Pet Unicorn

How to care for the pet unicorn. I want to introduce to you an exotic pet that is wonderful but has extreme care requirements. Exotic pets all have individual needs, and we need to learn about those needs before acquiring any pet.

The pet unicorn can be quite shy and timid. They will habitually render themselves invisible until the danger passes. Unicorns are furiously protective of their young. They love to leap into the air cavorting with their friends. Weird and beautiful occurrences can happen when a unicorn is nearby. Because of this, many believe that unicorn is magical. The magical properties of the unicorn have never been proven. Then again, it has never been disproven either. Let's examine the world of the pet unicorn as exotic pets.

At night unicorns emit a natural radiance. While running through the night the glow leaves a temporary trail behind them, sparkling in various hues. However, this magical essence can only be seen if you have an open mind.

Unicorn Pictures

I attempted to get a unicorn picture of my pet unicorn. Pictures of unicorns are very hard to get because they are quite timid (and FAST). Mine evidently is very camera shy. You can see in the picture an image of a unicorn right before he disappeared. However, you can see his aura. Notice the radiance left behind.

The lifespan of the unicorn is unknown. Only a small number of people have seen dead unicorns. A few archaeologists have unearthed the remains of unicorns including intact heads with the single horn protruding from the center of the forehead.

The young will stay with their mother and father for fifty years or more. They have powerful family groups.

Unicorns have a complicated diet which could prove to be challenging to care for a unicorn as a pet properly. They love herbs especially the flowering parts of the herb plants. They also eat new and tender shoots off of many plants. They seem to adore fresh mushrooms, but only the mushrooms that sprout from the damp earth at night. They eat many fruits; especially fond of kiwis, raspberries, and pawpaws. They adore four-leaf clovers. Because of their extreme fondness of four-leaf clovers, this would make an excellent treat for the animal or as a training aid.

They must have fresh water, and I do mean very fresh. It must come from a cool, fast-moving stream or a waterfall. If the water is contaminated, they will refuse to drink water. They will catch raindrops with their tongue or lick the fresh morning dew off plants.

As I mentioned before, they are timid and become frightened. The disappearing can become a problem when working with your unicorns. We use to convince kindly fairies to dazzle the unicorn, making them reappear. But fairies are becoming very hard to find. Human encroachment has caused tremendous habitat loss and fairies are endangered, nearing extinction.

We have found another method to astonish the unicorn back from invisibility. You will have to make it yourself but, it is pretty easy. Take a quart fruit jar, diamond glitter, and a glow stick. Cut open the glow stick and pour the contents into the jar. Add the diamond glitter and shake. Keep the ingredients of the glow stick off your skin and also don't ingest it. The effect only lasts a short time and is only good for one use. This will wow your unicorn back to material form. If you use a real fairy be patient with the unicorn, they do act rather silly after seeing a fairy.

My concerns about having a unicorn as a pet are. First, they are challenging to feed and supply with fresh water. Second, they do need a lot of running and frolicking space to be happy and healthy. Ask yourself if you can truly provide for the needs of a unicorn. You also have to consider their extremely long lifespans. What would the unicorn do if confined and something should happen to you?

Since North Korea has proven the existence of unicorns, finding the grave of the unicorn, and the unicorn lair of the same unicorn that King Dongmyeong rode, I don't think anyone can doubt this evidence that unicorns are real.

A brief flight of fantasy is occasionally called for...

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Microchips - Lost birds, Exotic Pets and Pets

Microchips - Lost birds, Exotic Pets and Pets

I watched as many different pets were reunited with their human families after the many hurricanes because they had microchips. But then I realized that few pets were micro chipped. More animals than not, by far, did not have microchips. Animals were scanned for a microchip but few animals had them. These animals may never find their families. The sadist thing about all this, the microchip is easy to insert and is quite inexpensive.

I first thought about writing a story about finding lost exotic pets, pets, and birds and microchips after I read a story about a 15-year old dog found in North Carolina. He had been lost seven years ago in Louisiana during Hurricane Katarina. Imagine the joy of finding your pet after that many years. Imagine the dog's happiness! This only happened because the dog had a micro chip. The good news is when animals arrive at shelters animals are automatically scanned for microchips.

I was interested in learning more about birds and microchips. I found out that a bird as small as 65 grams could have a microchip inserted. Something else quite sad I learned, in one shelter alone, 150 birds had been scanned for microchips and not one of these birds had one. This could have been 150 birds that had been lost or stolen that could have been returned to their human families. Instead they couldn't be reunited.

Most any animal can have a microchip inserted. The procedure isn't limited to just dogs, birds or cats. Check with your veterinarian. Many people have lost their companion pets and depending on the type of animal there is usually little chance they will ever see their pet again.

If your pet is of an exotic nature the pet should also have visible contact information in addition to a microchip. Many people would be unaware that some animals could be pets. Would you presume if you saw a skunk or a raccoon that it could be a pet? Most people would never presume the raccoon, skunk, or opossum could be a pet unless they have visible contact information.

A microchip is as small as a large grain of rice and is inserted with something much like a hypodermic needle. The microchip is safe. Also, and this is very important, it is permanent, a thief cannot remove it. This in itself becomes a powerful deterrent.

