# Cordanes Chat Something



## Cordane

So although the breeders who seem to have these "rambling" pages are very serious breeders or have much more experience, I like talking about things I'm doing and posting updates. I seem to like to talk about a lot of different things and find it.. irritating (I spose) to start new threads to talk about each thing, and maybe some of you may be interested in what happens around the Cordane household and "mousery".

Well, this weekend has actually be rather interesting. The Northern Rabbit and Cavy Club held a seminar on breeding and genetics, this was mainly for rabbits and guinea pigs but had mentions of mouse genetics which was lovely even if I was the one who taught the "lecturer" what she knows about mice. I must admit it was rather informal, held at a play centre of all places. Sadly, very few turned out. Well over 10 people said they were coming though only 4 turned up. Terrible huh? Though I suppose it was somewhat short notice and the Rabbit and Cavy Club is a newly established club. I would have taken pictures but in all honesty, I didn't think many of you would be interested in seeing a play centre with us all siting in little chairs facing a white board with Wendy writing stuff down and talking. I must admit though, I have a fabulous time. 
Some people seemed to have terrible luck, like.. really horrible.
Someone laid a complaint with the SPCA about Gaylene and the amount of animals she has, so the SPCA came and took them. Gaylene lives in Hamilton but she came up to do an animal run for some people and attend the Seminar. She had maybe 10 rabbits and 5 guineas. I know people with many many more.
Then there was Wendy, Oh poor Wendy. A few dogs came onto her property around 2am. They killed more than 8 rabbits including her RARE Enderby Island Creme Rabbit buck who at weaning age is worth over $300. Poor love. Her ducks also escaped and ended up running along the road. The weird thing is, the dogs knew how to get into a rabbit cage. They actually lifted the hutch lid/door, they didn't go through the mesh. This may also explain why her cat went missing last month.
Don't forget the road block on my way home. Cops had closed of the road because there was a car accident. Apparently there was no way we would be able to get through.

The male mouse from my thread in New Additions titled "New Boy on the Block" has found a new home with a friend of mine, she just fell in love with him and had to have him, I think it was meant to be. He was so well behaved for her and was alway skittish with me.
Willow who was put with him for a while started gaining weight, 6 grams in a few days then nothing for 2 weeks. She has started gaining weight again as of yesterday. I have no idea what is going on.

We also got the cows in today, Separated Moffatt and put him with Alice and Katie so our incalf Highland girls can give birth without a bull there. Ness' bottom area is extremely puffy so we should have a calf from her soon. When she walks the area jiggles like jelly, it is just that puffy. We got Mel, Rose, Beltie and Alyx into the yards, Rose was put up the race and a halter put on. She really doesn't like the process of putting a halter on but will happily accept it once it is on. She loves to make things difficult.

Here is a few photos. Sorry about the size.
First is Beltie, Loganberry mentioned a liking for Belted/Banded galloways. Next is Melrose, looking lovely and round, should be a nice big calf I hope. Then last is Rosemary, I was sitting on the other side of the yard gate and she just wandered over and almost licked the camera. As soon as you have something in your hand, they are interested.


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## MojoMouse

The seminar sounds like it was interesting, even though it ended up being quite small. You have to start somewhere!

I'm looking forward to your posts, and lots more great pics.


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## Seafolly

Seems like things are coming along with the mousery! I remember your post of regret on The Other Forum and in a short time you've really changed perspective, haha.


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## Frizzle

^^^
Ha, I see what you did there!

If anything, I'm going to enjoy reading this on occasion so I can filter in things about Highlanders. : )


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## moustress

Freaky looking hoofies  ; who woulda thunk there's be curly cattle? Thanks for broaden my horizons.


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## Cordane

It's a real shame it was so small, its rather neat how similar the genetics between guineas, rabbits and mice. The main loci determining colour, (A, b, c, d) are almost the same. C is a little different because most if it is different shades of chinchilla dilutes but oh my gosh, one girl brought along her magpie rabbit, it's coat was a checker board :3 ! But yes, we do have to start somewhere. Many people forgot or thought it was next weekend or the weekend after (which is another seminar). Wendy did so much printing. The printer kept printing through the night haha.
I believe my main reason for that post was guilt. Originally I was so excited and I wanted to tell people but on that forum, breeding pet store mice is a huge no no. I can't wait til I get a male who will actually do something with my females though I'm starting to wonder about that choc tan boy since Willow is gaining weight Again. If its not due to pregnancy then what on earth is making her gain weight. 28 to 37 grams in less than a month.. She still looks as healthy as ever, still active. 
I was hoping you All wouldn't mind about the highlands being included. Many forums that are animal specific Allow one section where you can talk Bout them and one only. Many of you seem to be interested in them And my two oddballs, (Alice and Beltie). 
Well, it's raining today, maybe we will have a calf by tomorrow. Our cows are notorious for calving during storms or just after. I'll see, when I get home, if not, I may find some calf pictures of previous calves or maybe a pictures of the view. I don't know. Maybe even a new mouse? I'll be goin to town today to get groceries And top up on wheat and oats so why not stop by the pet store? I'm sure dad is thinking " oh god, more mice? You already have 12.

On a side note, can anyone give me some advice on Houdini?
He is so small and temperament is all wrong for breeding. His greatgrandma was possibly a wild mouse or maybe her parents. I can use him to breed and I believe handling him stresses him out. He is always trying to escape as well. Any advice?


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## Cordane

I ended up at my little pet shop in town today, the plan was to buy a boy but all their boys were insanely skittish and still "popcorning" even though they are around 2-3 months old. There was a PEW long hair which was super cute but I dont know how I could actually use him and what he would produce being put to my girls. He was rather lovely though. The other three were light mock chocolate poor tans. Nothing to exciting. 
I had a look at the girls, figured why not. Last week they had a gorgeous black fox. I wish I had of gotten her but I didn't even think about getting a girl. Though today, I saw one girl that caught my eye, well two actually. One was a VERY saml girl. Smaller than a wild mouse. I was so shocked, I wanted to take her home but my girls would beat her up because she was so little. *sigh* I ended up getting a bigger light mock chocolate fox girl but she is a little different, she has a point on her nose. Pictures included of course. I must admit, she does look a little pregnant. Though I could be totally wrong..

The pet shop has gone down hill since the beginning of the year. They aren't selling mice very fast so have actually stopped breeding mice. Their rats are in cages that are actually completely full of condensation. Water is dripping down the sides. I couldn't believe what I saw. They were always so good with cage cleaning and looking after it but nowadays.. I would slap them if I could. Its a little appauling.

I have also taken a panoramic view from the back door and the front door.

Enjoy 






























The Back-door. You can't see all our land, we are on a "hill" so you can't see some of it.








The front door view, nothing exciting..


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## MojoMouse

That's such a shame about your local pet shop. Maybe there's been a change of ownership or management? It sounds like it was good, but is now disgraceful!

You new mouse is pretty! She's got points, so you've got some extra genes to work with. I can't pick her colour though from the screen pics - do you know what she is? Is she self or marked?

You have no idea how I envy your lifestyle on the property. The panoramic views are just magnificant! So different from city living.

I think it's great that you're including your cow news and pics in this thread. It's the right forum - you can talk about anything. And these animals are so interesting - I didn't even know they existed before your first posts on the forum.

It would be great to hear a bit about your Latin and ballroom dancing as well. More subjects in which my knowledge is zilch - but I'd love to know more.


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## Cordane

MojoMouse said:


> That's such a shame about your local pet shop. Maybe there's been a change of ownership or management? It sounds like it was good, but is now disgraceful!
> 
> You new mouse is pretty! She's got points, so you've got some extra genes to work with. I can't pick her colour though from the screen pics - do you know what she is? Is she self or marked?
> 
> You have no idea how I envy your lifestyle on the property. The panoramic views are just magnificant! So different from city living.
> 
> I think it's great that you're including your cow news and pics in this thread. It's the right forum - you can talk about anything. And these animals are so interesting - I didn't even know they existed before your first posts on the forum.
> 
> It would be great to hear a bit about your Latin and ballroom dancing as well. More subjects in which my knowledge is zilch - but I'd love to know more.


I don't know if you class a fox as a self or marked, I would assume marked. She has a solid white belly and a light mock chocolate top. The photos were taken under a desk lamp, most of my photos are. My camera seems to appreciate the light and focuses better thus taking a better picture. I will take some better pictures under natural light when there is actually some sun. Blinkn' winter! The picture looking straight down is without the light but since its so dark here due to clouds, everything looks.. "twisted".
It is really a shame about the pet shop, they have not changed ownership actually. Wayne and his wife have always owned it, they have however, hired someone to help clean but when she arrived is when I noticed this deteriorating. There is one other pet shop in my town but they don't sell mice. They have asked me to do some breeding for them but how can I when I know they will potentionally sell males together or females alone. They do seem to have a nice set up though. They sell mainly fish, Two cages of guineas and rabbits totally a max of 10 together. They have the occassional kitten and puppy in and they have baby chickens and the odd budgie. They sell mostly the items needed for the animals though from what I have seen, take care of the animals they have.

I will try get a few more pictures of the place, try show the boundary. In the view front the front door, there are some big trees on the left hand side. The road is on the other side of those trees. I believe you can just see the boundary on the other picture but its hard to see. I'll be checking on the cows tomorrow probably so will take a few more pictures of the view and the cows of course.

My cows are like my mice. Part of me. I can't wait to take pictures of the shows and to tell you all how we did. That will be in November through till March or so. A while away yet. We won't be taking my boy, Moffatt, though. He is 8 this year and has started getting a little snotty. Well behaved on the halter but you get the odd stupid person who wants to jump on him or runs over to pat him. We once has someone asked if when he misbehaved, if you kicked him like what they said you do to horses. I swear to god those people are irritating. We will be taking calves this year so mega cuteness factor I hope. You get the odd ewok though. Short coat on their face, long coat on the body. (Picture included of Jayde, Ewok looking, you can get worse looking ones but hey). Funny thing is, we have found the Ewok looking calves harder to train. They seem more skittish and flighty.

Now, ballroom and latin dancing. I started learning when I was in year 8... 12 years old ish. I continued for about 4 or so years then had to give it up for a while due to lack of money and a need to focus on school. I took a term more of lessons but have had to put my dancing on hold due to, once again, a lack of money.. Thats probably more like my lack of effort to get up and get a job but that's beside the point. 
For our year 13 formal, (last year of school) I taught a few of my class mates how to do ballroom dancing. It was sort of a "tradition" but the people who usually teach our year 13's every year were busy teaching other schools. As it turns out, they were my teachers so I decided I would give it a go. They learnt quickly and eventually I ended up learning a simple tango, organising music and teaching that to them. The small group of people who came every time became reasonably close friends of mine but that didn't last long as they all went off to uni.

I have mentioned that I have competed before or did medals.
What happens is you dress up all nice and dance around a room with 3 judges watching your every move. That was something that terrified me, judging my every move. First you compete for your bronze beginners medals in either latin, ballroom or both and once you do your dance around the room, they give you a score out of 100. To pass I believe you have to get 70 or higher and if you do, you get to move on and do your bronze advanced medals which you do next competition "season" which is every 6 months or so.
I hope that made sense. I will drag up my "report cards" later and tell you what I got for what dances and get a picture of the medals if any of you want. 










Just on an odd side note, I use to breed rabbits a little while back so I have added two pictures. The first one is my breeding doe and buck, the next one is their babies. My little bunny pile


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## Cordane

Turns out a photo I have actually talked about was not included or its just not showing up for me. My bad. To late to edit the post.









This is her under "Natural" light. Its been a very cloudy day so that didn't help much. Even now that I look at her, she does look grey, like a dark silver but at the pet shop she appeared to be a light mock chocolate. She is gorgeous in my eyes either way. Nice thick tail too


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## Cordane

Today there was a spot of sun so I decided to go take some pictures. I went down to check on our girlies and sadly, still no calves. Since it was windy, I didn't venture very far into the paddock. We have found that when it is windy, the cows tend to play silly buggers and gallop around and "buck" but that is just them playing, they never actually come your way but for anyone who doesn't know our cows and their temperament, that can come across as scary or somewhat dangerous when in reality, that is so far from the truth. The cows are currently in the bottom paddock, at the back of the property and you have to go down a hill to get to it. The hill isn't very long but it does get a little steep. 








If you stood looking at the drain like in the picture, the house and hill is on the left. You can see the boundary fence though with panoramic pictures, things always look smaller and scewed.








So I figured I would also tell you who is who. On the left in the back is Ness, then next to her is Beltie (the black and white girl), in front of her is Melrose, (the dun) The next one is Arnica at the back who is classed as a cream. Next is Rosemary who although looks white, due to her black nose, tongue and feet, she is classed as a dun. Right next to Rosemary is Alyx who is a brindle and in the back, the black cow is Annie.
Rosemary is Melrose's daughter and Alyx is Ness's daughter  I'm so excited for the babies to arrive but I'm pretty sure that is still a month off which is a shame but oh well. Next time we know to put Moffatt in with the girls much earlier since for showing, you want the calves to be born as close to June 1st as possible.

I also took some more photos of the new girl, in the sun light which should show her coat better.





























I'm starting to believe she is actually pregnant as well. You can see a little buldge in the last photo and when she stretched out, you can see a bit of a buldge under her belly as well. I weighed her yesterday as I do with all my girls which also helps me to now if they are possible pregnant. Surprise surprise, she has gained 4g over night. 
If she is pregnant, I'm not sure if I should leave her in with Willow. Willow has never been a mum though I hoped she would be. So I have no idea is she would work well as a nanny, they get along amazingly though. I didn't actually do a proper introduction which I know I should have. I put them in a clean tub and left them be while I cleaned their tank out. Plonked them in the tank once cleaned and set up and I haven't heard any fighting at all which is brilliant.


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## Cordane

So I did a weight check today in hope for more weight gain.
The new girl hasn't gained any weight but she does look like she has a little more buldgey around the stomach area. Is it common for them to have weight gain one day and then not the next? I'll skip weighing for a few more days and then check again to see if she has gained weight. In all honesty, I actually hope she is pregnant. I find her pretty and if it was one of the ones in the tank at the pet shop, there is a high chance of the father being a fox, and if not, there were two that were pied, light grey markings, maybe beige? I'm not quite sure.

On a happier note, Xia has finally gained some weight. 3 grams since yesterday. Maybe Basil has done his job?


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## Frizzle

Maybe she's a really dark variety of what's in this thread? http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=11467


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## MojoMouse

Frizzle said:


> Maybe she's a really dark variety of what's in this thread? http://www.fancymicebreeders.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=11467


If you mean the colourpoint beige, ie BE siamese, could be. Or it looks to me like she's burmese. Either way. she's a nice mouse compared to what you expect from pet shops. One of the pics from the top shows she's got very decent ears, and body shape. She'll be good in your breeding program, Cordane.


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## Cordane

I was thinking she was a Burmese, I read something about them a while back about how they are like Siamese but their points are almost the same colour a their body. In which case she would be a Burmese fox, (due to her white under-belly).
With Burmese do you specifiy the Burmese colour in any way? I would assume Burmese come in different colours. She is a lovely mouse, calm compared to most mice you would normally get from a pet shop. I actually do hope she is pregnant already, breeding her with Basil means guaranteed dilutes since Basil is a dilute cinnamon. (I assume he is cch/cch) I'll figure out what I'll get when it's a decent hour and the sun, itself, is up.
My sleeping pattern is horrific, very much like my Dads except he can fall to sleep easily if he reads a book. If you watch him, he reads then slowly drifts off and eventually the book falls out of his hand and makes a thud which wakes him up again. As for me, if I read anything, it has to be a decent book. And off course, if it's a good book, I won't put it down until its finished.
Anyway, I did like her body shape. She is not streamline like the good foxes you see, I have a thing for chunky mice. Her ears are of decent size compared to the common "small and curly" ears you get, they are a little curled but nothing like some I have seen. That's where Xia comes in. I think, assuming Xia is pregnant now, I will keep the typiest buck she has a use it as a stud. He will carry a c dilute from Basil but may not be one himself. A little chunkier Xia is my goal for babies right now. Once I get there, I'll make a new goal, maybe then I'll focus on colour a lot more since my luck finding something that will produce a self black has left.

Mojo, compliments from you always make my day, makes me think I'm going in the right direction.
That is not saying that I wouldn't love compliments from everyone.

I swear, lately, all I think about is babies. Checking the cows twice a day to see if any babies have arrived, weighing the mice daily to see if they are pregnant, (I got a little obsessive yesterday, weighed the new girl 3 times thinking that maybe her weight had changed), and then of course my baby cousin, Kaylah. She is just covered in eczema, (just like me when I was a baby) so she is all wrapped up so she stops scratching. She has little sores every where the poor babe.


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## Cordane

So a very boring update today. Xia and the new girl both gained a gram, Since Xia is with a boy who is able to do the job, I assume that would mean she is pregnant. 4 Grams in 2 days. The new girl has gained 4 grams in 3 days, I know I shouldn't get excited but I can't help it. Hopefully I'm not getting my hopes up for nothing. 
As for the cows, when they are close to calving, (could be a month away) their stomach drops, udder drops and starts producing milk slowly become tight but generally the first sign is their... girly part gets all puffy. In that case, Ness should be the first to calve, then Melrose, follow by Arnica and of course, bloody Miss Annie isn't even remotely puffy.
Annie has a tendency to not fall pregnant very fast, many times she is 3-4 months after everyone else, (4-5 cycles) which is a total pain.. Also, since her calves are most often black, they mature much slower than many of the others so we generally don't show her calves, we want the calves as big as we can get them to have some chance at beating the Herefords and Belgium Blues.

Since I have no life, I was hunting through pictures and I found some pictures of a few of our animals when we first got them, (or on the day they were born) I have also included some more recent pictures of them 

Annie
















Ness
















Arnica
















Alyx


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## Frizzle

fyi, I love showing your cows to my friends, "OMG, they are so effin cute!" is what we all say.
I told my boyfriend that we are going to have some someday.


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## Cordane

Frizzle said:


> fyi, I love showing your cows to my friends, "OMG, they are so effin cute!" is what we all say.
> I told my boyfriend that we are going to have some someday.


Show him some of these pictures then, might help convince him  








This is Gracie and Zeik many years ago at the local Primary School Ag Day. Zeik was always little, I showed him as a yearling at one stage, competing against Belgium Blues, Herefords, Charolais that were easily 6 months older than him. Zeik was lucky to reach my hip, (I'm 5'4) while the others were getting close to being my shoulder height if not taller. I kept telling Zeik that he was still a man despite his size. Zeik is on the left, Gracie on the right. Zeik has since been put into the freezer and Gracie is a breeder cow for a rich bloke up north.















This is Amelia again. First is obviously a few hours after birth, the next is maybe a month old, all fluffed up. Although she is chocolate colouring in the photos, the main way to tell what colour they will be is to look around the eyes. She should be going to her new home maybe this weekend. Ok, I don't know that for sure, trucking companies are very unpredictable.








Little Miss Jheni. Her mother is actually Annie, a jet black cow. She was an Ewok but trained up pretty nicely. She now lives with her sister Kelsi about 40 minutes drive from here on a place that hasn't had animals for so long the grass in places is hip height. They will get so fat!








This is Alyx, she is going to be 2 this year. Her black nose in the photo is one of the first signs that she will be a brindle, (tiger like depending on how much brindling). She took after her Mum, Ness. Super easy to train and no idea of personal space.








I had to include this. Kaylee and Tiara. Kisses! The ropes around there necks was a training technique we tried so long ago, it made it easier to catch them in the paddock while training. Never used that technique again. To much risk.








Baby Macq, he was originally going to stay as a bull, his frosted coat turned almost cream like his mother. He grew so well and looked really good but then sadly got a foot problem which stunted his growth. He is now living a happy life as a steer with Middy down near Auckland.








Maya, I don't know how she is in all honesty, we sold her and her Mum to a couple down the road from us as a cow and calf combo. They have stopped replying to our emails for some reason so that was a real shame. 








Oh little Middy, I become attached to him so quickly. He was from my favourite girl Kelsi, a baby who should have never happened and we still don't know how Moffatt got to Kelsi. We kept her away from him because Kelsi is his daughter, we don't like inbreeding our cattle but it happened some how. Kelsi was always a little cow and Middy was even smaller. I could pick him up even at 3 months old.








