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All About Fish And Lizards And Stick Insects...


Reinhardt & Christa

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It so happened that Herman came to me one Friday evening, wide eyed and very excited. “Miss Davies said I can get a stick insect!”

“O she did, did she?”

“Yes, all we need is a fish tank and we have a fish tank so we can get one, right?”

“You probably mean an aquarium?”

“Yes, an aquarium. Can we get one? Can we...?”

We don’t have an aquarium. We do have something that once housed a little gold fish for a short time but the thing was so small that Frankenstein could practically just swim forwards and backwards and hardly turn around. But my budding entomologist believes that it qualifies as a fitting habitat for a stick insect. Now I know something about sticks, and I know something about insects but not much about a stick insect. Fortunately I know something about computers and Google so before long we were gaining expert knowledge about stick insects, and the keeping thereof.

You can read more about this and view some photos, visit my blog at mollersdownunder. Click here for the Afrikaans version.

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I can sympathise!

For my own stupidity in saying yes, when I should have said, " talk to your Dad", I ended up enslaved to the well-being of two mice for the best part of a year. Of course they had to have the finest accommodation................ $150 will buy you a mouse house with all mod-cons, luxurious bedroom, bath,multi-coloured super-tube, through which the little critters can exercise ( and clog up with paper and other unmentionables), obligatory squeaky wheel, and as an added bonus, an external " mouse-ball"; just pop the mice in and watch them go.................And our two cats did- they were so incredibly grateful that we had supplied 24 hour mouse TV and promptly set up a round the clock shift rotation in order to terrorise said mice.

Mice are smelly, I would have preferred a rat, but for some reason the rats we were shown at the rural supplies store we have locally were all of the mutant variety, huge and not very friendly looking.................... I had a pet rat called Jimmy growing up, and he was the sweetest creature ever.............as an aside, I was quite taken aback that the store did a roaring trade in frozen rat for snake owners....

Anyway, Mouse 1 and 2 ( yes, I'm a dreadful mother as I have forgotten their names) had a pretty good life for the best part of a year until one day my daughter found them both deceased. I'm not certain what happened......... I can only surmise that they both got sick and died within a few hours of one another, one was inside the house and the other on the floor of the cage, so I don't think my feline children were culpable in any way.

A suitably sombre funeral was held and both children seemed to understand that death was a natural part of life........... and mouse 1 and 2 were laid to rest in the garden under a tree. The cage sits and gathers dust in the shed, but thoughts of replacing mouse 1 and 2 have been put aside, because now we have .............fish..............and the cats have fish TV.

post-2279-0-27071700-1322091744.jpg

post-2279-0-78913900-1322092642.jpg

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I can sympathise!

For my own stupidity in saying yes, when I should have said, " talk to your Dad", I ended up enslaved to the well-being of two mice for the best part of a year. Of course they had to have the finest accommodation................ $150 will buy you a mouse house with all mod-cons, luxurious bedroom, bath,multi-coloured super-tube, through which the little critters can exercise ( and clog up with paper and other unmentionables), obligatory squeaky wheel, and as an added bonus, an external " mouse-ball"; just pop the mice in and watch them go.................And our two cats did- they were so incredibly grateful that we had supplied 24 hour mouse TV and promptly set up a round the clock shift rotation in order to terrorise said mice.

Mice are smelly, I would have preferred a rat, but for some reason the rats we were shown at the rural supplies store we have locally were all of the mutant variety, huge and not very friendly looking.................... I had a pet rat called Jimmy growing up, and he was the sweetest creature ever.............as an aside, I was quite taken aback that the store did a roaring trade in frozen rat for snake owners....

Anyway, Mouse 1 and 2 ( yes, I'm a dreadful mother as I have forgotten their names) had a pretty good life for the best part of a year until one day my daughter found them both deceased. I'm not certain what happened......... I can only surmise that they both got sick and died within a few hours of one another, one was inside the house and the other on the floor of the cage, so I don't think my feline children were culpable in any way.

A suitably sombre funeral was held and both children seemed to understand that death was a natural part of life........... and mouse 1 and 2 were laid to rest in the garden under a tree. The cage sits and gathers dust in the shed, but thoughts of replacing mouse 1 and 2 have been put aside, because now we have .............fish..............and the cats have fish TV.

EXCELLENT!!!!

:ilikeit::ilikeit:

Does someone perhaps know why rabbits/bunnies aren't allowed?

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EXCELLENT!!!!

:ilikeit::ilikeit:

Does someone perhaps know why rabbits/bunnies aren't allowed?

I think it is only in Queensland that you are not allowed to have rabbits and can get fined up to $30 000 if found with one.

Rabbits are classed as an invasive or feral pest, as they are an introduced species and have caused terrible damage to the environment Rabbits in Australia and rabbit proof fences have been erected in some states.

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Love your story Andrea! :) Nice pictures too, those cats are so cute! I think I must get one, uhm, no wait maybe I'll wait until the fish is gone and the stick insect has come and gone, and only if I still have the strength...

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