Avoid the heartbreak of possibly never finding a lost pet. Talk to your veterinarian about microchips! Don't presume they can never get loose many people have lived to regret that presumption.

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Eclectus Parrots

The Eclectus parrot makes for an amazing pet bird. They are quite capable of reasoning, perception, and are highly intuitive. Compared to other parrots they are highly unusual because they are sexually dimorphic, the male and female's appearance is quite different. The female (hen) is primarily bright red and blue to purple. The male (cock) is bright green and red. Many years ago it was generally thought that the red and green birds were totally different birds while in fact, they are both Eclectus.

Baby female Eclectus. Photo courtesy of Cedar Hill Birds Lodi, CA Cedar Hill Birds Eclectus breeder

The Eclectus has a fun personality a very clownish nature. They are highly sensitive. They are very susceptible to stress and don't often do well in a noisy, hectic environment. They are capable of a tremendous amount of love and require a lot of love and attention. The need for complex games and toys is excellent in the Eclectus. They will need lots of your time and attention.

Because of a bigger proventriculus and a longer digestive tract, their dietary needs are much more complicated than most parrots. Because of this they also utilized nutrients. Careful with too much fat They utilize fat quite well too, and you certainly don't want an obese parrot. They need for an excellent choice of foods is crucial. Including protein.

They should have a right size cage; they are an active bird. They should also have a playpen on top of their cage or a standalone play stand. They should spend a significant amount of time outside their cage during the day. They need to spend a great deal of time with you and other human family members. They need plenty of love, affection, and attention. I can't stress this enough.

While not all Eclectus will learn to talk, most have good talking ability. You should never purchase a parrot because of their talking ability because some will never learn to speak. They can learn speech and understanding speech. They have a clear, crisp voice. They are also capable of a wide range of tones and sounds. They are also proficient at loud screeches though not nearly as bad as many other parrots. The louder their environment, the louder the Eclectus will be. The calmer their surroundings, the quieter they will be.

They usually breed fairly easily typically laying a couple of eggs. They have a lifespan on an average of 50 years. Make sure you make plans for your pet Eclectus if something should happen to you.

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Hedgehog Salmonella - Who Is Infecting Whom?

Guest Author - Z. G. Standing Bear

I sincerely applaud the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track infectious illnesses, but it seems that the tracking mechanism, at least in the case of the animal appears to be one-sided and lays blame upon the animal rather than the human. Could it be that humans, given the overwhelming incidents of foodborne illnesses leading to salmonella, are passing his illness on to the cloistered pet hedgehogs? At least that seems quite plausible to me.

The 2012 Hedgehog Salmonella “Outbreak”

Then, in 2012, we have an “outbreak,” according to CDC, of incidents of a particular strain of salmonella (Salmonella typhimurium) - 20 cases spread over eight states where a pet hedgehog resides in the home of the human salmonella patient. Of these 20 cases, one case each is reported in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, and Oregon, three cases each in Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio, and seven cases in Washington state. Of these reported cases, one has resulted in death (Washington state) and 47% of cases involve children ten years of age or younger.

The “connection” to pet hedgehogs in this matter means that a pet hedgehog is in the household where the Salmonella Typhimurium was contracted. In my inquiry to the CDC on this matter, it was revealed that in only two cases of the 20 reported, was the hedgehog actually tested for this bacteria, and the results were positive. Of course, this means that zoonotic illnesses work in two directions – either the hedgehog passed the illness to the human, or the human passed the illness to the hedgehog.

The CDC estimates that about 1,000,000 cases of salmonella occur each year in the USA and some 20,000 require hospitalization. Some estimates place the number of annual cases of upwards of 1,400,000 cases. Most of these cases occur from contaminated food products, such as chicken and eggs, then recently romaine lettuce. So, I would contend that in these 20 "hedgehog cases" the hedgehog got blamed simply because the hedgehog lived in the home where a salmonella case occurred. Otherwise, why has this "problem" not been identified over the last 20 years (as PulseNet has been in operation since 1996)? Even if these 20 cases could be directly attributed to hedgehogs (which I seriously doubt) the number 20 out of 1.4 million cases is statistically insignificant.

The Reaction from Paxton the Hedgehog

Paxton is a hedgehog that posts his opinions from time to time on the Yahoogroups list-server Pog-Chit-Chat, a list-server for hedgehogs. In reviewing this “outbreak” of salmonella typhimurium, Paxton was swift to observe an interesting fact about pet hedgehog life in North America. Paxton noted that humans are fond of giving pet hedgehogs toilet paper tubes as toys so they can engage in a pastime called “tubing,” where the hedgehog places the cardboard toilet paper tube on her/his head and roams around, seemingly enjoying this “tunnel vision.” It is essentially unknown as to why these hedgehogs enjoy this, but such are the mysteries of the universe (we still have not figured out self-anointing) for these creatures that are the oldest continually surviving live-bearing mammals on earth – they used to hang out with dinosaurs.