This picture is gosh damn cute! Mingary with her first calf Gracie.









I had to share this photo. This is Kelsi, her VERY first time on the halter. You get so many different responses to a halter, I have had ones that just stand there, quite calm and happy. You can get ones the pull back like Kelsi did and then relax after a short while. Then you can sometimes get those ones that will thrash around, they will flip and often fall but they soon learn that they aren't going to get away and they are stuck. Once they figure that out, they stand their, head down, panting. Silly buggers.


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## Cordane

A quick little update, no baby cows. The new girl is not pregnant - she lost the gram she gained yesterday and no gain today. Xia is still gaining a gram or two a day and not looking at all pregnant.

On a side note, how bout them ears?
















Long ears Jerboa. In one leap can jump about 2m, looks like the size of a small rat and its ears are a third longer than its head.
How cute is that?! :lol:


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## besty74

that is soooo cute, is he yours?


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## Cordane

Oh I wish. They are just some images from google. I was watching "Untamed China" on Animal Planet, couldn't resist sharing. Authorities would never allow something that exotic into New Zealand.


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## besty74

Do you have Degus in New Zealand?
I have 3 of them and they just had 6 babies a few weeks back, they are gorgeous.


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## Cordane

Never heard of them. The most exotic we get is bearded dragons, newts, turtles and chinchillas. That's as exotic as we get.


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## besty74

Do you have kiwi birds near you?


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## Cordane

There is some at this little museum/nature place. They have a few in a large fenced off area in hope of getting numbers up. That's maybe 10 minutes drive from me.


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## Cordane

I am now becoming increasingly annoyed. Although Xia has gained weight, which I assumed was pregnancy, she has now lost a gram. What is going on...


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## MojoMouse

The ongoing unpleasantness has undermined the forum. I noticed quite a few people leave after the American importing thread imploded, the NMC and a few others have gone after the Show Mice terminology nonsense, and now this. :/ I thought checking out Cordane's news would be a friendly, interesting thread.

So much nonsense. Much as I valued this forum as a support and source of information, it's just not worth it. My 2 cents worth.


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## Cordane

MojoMouse said:


> The ongoing unpleasantness has undermined the forum. I noticed quite a few people leave after the American importing thread imploded, the NMC and a few others have gone after the Show Mice terminology nonsense, and now this. :/ I thought checking out Cordane's news would be a friendly, interesting thread.
> 
> So much nonsense. Much as I valued this forum as a support and source of information, it's just not worth it. My 2 cents worth.


Oh Mojo, please don't leave. If you do, i would love to have a way to contact you somehow, (Up to you of course). Your 2 cents worth mean a lot and has helped me in understanding what steps would be good steps for me to take. My point being, your 2 cents have helped me more than I could ever say. 
I agree that the unpleasantness is distracting from the forum and what I believe is its purpose. The fact that so much catty-ness can arrive from some threads has really rather shocked me. Some threads regarding advice on simple questions turn into something that is out of control and in my opinion has nothing to do with the original topic of the thread. I came to this forum because it appeared that no matter who you are, if you loved mice, you were accepted, thats what I liked. I prefer to try and avoid stuff like this, probably because I don't quite know how to deal with people or conflict. 
I suppose this is the good thing about New Zealand, what we class as show mice, is a mouse you take to a show. Our shows are pet shows, yes, but a show is a show. We take our animals to a show because we love them and want to show people how amazing some creatures, that to many may seem gross, are. How curious and interactive they can be. We want to show people that although they are "just mice", they are just like a dog or a cat, an animal that you keep til the end of its life. Not a throw away pet. Thats what we do. They judge on health and temperament. There is nothing wrong with how we do things, its just different.

On a side note, its dinner time. Lovely Yorkshire Pudding with a roast. Yum Yum Yum.
Turns out my Dad has a Planer, (sp?) so we used some of his planks of wood and planed some shavings up. I now have two 40kg bags of shavings so I'm happy. My mum will be coming around tomorrow to pick up her cat cage, Oh how fun. I'm not in the best mood with my mother right now but thats another story.

I thought I would share this, it happened a while ago but it surely made my day. My Dad had a dream...
In the dream, we had a huge tank full of mice and for some reason, everything was shaking and the tank, sort of, "exploded" and mice went flying everywhere. We were trying to catch them and apparently Dad was catching one at a time while I was like.. Miss Mouse Whisperer and had mice just clinging onto me. He said I was just calling them over and they came running.
How cute?! :lol:


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## besty74

what a great dream, thanks for sharing


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## MojoMouse

Cordane, I'm _so_ sorry - the argument wasn't here - it was just that thing about the mouse genome and percentages, in another thread that I was just reading and I suppose it stuck in my mind. That's what I was responding to... but not here.  I'm tired - I had a long few days that were quite stressful, then came to the forum to find more unpleasantness... but like I said, it wasn't in this thread. So, I'm sorry.

Your dad's dream was weird, but nice!  I like him - he's got a sense of humour. I still think it was him, not the wind, that sometimes arranges the cow's fur into interesting mohawk styles! (Just thinking of the pic you posted a while back - it still makes me smile!)


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## Cordane

Oh Mojo, it's perfectly ok! Everyone is allowed to make a little slip up every now and then and I did love that you said you like reading my little thread which shall remain as drama free as I can have it 
My Dad can be hilarious. He isn't one of those fathers who will tell you he loves you and give you hugs so when he tells me about his dreams and listens to me rant, yet never complains, that says it all to me.
My uncle came round yesterday to get a phone off me because his kind of.. Shat itself. His wife, I don't know why they are together and sometimes nor do they, asked about my mice and to my surprise, my Dad chimed in and explained that I breed, what happens, how there are different varieties and how there are show mice overseas. I couldn't believe it! He actually listens to my little rants and even my chats to myself about what I'm going to do next.

Well.. To explain what will be happening today..
Bugger all. It's bucketing down outside so Dad and I will remain inside, probably watch movies or something. Mouse cages are all clean. I've been wondering what to do about Basil, he turned two on Thursday and when he passes on, well.. Junior will stay in his place but he hasn't exactly dropped his boy bits yet.. He is fat just like Dad, (not really fat), weighing at 33g at almost 8 weeks while Dad is 39g and sisters are averaging at 25g. Such a difference.
Mum will be over sometime so I spose I should get my butt out of bed. I know I have to be pleasant to her but I don't want to. She will be super grumpy when I tell her that we are going to charge her grazing. The heifer, Katie, she has here waiting for a stock truck for over a month, she said a few weeks. We are running a cow to the acre which is way to many cows in winter..


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## Cordane

So I did end up doing a little photo shoot. While I couldn't sleep last night, I realised that I hadn't actually done a photo shoot with Ava, Nova, Lexi and a proper one with the new girl. Gosh I should really name her!
So here is Lexi, I don't actually know what colour she is, the pictures make her appear rather light but her colour is like a tan/golden. 






























This is Lexi, I was thinking about finding a home for her but I do think she has pretty good points and such so I'm really not sure.























My other siamese girl, Ava. I just adore her. I may not breed from her but I won't be getting rid of her any time soon.























And of course, the new girl 























This one made me laugh so I thought I would share.


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## Cordane

Yes, another post today. A bit ridiculous how often I post...
So Xia is definitely not pregnant, she is back down to 33g while not long ago she weighed 36g. What on earth is going on.. Ok, I know Basil is rather old, (2 years old) and I have only used him to breed once which was with Zoey but still, shouldn't he still... "do the job"?
The main problem for me is that his son, Junior, hasn't dropped his nuts though while having a bit of a feel, I couldn't feel much.. Oh god, I feel like I'm having terrible luck and it may be a very very long time before I have another litter.
There is always Houdini but the fact that his great grandmother was a possible wild mouse or a half wild, puts me off using him. I'm still unsure of what to do with him. I must admit, it is a little tempting to put him to sleep, His temperament is all wrong and he doesn bite, (He has yet to bite me but I'm honestly to scared to handle him).
I could always get another boy but I'm also starting to wonder if Xia and Willow were the sterile ones, it is always a possibility. I might introduce the new girl to Basil this weekend. What harm could it do? If she gets pregnant, one would assume that Xia is actually sterile. I guess I'm just worried about adopting a boy when he may prove somewhat useless. I might end up taking a trip down to Hamilton to see my grandparents, though they are.. protective. 
A trip to Auckland is always a possibility as well but knowing my luck, I'll get lost. Maybe if I did some more hunting, I might be able to find someone in Northland that has a male who would allow me to.. "hire" him. God there is so many possibilities! *Would someone be so kind as to give me some advice on how to proceed?

Oh, a question to anyone who may be able to answer..
Is there any way you can tell if a male is sterile or not? It appears small nuts is the desired look in boys here though for me I would rather a boy to be like "Look! I'M A BOY!"*

Anyway, as I said, my Mum came over today. She wanted her cat cage. Now, she wants our cat cage because supposedly, her cat can't fit. (I can fit two boys in that cage which are both bigger than her single cat). She loved my guinea pigs and almost screamed at me when I proceded to tie some dental floss around one of my guineas toes. (She is a polydactyl, extra toes on her back feet which have no nerves and essentially just dangle there, these could get caught and cause serious problems).
I took a few more pictures. It has been raining like crazy here and Dad and I had to take cover from the rain in the yards because it started bucketing down when we were feeding hay out. I got soaked...


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## Cordane

I can't believe I forgot about my little darling Charlie... How terrible!
Around 4 or maybe more months ago, my friend really wanted a pet mouse but her Mum needed some convincing so I suggested that my friend could look after one of my boys, I would of course supply the cage  One of her brothers moved back home and low and behold, he was allergic to mice. Then my friends asthma starting acting up and her Mum said the mouse has to go so he is back here with me. How could I ever forget about him?!

Here are some photos of Charlie and his new girlfriend Zoey - Please excuse Charlies coat, I just did a mite treatment.


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## Cordane

The weather here turned to utter shit for an hour. The bottom flat is mostly under, thunder and lightening. So much noise. It was so bad that a few appliances near dads computer were sparking before a bit of thunder. Bolts looked like they were at the end of the driveway. 
Waiting for Luca to come back now that the noise has stopped. He ran at the first sound of noise. Poor kitty.

Everyone is fine though. Had to move Basils and Xia's cage because it was right next to whatever was sparking near Dads computer...
That was terrifying..


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## moustress

Lightning is scary stuff and not to be taken 'lightly'. I've seen ball lightning come into a house just a few feet away from where my girlfriend and I were standing, doing dishes at her grandparents farm. It came in through an electric light fixture, split, half went into the sink and down the drain and the other got caught in the old wood burning stove and presumably up the chimney. That was one of the weirdest and wildest things I've ever seen with my own eyes.


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## Cordane

I had to shut the power off entirely. I've never actually been in a thunder storm that bad, at one point it rumbled for almost 5 minutes straight. Usually I love thunder and lightning. This was something else entirely.

On a little bit happier note, the paddocks are draining so there isn't much surface flooding left, one of our cows udder is starting to fill up with milk so I very may well win my bet after all, (I bet that a cow would calve before the end of the month). Xia is also gaining weight again but until she looks like a pin pong ball, that means nothing to me any more. Junior has finally dropped his balls, they are little but that's ok. I'd live to go back to having boys who are obvious, it's a pain always wondering if they actually have them or if they are sterile due to their small size. Maybe one day I'll do a road trip and get a nice looking and obvious male.
Oh! And Luca is back. Didn't leave my side after that. Still hasn't. Other than bathroom breaks.


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## moustress

There have been times when I felt like a lightning rod, as there have been at least three times; no, make that four or five, when it seemed like the thunder and lightning was aimed at me. I love storms, but, jeez...once I huddled in my car for 15 or twenty minutes, afraid to move or even touch anything in my car, while lightning was hitting the phone and light poles along the road. I was going bonkers from the flashes, and I tied a bandana over my eyes.

After a while I couldn't even take the sound of the thunder, and inched my way down the road at, maybe, say, five or ten mph. Oe quarter mile away, there was no storm. We stopped at *****'s, the first and only time I ever patronized that chain of diners, for reasons that may be obvious to anyone interested in 'racism' in children's lit.

My mother was a lightning rod as well.

It seems to come naturally to me. I must be a mobile ley attractor or something.


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## Cordane

We don't often get thunder or lightning storms, well not anything exciting. During a storm, the odd rumble or flash but thats it. So yesterday was a nightmare.
I would be terrified if that happened to me while I was in my car. All I would think about is the lightning hitting my car and me touching something that will conduct and getting zapped. I hat electric shocks no matter how small. Hate them. Can't avoid them with all the fences we have here but still.
You poor thing.


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## moustress

Ooh...how I remember electric fences; I loved to scramble around in the scrub and slog though swamps, and there were those who actually kept livestock in those hazardous regions...topic of several other weird stories...and then there was barbed wire. Given my choice, I'd take on the electric stuff over the barbed stuff. At least the electric fences didn't leave scars.

My early years were very rough and tumble, following my big brother around and trying to do everything he did. Many more stories in that corner of the picture. Jumping off a big barn into a haystack; almost getting ourselves dead when creeping around the potholes of the Rum River during duck hunting season; low crawling our way out down the dirt path that led to the village dump site; piling a dozen kids in the hood of an old auto and hurtling down a snowy hill and over an 18 inch jump we built. Adventurous is a word that pales. And I survived to tell the tales...amazing.

I'll be 60 yrs. old in five weeks. I thought for sure I'd be dead before the age of forty. Somewhere along the line I may have learned how to be careful. I'm still not sure about that. :?


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## Cordane

I don't have any brothers, well I do but he is a half brother and lives in Canada now 
Sounds like you had a lovely childhood, loads of adventures right there!

So there is finally some sun! Thank god and its bloody hot, well.. muggy. I can deal with muggy for some sun 
I decided to go ouside and take some more pictures for you all but I am going to warn you, there is a cow "vagina" in amongst the pictures. Just a bum picture, not like.. inside.









Of course I had to take a picture of the sky, had to prove the fact that its a lovely blue sky!









A picture from the end of the driveway, nothing fancy, just a picture of the road. Nothing to interesting.























A few pictures of the dam paddock.
















A lovely full udder on Ness and some clear mucus which suggests we should have a calf by the end of the month


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## moustress

Lovely cow. Love cows; I want to go back to the country, but I know the life is very demanding.


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## Cordane

It is?


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## Cordane

Hello to anyone and everyone who reads this 
I'm sooooo very very very excited to announce that we had a new baby girl born today, Yes, Ness finally calved! Oh how exciting. 
I had a bet with Dad that she would calve before the end of the month and it would be a boy.. I was half wrong obviously.

She has yet to be named but what do you expect, I haven't even told Dad that we have a calf on the ground, I'll be going into town to get a few things, including a new home phone, (turns out it was the phone that was sparking during the storm we had a few days ago) and I will call into Dads work and tell him the news.

Thought you guys might like some pictures so here she is! Still wet but hey.


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## moustress

Awww! I think cows are pretty; baby cows are amazing.

I was trying to explain why farm life is demanding, lost the post, redid it, did it again. My toughts had mostly to do with being old and worn out. I'm a fixer-upper; need new hops.


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## Cordane

She should be all dried off by now, I'll go out and take pictures later.
I love fixing things and building things. Dads an engineer so that helps a lot


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## moustress

My father, dead these 20yrs., was a master carpenter and cabinetmaker; airplane mechanic; medic; hunter and fisherman; musician; lumberjack; paperboy; unstoppable Irish maniac with a fondness for wordplay...folks of his day didn't talk about themselves very much, so I learned much of this after he had died, unfortunately.

He loved animals, and that's probably where I picked up my interest in all things living. He wasn't very big on plants; my mother wanted to turn him into a farmer, or maybe a small lapdog...


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## Cordane

I must admit, I don't know much about my family, Mum gave me a book that has letters from my grandparents and Dad about their past and their parents past and some pictures from my childhood etc 

I took some more pictures of the new girl as well, she is pretty dried off now, still the odd bit where Ness licked her. She was sleeping most of the time but here are some pictures.






















































































Her Mum is quite happy to walk off a bit while I'm with her calf.









And the boys both waiting patiently, far away from Ness.


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## Frizzle

She's so cute!


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## Cordane

So I got out the scales today, Xia weighs 40 grams, when I put her in with Basil ages ago, she was only 30. I made up a new cage for her so I hope she is pregnant, though in saying that, I have probably jinxed it. She has a bit of a belly buldge but nothing significant.
I also weighed Basil 42g, I swear he is fat. Not hugely but he is definitely on the chubby side. He is a dilute cinnamon, maybe that has something to do with it. His son was weighed at 8 weeks old and weighed 34g so he may be on the same path there.

Basil is starting to show his age, 2 years, 1 week and 3 days old. I can't believe it. Not bad for a mouse bred from some pet shop mice huh?
Oh, I would post more pictures of our little heifer but its pouring with rain, super windy. I don't want to be out in that weather, sorry guys. Nor does Dad, even he is staying inside :shock:


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## Cordane

So as I have mentioned, Mums heifer Amelia/Katie sold a while back and since Mum has not yards, came here. Mum assured us she would be here for 2 weeks MAX. Its close to 7 weeks or something later and she is finally bloody GONE.

Mum rang last night to say the trucking company called her and they will be here tomorrow (today) to pick her up at 7.30am
That alone was annoying, Dad had just moved her and her small mob into another paddock which made it difficult to get her in and also, the trucking companies don't suddenly decide one day to do the delivery the next day, so they could have called and given us a bit more notice :evil: 
So I set my alarm for 6am, sadly that didn't wake me as I have had my alarm set for the past week and woke up - alarm off - back to sleep. Anyway, Dad woke me up at about 6.30 and so I hopped into the shower and about 5 minutes into my shower, the truck driver arrives. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Luckily the driver was an idiot and tried to back up on a narrow road, to our loading ramp with a truck AND trailer (thats the cab, a trailer and another one behind that). It took him 30 minutes just to get that right, blocking off many cars during that time. So I had finished my shower and was up there well before he was finished trying to reverse. He actually almost got stuck, his front tires went into the drain on the other side of the road to our house :lol: 
He seemed a little shocked that there was only one "bull" to deliver. The whole time he refered to Amelia/Katie as a he. While she was going up the ramp he was saying "Come on boy". You can tell he doesn't see Scottish Highlands an awful lot. She is an OBVIOUS girl.

People like that really bug me. There seems to be a common belief running around that bulls have horns, heifers don't. Even at the shows people call our heifers boys. I mean thats ok, the ones that say that are 'lifetime city dwellers' but a cattle truck driver? Come on!

On a side note, I think I finally came up with a name for my mousery. Now that I say it out loud, I think it sounds silly and a bit childish but I decided on the name AppleCheeks Mousery. I thought it was kind of cute and suited here.
I thought about that name while looking through photos of our calves - current and past - and they all have apple cheek to some degree.


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## Cordane

Yes, another post. Its not really a rant, well its not meant to be. There is a person on tradme - a selling website - that has listed a HUGE number of baby mice as well as their father.
In my opinion, she is rather misleading. She has an auction for "rare colours". Since when are there rare colours? In my opinion, they are only rare if the right combination of parents is not accessable to you in your area. That is not the case here.
Her rare colours list consists of...
- broken light grey seal point. (would that just be a seal point with bad moult lines?)
- broken and self agouti seal points. (I'm going to say they are just agouti with more ticking on the feet and nose)
- broken blond. (I'm going to assume its just a cream of some sort)
- a broken ginger. (I think its just a pied fawn)
- Chinchilla. (Looks just like Basil and Junior so not rare imo)

As well as that, she also calls a lot of her mice colours "otters". (beige otter, chocolate otter, tan otter, black otter etc)
*sigh*


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## Cordane

Third Post for today, took some pictures of the heifer who has still yet to be named. I just call her Jenna but we seem to always call our calves a normal name but spelt differently. Anyway, pictures


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## Serena

awww, it's so cute and cuddly :love1


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## Frizzle

AppleCheeks is a great name!


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## candycorn

Sooo adorable! Congrats on having a girl!


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## moustress

I'm in love! Baby cows are so slurpy and warm.


