holiday adventures: critters

Having left our own menagerie in the care of a friend while on holidays last week, it seemed they followed us to Brisbane.

the scaly critter

Hubby's mother has befriended a water dragon who eats from her palm every day. He will grow to be huge!!! I asked if I could name him and was met with blank stares from hubby. This is a guy who had three dogs all named Lolly. Oh, and there was one named Candy so I guess that was a little bit of a stretch.

the creepy crawly

Mum and Dad had a humungous spider on their bedroom wall one night. Like ridiculously big. Queensland tropical big. One thing I haven't missed at all since moving to Melbourne.

the clawed one

My sister's cat Mow (pronounced Meow but without the "e" part) had fun playing in a cardboard box in which my Dad's treadmill came packed in.

the chicklets

When we got home, the chicklets have grown soooo much! They are twice the size they were when we left. The golden ones' wings have started changing from fluff into multi-coloured feathers and they are starting to get organge ridges down their foreheads. They have learnt a new trick too. When we open up their hutch in the morning to let them out to roam the back yard for the day, it's like watching popcorn pop.

Laverne comes out first, leaping out of the cage, fluffing her feathers and bouncing about and stretching her wings. The chicklets have paid attention. So picture six pint-sized balls of fluff doing the same. One after thew other in a never-ending chain reaction of fluffing and bouncing and flapping. Pop! Pop! Pop! (Check it out on YouTube!!!)

the boss of them all

Then... two nights ago we spent a couple of hours at the emergency vet late one evening when our gorgeous little miniature fox terrier, Squiffy,was bitten by something while on a walk. We think it was a bee. Short grass and no snake in sight. Maybe a spider? Either way we took her straight home, licking her paw and showing it to us like she was saying 'it hurts!' Within five minutes she had collapsed on our laundry floor; limp, hot, panting, about to pass out. Terrifying.

By the time we got to the vet she was already much better. But we stayed, got her an Antihistamine shot and took her home and smothered her with love for hours. She's back to full health now, though smart enough to realise that by blinking up at us with those big borwn eyes she's in for lots more over the top affection for the next while ;).