At any rate, Paxton is swift to point out that toilet paper tubes are provided to hedgehogs by humans as entertainment devices. Now, really, where do virtually all toilet paper tubes spend their entire working life? So, the logical question that follows is whether PulseNet also asks questions concerning the use of toilet paper tubes as entertainment devices for the pet hedgehogs. In other words, it seems logical (to Paxton and myself, anyway), this salmonella strain is being given to the pet hedgehogs by their (otherwise well-meaning) human companions, rather than the other way around.

After all, pet hedgehogs are properly kept indoors and in relatively isolated enclosures. I have cared for over 350 hedgehogs long-term for fifteen years, and my average population here at the Rescue is between 35 and 50 resident animals. My primary orientation is to wash my hands thoroughly before handling the hedgehogs, rather than after (unless the hedgehog is in initial quarantine or afflicted with an illness such as mites or Clostridium, etc.). Otherwise, I have no concern about catching anything from any of the hedgehogs in the regular population here.

Of course, once CDC officials have a chance to read this article, I can see an additional question added to the already very complex PulseNet questionnaire about salmonella for laboratories:

a. Does the household have a pet hedgehog?

b. If yes, does that hedgehog have a toilet paper tube as a recreational device?

Who Is Infecting Whom?

I sincerely applaud the efforts of the CDC to track infectious illnesses, but it seems that the tracking mechanism, at least in the case of animals appears to be one-sided and lays blame upon the animal rather than the human. Could it be that humans, given the overwhelming incidents of foodborne illnesses leading to salmonella, are passing his illness on to the cloistered pet hedgehogs? At least that seems quite plausible to me.

Dr. Z. G. Standing Bear is a criminologist and forensic scientist who has been involved in animal rescue since 1995 and hedgehog rescue since 1997. He is the administrator of The Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue, Inc., in Divide, Colorado, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Hedgehog Association.

PulseNet and Foodborne Disease Outbreak Detection

In order to understand the most recent chapter in the hedgehog salmonella alert, it is well to consider the methods by which the CDC examines and tracks “outbreaks” of illnesses that may be linked to animals and/or food sources. Since 1996, CDC uses a sophisticated computerized program called PulseNet to track reported illnesses according to a “DNA fingerprint” for bacteria making people sick. The program has produced some amazing results with a speed that is truly impressive. It tracks a cumulative database representing some half million isolates from food, the environment, and human foodborne illnesses. In a recent outbreak of Listeriosis, the PulseNet system was able to trace the origin of the illness to whole cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Colorado. This took just seven days in Colorado and some 17 days in other states – truly a remarkable and exemplary public health effort. Contributing to PulseNet are 87 laboratories in all 50 states as well as other contributing federal, state, and local laboratories. There are many fascinating pages on the CDC as to how PulseNet produces illness outbreak data.

PulseNet triggered outbreak investigations have resulted in the recall of over one half billion pounds of contaminated food! More importantly, these investigations have identified unrecognized problems in food production and distribution. For further information on PulseNet, visit the CDC website at Pulsenet

The initial response article was originally published in the IHA News, Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2005.

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Bathing Birds

My birds love to shower with me. Since birds are naturally very social and baths (or showers - misting) are necessary for a happy and healthy bird. They get so excited in the shower demonstrating their excitement by fanning their wings and vocalizing. Birds and parrots love to get wet! It is a win-win situation for you both!

Be very cautious about water temperature. Make sure the water isn't too hot or cold. They like room temperature of lukewarm water.

Keep them out of the direct stream. Set the shower to mist as much as possible. Don't mist or spray the face of the bird.

Don't use soap, shampoo or detergent on the bird. It isn't safe or healthy for the bird. Also, birds produce an oil they preen their feathers with. Any soaps or even the shampoo made for birds can strip this oil.

Make sure to shower or bathe your bird when the house warms up. Also, shower or bathe the bird early enough so that there is plenty of time for the feathers to dry before bedtime and the house cools off in the evening. Make sure there are no drafts from an open window or air conditioner. Don't saturate your bird's feathers. The body temperature will fall too rapidly.

If you are bathing the bird make sure there isn't too much water in the container you don't want the bird to drown. Make sure you supervise bathing at all times. Don't leave your bird in the shower alone.

Don't use a blow dryer it will scare the bajemies out of them or burn them. Some hair dryers can release toxic fumes.

Keep the bath container low if attached to the cage you don't want anything in the cage to get soaked. Remove anything in the cage that gets wet you don't want fungus, mold or bacteria to get happy and multiply. Very unhealthy for the bird.

Keep any mist or spray from spraying directly in the bird's face.

Never force a bird to bath or shower. If he or she is frightened or resistant, there may be a good reason for it. If frightened, gradually introduce the bird to the bath container or shower. When you first introduce the shower avian perch, gradually introduce him or her to the shower and perch. Just let the bird get adjusted to the whole concept before using the shower. Remember to keep the water low no hard sprays! Make sure to make the showering/ bathing experience a positive one.

During a molt the bird gets itchy. The bath or shower will help alleviate the itch and to assist pin feathers to grow. New pin fathers have a keratin sheath; shower, misting or bathing helps soften this keratin and release the feathers to grow.

Bathing encourages preening.

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