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## Cordane

So I'm super excited. It turns out there are some breeders in NZ which have been breeding for a lot longer than I have. Point being, I have decreased my mouse numbers so I'll be doing a trip to Hamilton and along the way, delivering mice and maybe getting a few 

So the little Heifer is called Jesyka, just like Jessica - we like normal names spelt weird. The thing I love about highland calves compared to other calves is the actually look in proportion, they aren't all legs. Only downside to breeding a specific breed is that over time, yours look less cute and you start to find other breeds, that you disliked before, much more appealing. Don't get me wrong, highland calves are super cute.


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## Cordane

It has been POURING DOWN with rain so I haven't been able to get pictures of little Miss Jesyka but thats ok. The paddocks are mucky and horrible though, I hope the rain stops soon. Our ground can't handle a wet summer. (There is a solid rock sheet from lava about 60cm below grass level).
So while it was pouring down, I went for a bit of a drive - 71km drive to be exact ish. I went to visit a rabbit breeder who specialises in Minilops and Netherland dwarfs. Low and behold, I came home with one!


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## besty74

that is one cute rabbit


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## Cordane

Hi guys 
Today I checked on the cows and what do you know, I SEE FEET! One of our calves was in labour. I went back inside to call my Dad and by the time I got on the phone with him, the calf was on the ground. Its a little boy, nothing wrong with that, very leggy. I'll be out to take more photos when my cameras battery has some life in it and once the boy is dried off.


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## Cordane

He is all dried off  - Well as dry as he is going to get in this weather.


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## moustress

Boy calves are the gifts that keep on giving. Amazing coats on these Highlands.

I'm partial to Guernsey's, as they are so good tempered and have a very high butterfat output. Their eyes are dreamy and limpid. They are a little on the small side, which means you can have a smaller shed for them in the winter and the chickens aren't scared of them like they are some of the other larger breeds like the Holsteins.

Good cheese and butter, that's what I like. *yummers*

What are the Highland's output like?


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## Cordane

moustress said:


> Boy calves are the gifts that keep on giving. Amazing coats on these Highlands.
> What are the Highland's output like?


Well this boy will probably be steered unless someone wants him before he is weaned. He may grow to be a stunning bull but we can't keep him here due to Moffatt so he has to be moved on if he is a bull. Steers are always much easier to sell and much less work for us.

In all honesty, I don't know about a Highlands output in the sense of milk. I know their meat is lovely!
We had a steer put into the freezer a month ago or so. He was the most highly strung nut job of a steer we have ever had but the meat is so tender and very little fat - thank god!


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## Cordane

I'm very proud to announce that I have successfully managed to downsize. I still have 14 mice living here but 5 have sold and I will be delivering them on the 9th while on my way to Hamilton. Lexi and Bandit have sold to the lovely lady I got my guineas off to keep her lone female company and the other 3 - pied cinnamon, pied black and Charlie - are going to a small time breeder in Hamilton. She also breeds rabbits and guinea pigs, she is lovely. 
The remaining two - Willow and Zoey - are on hold for a friend of mine nearby.

Now here is the kicker. I'm getting 3 more on my trip to Hamilton..
I met a breeder in Auckland who is buying in new blood from a breeder in Hamilton, she told me about her ad on trademe so I had a look. WHAT DO YOU KNOW! She had a few self blacks! Thank god. I have been hunting for a few. I'm getting two boys, a siamese and a self black off her as well as a black fox. Here are some baby photos. Oh, the black fox is not pictures but her sister who is a chocolate fox is.


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## besty74

sell 5 and then buy 3 more, same as my idea of downsizing! lol


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## Cordane

So I'm not really sure about what to do here..
The person I'm buying mice off next weekend is thoroughly pissing me off. Sometimes I really dislike knowing as much about mice as I do, their needs, what to do and what not to do ya know? 
This person has a communal birthing tank so all her females give birth together even if they birth a week apart or more, any dominant mice are culled because they will eat the others babies - Why don't you just seperate them? She knows nothing about genetics, she has actually said she breeds pretty mice together so she will get pretty babies that sell well.. The only reason I'm buying off her at the moment is because she has a self black and I have been hunting for one for ages! She is young, but that doesn't excuse the lack of knowledge about genetics and what breeding to avoid because of assorted problems (eg. varigated to varigated). If they are pretty, they will make pretty babies. 
Then she goes on step further in annoying me with the fact that she seperates mum and babies at 3 weeks old because she ends up having pregnant young does otherwise - this is probably due to the communal birthing tank. 3 weeks old, thats to young.. Grrrrrrrrrrr
I'd rather just go to a pet shop and get some in all honesty but she does have a self black and a self beige. The self beige could help breed some black eyed siamese which would be just lovely.

Oh god...


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## Serena

Not an easy position you're in :/
Reminds me of Seafolly's wee Rant. Some people just re a little weird...

Have you already told her, that her way of handling the mice is not ideal or do you want to wait until you have your desired mice? (I'm a coward, I would do the latter ^^")


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## Cordane

Serena said:


> Not an easy position you're in :/
> Reminds me of Seafolly's wee Rant. Some people just re a little weird...
> 
> Have you already told her, that her way of handling the mice is not ideal or do you want to wait until you have your desired mice? (I'm a coward, I would do the latter ^^")


I'm a coward too. I have been giving her advice on everything I know, trying my best not to come across condescending but sometimes its very hard. I don't agree with what she does but I would like to get my desired mice first so I can, in a way, save them. I'll nurse them and get them to a decent size, tame them up and if I decide to find homes for them, I will only find the very best though in my eyes, the best here is with me.

This weekend has been entirely stressful.
My female had a surprise litter while still with the male, 4 beautiful bubs who were 5 days old when I actually saw them. 
We had to retag some of our cows because of the new tagging system (NAIT). We even pierced some virgin ears on some older cows! Poor old dears.
Yesterday, We did a bull swap with my Mum. Her bull has sold and is off to a block in Waikato but until the stock truck can come get him, he remains here and we can use him over our heifers, I'm absolutely stoked! Picture included of him for you all to enjoy.
The problem was that he had never been in a float and did not have a nose ring so getting him on the float was a huge struggle, he faught pretty strongly, mums finger was litterally peeled! Still hasn't stopped bleeding. 
Oh I could complain about so much more, but I won't.


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## Serena

I hope everything goes well with the new mice. If it does you can still tell her exactly what you think if you'd like to do so 

What a beautiful bull *_*
Why doesn't he have a nosering? I thought it's standard for bulls to have one.


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## Cordane

Serena said:


> I hope everything goes well with the new mice. If it does you can still tell her exactly what you think if you'd like to do so
> 
> What a beautiful bull *_*
> Why doesn't he have a nosering? I thought it's standard for bulls to have one.


Having a nose ring is not necessary unless you plan to show your bull. If you are showing, you must have a nose ring in your bull if he is over the age of 18 months. Even if we had some bulls who we wouldn't be showing, we would put a nose ring in as soon as we knew they would be kept entire - makes life so much easier to do anything with the bull.
I don't think my mum ever planned to sell him or any of her highlands but due to money restraints, has had to.

He is a lovely colour, I agree. He has a gorgeous face but he lacks the depth of barrell so he looks like he is all legs. He also broke his horn which is a shame but he shouldn't be here for long  I hope he is here for at least a month though, got to give the heifer he is with a chance to cycle at least once.


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## Cordane

Off to holiday in a few days, its ridiculous how much of a home body I am - I use to love going on holiday, travelling, now I'd rather stay at home with my animals and family.
Wednesday will be a busy day, I'll have 7 cages/tanks to clean, 5 of which will be set up again and the mice will be re-organised. 3 cages will be coming with me to hold the mice I'll be getting and a bigger one to get their taming started. I have been informed that they are popcorning but I'm not to fussed - they'll get lots of attention from me and training. In total I'm getting 4 mice, 2 females (black fox and a self beige) and 2 males (self black and a siamese). Since I'm going down on Thursday, I'll spend Friday driving around town having a look at all the pet stores I can find. Pet stores are like my second home nowadays, I seem to visit at least one pet store every time I go to town. 
I went out to see the cows earlier, take pictures, play with the calves. I believe I managed to take some pretty cute pictures 

All Xia's babies are still alive, thank god. All are pied blacks so that would suggest Xia doesn't carry any dilutes.
Anyway, here you go!





































Oh! And this is Hughie again - Mums bull - with his new girlfriend - Rosemary


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## southerngirl061

Such cute pics! I love the name AppleCheeks for your mousery  I know that's a little bit lat in being said, but I haven't been on in awhile, so yeah.


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## Cordane

southerngirl061 said:


> Such cute pics! I love the name AppleCheeks for your mousery  I know that's a little bit lat in being said, but I haven't been on in awhile, so yeah.


Oh love, don't worry about that being a little late - doesn't bother me at all. TK and Jesyka are absolutely adorable, they are at the stage when they love to run like mad around the paddock, tails curled over their backs and darting every where. Its so funny to watch.

The only problem is that one of our older girls, Mel, is looking like she is going to explode. She has been known to reject her calf at first so they calf has to be mothered back on to her. I'm away for 5 days from Thursday so I hope she can hold on for another week [Insert nervous smilie here]


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## southerngirl061

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!


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## Cordane

First, I will say this, if you don't want to read anything to do with culling, then don't read this. There is nothing to do with how, just the who and why I cull.

So as many of you know, I purchased some mice off a "breeder". I had a few friends purchase from her and the feedback was good though I'll admit I was a little concerned when she said she breeds to get pretty mice that sell well and that she weans at 3 weeks. I figured, 3 weeks isn't so bad, (it is bad but could be worse ya know?) and I could up their protein, give them milk bones and KMR to give them a boost and they would still be smaller than the ones I breed but not by a huge amount.
I get to her place, despite living conditions, (clean cage though over-crowded) they looked physically healthy - nice coat, clear eyes, energetic, they showed the signs of healthy mice - I found that once I got them home and really looked at them, they were far from what I first thought.

Now, to the point. Overall the average litter sizes with her mice this time was 7.5 babies per mouse (the smallest was a litter of 6, largest was 12 but they were in a communal birth tank). In my opinion, 8 babies per mouse is ok for the first few days until you identify the weaker and smaller ones. I like to keep records of growth in my baby mice from day one till about 5-6 weeks, If I find that the litter I currently have is not growing as well as the last litter, I will cull the smallest in hope that their weight gain starts to increase due to their being more milk per baby.
If overall they seem to be doing well but there is one that is a little behind, I always give it a few days and if it doesn't "catch up", I will generally cull that one as well. 
Even at 4 weeks, if there is a mouse that is smaller than its siblings, I will take that baby out every now and then and let it have a chew on some chicken, milk bones, anything that I would give to a pregnant mother. If it continues to remain small then it will either stay with me as a pet or it will be culled depending on if its sickly or just small.

Sometimes I feel heartless when I meet people who don't cull - in my eyes when they are pinkies, they have yet to experience anything other than warmth and mums milk so I have my mind set to them having yet to experience anything so they are kind of.. A "blob". Once their eyes open and they experience everything, then I have a real trouble culling, I cry and cry. When they are pinkies its more or less "eh".

Well that post seemed like a waste but I had to say it.
Sometimes talking about why I cull makes me feel happier because I know only the healthiest of the litters is going out to the public.


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## Cordane

It is ridiculous how much I miss home, Grandma and I rub each other the wrong way, push each others buttons so quickly.
Hughie is being picked up tonight around 6, such a shame because I doubt Rose has cycled yet though we can never be sure until 9 months later :lol: So far away.
I called a vet yesterday for the little wobble girl, the only vet who is open on a Sunday.. I'm never ringing them again.
The conversation went like this..
Hello such and such vet, blah blah speaking.
- Hi there, I was just wondering if you treated mice
Well its a $120 call out fee
- Oh no, I would be bringing her in. You see, I'm from Whangarei and just in Hamilton til Tuesday.
You want her treated before then?
- Well yes, I was hoping to. The vets in Whangarei don't deal with mice often.
The after hours vets don't deal with mice and I doubt the day vets would either.
- Ohk, thank you.
*vet hangs up*

How bloody rude!
Guess she won't see a vet till I get home. I leave Tuesday morning and with only one vet open today... Well I won't be able to ring and find one til Monday and its very hard to get an appointment on the same day you ring especially after the weekend..


----------



## Cordane

Our paddocks are total muck, so much rain! They are all like, if you look a few posts back, the grass in the picture of Rose and Hughie. All our cows are now varying shades of brown, they need a damn good bath, well.. shower and a brush. 
Xia and her 4 babies are doing well although the babies are popcorning, once they are in your hand close to the ground they fall asleep. So cute! I'll be getting them out twice a day for around 15 minutes a day and once they are more interested in moving around and exploring, I'll up the amount of time to around 30 minutes depending on how they do off course.

Now guys, I'm sorry but there is a bit of a rant that comes with this post.
A little while ago I adopted out one of my mice to a person I am still in contact with even today and she is slowly annoying me more and more. She is a breeder though knows nothing about genetic problems, varieties, culling, etc but she is willing to listen to me and so far has taken my advice except for today..
She doesn't have a job, I don't believe, though her partner does. She didn't have enough cages to house some males seperately, they are siblings, so she housed them together. Once they hit around 5 months, they started fighting but she kept them together. She listed them for sale and no one has showed any interest so she killed them. In my opinion, if you breed mice and you can't find a home for a few, you keep them and look after them. You don't just kill them because you can't find a home for them. I would say euthanize but they way she does it does not deserve to be called euthanizing.. 
She also has a sick doe, she was going to kill her as well with out even taking her to the vets. She decided though that she would try and feed this doe Aloe Vera since its a natural anti-biotic and if she wasn't better by the morning, it would be bye bye.

What the hell...

Well I hope everyone is having a lovely day.


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## Cordane

No rant this time so don't worry guys - just pictures and a little story.
Wendy is a rabbit and guinea pig breeder and while I was in Hamilton, I picked up a few animals for her and she gave me a guinea pig in return as I was wanting to make my duo of guineas a trio.









And while I'm at it - updated photos of Jesyka and TK


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## andypandy29us

the guinea is a cutie ... and so are the calves


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> the guinea is a cutie ... and so are the calves


Thank you  She is a little skinny but she will soon gain weight - my other guineas have doubled their weight since I got them.
We should have two more calves born soon, the cows are holding out on us... :evil: One has been looking like she will calve any day now for a few months, its ridiculous. The other one never really shows she is pregnant and just kind of.. spits a calf out like "Surprise! I was pregnant!"


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## moustress

I've been busy with RL this week and have barely had to f**t; Life is full of complciations, ups and downs, but taking care of animals is such a basically rewarding thing, isn't it? Even when things don;t always go the way you want. It's a crap shot with meeces especially.

I hear you loud and clear about dealing with oldsters; hey, I'm becomging one, so-o-o-ooo....sigh.

Olf peweople want their young relatives to do better than they did, and don't always have the perfect approach. {erhaps yo can have everything she says that bugs you end in your mind with,"I bug you, yell, and carry on because I care..."

We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world; my mother and I didn't really get on at all...with your family, you get what you get, and then, when you begin to mature, you get what you give, if you're good and lucky and if the Fates smile on you, and someone says the right thing at the right time...sometimes people just plain blow, but that's people for ya. You've gotta try to stay positive and move forward with things, I guess.

Your calves are gorgeous, and those piggies are outrageous looking!

You can keep the granny, but those critters are just lovely. a lot of work, but having animals to care for keeps life moving forward, one way or the other. As far as the sickly meeces, even a runt who is healthy may produce lovely babies of considerably larger size, if you are good and lucky.

Hang in there and rad my jsig line a few times.

translated loosely: Don't let the bastiches get you down!


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## Cordane

I probably didn't word what I said right, the 4 babies I got from a breeder in Hamilton did look physically healthy despite their size but they weren't healthy. The only girl started to wobble, gained weight and then became rather lethargic and started to eat and drink bugger all. I felt it was kindest to put her down. I sent a few videos of the girl to some vet friends and some more breeders overseas and they all said the same thing - Hereditary Motor Neuron Disease. The only way to confirm it was to let the affected one live till 3 months where she would lose muscle/weight and become paralyzed in the front legs. I couldn't let her get to that stage without feeling absolutely barbaric so I decided to euthanize the lot of them, if it was that then the brothers would be carriers - I couldn't breed from the boys knowing that they are very likely to be carriers of MND.
My Grandma and I have always rubbed each other the wrong way, its very similar to my mother and I - though we have been good for a long while now. Grandma just went to far with this recent "argument". I swore out of frustration and she has now told the family that I swore my head off at her, treated her horribly and so on - now a family member has come to me saying how ashamed they are to call me family and that I had no right to do what I did to Grandma. I still have no idea what has happened and as for now, I am in no mood to listen to them about how disrespectful I am. Oh well, I'm stuck with them. Family is Family right?
The loosely translated version makes much more sense to me - good thing to live by IMO 

Thank you Moustress for the compliments on my animals and advice, its very much appreciated. 
I hate having no animals, can't help but almost feel like something is missing from my life. I may have to give up my meecers when I move out, (eventually) because very few places to rent allow cats/dogs let alone mice and the amount I have. *sigh* Maybe just plenty of daily visits to Dads place, he has already said yes to looking after Honey so maybe a few more animals eh?

Still waiting for Melrose and Annie to spit a calf out - I am a bit impatient at time
Jesyka and TK already have a potential buyer who will come to see them in a month or two which is oh so very exciting! So hopefully, providing the weather permits, they will have their first halter-training session. Oh that could very well be absolutely hilarious.
The guineas are very cute, probably getting a bath tonight as one has an itchy spot so the expensive shampoo is meant to help with that, they end up looking like ferrets. I'll get pictures when that happens 

Time to pop inside, got to get dinner started. 'nuf sitting on the deck for me.


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## Cordane

BATH-TIME!


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## moustress

I must apoloize for my disorganized post of...was it last night...I'm in the middle of dorting out a 12 year relationship that has gone so far south that it seems like the last 10 days have been at least ten weeks.

Again, if I'm not reading well or responding coherently, I'm sorry.

I'm loving the piggie bath photo shoot.


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## Cordane

moustress said:


> I must apoloize for my disorganized post of...was it last night...I'm in the middle of dorting out a 12 year relationship that has gone so far south that it seems like the last 10 days have been at least ten weeks.
> 
> Again, if I'm not reading well or responding coherently, I'm sorry.
> 
> I'm loving the piggie bath photo shoot.


Oh don't worry and don't ever be sorry, being disorganized in a situation like that is totally understandable! I have only been through a parents divorce but thats happened twice now and yes, a few days seem like many weeks. 
The guineas did pretty well with the bath actually, one whinged a fair bit but the other just took it all in stride, started purring when it came to drying her off, it was adorable.

We go the calves in today for their first halter training session. Jesyka was a total pro. Ness gave her reassuring moos and she let me pat her all over which was fantastic. TK was a handful, Arnica was constantly mooing worryingly so he paniced and she would get grumpy. We got the halter on though, even if he did escape the race twice... 
I didn't bring my camera though, sorry guys.


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## Cordane

I've decided to.. take a risk this time. Stray from what I usually would do - just once.

Usually I would wait till at least half, if not all, of the current litter had found homes. That way, I wouldn't have to worry to much about juggling everyone, not having enough cages and such to house everyone and so on. I have a tendency to over-think things and come up with the worst possible outcome and thats all I think about so I have always been a person of habit. Though as I said, I decided to stray from habit.

My current litter is just shy of 3 weeks old so not ready to be weaned or sold for at least another few weeks. All are boys so the potential of finding homes automatically seems to decrease though if need be, I can turn to a local pet shop - giving them one male at a time to sell and they will have to contact me to get another one. Absolute last resort I swear!
Anyway, I have already made my next pairing - no, wait.. Pairings! Yes, Plural! Did I stray a bit to far? probably but I have to try right?
I've put my himilayan girl in with my siamese buck whos points have finally started to settle instead of being a huge head smudge.. and I have put my Dove Tan girl in with Junior - a dilute agouti. Originally I did have the Dove Tan girl in with my himi and siamese but that didn't work out to well, she started to beat up Ava (himi), not drawing blood but all she would have to do is walk by and thats it, she took after her. Ava is my favourite so I felt so bad..

