only down a little, cause it was only two days), it took almost 3 gallons. So, I can use free water if I can get it.
Organized some stuff in the basement. Had a big box of cardboard bagels that didn't fit anywhere else, so they went in a bag and went on a high shelf in the storage closet.
I bought (a while back) a four-foot table that fits perfectly between the wash-tub and the pump that pumps the water out, and bought (also awhile back) three dish-drying racks and those little drying towel things to set them on. That way, there's no more washing chin stuff upstairs and coating the kitchen sink in grime, and, with the three drainers, I can wash a lot of stuff at once. Which usually isn't an issue, but my parents weren't too fond of me washing chin stuff in their kitchen sink (they didn't have a basement sink), so it's sort of piled up. So right now, I'm working on getting the number of random things that need to be washed down to a way smaller amount. So I washed and filled the three racks.
Spent a while scrubbing down this one cage I have for the rare occasion I have mice, gerbils, or very baby rats. Still needs a good scrub, but I got enough in for one day.
I suppose all of this doesn't sound like a lot, but a lot of what I did can be summed up simply by saying: organized the basement and cleaned. Which is really what it needs right now, as the rescue is coming together, but it's still not where it needs to be.
So, the bad day part.
I was just about ready to go upstairs, and was organizing stuff on that little cart that you all see me roll around. I was standing in front of the runs and heard what could only be a baby's cry. And my first thought was YAY! But remember, this is bad news.
So, the baby was dry, and just laying there, which isn't a good sign for a baby. Picked him up, and his head was ripped open. A good quarter-sized chunk of scalp was missing right where his forehead and higher should have been. You could actually see the whitish yellow of his skull. The skin that was there on his face was ripped badly to the side. His eye-hole (in the skin) was nowhere near where his eye actually was. His ear wasn't actually attached to his body, but it was still attached to the skin on that side (the skin that was hanging off). His lower jaw was ripped in two. And he was still alive and those little paws were gripping my finger as I held him. I went and got a good size dose of pain meds, and slowly got it into him. I held him and petted him and told him he was a good chin, and he passed.
He was a big kit. 75 grams. Had he lived, at that size, I would
have hung onto him to see how big he would have gotten for show.
In case you want to see -- I don't personally think it's that graphic, but then, over the years, I've seen everything, it's harder to make me panic and go "eww" over injuries than it was in the beginning, so I have provided links instead of posting the pictures...
--Head: http://www.nwichinchillas.com/ryerson_pw_baby_6-12-14_1.jpg
--Size of baby (body shot): http://www.nwichinchillas.com/ryerson_pw_baby_6-12-14_2.jpg
I get so tired of getting emails from people who want the cheapest chins they can find to breed. Everyone thinks it's all cute babies and rainbows, but in reality, this sort of thing happens. I want to say that this is the third kit to die this year, and I don't even think we're up to 10 total. The first was born stillborn, the second had an eye problem and died a few days after birth, and then this. This is not cute, this is not pretty, but this is the reality of what happens when you decide to breed. Not all the time, of course, but I just wish people who want to breed would stumble upon these sort of stories and these sort of things before they think of how many cute babies they'll have when they breed. And, while I didn't pick up the mom chin, I believe this was the only baby. I'll check her again in the morning just to see, because sometimes labor can go on for hours and hours, but in reality, she spent four months with this baby inside her, for nothing. Now, don't get me wrong, to me, I love her, whether she produces babies or not, but for someone who just sees the babies and dollar signs, to them, that's four months of gestation wasted.
Hopefully tomorrow's better.
Update: today just got worse. Got an email from someone asking about getting a baby male grey chin, and off the top of my head, couldn't remember exactly what I had here, so I went down to look at the babies. Open the cage of Lexi, a female who had her babies, oh, maybe 2-3 days ago, and there's only one baby. Wait... what? And... the run cover is off (the run cover keeps the male in the run and the mom and babies in their cage). So, basically, either Lexi or Ace (the male chin) pulled off the run cover, which allowed the male baby to get into the run, and into my other female's cage... where she ripped open his skull and killed him. Wonderful. Why is it that all my females, when another chin gets into their cage, they feel the need to maim? I had this similar situation (practically scalped), but for an adult chin (Nikki) last year when another chin got into Nikki's cage. Ugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment