We've Adopted!

The Bennett Zoo would like to tell you about our latest exhibit. I know, we thought we were done adding to the family until we had a house, but sometimes an offer is too good to refuse. As our last post said, we have intended for quite some time to own sugar gliders once we had some more room. Well, then when we were selling some things on Craig's list, we saw an offer for sugar gliders in Lewiston that was a ridiculously good offer. Well, we never heard back from the owners, but while waiting, were looking at the supplies we would want to buy, and by the time we gave up hope on the Lewiston gliders, we really wanted our own! So we started looking for adoptions and rescues in the area and then saw an add from a man in Kellogg. He was getting rid of two gliders, a cage, and food, toys, everything... We thought it sounded too good to be true, but we called and talked to the man. As it turns out, he unfortunately just went through a nasty divorce, and has to split everything 50/50 with his ex - including the pets. So split them up, or sell them he was told. Well, he said he decided to sell them cheap so he could decide what kind of home they would go to. He apparently got 25 calls in the first few days of the add being online, lots of little kids who wanted a new pet. Needless to say, when he told us to come meet them and see if we wanted them, we were flattered he'd chosen us. So Friday night we drove to Kellogg and came back with two new little girls. I know, it seems we always end up with girls! We're not sure if this means we're meant to have lots of girls, or will only have boys when we have kids...Our newest (and their old) cage

They are still getting used to us and their new home, and we're still trying to figure out what we need to do to be good sugar glider parents... But really, so far it seems more like we're in training for human kids...

The girls sleep in a little purse like bag. We carry them around in this "bonding pouch" during the day while they sleep so they get used to our scent and get friendly with us. When they suddenly decide to shift, this means getting kicked in the stomach, so Steve and I both get to have a little glimpse at being pregnant...The girls one of their bonding pouches.

They also eat an array of food from bugs (live and baked) to fruit and a pellet food. Part of their diet is baby food, so Steve and I got to learn about the interesting baby food combinations out there, as well as the feeling of hoping the kids will eat what you bought...
Mmm Mmm... Good eating. This night's dinner was baked caterpillars & crickets, canteloupe, honey dew, baby food (chicken and veggie dinner) and some staple food we buy online and some live mealworms. Yummy! These guys and our newts keep the contents of our fridge interesting...

And Steve says we are officially parents now, because one of our children came into our room and climbed in bed with us in order to wake us up. The first night we had the girls, apparently one of their doors didn't get locked... So we woke up at 7:30 the next morning to the sound of sugar glider claws on our sheets. The next thing we know, something has dashed across the top of our beds and is staring at us from the side of our bed stand. Their last owner let them out and played with them in the mornings...

Well, I think that's probably more than you all wanted to know, so finally....

INTRODUCING, FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE, (until we change their names) LENA AND LUNA!One of the girls eating a mealworm Steve gave her.
And exploring the side of the chinchilla cage.

Our Kids

Welcome to why we fondly refer to our home as the Bennett Zoo.

Let me introduce you to our family... so far.

We have two female chinchillas, Liadan and Gracen. They are so entertaining and we're trying to spend more time with them lately as they loved being around family and are getting better with being held after Christmas Break. Gracen getting into everything as usual and Liadan finding a hiding place like always.
Then we have four parakeets. Two females, Jasna (yellow) and Haruto (white, blue, yellow). Our two males are Aden (blue) and Akos (white). As it turns out, we have two couples, Jasna and Aden, and Akos and Haruto. We have learned a lot about parakeets and had the opportunity to raise seven chicks so far between the two sets of parents.

We recently upgraded our fishtank (for the third time in a year) and we now have 16 fish and 3 snails in a 55 gallon fish tank.

Our latest addition is our four fire newts. These, like the fish, have no names... I know. We're cruel.

So, that's our family so far. Don't worry, once we have a house we hope to add sugar gliders, a falcon (kestrel) and a dog or two... Oh yeah, and maybe someday what Steve refers to as "the ultimate pet".

So It Begins

So Steve and I are going to try and be better at letting family and friends know what is going on with job searches and what we're up to with this blog. No promises it will all pan out, but we're going to give it a try.