Anyway, I'm rambling, I have to stop doing that.
So yes, two pairings, I'm excited and nervous, just a jumble of emotions.

On a totally different topic, there is a fundraiser this weekend for the Rabbit and Cavy Club which I am attending and doing some baking for the cake/sweets stall. So much baking - 12 slices and close to 100 pikelets! and thats just what I have to cook.. heh. I'm glad to help out though, they have all been so good to me.
Oh! And some exciting news, Rick rang today. Rick is the vice president of the NZ Lifestyle Highlands Society which is who we register our cows with. A position or two have opened up on the executive committee and he has asked if I would like to be nominated for one of them. WHY NOT?!


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## moustress

Ooh! Planning for new litters is always a bit exciting; I have two pairs that I'm waiting to see signs from. One pair is for tricolors with very light swrily white markings; the other is satin fawn self to satin pied pawn.

I've been so out of whack that I didn't write down the exact date I put the pairs together, but it has to be about a week to ten days...*sigh*...I slept for about six hours last night and actually napped again midmorning.

Wonderful!


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## Cordane

I used to just leave my females with the males until the started to show which since my last litter, seems to be a bad idea (mother hardly showed and gave birth while still with dad).
Moustress, how do you go about it? 
I seem to post something on here with the mention of putting a male with a female - always a record somewhere! Oh how exciting for you, I can't wait to see pictures especially of the light swirlies! Oh heck, even the fawn breeding, yours are absolutely gorgeous!

A fee squeaks here and there from both females, just because the males are pestering them.. But that's ok, I suppose they're what you call virgin maters - never used the females or males.


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## Cordane

Ummmm...
SURPRISE!!!


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## moustress

Is it the color of the dark one that's surprising?


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## Cordane

moustress said:


> Is it the color of the dark one that's surprising?


Oh no, not at all! I knew we would get a black calf from Annie.
Annie has a tendancy to never actually show she is pregnant. She kind of just spits a calf out like "SURPRISE! I was pregnant that whole time!"


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## Cordane

Oh the little heifer calf is a cheeky bugger, so cute. I'll get a few more pictures of her tomorrow afternoon after the fundraiser for the rabbit and cavy club 

In other news, my dove tan girl is pregnant - just. I saw the plug. I'm so excited!


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## Cordane

The baby boys are being weaned on Tuesday, I'm actually a little excited though I have yet to find someone who would like to adopt them. 
Xia, Mum, just pinned one of her babies down to groom there, he was all squished up against the ground, it was kind of cute.

I've been finishing off a simple rabbit hutch for my two new guinea pigs which should be arriving in the middle of September, they are absolutely adorable. The father is a pedigree coronet and the mum is an aby peruvian cross with sheltie and merino in the background - absolute fluffballs! The photo was taken a week ago, they're still rather young so they will be a lot fluffier. How cute are they?
Cooper on the left looks like a mini highland, guinea pig edition. haha. Israel on the right is just plain cute. 









I did say I would post some photos, I was going to take photos of the calves but Dad required some help adjusting the clutch in the tractor. So here is the only photo I have that you have not seen, she is adorable, Boo!









I also did a little photo-shoot with Junior and his girlfriend - Dove Tan. I have yet to name the Dove Tan but once she has her babies, she will probably go to "Sugarmice" as my goal is siamese and burmese right now. My hope with her is to produce some self blacks or black tans to help darken the points on my siamese mice. If that fails, I can breed my broken black female (Xia) with my siamese buck (Magic) which should work out right?
Anyway, photos..


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## Cordane

As per usual, I did a weight check when I put my girls in with their new boyfriends, well in this case, their first ever boyfriends, on the 21st.
At that point, the dove tan was 26g and Ava, my himi, was 25g, I usually don't put them with boys until they weigh 30g but Ava was always a smaller size and was born in May so I know she is old enough. The Dove tan looks about the size of her boyfriend who is 36g last time I weighed him even though she weighs less.

I decided I would do another weight check on the girls today(27th) to see if Ava is gaining weight (I have yet to see a plug on her though its super possible I missed it). The Dove tan has gained 6g since last weight check though she fell pregnant on the 24th. Ava is now 30g so I'm going to assume she is pregnant though fell pregnant after the Dove tan. I hope I'm right at assuming that. I'll separate them from the boys on Friday since thats cage cleaning day for the boys. I'm not sure if I should house them together for their pregnancy though..


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## Cordane

I walked passed dads shed today, the hay shed is on the other side of it. 
His shed door was slightly open, dads shed is always padlocked. Dad got home, found the padlock cut in half. Thousands of dollars of stuff stolen (over 10g of tools taken). They came in the middle of the night, we heard nothing..

I'm actually now scared to leave my home, what if they come back and break into the house, what if the hurt my animals? I don't care about items but my animals....


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## andypandy29us

im sorry to hear about your break in x x .... sounds like they were just after stuff to sell for money if they only went to one shed and didnt look around ...


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## Cordane

Yes well we only really have one shed.
We have the house and since it happened at night, we were sleeping. The sleep out is empty and the small sheds up at the yards just have halters and show stuff.
Dads shed holds the most expensive items we own, most of it is older than I am so can not be replaced. Dads taking the day off tomorrow so we can do a full check on what is actually missing. Bastards took my skill saw and drop saw, needed those to finish my guinea pig hutch!


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## Cordane

Oh bloody hell, my luck has totally run out lately.
As most of you have read, some pricks robbed us Sunday night or very very early Monday morning. We have finally made a list of all that is missing and got quote for everything we could. The chainsaw ALONE is $1,500 NZ though that is for an equivalent as this particular type has not been made for over 20 years. Its ridiculous. Then there is Dads 5/8 Wolf Drill, these things are litterally arm breakers if you aren't careful, there is nothing like it sold nowadays so we can't replace that, there was two of them.
So the insurance company won't be able to replace everything and I'm starting to thing the amount we are covered for is not going to replace everything. 
It just never ends. We are going to install a security system but they are blood expensive, we are going to get an ear bleeder out in the shed. We live 30minutes away from town so they'd rob us twice before police get here and the laws are for the criminals. No joke. If someone breaks into your house and robs you, you catch them and threaten them with a gun or something - even if you just hit them with a frying pan - you will be the one who gets in trouble and potentially goes to jail. Basically, unless the person robbing you physically hurts you, you cannot do anything or you will go to jail. I hope I worded that right.
We also installed a sensor light, but that didn't work. The timer was stuffed so we had to return that.

I sold 2 male mice to a friend of mine who lives about an hour away and I wasn't planning on heading that way for months but her brother lives near us. Anyway.
Today I get ready to leave, have my container ready for the mice. I put one in the container and he freaked, totally freaked. Banged against the sides repeatedly and then managed to weasel his way out, jumping off the table (its maybe 30cm high) and well.. he runs under the table and keeled over and left this earth. I just sat there bawling my eyes out.
I went round to her brothers place anyway to deliver the other boy she wanted. I stand at the door knocking for like 10 minutes and no one answers so I decided to walk back to my car and just leave. - I called this person first to make sure I had the right address and that they should be home (no answer) and then someone walks out of the house. I ask where the brother is and she says he is at work and isn't going to his sisters till tomorrow. I have this mouse, in a little container, the size of an ice cream container and they were just going to leave him in there till tomorrow without telling me. I swear.. some people GRRRRRRR!!!!!

This friend is a good friend and she takes good care of her animals - she already has some mice from me who are doing well but either way, I drove home with the mouse, I couldn't just leave him there.. I'll drop him off tomorrow so he is in the container for as little time as possible.


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## Seafolly

Yikes. : / Our farm was robbed once. The tractor, trailer, everything was gone. The police said it's common to have that happen then have some peace for a couple of years while they wait for you to restock, then break in again. My father installed a security system that was a little over the top but it seems to have done the trick. So I doubt they'll be bothering you any time soon!


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## andypandy29us

Im sorry to hear about ur mouse ... the laws here protect the criminals too ... if a theif breaks into you house steals your tv, falls over with it and hurts himself they can get away with sueing you for any injuries occured ... its stupid .... if some one broke into my house they would get my baseball bat round their ears and if i got in trouble then so be it .... i have to protect my child .....


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## Cordane

I don't believe we can sue people here so that's a plus 
But yes, if I were you, I'd do the same!


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## andypandy29us

I do think now as a single parent of a young girl i could get away with it if i claimed i thought they were coming to attack me or my daughter ...especially if they tried to come upstairs


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> I do think now as a single parent of a young girl i could get away with it if i claimed i thought they were coming to attack me or my daughter ...especially if they tried to come upstairs


I don't see why not. Being a single parent is not easy, I am not one myself but my parents separated when I was 4 ish. 
We wouldn't be able to do that though, no proof of intent or something. Its really only if they hurt you. Bloody silly


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## Cordane

So my boy Basil is finally slowing down. He is 27 months so he is getting on in his years. It's sad watching the decline..
He has always been a mouse that gained weight easily so he is pretty chubby - last weight check at 45g. He is a pet shop mouse by the way. Many of my others only reach that when pregnant
His coat is thinning, he is becoming less active. Just last week he would be running on his wheel for an hour or so. Always out exploring. Now.. He goes on his wheel for maybe 5 minutes, eats, drinks, then goes back into hiding and you won't see him for 24 hours..

Oh my poor old man


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## Cordane

Finally, a gap in this horrible weather. Its about time! 3 days into Spring, come one sun! I get out there, bit cloudy but no rain, start taking photos and bam! Camera dies, flat battery :evil: 
Heres the whole THREE pictures I managed to take..


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## Cordane

I'm ecstatic! For reasons other than mice, cows, or having a decent sleep. I'm at the point of tears because I am happy. I never thought we would get any of our tools and stuff back, never in a million years did I think that we may find the person who broke into Dads shed.
We spent a few days last week going around every store we could think of in Whangarei that deals with tools, getting quote but also letting them know that if any of this stuff comes in, to let us or the police know.

It paid off!
Some of our more expensive tools showed up at one of the stores and they managed to get the id of this person and everything.
Heres hoping!


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## andypandy29us

thats fantastic news lets hope they get him and lock him up ... im really happy 4 u ... this has put a smile on my face this morning so i can only imagine how happy you are feeling .... lets hope it the beginning of a new trend x


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> thats fantastic news lets hope they get him and lock him up ... im really happy 4 u ... this has put a smile on my face this morning so i can only imagine how happy you are feeling .... lets hope it the beginning of a new trend x


What did the dude expect when he brought in stuff like the wolf 5/8 industrial drill which has not been made for over 30 years? and the Makita 5/8 drill which has not been made for about 10 years. Not a bright fella. I'm so excited though! This month is looking up, finally. Now we just need some sun and my last cow to calve and I suppose finding a job would help too heh.


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## MojoMouse

So much news! 

That's dreadful about the theft, but yay, hope they have enough evidence to charge the thieves. There's something particularly low about theft of personal property.

I'm saddened to hear the handsome Basil is finally slowing down. Poor little guy - he's pretty old for a mouse, and he's had a great life since he moved in with you. He's my fave out of all your mice. Junior certainly takes after him, and his babies with your pretty dove tan girl should be beautiful!

Your two new guinea pigs are just adorable. I loved the bath photoshoot. So cute!

The calf pics are just precious! Particularly the last one of the little one peeking out from behind mum cow.  So, how many calves have been born in the last couple of months? I've lost track!

Congrats on being considered for a position in the exec committee of the Highlands Society. That must be an honour. What is the organisation about?


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## andypandy29us

no one said theives were smart lol thats y they are theives ...


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## Cordane

Watching a show called "Puppy Bowl", I suppose its essentially puppies playing ball. Its hilarious hearing them get done for "Illegal napping" and "Illegal biting". Its absolutely adorable and every now an then a puppy will slip and look like they're walking on ice. There's a bloody water bowl in the ground in the middle of the field - a few take a dive every now and then. This thing goes on for 2 hours or something! Got to love Pet Week. Gets a bit boring after a while. Never thought I would say that puppies get boring.

Back to a mouse related topic..
Most of my cages are soooo simple. House, water bottle, food bowl, wheel and then a tp roll or egg carton piece which when I say it as a list.. well I feel mean. My girls get hammocks and such but still.
I want to make a super fun tank for all my girls to live in when they aren't old enough for breeding or just weaned a litter. Most of the ground is pretty covered once I put the nest boxes and what not in but I want to use the available space I have ABOVE it all, the tanks are as high as they are wide - 15in or so but my problem is that I need a way for the mice to get up to the hanging things.. Oh I'll figure it out eventually. At the moment I only have two females who aren't pregnant yet so they are in a 10g tank because a 30x15in is just to big for them alone..


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## andypandy29us

i got some bungee cord from the pound shop and 2 skipping ropes for a pound and ive cut them up and hung them for my mice to climb on ... they love it the floor is full and so is the top of the cage .... they are spoiled lol


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## Cordane

Hi guys! 
I've been getting so excited to give you guys updates on everything that's happened here though it's not all totally exciting..

So Melrose still hasn't calved and it's starting to worry us, she was put to a bull in October sometime and cows are pregnant for 9 months ish, even if he missed her first cycle, he should have gotten the second but apparently not -.- this is ridiculous! If she doesn't calve by the end of the month we will get a vet out to check on her. She's an 8 year old cow, she's got many years left in her! Many highlands are still known to be calving at 22!
Mice babies everywhere! As some or all of you have read, my Siamese gave birth yesterday to 10 babies of which I culled 3 runty boys. Then Dove surprised me and gave birth to 15 - I think - beautiful babies! I'm glad it wasn't a huge amount. I culled 5 to make it a little easier for her, I believe 6 are girls. Ill continue to cull runty ones until I see pigment but I'm super happy  Dove gave birth at 18 days.. Bit worried but they all seem to be ok 
Here's the twist, some babies from Dove have pink eyes which I wasn't totally expecting. I know Juniors dad is P/p as one of his parents was a fawn but I thought "P/p with P/P, what's the chance he is P/p?" just never thought he would. So I've kepts all the pink eyed babies though I can't remember numbers. I think I culled to 6 girls and 4 boys though I could be wrong. Only one boy has pink eyes - kept him because I'm curious if he will be argente or dove. Rather exciting huh? Though no doubt I'll soon grow impatient because I'll want fur to come in all ill want to guarantee sex..

Magic has found a home, delivering him tomorrow along with Ella my Burmese fox. Although I'd love to keep Magic, he has nipped and never settle down but I can't always use him again if I want.

Applying to the pet shop tomorrow for a job, I know a few people there who may help get me a job - got the heads up that they were looking for a weekend worker. Oh! And I'm shopping for things to make mousey toys from! It's ridiculous how excited I am!

Now for the bad news.
Bout time for my annual diabetes test. It runs in the family plus I often get hypoglycemic. Been super thirsty lately. Always get the symptoms, never have it but mums worried so gotta shut her up.


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## MojoMouse

Good luck with the job! The pet shop should jump at the chance of employing someone like you.


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## Cordane

MojoMouse said:


> Good luck with the job! The pet shop should jump at the chance of employing someone like you.


Awww! You're sooo sweet! Thank you. I hope so! If not, I'll offer to volunteer. Maybe of I do a good job, they'll offer me a job when one comes along.
It's a small pet shop, like tiny, smaller than my house - out house is smaller than dads man cave. They sell fish, rabbits, guinea pigs. They have the odd budgie or canary, often have brown shavers and the odd puppy or kitten here and there. They don't sell mice though would like to. The boss is new, started a month ago and it's ridiculous how much the place has improved in such a short time.


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## andypandy29us

glad the pet shop is geting better ... with your animal experience they would be silly not to employ you ... all exciting with babies everywhere x good look with them all


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> glad the pet shop is geting better ... with your animal experience they would be silly not to employ you ... all exciting with babies everywhere x good look with them all


Officially applied yesterday  The boss lived in Scotland, he used to own Highlands so we had a lovely long chat about them and rats and mice.

I feel like a cupcake.. Something sweet. Mousse will do. 
Moving on.

When I went to town I also brought some fleece so I can make some more hammocks. Up until now I have been using Dads polar-fleeces which has huge burn holes in the front so I only used the back. Boring Navy blue.. Fleece is blimmin expensive! Between $8 and $18 a metre. Thank god I can make a lot of things from a metre of fleece.














































And heres a better picture of the fleece itself.
Yeah ok.. Boots. But its colourful!


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## andypandy29us

those hammocks are fab ... you are very tallented ... lol u should sell em im the pet shop x


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## Cordane

Although its only 1.50pm as I type this, its been a bloody long and stressful half day! Some things went well and then one thing went wrong and oi vei..

We got the calves in for halter training today which went rather fantastically.
Jesyka was as expected. Slap a halter on her, walk her out, tie her up and she will stand there quite happily. Mum licking her cheek just to tell her its ok, she is a total sweetie and it will be a shame to sell her. Not bloody bad at all for her second time on the halter.
Then we got in Ariya, nervous as anything but mums worrying moo's weren't helping. First time on the halter, its to be expected. She settled quickly even if she was pacing up and down the race for a little bit trying to get back to mum. 
And of course, TK. You can tell he is a boy - won't give up easily. I will not be broken! He's cute though. Didn't kick or flail about so he did well for one of Arnica's calves.

And then things went wrong.. 
We noticed Rosemary had a bald spot on her neck - LICE! :evil: So we had to get her back in the yards and we had to get her mother in otherwise Rose would freak. She seems to have some separation anxiety which can make things a little difficult. 
We get them in the yards, pen Melrose in the covered pen and start trying to get Rose in. All hell broke loose. Dad picked up a food bin that was a little bit in front of Rose and she took to him. He jumped a railing which is taller than me and no joke.. If he had of been a split second slower, he would have been on the ground and pummelled by Rose, her horns and her feet. It would have been like watching a rodeo where the guy falls off and the steer takes to him.. Rose hooked his leg, he almost fell, used his steel rod cattle stick to get her away though it failed to work and she bent it into a bloody circle! Finally got her in the race and she looked like she would try clear the railing to get to Dad... I couldn't believe this happen.

Good thing is..
Dads ok and she will be going into the freezer. Bet she will taste good though.

Oh right! Pictures.
Little Mister TK





























Sweetheart Jesyka. Such a dream.





























And of course, Little Ariya. You'll laugh at the last picture 





































And there does come a time when after all that flailing and throwing yourself around that you just give up. - Don't worry, she did stand up afterward and was fine. She settled pretty quick after that.


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## Cordane

Hiiii Everyone :dance 
So Dad's car has been at the panelbeaters getting fixed after some idiot crashed into it - no one was hurt, the car was parked and Dad was shopping. Insurance covers it but the point being, it should be done tomorrow! I get my car back which is fantastic and means I can pick up Cooper and Israel on Sunday! I'm so excited to get them, been waiting for a month now, but what do you expect when you are using a inter-island pet transport...








And of course, we got Melrose and her adorable little calf into the yards today, the previous owner warned us that Melrose doesn't feed her calves sometimes so we are a little worried. We haven't seen her feed and her stomach is sunken in but when we think about it, if she hasn't eaten, she would be dead by now but she is very very much alive and AS CUTE AS EVER. Still haven't thought of a name for her though which will be bloody difficult as always.. We will get there eventually.















The insurance company has pulled through and we should be getting replacements for everything in a few days so I'm bloody happy, means I can finish my last rabbit/guinea pig hutch which is more of a "just incase any don't get along" cage than a "lets get more" cage. I hope it will remain that way.. I need a job before I get more animals..
I hope I hear from the pet shop soon, I know they weren't hiring but still - I like to think I'd be a wonderful addition to their staff ray 
Bun also got on her harness today, got out and about enjoying the sun while it lasted. It ended up pouring down shortly after she got on her harness but she happily played under the deck til the rain stopped. Here she is 









I swear I had more to update you guys on but apparently not..
Sorry guys.


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## Cordane

So as many of you may have read, my boys arrived yesterday! Super happy with them - little fluff balls and SOOOOOO soft it isn't funny. They're a little nervous so I'm letting them settle for a few days, adjust to being in a non-moving home.

