My Tortoises Putting on a Show...

How could you not love them so much?? Malacai is the one eating (the entire time) while Opal is the starlet in the front. Fluffy is eating a little on the right...

More to come...

Rockstar and another Girlfriend

Well in this picture they look more like an old married couple, but it was the best that I could get, honest. Lei is my friend Jenny's Bullmastiff, she is WILD... But she is still under 2 years old meaning that she could still grow out of it... But, Rockstar has always had a thing for the "bad girls" and flocked right to her the first time he saw her... What a Rockstar!!!

BYE BYE Mondo!

After a great 5 days with Mondo, how quickly we have to say good bye... Seems like he just got here, but we really had a great time relaxing and going to new restaurants that we hadnt been to. There was snorkelling and movie time and Mondo was even able to get over a nasty head cold...

But now is time to say good bye... I think that Rockstar is sad too!! He had his daddy around and some testosterone in the house...

See you again in December... I guess now is the time to officially start the countdown to my next time home... 72 days (man that sounds like a lot) xoxoxoxox

A Relaxing Week with Mondo

So we only took pictures at one of the beaches that we were at, but this is pretty indicative of what Mondo and I did all week - relaxed. This is the toes-eye view from Shipwrecks, a beach not far from my house (but really, what beach in St Kitts is far from my house?)
View to the left, with the peninsula and Nevis in the background. They had lots of cute little umbrellas that they made with palm leaves that made it look oh-so tropical.
And the view to the right. This is actually South Friars beach, that the beach bar Shipwrecks is on. It is quite a long beach with some decent snorkelling and lots of other beach bars.
And of course there are monkeys. They hang out bananas and leave out sugar cane to attract the monkeys for the tourists to see.
And there were wild mongooses (mongeese??) as well. They put food out on a board and about 20 come down and eat... Pretty wild!

A "Thank You" to Uncle Nicky from Rockstar

Check out Rockstar's new bling** compliments of Uncle Nicky!! Only Rockstar's can wear the real stuff like this... A big THANK YOU UNCLE NICKY from Rockstar!

But that wasnt the only surprise for Rockstar that Daddy brought with him (yep, that is right, Mondo is here in st Kitts). Rockstar also got bags of treats, bully sticks, pigs ears and MORE... Hopefully it is enough to keep him quiet all the way through finals!!

Rockstar Wet on the Bed!

Rockstar has this annoying habit of liking to rub his wet (or dirty) face on the bed and furniture. I am sure that he is just doing it to wipe his face off, but really, on the bed??
We had just gone for a jog in the rain, and we came back just sopping, so you can imagine how my bed looked afterwards. You can see he literally pushes the side of his face against the bed over and over.
There is lots of scratching involved as well, and a complete mess made of whatever Rockstar decides is his face towel!
In the end, I am trying to yell at him to stop, but really laughing hysterically at his antics... How can you be upset at such a cute pug??

I got Tortoise BABIES!!

So I have been saying for so long now that I wanted to get tortoises. The ones at the zoo and the ones that we keep at school are just SO CUTE. And it just so happens that there was a 7th semester getting ready to leave back to the US and could NOT bring her babies with her so I took them. Meet Opal, Fluffy, and Malacai! They are yearling Red Footed Tortoises and are so sweet!!
Here they are in their cage. They live in a 55 gallon rubbermaid right now and seem pretty happy with that. The substrate is peat moss. Usually there is a big water tray in there (dont think that I am a bad mommy!) But it was being washed right now.
Even Lola seems to approve (she is obsessed with the tortoises actually!) Rocktar is still not quite sure whether they are alive or a rock, but he is coming around.
A Red Footed tortoises diet is pretty simple, lots of fruits and veggies and fresh greens like dandelion, kale, escarole, ect. This is Opal trying out some peach (her favorite).
Here is Malacai and Opal. You can see that Malacai is alot bigger (left) then Opal. This probably means that Malacai will end up being a boy, but really you cannot be certain until about 7 years of age!! Fluffy is about the same size as Opal but has a small notch out of his/her shell. But how big are they really? Well Opal and Fluffy can fit into the palm of my hand with their legs dangling and Malacai is a bit bigger then that!!



And here they are doing bath time. Red Footeds like to be bathed a couple of times per week. It helps keep them hydrated and keeps them regular (yup, they potty in the bathtub!)

More pictures to come...

Rockstar Gets Fanmail!!

Rockstar isnt named because the name sounds good... He was named because he is a real Rockstar. And what proves it is that he gets fan mail!! These are pictures that a baby pooch from Georgia sent him this week (Just a sampling)!The letter said lots of stuff like "I wish that I were a pug like you!" But as we all know not all dogs are priviledged enough to be pugs!

And he even sent a picture of himself by the pool... Show off... Well he is not going to one up this pug, Rockstar has a pool in 2 countries - one in New York and one in St Kitts...
In conclusion, pets everywhere want to be like Rockstar the pug, and they try. They may be cute and make their mommy and daddy very happy in Georgia... But not quite as cute as the Pug named Rockstar!

A Monkey in Recovery at My House

So imagine my fear when I go to the zoo one day to check on the animals and the male monkeys have been fighting and one of the male monkeys "big Boy" has a HUGE cut on his leg... I am talking we need stitches. Sounds not that bad right?? WRONG... These are not soft and cuddly monkeys that like to sit in your arms and will easily take a shot to go under anesthesia, these are wild and crazy monkeys that will do ANYTHING to not be touched... And we had to restrain him to give him a shot... It took 1.5 hours!!!

After knocking him out we cleaned and stitched up the wound... But he had to stay in a smaller cage for about 5 days in order to keep getting antibiotics and keep him from pulling out his stitches while jumping about... Of course I volunteered to keep him at my house...



Keeping a sick monkey at your house I soon learned is hard work. There is the cleaning side of it, the bottom of his cage needs to be scrubbed twice a day and the balcony and the kitchen floor scrubbed (with bleach) at the same time. I also had to administer injections of antibiotics everyday (dont know if it was more stressful for him or for me). And then there was the keeping Rockstar away from Big Boy (lots of pathogens in a monkey that I dont want my cutie pug getting). All in all it was ALOT of work, but I really learned alot.

Unfortunately, the day before his release, I came home and Big Boy was dead. Upon necropsy (an animal autopsy) there was nothing significant found and everyone was suspecting tetanus. Without clinical signs, it seems a long shot, but I was very sad that he didnt make it. On the upside, he did live a very long monkey life with lots of good food and in a safe environment... I only hope that all that experience that I gained will give me the ability to save the next monkey that has an illness.