Elfynn is doing well, Dad finally let me feed her by myself today - I can cross that off my bucket list! She's doing fantastically. She's been running full noise around the paddock, kicking, tail up, prancing around. Its hilarious to watch but I'm so glad she is.. enjoying life at last. She is taking to the bottle well - 4L a day.

I combined Doves and Ava's litter yesterday. I was so nervous about it but it went really well. I decided that I would put in two houses, mix the babies up between the two but by morning they were all in one  Eyes have started to open so I decided to do another photoshoot. It was more of a trial run which in my eyes didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I will have to try a few different ideas, new props and such


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## andypandy29us

the baby meeces look fab


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## Cordane

Still trialing different props..


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## Serena

aq, they are adorable 
I like your use of props. It's different than the normal "baby in a bowl" or "baby on hand" pictures ^^


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## Cordane

Serena said:


> aq, they are adorable
> I like your use of props. It's different than the normal "baby in a bowl" or "baby on hand" pictures ^^


I'm tempted to print them out, make an album of all my favourites. I've already printed out the baby present one.
I suck at baby in hand ones, never gets the colours right for me. Plus on other forums, I always see people taking pictures of their show mice with props and I'm jealous! Mind you, I'm jealous of a lot of people's mice, so many varieties aren't available here. Gotta try make my mice look as good as others.


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## Cordane

Sometimes I wonder if people actually read what I type here. Honestyly, its ok if you don't but I can't help but wonder.

So heres an update on.. well.. everything I can think of.
An adult friend of mine had to go get a breast reduction, she has been fighting to be allowed to get this for many many years. She became a M cup after pregnancy and had persistant back problems. She finally got her breast reduction and sadly for her, it hasn't all been easy. There were problems before her op and after. People calling "child protective services" saying that the father of their 3 kids was unfit to care for them while she was away and blah blah blah. To make matters worse, she is back in hospital again. Infection. Her husband has been nice enough to keep me posted but there isn't much to tell. No idea when she will be home. Poor love.

Dads been off work for almost 2 weeks now, first it was to help me with little Elfynn to get her feeding properly and in the paddock and then he decided to take a few more days off to spread lime and fertiliser since the place had dried out with all the sun. 7 tonne left to go and what do you know, it starts pissing down before he can spread it.. This place is muddy, horrible, saturated. Almost every where you step, you sink to your ankles in mud. - Ok, not every where but most of the paddocks. 
I'm super tired myself, waking up every day at 7 so Elfynn can have her morning feed. She's such a cutie! But today was horrible, not because of her though. Daylight savings started here so the clocks had to be set forward an hour. The alarm I use is on my ipod so I set my ipod forward an hour so I'd be up in time, turns out my ipod does this automatically as well. I'm awake two hours early. Showering at 5am. Bloody silly! I'll chuck up a few photos of Elfynn as well.

I also got some of my babies out for a photoshoot today, frustrating, annoying yet cute and fun. They are sort of popcorning. Not hugely, they are just skittish though I shall perservere and handle them daily as always - probably doesn't help that I have 13 of the suckers. Oh but they are cute! Their coat is a little.. oily looking to me so I have started a preventative mite treatment.
I'm still deciding who I am going to keep though but I'll get there before weaning. Luckily I have found homes for 4 of them who will leave on the 29th of October. I'm so happy. They lady has been emailing me heaps, asking all sorts of questions to be prepared for owning mice. Oddly enough, she hasn't asked a single question that I thought "Well this is easy to answer"

Oh and I also got my guineas out for a photoshoot though turns out, my guinea picture taking skills sucks so badly!

I can't believe I almost forgot!
We got the calves in for halter-training today so.. put simply, a lot of pictures.


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## andypandy29us

I love reading your posts and looking at the pics ......  ... think im going to get myself a box and decorate it and put props in to take pics of my mice too ... will have to see if i can find a box big enough to put my daughter in so i can get some good pics of her too


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## AyJay658

Is that a spotty mouse?? And I love the three colour striped one =)


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> I love reading your posts and looking at the pics ......  ... think im going to get myself a box and decorate it and put props in to take pics of my mice too ... will have to see if i can find a box big enough to put my daughter in so i can get some good pics of her too


I should probably get myself a box sometime.. Would really help taking pictures of my guinea pigs.
My set-up for my mice is so basic. A never been used rubbish bin, turned upside down. White blouse layed over it. No joke - thats how I do mine haha. Having them on a box or a glass helps too, that way if the mouse is skittish, they won't be able to run away easily.


AyJay658 said:


> Is that a spotty mouse?? And I love the three colour striped one =)


My siamese with a strategically placed stripe - she is rather cute!


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## Cordane

I've been wanting to type an update for ages but never knew what to say an for some reason, couldn't bring myself to write anything. Don't worry, nothing bad has happened really. Honest!
I have been trying to avoid mouse forums for a little while though not successfully. I have felt rather discouraged lately with my mice breeding, it got to the stage when I would look at my mice and only ever see the faults, poor colour, tiny ears, short tails, poor face shape, the list goes on. I just couldn't see anything good about my mice.
I must admit, deciding to take a break from the forums was a good idea. I was able to focus on my mice and not compare them to the well bred, stunning show typed mice you often see on here, heck, even the pet shop mice look stunning. After much decussion with sugarmice and some breeders over in Australia, (including the lovely Mojomouse) I have managed to.. change my view point. Although my mice aren't great, they are a good start to one day being great. I understand that even though they would never be show quality in my life-time, they'll be a good start for someone else in the future 

Well that sounded somewhat soppy.

Elfynn had her first training session on the halter on Sunday, I thought I saw her limping but disgarded that because calves often walk funny when on the halter for the first time. Turns out she was limping, it wasn't noticeable till yesterday and now you see a limp in every step.. Sooo the vet will be out in an 90 minutes or so. She is still putting weight on it so its not broken. There is no swelling that I can feel so its unlikely to be a sprain, there is no heat felt so luckily no infection and you can press everywhere on that leg without her flinching. My conclusion is its something in or around the hoof. Need to get the vet out to confirm and also to be able to give her any sort of pain relief. Few hundred down the drain for that, most spent on the call out fee since we are 30 minutes or so from the vets itself and since they moved location, you can no longer bring animals in to see them. Right pain in the bum!









Oh! I made a few new toys for my females, they absolutely love the hammocks, they fall asleep in them!









Here's an ugly yet cute picture for you. We have some new arrivals here at Cordane Highlands, but not of the mouse, rodent or cattle kind. Some Starlings! They were born on Tuesday I believe.









Out of the two litters I had last month, I am keeping 3  A siamese, piebald black tan and.. I think she may be burmese but I'm not sure.




































The siamese has yet to be named but the piebald black tan is called Saphire - Saph for short. And the possible burmese is Opal 

I've made an appointment for an ECG, recommended by my Mums Cardiologist. You see, my Mum has Wolff Parkinsons White Syndrome. To explain shortly what that is.. The heartbeat is controlled by electrical signals that are controlled in a highly co-ordinated way. From birth, someone with Wolffs is born with an extra pathway for these electrical signals to travel through, essentially creating a short cut. This causes an irrigular heartbeat. Can lead to all sorts of problems. 
Turns out, its hereditary so I have to be tested. I doubt I'll have it but if I do, I need to know.
So thats on Monday at 3.30 

I think thats all for now.


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## andypandy29us

Im glad you have found something to post about  the calf is looking fab so good luck with the vets visit  .... I know whatyou mean about everyone else's mice looking better than your own ... I have serious mouse envy here and I think your mice look fab  am loving all the photo shoots and I think I have photographers envy too ....  Good luck with ur ECG too x


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## Cordane

Welling gosh! I didn't post an update on the vet visit.
When I rang up the vets that morning they said that a vet would be out around 11. I figured if I get Elfynn in at 10.45, she would be in the yards ready and waiting. The vets are off pretty much always late, I was totally shocked when a vehicle came down our drive at 9.30! What the heck?! Yep, it's the vet - a very weird vet. Who arrives that early? 
So the diagnosis of the limp is joint ill. Joint ill is when an infection in the navel travels to the legs. That's not all.. The area where the umbilical cord exits the stomach lining has not healed shut like it should. It's called an umbilical hernia. Luckily for Elfynn, hers is maybe a finger width in diameter so there is likely nothing to worry about but it makes us question if she will be able to be a future breeding cow. Some hernias can be genetic and it seems like Melrose, her mother, may have one.

As for the ECG, I doubt they'll find anything. They never do when I'm sick. Starts to make you feel like you are insane sometimes, feeling sick but no reason for it..
There is a chance that my anxiety/stress/depression is a side effect from Wolffs Parkinson's White Syndrome but I doubt it.


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## Cordane

A little update for you all.
So I had the ECG yesterday and as I suspected, nothing is wrong with me. Mind you, my Mum has multiple ECG's that said she didn't have anything wrong, it wasn't until she ended up in hospital that they found out she had Wolff Parkinsons White Syndrome.

The police called yesterday. They had a search warrant and actually arrested a guy, FINALLY! I mean, we essentially handed him to them on a plate. The place he sold our items to wrote his license plate number down, took a copy of his drivers license and even got the guy on video. It shouldn't have taken them so long! He has sold it all of course, no trace of our stuff. Not that we need it, we got pretty much everythig covered by insurance - except those odd 80 year old items which were still going strong.

Oh, and pictures. I did a little photoshoot with Cooper and Israel so here are the two best pictures!









And my three keepers. Opal, Saf and ... well I'll think of a name.


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## andypandy29us

fantastic pictures again ... so glad they caught the thieves even tho they didnt get ur stuff back it must make u guys smile  .... did you sort out a box for your guineas .. they are sitting so beautifully


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> fantastic pictures again ... so glad they caught the thieves even tho they didnt get ur stuff back it must make u guys smile  .... did you sort out a box for your guineas .. they are sitting so beautifully


It did actually, we've never been so popular in our lives - so many police people ringing including a victims advisor haha.
I thought I would get an actual box you sit them in but due to not having much money, I decided to find another way. We actually got 4 wine glasses through a promotion thing from the supermarket and the box is a perfect size for guineas and my rabbit - Maya - so I put that on the wood box, against the wall and put paper around the box, worked wonders except there is one flaw. Sometimes the guineas decide to back up and end up almost falling off the box but otherwise its fantastic. Guinea pigs aren't jumpers, feet firmly on some hard surface. 
I did another photoshoot like thing yesterday with my rabbit Maya, she looks so angry when she is face on with the camera but this is her best picture. Shes a bit big according to Netherland Dwarf show standards but I don't care - 1.1kg of bunny. She's adorable


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## andypandy29us

she looks adorable .... such a cute bunny my sister used to have netherland dwarfs....


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## Cordane

I thought it had been longer than almost 3 weeks since I posted.. hmmm. Just letting you know, there should be a fair few pictures, if there isn't.. can someone slap my hand through the computer screen? :lol:

Right, first update. I did a photoshoot a while back with my guineas - all 5 of the fluffy buggers  First up are the boys, Cooper and Israel. Cooper is the DE Gold, Israel is the Torti. Their coats are finally getting longer, I can't wait to see how long it will get. Considering their background consists of Merino, Sheltie, Peruvian and Coronets, they should have rather long hair. SHOULD.












































Here's their Daddy - Angus.








According to Lisa, his breeder and my boys breeder, Angus was the super tiny runt so she kept him, feeling sorry for him. He has since turned out to be one of her best male piggies and breeders 

Now the girlies! First is Abbie, then Athea and lastly, Boxa.

































































And of course, now for a few mousies! Topaz and Pearl to be exact - and one extra.





























The second picture is of Pearl, the last is of Topaz.

As for an actual update on whats been happening in my.. boring life - it has been revolving around feeding Elfynn 3 times a day. 
The Maungatapere Primary School Ag day was on the 27th, we were invited to go and bring along some of our animals  We took two calves, Elfynn and Jesyka, and a 2yr old heifer called Alyx. 
Elfynn totally stole the show! Jesyka took it all in her stride but was very nervous to begin with. Oddly enough, so was I. Usually we attend the Poroti Ag day which is a small school, usually only around 40 people attend if you are lucky. As for Maungatapere, its more like 200+. What a crowd! 
So an interesting little story from the day. A guy who use to go to school with my Dad showed up at the Ag day, turns out he lives just down the road. Anyway, he has a son who only has 5% vision so has to use his hands to "see". Many people, when the want to pat one of our cows, go and grab for the horns or scratch the face which they hate. Where they grab is out of the cows vision. Point being, she let this almost blind kid handle her everywhere. Touch the horns, face, body, legs. EVERYTHING. I was absolutely amazed.
Over the years, we have learnt that the cows know who is there to piss them off, want to touch them and who needs to touch them. They know before the person even gets near them and will tell us by how the stand/react.

Our stud bull Moffatt, a lot of.. young men, want to touch his horns to prove their "manly-ness". Moffatt will stamp his foot to the ground if any of those people walk by. Its that simple.

And lastly..
When Dad built our house about 15 years ago, he also built a sleep out as my uncle was staying with us for a while. He moved out not long after it was built so it has been empty for years. Since my birthday is coming up and so is Christmas, I asked Dad if I could convert it into a rodent room. he said YES! 
We had a look at it over the weekend, sorting out what needs to be done and making sure everything is still in good condition. Well turns out the window and door leak which isn't that surprising, but the water has made some of the beams in the wall have started to rot, becoming soft so they will need to be replaced, some walling will need to be put up and floor needs to be replaced but that won't take much. The deck also needs to be made larger and stronger and a veranda thing installed. Painting needs to be done, water and electricity installed and so on. 
Should be completely finished by Christmas as over the next few months, we are super busy with shows and other plans.

A few more pictures to end this post with 

Before we started :












































And what we did on Sunday. The last picture.. well underneath a few things is the deck.


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## andypandy29us

wow thats fab news having a mouse house .... just think of all them beauties you can breed  you will have to come over the the uk for a visit and take some back with you


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> wow thats fab news having a mouse house .... just think of all them beauties you can breed  you will have to come over the the uk for a visit and take some back with you


I'd do that in a heart-beat but alas, importing mice is illegal so no super fancy mice for me


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## andypandy29us

thats such a shame x x


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## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> thats such a shame x x


I would die for some rexs, tri colours and blues. Oh I would LOVE some blue mice. Oh gosh and some reds and brindles would be AMAZING - to match the cows :lol:

But for now, I'll settle for my current mice.
Piebald blacks, champagnes, siamese, burmese, blacks, dove tans, black tans, himi, I think thats actually it - for now.

Oh! Something a little bit exciting.
Sugarmice was a right gem and agreed to a swap with me! I really need an emoticon which bounces up and down with excitment.
She is getting a siamese doe and my big dove tan girl while I'm getting these beauties, (and a PEW not shown) :
















And the best part, the self black is a buck! I needed an unrelated buck. :love1


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## andypandy29us

thats brill news  :gwavebw how about that for a jumping smilie


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## Cordane

Update in my life 
First of all, its the 13th today in the land of New Zealand - MY BIRTHDAY! I'm home alone for a few hours while Dad does some work for a local transport company who need a certified Welder and since he use to work there like.. a decade ago, they called him up. Once he is home, apparently we are going shopping!  And then I'm going out for Thai with my Mum, Dad and Graham  Oh what a day to look forward to - just need some sun!









I mentioned in my last post that I was going to be receiving a black tan doe and self black buck, sadly for me, the owners cat decided she was not getting enough attention and did something about it.. she lost 3/4 or so of her mouse population in a few days.. Poor love. 
Speaking of, I'm doing to 7 mice these days, 2 boys and 5 girls - one of which should be pregnant thankfully 

Oh! We have also had two gorgeous new arrivals at the Cordane Stud - a guinea pig and a dainty wee calf!
The first to arrive was my guinea pig, Tobi. He is technically a coronet merino though its been carried through a few generations so is rather poor quality but he is ADORABLE! I introduced him to my big boys, Cooper and Israel, with no luck. Things went badly so Tobi was removed and lives inside with me. I've had him for a little over a month actually, he is only 10 weeks old as well! Young bugger. 629g at 10 weeks which everyone says is HUGE but in my eyes he is still so tiny. 
So.. as always, pictures! I decided to try get a little christmasy 






























And of course, the dainty wee calf. Her mother is a hereford mix so the calf is a real "bitzer". Alice was purchased by some neighbours of ours down the road, for the freezer. Haha, that didn't work! She jumped the fence every week to come here and eventually the owners gave up trying to get her back so we purchased her, 9 months later, out pops a calf! How cute is she?









Lastly, an update on my rodent room. I'll be able to move my mice in next week! Plumbing will be done this weekend and then its all a go!


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## ThatCertainGlow

Happy birthday, Cordane!  That is a wild looking... cake, maybe?

Alice appears to be a sweetie. Cow's might be deceivingly sweet looking though, I wouldn't know. Hope the calf grows strong. Do you plan to milk her soon? I was going to say how wonderful for you, with the new mice, but, oh dear! 

I went through a whole crazy cave woman thing of "my chickies, no take!" with my cats when I had chicks brooding in the house. Other people went through the room they were in, and I just couldn't trust everyone to completely shut the door %100. My house-mate thinks my bungee cord/ strapped in, thing I plan to safeguard the mice is overkill, considering the mice will be in a room behind a shut door. I think there is no such thing as overkill in this case... Poor girl, and her mice.

Your rodent room looks great! Do I see art drawn on the upper ceiling edge?


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## Cordane

ThatCertainGlow said:


> Happy birthday, Cordane!  That is a wild looking... cake, maybe?
> 
> Alice appears to be a sweetie. Cow's might be deceivingly sweet looking though, I wouldn't know. Hope the calf grows strong. Do you plan to milk her soon? I was going to say how wonderful for you, with the new mice, but, oh dear!
> 
> I went through a whole crazy cave woman thing of "my chickies, no take!" with my cats when I had chicks brooding in the house. Other people went through the room they were in, and I just couldn't trust everyone to completely shut the door %100. My house-mate thinks my bungee cord/ strapped in, thing I plan to safeguard the mice is overkill, considering the mice will be in a room behind a shut door. I think there is no such thing as overkill in this case... Poor girl, and her mice.
> 
> Your rodent room looks great! Do I see art drawn on the upper ceiling edge?


The cake is really heavy and sweet, brilliant for a birthday cake! Its just a plain old chocolate cake with marscarpone based chocolate icing and maltesers on top and between layers. The top two cakes are a different recipe but hey - they have ground almonds in them. Yum Yum!

Nope. No milking. In all honesty, we don't milk in of our cows even though we could. That is more something you would do with a dairy herd while ours are predominantly beefies (except Alice who has some dairy in her). The calf will no doubt grow really well, hybrid vigour and all that. Plus she is almost the same height as a pure highland heifer born back in August! Leggy little bugger. Alice is just a paddock cow but she is a good Mum. She has settled down A LOT since she came here but I believe that's because her paddock mates are all show animals (you can approach them in a paddock and brush them easily).

Oh that would drive me batty! Luckily here its only Dad and I and I can trust him to shut doors properly and so on. Its his brothers kids that I can't trust but they are officially banned from here - they have let my bunny out a few times but luckily she often comes when called  Even better yet is that the mouse house has a lock on the door! Both sides  My cats are pretty good with my animals but they act more like dogs than anything so that probably makes a huge difference.
As for the art things, yeah. Just stencil and paint. Its what the room looked like before but I couldn't stand that much pink!

And another small update, WE HAVE WATER! Dad has finished the plumbing in the mouse house, its just the farm supply but its only to wash the cages with so I'm bloody happy. Suppose that means I should vacuum again and move the meecers in!
I need to make a sign.. haha


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## ThatCertainGlow

Mmm, don't think I'd take on milking a whole dairy herd, but I for sure would give the morning milking, of one cow, with dairy breeding, a go. lol Leaving the rest of the day for the calf. That's too much yogurt, and butter, for me to pass up trying for. 

Yeah, it drove me batty, for sure. Actually, I might be worrying more than I should as these cats proceeded to be AMAZING with the young chickens. They also were really good to the baby goat I took care of (not mine), who was indoors due to him arriving with a problem using his legs. (She had him in splints!) When the neighbor's dog broke his back (while they were out of town), I had one cat running to tell me the dog needed more pain meds, right before the dog ever whined; the other cats were sitting around him, purring, and bringing him toys (he was in our kitchen). It was really sweet. I'm concerned about the youngest one, she is new (2.5 yrs with me) and she's caught a wild mouse before. However, the other kitties had a history of catching and eating birds, so who knows.

I adore my housemate because I can trust him to do preventative stuff, like shut doors. He's been that way from the day I met him over 20 years ago. Only finally agreed to live with him after promises, in writing, to care (lifelong), for my cats should anything happen to me, and I got supportive acceptance on the chickens and mice.  Although, the chickens were too old, now, to be moved (9-10 yrs), but I will have chickens here, sometime. The straps are for next year, when the pet sitter is taking care of the mice. I guess I'm hoping if she doesn't need to undo the straps to give them water, then if she forgets about the door, they will still be ok. I hope to have enough food in the cages.

Congrats on the water! Now,that's the kind of birthday gift I'd love! Plumbing, in a mouse room. Is the room outdoors? I guess it doesn't get terribly hot there. I think that ceiling looks really fun, but granted, it didn't quite show as pink in the photo. It appeared to match the floor.


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## Cordane

Whyyy not? I mean you could afford to buy your own milking shed so you just stick the cups on the teats and the cups do all the work (sort of) and you can sell all the milk you don't use to a dairy company and they'll deal with it! Except you would need to get up pretty early.. Mind you, that's a job I intend to do sometime next year (a family friend is moving back up here and owns a dairy farm)  
My cats are really good with my animals, except my bunny hates them.. but oh do the cows LOVE them and they love the cows. Its quite amusing 
Oh! I would love a housemate like that, well Dads my housemate so I spose I do!  I'm definitely not looking forward to moving out, finding a house that will allow all my animals is going to be a right nightmare! Eugh.. And then I'd probably have to get a room-mate. Oh god..

I'm super happy, all the mice (except Basil who is 29 months) have moved out into the mouse room. Everything is sorted, just need a plug for the sink now.. haha. Yep, the mouseroom is outdoors, its probably 10-15m from the house itselfs. 4 windows - 3 of which open and there is electricity out there so I can turn the fan on if it gets way to hot. It doesn't get to hot here.. 30 degrees celcius is probably the most it gets and thats not terribly often. 20's is the average though so we shall see how hot it gets in there. The pink itself is like a dull magenta I spose and since I'm not a fan of pink, it had to go. Plus my camera finds it easier to focus on mice with a white background 

I will have to go out and get pictures now that its a bit more full.. It still looks really empty..


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## Cordane

So here it is! 98% finished. Just needs a few final touches to make it feel more like a mouse house than an empty shed with mice.. A few pictures here and there and a calender will do very nicely.

Without further a-due
From the entrance :









Empty tanks and such, food shelf above 









The other side. The OVO has my pregnant girl Xia in it. Nice and simple. The red lid tub has her man in it while the others are empty.









Next to the sink is my other girlies. Ava, Saf, Topaz and Opal  









Say hi Saf!









And of course, THE BEST birthday present Dad could have ever giving me - plumbing in my mouse house!









OH! Almost forgot. For ThatCertainGlow - The ceiling art


----------



## Vicats

Happy birthday, Cordane! And congrats on your mouse shed, it's looking wonderful! What a great place to keep your critters safe and comfortable. c:


----------



## Cordane

Vicats said:


> Happy birthday, Cordane! And congrats on your mouse shed, it's looking wonderful! What a great place to keep your critters safe and comfortable. c:


Aww why thank you!  
Now to get building a new cage for Tobi - a lot more room in my bedroom now since moving the table and cabinet out


----------



## andypandy29us

your new mouse shed looks fantastic  Im so jelous x x x x


----------



## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> your new mouse shed looks fantastic  Im so jelous x x x x


Haha thank you  There are a few things that I have thought of that needs to be added, mostly a calender - god do I need a calender. And a set of scales.. Nothing very interesting. I'll get around to printing pictures and doing a calender once I go to town and buy ink for the printer.

So now a little update 
Over the weekend, I cleaned up the small "garden" next to the deck, Dad cut up some tree stumps so now there is steps, we built a box so I can have a small flower garden outside. We will hopefully be making a sign for the shed this weekend out of two layers of corrugated iron - one layer will have the "rustic look" (spot rust..) and the other will be painted black so the wording stands out. Dad has decided its the mouse house. 
















As I mentioned before, I had to make a new cage for Tobi, little did I realise that it would be HUGE! He loves it though.









And lastly, a few pictures of Cooper and Israel


----------



## andypandy29us

am loving the shed and the new guinea pic home what a fab idea using 2 boxes and a bridge  are you going to grow flowers the mice can eat or flowers you can use when taking pictures of them? or veg for them to eat


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## Cordane

I hadn't really thought about what's going to be planted in the box.. In all honesty, it's where the culls will go. We don't have snakes or anything so feedin them to another animal is not really an option so they'll help the plants, continue life and all that.


----------



## ThatCertainGlow

What a clever cage! Does he throw bedding and such out around the wire/wood area? I can't imagine mice keeping something like that tidy, but I know nothing about guinea pigs/cavies.

Have you thought of roses? They are heavy feeders. I'd probably plant garlic, and such, around and between whatever main plant to keep animals from um, digging things up. Not sure if you have that sort of trouble. That shed is really awesome, and will be really cute with a tiny garden. :mrgreen:

You asked before why not milk a dairy herd... Well, here you would tend to go into debt to get both the herd and the milking barn setup. Then there are all those things required before the milk is considered safe, and such. So you're left pushing the cows to produce as fast as possible, to hopefully be able to pay your bills on the debt. Doesn't usually fair well for the cows, unless you already know what you are doing.

Sounds like you are not planning on the debt part, so maybe it will be a much nicer experience for you.  Guess then it would depend on the inspector, and how much of a pain he/she is. (Can you tell I've looked into this? Although, I had goats in mind, not cows.)

-Zanne


----------



## Cordane

Haha yes, you do tend to get yourself into a fair amount of debt with purchasing a dairy hers and a decent milking shed, millions of you add on the cost of land. But think about it, there will always be demand. I haven't done any research on the process but living out in the country, you tend to pick up a littl bit. My parents are both from dary farm backgrounds and it's hard to walk 5 minutes in any direction without coming across a dairy farm.

As for Tobi and his mess, he doesn't throw bedding out thankfully, the only thing I do have to do is grab the fleece up and all it's "toppings" and give it a good shake outside. Wash that side every 3-4 days and the shavings side is done weekly. As for my bunch outside, they get weekly cleanings, (there are 3 hutches outside).

I do like the idea of roses but the only problem is that the garden is where I intend to put any culls - they've been going in our big garden up until now but there is enough dead things there (it's where any possums and chickens dad shoots go). Oh! To explain the chooks, our neighbours run a chicken farm - free range - but for ages their fences were so bad that chickens would just go walk abouts, when you get chickens walking into your house, that's it, they're gone.

Oh! Another update which I forgot to give, Xia gave birth yesterday to 7 pinkies


----------



## Cordane

Sooooo I figured I'd give a quick little update. Xia is down to 5 bubs, (2 were not gaining as much as their siblings) so there is 2 boys and 2 girls, all in my eyes are gorgeous so far but I do have my preference of who I will be keeping. It would appear that I have 2 pied blacks or pied agouti's and possibly some dilute form - their pigment is definitely medium grey  Of course, I have to include pictures so here you go :

The boys :









The girls :









And last of all, a picture of my latest addition - a pet spider. I'm kidding, this spider has been hanging around a shelf in our bathroom for well over a week catching the odd fly or two. My camera struggles to focus on small things but I managed to snap a decent picture


----------



## DaisyTailsMousery

I like the spider. I had a huge one living on my mailbox and I'd throw ants in its web. It laid a bunch of eggs and died though lol.


----------



## Cordane

rematnogard said:


> I like the spider. I had a huge one living on my mailbox and I'd throw ants in its web. It laid a bunch of eggs and died though lol.


We probably have a dozen living in our mail box.. They're everywhere, the flies are worse though. God I hate summer.. Bleh.

And of course, had to include an update on the bubs


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## andypandy29us

babies are beautiful .... spider not so beautiful lol


----------



## Cordane

Fuzz in coming in! Though it didn't help one bit in figuring out if the chocolatey ones are indeed agouti or if they are some form of mock chocolate..























A small photoshoot with the two boys 























And lastly... Peek-a-boo!


----------



## DaisyTailsMousery

I literally just died from a cuteness overdose XD


----------



## ThatCertainGlow

Cordane said:


>


Oh wow. That is... way overly cute, and I'm not usually much swayed by babies of anything before the eyes open. Those whiskers! What a great idea with the paper lotus. 
-Zanne


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## DaisyTailsMousery

That's the one that made me die lol


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## andypandy29us

fantastic pictures as usual


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## Cordane

In all honesty, I'm sick of the paper lotus.. I really need to find something else but the lotus is just sooooo easy to make and the "high sides" on the flowers help keep the bubs in place.

Thanks guys for the compliments and Zanne, that one is my favorite as well


----------



## DaisyTailsMousery

I have to learn how to make this? do you possibly have a link to the paper lotus folding instructions?


----------



## Cordane

It takes.. 6 pieces of paper I believe. All cut in half so technically 12 but the folding is so basic. 
Because I'm on my iPod and about to head off to feed Elfynn.. If you go to YouTube, search "origami lotus", I believe it is the first video or something and it's by "tadashimori"


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## DaisyTailsMousery

Okay. I am pretty sure if you search for origami bowls a bunch of stuff with a similar size/shape will come up if you are sick of the lotus flower.


----------



## Cordane

More pictures - Day 9  
Here are the girlies :























The boys :
















And a few others..
The tell-tale sign of an agouti









Colour difference between two agouti bubs









And just 'cause


----------



## moustress

I think the reddish one is cinnamon; also known as chocolate agouti. Yummers!


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## Cordane

moustress said:


> I think the reddish one is cinnamon; also known as chocolate agouti. Yummers!


I hope so! I might just have to keep her and breed her back to Dad, (he carries chocolate) 

I was hoping this pairing would give me more information on Xia, (the mum) as I know very little about her. The first litter she has only produced 4 agoutis and now this is 3 agoutis and 2 blacks so maybe she doesn't carry in c-dilutes.. I know all her brothers and sisters, and parents were pied blacks. Oh! Except one who was a dove.


----------



## Cordane

Happy New Years Everyone!

The bubs are 11 days old today and I'm all over the place with who I will be keeping.. Oh I can't wait til their eyes open and they are a bit older, maybe then it'll make it easier..
Individual pictures :





































Just to show the colour difference :
















And of course, something cute


----------



## andypandy29us

they are all beautiful


----------



## Cordane

So I'm just going to yabber on for a little bit about my life.. again. So feel free to read everything, snippets or nothing 
With my last litters from Ava and Dove, I adopted 5 does siamese from Ava and 1 "burmese" buck from Dove to a lovely lady about 6 hours drive from me. She intended to breed mice which I was fine with - I had been emailing her for months before hand and she had asked so many more questions that I ever thought someone would ask so I was more than willing to adopt to her - she also promised to remain in contact with me and give me updates. Gosh she is lovely.
So the 5 girls gave birth probably 3 weeks ago and to my utter shock, no siamese! Actually, only maybe one burmese was produced out of 31 babies! Otherwise none of them were any c-dilutes. That's not possible if you breed siamese to burmese. So there was only one thing that would make that happen with him being the colour he is.. HE IS A CHOCOLATE! Like.. b/b chocolate! *sigh*








His burmese sister is the grey one, he is the beautiful chocolate.. 
I think the worst part was that after he was put with the girls, his personality did a full 180 and he became aggressive - I can't believe she has been so nice about that. I have given her a refund and given my advice about what to do with him and everything and she is more than happy to remain in contact with me - no bad feelings what-so-ever. I made a total stuff up and she forgave me.

We have an A&P show next weekend and I'm unbelievably nervous but its nothing to do with the show itself. One of Dads vertebrae things is crushing some nerves in his back leading down to his legs - basically his brain is telling him that his leg hurts like heck but it doesn't. His back is painful as well so he hasn't been able to lay down for over a week - his feet as so swollen he can't fit his feet in any of his shoes. He sat on the tractor and mowed a paddock and that pretty much left him sitting down for the whole next day unable to do much.. The doctors have ordered xrays and scans to see how it has progressed since the last lot. He has actually said his back hasn't been this bad for 18 years. 18 years ago he had to sleep in a chair for 3 months - his legs and feet were insanely swollen by then! I don't know much else about it as I was only a bubba. 
We will still be attending the show, regardless, but we will only be taking calves so I can easily do everything needed and he just needs to drive us there basically. *sigh* This just isn't fun anymore.

Yeah, I'll stop rambling on about my life now, not much else has happened to think of it...

EXCEPT

...

THEY HAVE OPENED THEIR EYES!!! 
My babies are all grown up - not really.. So of course, pictures for you folks 

































































Kisses!









And lastly, the stunning view from my rodent room - my boy Moffatt


----------



## andypandy29us

I dont know how you can choose which ones to keep they are all beautiful I would end up keeping them all  sorry ur dad isnt getting any better wishing him a speedy recovery


----------



## Cordane

andypandy29us said:


> I dont know how you can choose which ones to keep they are all beautiful I would end up keeping them all  sorry ur dad isnt getting any better wishing him a speedy recovery


From what I can tell, he is getting better every day though it could also be the fact that the doctor prescribed some decent painkillers about 2 days ago.
Thank you 

-------------

A little update for you guys that I just HAD TO share - My babies just opened their eyes yesterday and while they weren't venturing out of their nest while still in the cage, they were more than happy to show their trust outside of the cage


----------



## MojoMouse

Sorry to hear that about your dad. It must be so difficult with the pain - thank god for decent painkillers... even though they only treat the symptoms, not the cause.

The video is delightful! It's wonderful to see how tame the youngsters are. Well done with socialisation!


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## andypandy29us

video is great  they are all so cute


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## Cordane

MojoMouse said:


> Sorry to hear that about your dad. It must be so difficult with the pain - thank god for decent painkillers... even though they only treat the symptoms, not the cause.
> 
> The video is delightful! It's wonderful to see how tame the youngsters are. Well done with socialisation!


Thing is, we have no idea what caused it.. Absolutely no idea. He is already out in the shed doing god knows what which is a dumb idea but I can't stop him. *sigh*


andypandy29us said:


> video is great  they are all so cute


I'm glad you both liked the video so guess what? Here's another one! 





And also included in todays little update - guinea pig pictures! None of Tobi though, my camera battery died not long after and then Dad unplugged the charger maybe 5-10 minutes after I put the battery on.. Ah well.


----------



## Vicats

Your little mouse videos are adorable! They seem very sweet and curious. That girl with the reddish agouti bumspot is simply to die for. C: The Guinea Pigs are also quite handsome, I love their hair.

It sounds like you have a lot of work with the calves; it's good that your father is starting to feel better, I hope he continues to improve! Pain is in the brain, so even if his leg is uninjured, that pain is still very real. Good luck with your show, as well!


----------



## Cordane

Vicats said:


> Your little mouse videos are adorable! They seem very sweet and curious. That girl with the reddish agouti bumspot is simply to die for. C: The Guinea Pigs are also quite handsome, I love their hair.
> 
> It sounds like you have a lot of work with the calves; it's good that your father is starting to feel better, I hope he continues to improve! Pain is in the brain, so even if his leg is uninjured, that pain is still very real. Good luck with your show, as well!


Isn't she just? I really don't know which girls I'll keep - I'm keeping the pied black boy though to help in my goal of producing a self black!
Thank you for the compliments on both my mice and guinea pigs - I love my guineas but I definitely will have to take some pictures of Tobi. Tomorrow maybe?

Well he definitely is better but now I'm worse.. How ironic.
Whenever Dad gets better, something happens to me or vice-versa. While I was up feeding Elfynn, our 7 year old highland cow decided she didn't like Elfynn being where she was (and getting all my attention) so she "rammed" Elfynn. By rammed I mean horns and head to her stomach to push her around or away to show her who is boss. The reason why I'm sore is because I was on the other side of Elfynn. Ness rammed Elfynn, who essentially fell into me pushing me into an electric fence and post. Ah the joys of having cows.


----------



## Cordane

A little update for everyone and hopefully there will be another tomorrow with a bunch more pictures for anyone interested 

Dad and I are meant to be getting the cows in, moving the mobs and splitting some up (we are weaning a calf this weekend but can't put Mum with a bull as we are sending her away to be serviced) but its to frickn hot to do anything! I hate summer.. I'm definitely a winter person. 
We have a A&P Show tomorrow, about an hours drive away : Kaikohe A&P Show to be exact. We are taking 3 beauties along, Alyx, Elfynn and Jesyka so hopefully all will go well and we might just sell an animal or two.. or three  So once it cools down a little, we will be heading up to bath some animals, shampoo them and everything! Any one want to see soaking wet heifers? 

I have a new plan in my mouse breeding - a self black. I have always wanted one so I shall (hopefully) get one. I'm sending Opal (self burmese) and Saf (pied black tan) away to a friends self black male. There is a huge chance i may not get a self black but hopefully luck will be on my side 

And finally, last update - baby pictures! From my most recent litter, I am keeping 3 bubbas - 2 girls and a boy. No idea what I'm going to name them but hey..





































Oh! Wait. I lie. 
Three more pictures - its Tobi's turn to have the spot light


----------



## tinyhartmouseries

Guh, that little black eyespot mouse just slays me. What great ears and dark dark black! I am in love.

Also, in love will all the piggies, they are amazing and look very photogenic. In my experience, pigs don't move much, but yours look like they really enjoy gettin' their pictures taken.


----------



## Cordane

You really like her?  I'm glad people like her so much - her Mums just a pet shop girl that sort of.. mutated into a decently nice looking mouse! I actually had someone ask if she was from a show line and gosh, I was somewhat speechless!

As I mentioned yesterday, we attended the Kaikohe A&P Show today and holy wow! We did insanely well and I had a great time! 
Jesyka placed 1st and then went on to win Reserve Champion Female (Basically all the 1st class beef female winners - calf, yearling, 2 yr old, senior heifer with calf compete to get champion or reserve. Champion is like 1st place of all the firsts while reserve is well, just that).
Elfynn didn't place but thats to be somewhat expected - she is bottle feed and much younger than most of the calves in the same ring. Alyx however placed second in the 2 year old heifer ring. How cool is that?!

A link for anyone who wants to see the few pictures I took 
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... e374661d1e

Now. You see the big Mumma Hereford here?








Her head is about my head height and guess what? I got to lead her around the ring! No, she isn't my animal but they needed a hand so I helped out


----------



## MojoMouse

Congrats on doing so well! Great pics too.


----------



## Cordane

In all honesty, not a whole lot has been happening here at Cordane.. 
It's been summer for over a month now, a fair chunk of rain which has kept the grass growing at a decent rate - thank god. Despite the amount of wind we have had, I'm not complaining. The grass has been growing so we should have a decent amount of hay this year, (we are making our own) and the wind has helped to dry it out a lot faster so hopefully it will be all baled up by tonight or tomorrow morning - yay! picking up a few hundred bales! :lol: Oh the joy! 
The grass in some places was at my chest and in others, still enough to hide a cat.. just. Mower has been through, its been fluffed up and now there is.. nothing.























I've come to the realization that stray or escaped animals seem to really like our property.. 
The neighbours fences are quite terrible and their cows are so far away from being tame - they escape no less than once a month. Everytime, they turn left and either stay on the road-side in front of our property or actually come down our drive and make our place their own. They never turn right. EVER.
Another neighbour brought a heifer for the freezer.. oh that was silly. She escaped every few days and came here every time. I swear she was in love with our bull.. Eventually they gave up chasing her back home. Now-a-days we call her Alice. Alice and her calf "Haffie" as she is half hereford dairy x and half highland! Yes, she belongs to us now.
And yet again, this morning. Just some stray weaner steer in our paddock. Happily munching the grass. No idea who he belongs to but by the time I came back from checking on our grass/hay paddock, he was gone!

Can you tell I have been bored recently? This morning I ended up converting 3 new tubs, (60L, 40L and 20L) into cages for the meecers. Silly thing is, I have 6, (now 9) spare cages already! I need more mice - and advice but I shall post that in another section on the forum at some point in time..








And of course, Dylan decided that the garden was a fantastic place for an afternoon snooze. Snoozing away the time it took for me to convert the 3 tubs. He's such a happy boy..









And lastly a few meecer baby pictures!


----------



## ThatCertainGlow

Couldn't sleep, but the mice were trying to, so came downstairs... 
Aww, your photos are always so relaxing. Although the field makes me feel tired, but it's not me who has to put all that up!  Glad your rain, wind, and sun worked out well this year. It looks as though you tucked a couple plants in your little garden? Love the shot of Dylan. The babies in the heart are too cute!

-Zanne


----------



## Cordane

ThatCertainGlow said:


> Couldn't sleep, but the mice were trying to, so came downstairs...
> Aww, your photos are always so relaxing. Although the field makes me feel tired, but it's not me who has to put all that up!  Glad your rain, wind, and sun worked out well this year. It looks as though you tucked a couple plants in your little garden? Love the shot of Dylan. The babies in the heart are too cute!
> 
> -Zanne


Yes! I did put some plants in the garden. I was meaning to post a picture of that too but clean forgot so here you go!









And there are a few new additions to the inside of the Mouse Palace - A gorgeous sketch, now framed and hung  And also a nice little shelf which my Grandma sent up to me :























And of course, some mousey pictures for you all!






























And of course, guineas. I had to give Cooper a hair cut as his coat was starting to get a little to long around his bum and getting a little.. dirty..


----------



## TrixYogurt (iM)

Oh I love the sketch! Did you draw that?


----------



## Cordane

Oh no no no. Only in my dreams can I draw that well and even then I'm not that good!
A family friend called Susan drew it for me


----------



## TrixYogurt (iM)

She's very talented!


----------



## Cordane

Today really isn't a day I want to re-live.. Today has been.. full of tears..
I had to put my big bunny, Honey to sleep today..

If you don't what to know the reason why, do not read any further - it is pretty gross, just warning you.

Dad went to get some weeds for Honey this morning, as he does every morning despite me telling him not to..
You see, about a month ago, she had a clump of poo around her.. bits which I assumed could have been due to diorrehea so decided to feed her a pellet and hay only diet to firm everything up. Not the point..
Dad came to the door and all he said was "I don't think Honey is very well" so I went to have a look.. She was losing furr around her bum and i could see what I thought was raw/irritated skin - oh it was so much worse.

We got her inside to check her over, removed the loose fur which ended up being pretty much her whole behind and lower back.. And then thats when I was about to vomit.. Fly strike had set in already.. maggots everywhere! I bawled my eyes out and called the vets (today is Northland Anniversary so everything is shut but luckily they have an on-call vet). I took her in and it turns out, that "raw skin" I saw was actually pure muscle. She had what looked like a puncture would next to her bits, filled with maggots despite spending a good hour flushing everything out. The vet tried to clean the wound further and found you could pretty much peal the skin right off her body.. I couldn't let her suffer.. I felt horrible and still do - how could I not have noticed?!

I chose to put her down. It was the right decision and while I'm still all over the place with my emotions, I don't regret my decision and I hope those of you who read this don't hate me or think I don't look after my animals..

R.I.P Honey
23/10/2010 - 28/01/2013
2 years and 3 months - I'm sorry it couldn't have been longer.


----------



## bonsai

Hello Cordane.
Sorry for your loss.
It must have been a terrible day for you but your decision to put Honey to sleep was the best you could do for her.
It's never easy to let a loving animal and friend go.

Good journey,Honey.
You'll find a beautiful place on the other side of the rainbow.
I'll switch on a candle for you.


----------



## Cordane

I was so prepared for her to come home.. We had set up half my mouse room for her to live in while she got better and grew her coat back.. I think the worst part was the vet.. She would list what could happen, the odds and so on and then, every time, would finish with "but she could do better than what I am saying is likely".
I just need someone to be straight forward and honest. To the point. Will she suffer enough that it would be kinder to put her to sleep? That is the only question I ever need answered.

The other part of my day was trying not to cry my eyes out while at a birthday party. Yes, Honey was put down and then I had a birthday party less than 2 hours later to attend..


----------



## ThatCertainGlow

I am so sorry for your lose, Cordane. That is a horrible day you've had. 

I know what you mean about vets. I just went through a similar experience, long-distance, with one last month over a 17 year old beloved cat, who had a sudden stroke. So frustrating. Just give me the actual detailed information that you, or your learning has told you, and then what kind of suffering and loss of independence she would probably have to go through to get to the point where she could live her normal life again. If even possible. 
Then we can decide based on her most likely amount, and potential length of suffering. Not just a bunch of babble, followed by "...and she's surely lived long enough by now" (repeatedly), just because you don't see animals this healthy, at this age, I guess. I suppose they are not really taught how to talk to clients maybe, in a clear manner. So at a point like that, when they can't really know the outcome, they just sort of flounder.

From what I have read on the subject of fly strike, I would agree you did the right thing, putting her to sleep. Also that sometimes it can be hard to know right away; due to the amount of fur on a bunny. It gets started in a matter of hours, and can painfully kill in 24 hours. Even with treatment, especially in the summer months you are experiencing. You were already trying your best to correct any potential problem the weeds could have caused. Then there is perhaps the unconscious aversion to constantly, closely, examining the butt of an animal you feel a bond with. None I know of, in any species, tend to tolerate that examining well. If you didn't really see lose stool, then as far as I know there wasn't a reason for you to think she must be brought immediately into fully enclosed walls. There have even been reports of it happening to indoor rabbits. Most rabbit keepers seem to be very focused on insect killers, repellents, barrier fabrics, and such. Far beyond normal cleaning and care. Especially those out in the countryside.

Rest gently, lovely Honey.

Take care,
Zanne


----------



## Cordane

Thank you Zanne. I ended up having to go to a birthday party a little over an hour afterwards but thankfully one of the birthday people (mother and son birthday combo) is actually a rabbit breeder and has been through the same thing before so was able to answer a lot of my questions and let me know that I did the right thing and that I wasn't to blame. She has a Jersey Wooly who was fine one day and then losing furr the next and beyond help. She has actually offered to give me a bunny as well. You see, a while ago her rabbitry was hit - dog attack. She lost a lot of rabbits including some very rare breeds and of course, her flemish giant and some rexes. I was on holiday at the time and decided to go and buy her some rabbits to make her feel better - a flemish giant doe and gorgeous rex doe, both ready to breed from. My name sake (They named the flemish "Steph" as her youngest son can't say Stephanie) is due to have babies soon.

I'm still feeling a little empty. Honeys cage is still set up and when I walk passed her cage to feed my guineas and other rabbit, I'm so use to her running over to greet me.. Its so weird for that not to happen..


----------



## WoodWitch

Sorry to hear that. When I was little we lost a rabbit to the same fly strike. It's unpleasant and I know you made the decision for the best. Very responsible. You mustn't blame yourself for 'not noticing', things can remain quite unapparent in animals until it's too late by far x


----------



## andypandy29us

Im sorry to hear about your loss x x x


----------



## ThatCertainGlow

Aww. Maybe then that birthday party was meant to be, for you, and was for the best. Sounds like a good friend.  
I had a dwarf New Zealand rabbit, for about 5 years as a child, when someone dropped him off for me to pet-sit, and then they promptly moved, leaving him behind. I think the New Zealands are still some of the best looking rabbits. He was really fun. Ran around my room everyday, and used the litter box, in cage, and out in the room. I gave him to a lady who begged me for him, and was promising him an even better life. He's have full run of her house, plus a massive, custom built cage. Not to mention they bonded in seconds upon meeting. I still hated going into my room for a long time after that, missing him.

-Zanne


----------



## Cordane

Well despite the fact that I wanted to post a lovely, long update.. today is just not the day for it. Sorry guys, another sad post for today but providing I have time tomorrow, (preparations for an A&P show on Saturday) I shall post pictures and give an update on whatever I can 

Today is February 7th for me. Today, 2 years ago, a friend of mine passed away in a horrific car accident. He was on his way to school when his car slowly went over the centre line and collided with a logging truck. 
For me, school had started and i was in class with a few friends, it was his birthday and we hadn't seen him all morning, (he was meant to be in class with us) so we called his cell phone -- no answer. We kept calling, leaving messages saying get your butt to school and happy birthday, all having a good laugh. With no answer, we rang his Dad. A jumbled, blubbering mess. All he said was there had been an accident, that he couldn't talk and hung up. 
My group of friends, his friends, well we uped and left class. Drove to the hospital. Not once did it ever cross our mind that he didn't make it. 
The hospital ending up kicking us out because they couldn't have school kids hanging around waiting for someone who may never show up. By the time we got to school.. driving down that driveway was the worst.. You just saw it on everyones faces, like the aura of the whole school changed..

Thats when it hit us..
Fenn Joseph McCoach died that morning.
Cops ruled it as a suicide but none of us believe that.

R.I.P Fenn
<3


----------



## andypandy29us

sorry to hear about the loss of your friend hun x


----------



## Cordane

As I said in my last post, this post shall be much happier than my last few 
Sooo..
Last weekend (the 2nd of Feb) we attended the North Kaipara A&P show - highlands stole the show! There were 12 highlands all together and we were up against around 8 dexters and 4 miniature herefords (thats the entire Small Beef Breeds Ring) and highlands won every major prize you can get in that ring - firsts, champions, reserve champions and most of the 2nd place and 3rd places went to highlands as well. And if that wasn't good enough..
Look who won her very first ribbon?








Yep! That's right. "Little" Elfynn placed THIRD in a class of 8!

We also attended the Dargaville A&P Show today, our last show for this season.. 
Reserve Champion, a first and two seconds. Not half bad huh? Though in saying that.. There was only 11 beefies at the show (there was going to be 19 but sadly, one breeder pulled out the night before..) Us against the Dexters and while they stole the show, (they brought 8 animals compared to our 3) we still did very well.
And guess who won her second ribbon?
Yep! Elfynn again. Turns out, she isn't as little as we first thought.









A few updates on things happening that aren't related to cows..
- Dad is back at work, still on pain-killers but that's ok. Haven't heard from the doctors in relation to his x-rays so not sure what's going on there but Dads back has improved so much that he can actually sleep in bed for the whole night!  
- I believe I mentioned this a little while ago but two of my does went to a friends buck in hope that they would produce a self black buck or doe. Sadly, the buck passed away and my girls were only with him for less than a week and all reports from my friend was that they were "snuggling" from day one, like they had been friends forever and that the boy wasn't a boy. THANKFULLY, one of my girls is pregnant! 23 days since the bucks passing is the 15th so I should have babies before then and judging by the slight decrease in her weight gain, I would assume she is due in a few days but we shall see. I'm insanely excited for this litter despite it having nothing to do with improving in type but I do love my self blacks - next goal, argente!
- Basil is still alive and kicking! 30 months old now, 31 months in a mere 10 days!

And lastly, I shall leave you all with a picture of Tobi. This is his.. "I'm done now Mum" pose. He puts his paws on my hand and if he could fit in my hand, I'm sure he would just sit there but heh, he is far to big for that now!


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## bonsai

Hello Cordane.
Congrats for you succsess with Elfynn the sweetheart.
Nice to hear that your father gets better.Terrible to be in pain without knowing what excactly is going on.Best wishes for him.


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## littlelovesmousery

Our semen supplier shared this video on facebook today and it made me think of you so I thought I would share. We found it quite amusing. I don't know if this dumb song is as popular in New Zealand as it is here, but people are always making spoofs of it. I thought you might get a kick out of it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... G2Ksi1ZgSY


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## Cordane

Awwww you thought of me, how sweet. Hahaha.
A real kick out of it alright! I wouldn't mind having sales like that - looks like a load of fun! Well what do you know.. more people who shave their cows (a Belgium Blue breeder/shower does that too)
And yes.. That stupid song is just as popular over here..


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## Cordane

After a while of not updating this, every time something interesting happens in my life I tend to think "Oh! I should tell FMB about it!" and then putting it off until months later when it becomes slightly irrelevant. 
So I figured I would get to typing an update while I attempt to cook dinner - tonight we are having corned silverside with boiled potatos, brocolli and probably some peas and carrots though I don't believe I have the space on top of the over for all those pots.. The reason I said "attempting" is because I've never actually cooked boiled potatos let alone corned silverside and since Dads work hours have changed to him finishing at 8pm (everyone else finishes at 5) I cannot call him up if I get horribly confused and scream "HELP!" into the phone. 
This will either fail miserably or be fantastic!

This Saturday is the Northern Rabbit and Cavy Clubs pet show! Wendy has decided we shall be having more pet shows per year which while I think is a great way to get the clubs name out there, I feel like somehow we will lose the interest we are trying to gain due to the show being a common occurrence - I would prefer for it to be a once or twice a year thing but I suppose with it just being a pet show, the amount of progress you make in your lines is not really a huge deal.
Maybe one day New Zealand will have breeders who aren't just going to breed because they can and actually because the want to make mice healthier and breed towards actual standards. 
I will remember to bring along a camera so for any of those interested, I shall post plenty of pictures 

I've potentially spotted a genetic behaviour trait in one of my "lines" and definitely not one I want.. In September, I paired a pet shop girl (Dove tan) to one of my calmest bucks (Junior) and while they all seemed to take after Junior with their calm nature, many of them seemed to do a 180 within a few months after weaning. A buck from the litter which was adopted to a starter breeder near Hamilton, was as calm as anything while he was here but when he reached her place, became very aggressive to the point where she was scared to even open the cage door to top-up his food bowl. Two girls from the same litter were adopted out to a friend and while their calm personality remains, they are escape artists! And last of the litter is my girl Opal (aka "Big Mumma"). She is one of my biggest mice, weighing in at 53g, and ever since she was weaned was a bit of a nibbler. I discouraged it with a gentle blow and she would stop and walk away. For a few months she never nibbled but then when I tried putting her to a friends buck, within a week that buck was dead with a huge bite to the neck - with her being the only one out of 2 introduced to him not pregnant, I assumed it was her. Then just last week, while I was getting their water bottle out to top it up, she came up and bit me - drawing blood and then again today while I was putting her back in the cage after cleaning it. 
I'm not really sure on what to do with her now.. the seemingly sudden turn in behaviour is causing concern..

With the potential litters.. 
This will be Xia's last litter. She has had 2 already (both small, only 4 and 7 babies) and retained her weight well so I figured I would try and get one more out of her before retiring her. Due to her age (a year and 1 month currently) I decided it would be best to have another doe pregnant around the same time in case a foster is needed so I placed both Xia and Topaz in with Bentley.. This was a month ago. Still no weight gain from either of the girls! I figured it may have just been because Bentley is young (3 months) or maybe because Topaz is being far to dominant (she has started to barber both Bentley and Xia) so now I have placed Topaz with Junior and Xia is still with Bentley. Now it is just a waiting game.. Problem is, I'm impatient!

The current litter (Saffs) was weaned yesterday and Mum and her bubs were introduced into the main mousey mob, which went surprisingly well! The bubs were stealing food off Opal and she didn't even mind! I'm shocked. 
I have also listed them on Trademe (kind of like Craigslist or whatever) and I already have one lady interested in two, possibly three girls for her Grandchildren. While I am wary of adopting mice to younger kids, I'm open to it providing they remain in contact with me (anyone who adopts off me has to do so mainly to let me know of any health issues that pop up). So we shall see where that leads but hopefully they will have a home within a few weeks.

Whether you guys know this or not, I'm on the executive committee for the Lifestyle Highland Cattle Society and currently we are planning the annual AGM. Since I'm on the exec committee, I have to attend the AGM and while I was.. not terribly happy about that at first, I have now come to see it as a bit more of an opportunity. In other words.. ROAD TRIP! About an hour, maybe 2 away from where the AGM is possibly being held, is my Grandparents and few friends (mouse breeders as well) and I have some more friends who are on the way there as well so Bianca, this means I may very well come see you and your rats in May - be warned! 
It's quite exciting, maybe I'll also FINALLY get the self blacks I want oh so badly.

Originally I thought I would have a self black by this weekend but apparently the world doesn't want me to have self blacks.. not a single one.
1. First opportunity for a breeding trio and transport fell through.
2. Another chance and their cat got them.
3. Left job so no money for transport.
4. Pied black to self black and all 9 babies were bloody spotted.
5. A friend had two self blacks born in a litter and guess what? They escaped.
So the only way for me to not get some self black mice before June is if the world decides that it doesn't want me living on it. I WILL get my self blacks.

I don't know why but I seem to have a thing for mice with this identical spot.. I honestly didn't notice it until now and two of this mice were born in December - HOW DID I NOT NOTICE?!

















Now onto the final piece of news..
Last week I started volunteering at the local SPCA, just one day a week - Tuesday - and on that first day back (I volunteered years ago) I was asked to hand in a CV! I had the job interview yesterday and now I'm trying to be positive while I wait for a phone call to say whether I got the job or not. I must admit, I have my doubts because the other people that applied have more experience than me but I would also LOVE to work there.. 
Ahhh the joy of waiting&#8230;

Oh but that isn't all!
Basil - sweet old man Basil. He is 32 months in 5 days! Still alive and kicking though as with age, losing condition. In his prime, he was 45g while now he is a mere 33g and you can feel that he is getting old.. Despite all that potential sadness, I snapped a few pictures of him


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## Veritai

I am warned lol - all good as long as I'm actually home, as funny as the thought of Gary's face at having a surprise visitor would be.

Did the potatoes work out?

And I'm so glad your mice all have the same face marking, makes my confusing them less embarrassing heh - I hadn't noticed it beyond the whole nephalie/ baby faces mixup though, and again, attributed it to my tendancy to look at all spotted mice and be reminded of past spotted mice of mine. Although they really don't have much in common at all lol.


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## Cordane

Oh just imagine if I did show up and you weren't home - Poor Gary, and poor me, I'd think I had gone to the wrong house or something and walk off all embarrassed..
No.. the potatoes failed miserably. Potatoes were all the same size, put them with some salt and water into a pot, brought to the boil as Dad told me to and they had already started to turn to mush! Apparently they weren't boiling potatoes or something - Says Dad.

Don't worry if you confuse my spotties  People often do but if you get Fae confused with the other, then I may question your sanity. Btw, Fae is my only non-diluted agouti. I have no other mouse that is her colour.


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## Cordane

Quick update for everyone - I failed at taking plenty of pictures at the pet show yesterday. Most of them came out blurry or like I took them at night or something so I deleted the lot of them.. 
It was a lovely day, around 30 rabbits, 10 or so mice and a huge 80 something guinea pigs! The judges were absolutely lovely and Sonya did her best to judge the mice (she doesn't own mice, nor has she ever owned them but did plenty of research on the standards overseas and I helped explain what was good and not good in every mouse she judged) and Carrie did a FANTASTIC job at judging the guinea pigs and also taught me how to groom the guineas I have here - so who knows, maybe I'll bring some guinea pigs to the next show!

Wendy had to bring her little kitten, Macguyver, to the show since he still requires milk (bottle feeding) so of course, I snapped a few pictures :








And with his Mummy 









I also brought home 3 new girls who will be temporarily staying here for a play date with Junior (he is one happy boy right now!)























And before I forget.. My winnings from the day!








With her very first ribbon, Nephelie! Reserve Best in Show! (Junior won Best in Show but he won that last time as well so I haven't snapped a new picture of him)


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## Cordane

Snapped a new picture : Junior with his ribbon and trophy!


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## DaisyTailsMousery

That odd eyed mouse! <3 I want one sooo bad


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## SarahC

I'm partial to the odd eyes to.Enjoyed the pictures.


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## Cordane

I'm going to admit my confusion.. What odd eyed mouse?


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## DaisyTailsMousery

Oh.. must be the camera flash making one eye look red then! One of them looks like one eye is dark ruby and the other is black XD


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## Cordane

Haha yes.. The lighting I use while taking pictures does tend to cause confusion but does tend to be more accurate with showing their coat colour. I haven't used the flash on my camera, I'm always worried that it will spook the mice or something. 
I assume that the "odd-eyed" mouse is the first visiting girl - she is a pied dove so both eyes are pink


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## ThatCertainGlow

Congratulations on your wins!  Hope more people start entering mice. Brave lady, the judge. No mice, doing research online about them, and then trying to apply that in person to New Zealand mice. LOL 
I have used the flash on my camera. I think they'd rather I didn't, and I do try to use light instead, but they definitely don't act spooked. More like annoyed.

I also didn't get a chance to say, but thanks for the pictures of darling Basil. :love1


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## Cordane

Thank you  I, too, hope that more people enter mice in the show but first we need to find those lovely mouse owners first!
She definitely is brave.. she researched all about them and I kept telling her that our mice are FAR behind those overseas but she still expected fluffy mice for longhaired mice (like.. 2cm long hair all over the mouse).

I use two different lights depending on what I'm photographing. A lamp, just the standard lamp and shade bedside table ones, for guinea pigs and then this for mice :


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## Sizzlea89

lovely cows! i love the highland! im a bit cow obsessed! haha


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## Cordane

Then here - have 3 in 1!








Elfynn is the lovely lady in the front, followed by Jesyka and then Alyx!

We had a darn good dose of rain this morning which is why Elfynn looks a little scraggly.


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## TwitchingWhiskers

They are so cute. :love1


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## ThatCertainGlow

Awww! Jesyka and Alyx are so beautiful! Poor Elfynn though, she looks a bit like a too-loved child's toy. I have only recently imagined hugging cattle. Strangely, that was only after you started posting your's. 



Sizzlea89 said:


> lovely cows! i love the highland! im a bit cow obsessed! haha


I met a mouse breeder who is cow obsessed. :lol: She had constructed these 'pen' like cages, with mini bales of hay all around the 'pens', and little 'cattle' troughs for their food. She breeds three groups of mice... marked like cows! Well, one of those groups... I have no idea what cow has a white branchy thing on the tummy, and a white star, but the other two were dead on.


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## Cordane

ThatCertainGlow said:


> Awww! Jesyka and Alyx are so beautiful! Poor Elfynn though, she looks a bit like a too-loved child's toy. I have only recently imagined hugging cattle. Strangely, that was only after you started posting your's.
> 
> 
> 
> Sizzlea89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> lovely cows! i love the highland! im a bit cow obsessed! haha
> 
> 
> 
> I met a mouse breeder who is cow obsessed. :lol: She had constructed these 'pen' like cages, with mini bales of hay all around the 'pens', and little 'cattle' troughs for their food. She breeds three groups of mice... marked like cows! Well, one of those groups... I have no idea what cow has a white branchy thing on the tummy, and a white star, but the other two were dead on.
Click to expand...

I assure you, she looks much less raggedy when she is brushed! I'd go up, brush her and take a picture but it looks like it may rain so there would be very little point in brushing her now. 
Oh PLEASE rain.. We are so low on water it isn't funny - the cows have more water than we do! Just so you know, cow hugs are lovely and warm but you end up walking away smelling like cow (more like damp wool).

Awwww that is insanely cute! I want to do that now but I couldn't be bothered trying to make little mini hay bales.. 
I would love to see that though.


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## ThatCertainGlow

I think she bought the bales, mostly made, something for rabbits, maybe? Then wrapped the outside to look like a proper bale. It was really cute, kinda startling, but cute.  My current pet mice came from her. They didn't make the 'markings' cut. :lol:


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## Cordane

The bales you can buy for rabbits and such are.. about 10cm wide by 30cm or so. Expensive buggers too - $15 for that tiny bale! (I can get a conventional bale for between $6-$12 currently).
Markings cut? Well I suppose when you're obsessed with cow.. Highlands don't really have markings..


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## Cordane




----------



## Cordane

Wow.. It has been a while since I posted anything on this thread..

A friend of mine, who shall be named X, breeds rabbits, guineas and mice (guineas and rabbits for show). Due to this, X does have relatedly large numbers of each animal and a few other breeders seem to have a serious grudge against X (for unknown reasons). The point being is that they have called the SPCA on X a few years ago and the SPCA has been keeping tabs on X. Long story short, they never had a reason to take the animals from X so seem to be coming up with BS reasons such as "If the water bottle is less than half full, we will take all your animals" or "A single guinea pig needs to be in a hutch no smaller than 1.5m by 1.5m in size". A few days ago, they visited X's place. It was raining and X hadn't managed to cover some of the animals by the time they arrived for a surprise inspection. Some of the animals were a bit wet and they have since said that X has to get rid of all but 10 rabbits, 10 guinea pigs and 4 male mice. No babies whatsoever and no pregnancies or they will take everything and take X to court. 
They have given X 10 days to sell the animals to get down to their limit. If not, they will take them. Sadly, I know the SPCA doesn't have the room so they will all be put down (pregnant or not) so a few of X's friends and I are going to help X out so the animals are safe. I'm taking in all the mice (about 24 in total, some of which are babies not yet ready to be weaned and a few are pregnant females).

We will be rehoming them as we can and everything will be sorted in due time. 
It's going to take a while but at least they'll be safe.

Next week is definitely going to be busy..
Tuesday - Pick up as many mice as I can and sort them out.
Wednesday - Clean all animal cages
Thursday - Clean more cages, pick up the rest of the mice and pack.
Friday - Head of to Hamilton/Rotorua for 4 days for business.

So in mention that, as many of you know, I show my cows at the local A&P shows. To be shown, each animal needs to be registered with a society - I'm an executive committee memberand that means I need to attend the AGM. 
I'm heading down to Hamilton on Friday, dropping off some mice to their new homes in Auckland and then heading to Rotorua on Saturday for the AGM, staying the night so I can attend the Open Day at a Highland Stud and then heading back to Hamilton for the night. Ah so much travelling but I am very VERY exciting. As well as a little roadtrip, I'm also doing a mouse swap and FINALLY getting the self blacks and argente I have always wanted! 

I've only gotten one decent photo of them but thankfully there is a way to tell them apart - one has a spotty tail, the other is solid. I cannot wait to get them!

It would seem that despite having lots to do, I've gotten bored and started making more and more hammocks.


And last little update is a story for you all. Something I find quite funny.
With Winter approaching, our grass growth has slowed and the cows are now also being fed hay. A while ago, I was cleaning out my rabbit and guinea pig cages and just tossed the dirtied hay into the paddock without thinking much about it.. It seems that our cows aren't fussy in the slightest and they chowed down on it! Gross.


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## ThatCertainGlow

Congrats on your self blacks! Or maybe I should hold that in until you have them safely home.  Anyway, self blacks are delicious mice, imo. 

Good luck with the breeder's troubles, and your schedule. I hear about that sort of problem here too. Fairly often. Strangely, most often rabbit show breeders.

Love your hammocks! The mice don't ingest them? Or are those not for mice...

I'm always too scared to make mine anything from fabric. Anything I think would be a bit better if ingested, could cut off a limb (all natural fabrics), and anything I think would be horrible if ingested is the plastic derived stuff (poly fleece) recommended. :roll: So, they get no fabric items.

Hmm, no clue what to say about the cows dining palette. :?


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## Cordane

I've got.. Two mice that will chew anything you put in their tank but the rest are great with hammocks - they climb on the to the point where the fabric is wearing out! Lol.


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## TwitchingWhiskers

Love the hammocks, they look so nice and neatly made.

Congratulations! You must be excited to be breeding black and agrente!

Thanks for the update!


----------



## Cordane

Since I'm currently somewhat couch ridden, I figure there was no better time to do an update on everything "Cordane".
Long story short on why I'm couch ridden, I whacked my achilles heel yesterday and it is now bruised and swollen - shoes are my worst enemy now apparently.

Recently I made the decision to tell my friend (X, mentioned in a previous post) that her animals needed to find a new place to stay. While I was happy to look after them, breeding them, handling all the bubs and then trying to rehome them just made me stop enjoying breeding my own mice. It just seemed to put a damper on my own breeding plans and just felt like a huge weight was on my shoulders. She has been given til the end of the month to find them a new home and so far, she hasn't been successful in rehoming them. I hate to say but if her animals are still here, I will have no choice but to euthanise them. Her mice are very close to wild mice in their temperament so I wouldn't feel right rehoming them and she knows this already.
I have made a few pairings of my own though. To try and further my type improvment, I have paired Nephelie and Bentley up again to try and get a better typed buck - here's hoping! I have also paired up Nox (self black) with Bentley (pied black) as well as Perignon Rose (self champagne) and Junior (dilute agouti). Nox and Rose are showing signs of pregnant and going by there weight gain, they are at least a week into their pregnancies - Nephelie however is showing no weight gain what-so-ever. *sigh*

We delivered Ariya to her new home last month as well! Oh what an experience - turns out Alpacas are pretty scary in a cows opinion. Oh but their little hums are just ADORABLE!








More than likely, Ariya will end up being his biggest cow. He already has a small fold but his mature cows aren't much bigger than our 18 month old heifers. It was quite weird seeing cows so small..
Speaking of cows, Elfynn has really come into her own over the last month and is sort of "looking her age" now - she is just gorgeous.









The only other update I have is in relation to the new rescue animal I acquired in the middle of last month - His name is Chip! He was returned to his breeder because they no longer wanted him. It seems the poor boy was fed just enough to keep him alive. At 2.5 months, he was 171g when at that age, he should be 500g or over. With some serious TLC, he is growing. After 3 weeks of living with me, he is now up to 322g as of yesterday!  Tobi bonded with him almost immediately and that bond is obvious and quite beautiful when you get to see it so without any delay..

Meet Chip!


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## NikiP

I'm dying of a cuteness overload!

The fuzzy cows, especially the black one!

The little guinea pig hiding in the black one's hair!   :lol:


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## Cordane

And the baby-boom continues! Guess what I found in the paddock this morning? A gorgeous wee highland heifer!


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## moustress

The baby cows are so nice! The golden long wavy hair on Elflyn is just beautiful.

I know I haven't been commenting for quite awhile. RL has been seriously interfering with my desire to communicate. I'm going to try to do better. I have always enjoyed reading your posts, Cordane.


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## Miceandmore64

Cheers to my favourite forum member. Other than me if course! Talk about not putting yourself in front of others :twisted:

I love you so much you get to be my 50'th post!!!!
**************From the small scale breeder who always needs your help********************


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## Cordane

Miceandmore64 said:


> Cheers to my favourite forum member. Other than me if course! Talk about not putting yourself in front of others :twisted:
> 
> I love you so much you get to be my 50'th post!!!!
> **************From the small scale breeder who always needs your help********************


Well aren't you kind! I'm honoured! Of course, if you ever need any questions answered, just PM me 

I suppose I should give everyone a bit of an update in my life..
First, the good/cute news :
Picture update of "Rosie" (a name we are trying out), we had to do some juggling with our groups so we can keep Melrose up here till she calves in case we need to mother her calf on. Anywho..
I got into the yard pen with little Rosie just to handle her a little bit - if she would allow me. I was allowed to give her a proper cuddle and we even managed to get a halter on her! :wiggle: 






























And with said, the sad news.
Yesterday Israel, (guinea pig) passed away. I have absolutely no idea why but his brother is now living alone in quarantine. He is settling into singleton life better than I expected but I still feel very sorry for the wee man.

Rest in Peace Darling Israel.
21st July 2012 - 27th July 2013


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## NikiP

Sorry for your loss 

How did I miss the calf pictures!?! And even cuter in the newer photos!


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## Cordane

Look 

ANOTHER ONE!


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## RavennaHallowed

You have the cutest cows Cordane! And look at all that green grass! Send some of that lovely green stuff to Aus?


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## NikiP

O.M.G.!!!!! Love the pic of mama smelling the baby!


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## andypandy29us

I love looking at all your posts  wish I had room for some cows in my back yard  and im sorry to hear about the loss of your little guinea pig x x


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## Cordane

Another update for you all. Not all good news I'm afraid. Good news first though!
Melroses little girl (born 31st July) was unable to feed from her Mum (this happened with the previous calf as well) so I sourced some milk and was pretty much set to bottle feed her till she was a good 4-5 months old. After a week had passed, she was MUCH bouncier, happier and just overall stronger to the point where she has managed to start feeding off of her Mum again!









Arnicas calf (born 20th) is doing well and growing insanely fast. As I predicted, she is lightening up each day and in due time will be the same colour as her Mum 









We actually also had another little heifer born on the.. 1st I think. From my belted Galloway girl. Look at that "belt"! (It looks like a bird pooped on her!)








She is an energetic trouble maker and I feel so sorry for Beltie.

And here is a picture of my female guinea pigs, just for good measure. 
Applecheeks (far right) has grown so much since coming here. She is over a year old but came to me at a mere 722g. She is now almost at 1.3kg!









I also had another litter born here. I've been waiting for a while for this litter to be born - Bentley took his damn time doing the deed. Nephelie gave birth to a MASSIVE litter of.. three. Yep. A whole 3. One doe and two bucks - thankfully the doe is MUCH larger than the bucks.
















Now the bad news, for me at least.
Recently I have developed a food allergy (I was not allergic to anything before this). The problem is, I have no idea what I'm allergic to. First it started with nachos. I had a small bowl of the nacho chips and as soon as I finished it, I was in the bathroom puking my guts out, all hot, covered in hives (literally clumps of hives the size of my palm). About a week later, I had peanut butter on toast and again, the toilet was my best friend. It's gotten to the point where I'm a little afraid to eat any food that isn't fruit.
Then last night, Dad and I went to the local pub for dinner. Absolutely lovely dinner. Curly fries with garlic aioli. A burger on sour dough bread (toasted) with salad, mayo, relish and some beer batter fries and to top that all off, warm apple pie.
The dinner didn't taste so good coming back up.. Allergic reaction. A little delayed with the hives and the itchiness though. I managed to sleep most of it off but apparently I was itching throughout the night - my face and neck/shoulders are covered with those little red dots you get when you itch something to much.
I cannot believe how much it really takes out of you. I've been on and off snoozing all day which is very abnormal for me.

Well.. that's about all I guess..


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## Miceandmore64

I am so sorry. I really hope to get better and work out what it is thats upsetting you. Hmm maybe Gluten. I am ganna start a blog maybe if anyone cares about a 12 year old girl! I have a really adorable photo on my ipod if 2 mice.gl bye


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## NikiP

Love them!


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## andypandy29us

I have an allergy to garlic and cant eat anything that contains it as it makes me sick really quickly ......... nachos have garlic in them over here so i cant eat them ..... you just have to try one food at a time until you find what it is .... oh and i wasnt always allergic to garlic it happened in my late teens  x


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## Cordane

I've come to the conclusion that my allergy is likely to soy. They all had one thing in common and that is soy based oil! We had curly fries with home-made garlic aioli last night and sure enough, I was feeling pretty sick after eating some of the aioli once garlic was added.

With that aside..
We had another calf born on Saturday - one MASSIVE bull calf. We believe his delivery was a little more complicated than normal (took a while to come out) as he was rather lethargic on Sunday. 























I'm also heading to Auckland (2.5 hours away) for a day trip. I need to get out of the house for a while, see some friends, go to the zoo, go shopping! All that good stuff - I'll be taking plenty of pictures no doubt :lol:

Last bit of eventful news :
My Mum and her husband have decided to split. There is a long and dramatic story behind all of that but I have been told to keep my mouth shut which is slowly driving me crazy! 
While this is probably slightly horrible to say, I know my Mum will ya know "move on to a new guy" but I really cannot be bothered to meet any future.. men in her life.


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## Miceandmore64

Gorgeous. Have fun in Auckland I can't wait for pics. Sorry bout ur mum


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## Cordane

As mentioned in my previous post, my family life has been somewhat stressful though I guess the good thing is that now I can FINALLY talk about it. There are so many rumours floating around and I have been lied to by people to the point where I don't really know what is fact or fiction.

So here are the facts
My Mum left her husband. She cheated on him. She has cheated before (on my Dad, possibly twice). She told the husband she was leaving and then within a few days had moved in with the new guy. It's been almost 2 weeks now and I don't know where my Mum lives, I don't know her number, I don't know who this guy is. She explained that she left her husband because she grew bored. 
I asked her if she had ever been cheated on, (yes) and then questioned why she would cheat on people if she knows how it feels. She questioned who she had cheated on and I said "Other than (insert husband name), my Dad" and she claims that she only slept with my Dad brother because Dad cheated first. A load of bull! 
My Mum then told me that I "better be very careful about what skeletons" I "pull out of the closet". Her tone was threatening, she then started sounding very smug and almost proud of all she had done.

Her family have no idea who she is anymore.
And as of Thursday, I had to make the decision to tell my Mum to get out of my life. The lies had to end, I needed to walk away from that stress.
Don't get me wrong, I know there will be a day when I either regret walking away, or need my Mum back in my life but for now, I had to walk away.

On a positive note - Enjoy some pictures!

The three bubs from Nephelies litter























Two tuckered out guineas - Tobi and Chip
















Twisty, the lamb I am currently bottlefeeding while my Uncle and Auntie are away on holiday for 3-4 weeks









And a bunch of calf photos
Size comparisons - Leeya (front) and Bobby (back). Leeya was born 20th July, Bobby was born 17th August









Bobby (bottom) and Kyber (top). Kyber (pronounced kai-ber) was born 31st July

Kyber :























Bobby :























Leeya :









Oh and remember Elfynn? Boy does she love a brush!


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## Miceandmore64

Wow what a life!

The mice are so cute! I am about 2 go on current mice and post what is happening with my life.


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## Miceandmore64

Heh Cordane long time no updates XD


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## Cordane

It has been a while since I updated this, golly.. but since I'm here in the middle of a supposed cyclone, here's an update for you all. No pictures though as sadly photobucket has been stuffing up 24/7 for me - I should probably start using another picture hosting thing..

- Our show season has ended and we have multiple wins under our belt including reserve in show, champion and even Reserve Grand Champion! We decided to keep the yellow heifer calf called Leeya to potentially breed form down the line and I also made the hard decision to rehome Elfynn. Don't worry, she has gone to an absolutely amazing home with her half sister. 22 acres all to themselves, being spoilt rotten and cuddled on a daily basis.

- In November, we were robbed yet again. I came home to find our house completely trashed and our window smashed. The usual electronics were stolen but worst of all was my nanas jewellery (she passed away in '05), something we will never get back. To shine some light on that terrible event, after looking around at all the damage, there it was.. blood. Blood evidence. They caught the kid. Sadly, by kid, I mean a 15 year old. A neighbour. Prick will get a slap on the hand and that is about it.

- Due to my anxiety coming back in full swing, my Dad agreed to let me get a puppy. Something to make me feel safe in my own home. Her name is Callie, she is a border collie mix and absolutely adorable. And Cheeky. She's 6 months next month, how weird is that?!

- Sadly, after purchasing some new mice from a breeder/friend, they brought in a frickn respiratory infection which managed to spread to all of my mice. They have since been in quarantine and on antibiotics over the last 3-4 months so I could make sure everything is 100% and hopefully I'll be making my first pairing next weekend hopefully working on my ruby eyed piebald blacks again and type improvement of course.

- I'm also officially a student! I was accepted to the Southern Institute of Technology and studying Animal Science and Care. My first intake is due to end in 2-3 weeks and all is going well. I've passed 7 assignments so far with 4 more to go for this intake.

- My Dads back is causing issues again, I'm not sure how long we have til he is no longer able to walk. Which means I have no idea how long he will be working for. Hopefully all will be fine til the end of my course and then I'll get into the working force and hopefully help him keep his home. My home.

There's probably a bunch of other things happening in my life at the moment but one of the downsides with a cyclone is you never know when the power or internet my cr*p out.


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## Miceandmore64

Yeah the cyclone is hitting us Tomorow at lunch-afternoon it starts I hope you don't lose power or have any problems. Freaking robbers again OMG im so sorry that just be horrible. New puppy yay! I can relate to the respiratory  sorry for PMing u all the time I will stop I don't have a stupid life


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## DanyelleS

You're cows are beautiful! I have always loved both Belted Galloways and Scottish Highlands. I wish I could keep a few but we have such limited space and keep holding back heifers from our Limousin cows trying to build our herd. Awesome job with those guys!


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## Miceandmore64

How are the mice and cows and yourself going?
I hope you get/got the self black you wanted xx (I almost had 3 self blacks but they all have white/grey underneath)


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