Names:

Bumble and Harriet

Species:

Dutch rabbits

Sex:

Spayed females

About:

Bumble and Harriet were rescued by a friend from a home where they were not properly looked after or handled. Since we've had them (Summer 2002), they have become very friendly and are now quite outgoing. Bumble in particular likes to explore, and Harriet is not usually far behind. We put them on a diet as they were overweight when they arrived, and we also had them spayed, and since then they have become very soppy. I have two favourite rabbit websites. The Rabbit Welfare Society site contains excellent advice on keeping rabbits. The Language of Lagomorphs is a good, lighthearted site about understanding your rabbit's behaviour.

Name:

Pepper

Species:

Dark sable marten mini-lop rabbit

Sex:

Spayed female

About:

Pepper is a very human friendly rabbit who came from a rescue centre in Cheltenham in July 2004 when she was about 2 years old, after her original owners got bored with looking after her. We had hoped she might live with Bumble and Harriet, but introductions were not a success and she became a house-rabbit instead, although she spends a lot of her days in the run outside in summer. She was spayed in December 2004. Sadly she has had problems with her spurs on her back teeth, and as of Jan 2009, has had to have three operations. UPDATE: we successfully managed to introduce Pepper to Bumble & Harriet in spring 2009.

Name:

Fish

Species:

Koi carp and various goldfish

Sex:

Male and female

About:

When we moved here in 2003, there was a pond in the garden. It was very dirty, and we didn't realise there were any fish in it at first. We cleaned it up, and discovered there were plenty! We've never bought any new fish, and they breed most years.

Name:

Jason (yellow), Mark (blue-grey) and Key-Op (white)

Species:

Budgies

Sex:

2 male & 1 female

About:

I discovered these budgies being sold on Ebay in spring 2008, when I was searching for a new rat cage. It's another long story, but they basically needed a new home asap, or they faced being put to sleep. Obviously I didn't want that to happen, so arranged for them to come here, complete with their indoor aviary. They all get on very well, especially Mark and Key-Op, who really love each other ;-) Jason has a 2003 ring on his foot, and the others are roughly the same age, as far as we know. Please ignore the cheap plastic perch - they now have lovely homemade willow ones. Sadly Key-Op died on 10 February 2009.

Name:

Bruno

Species:

Standard chinchilla

Sex:

Male

About:

Bruno was not a planned addition to our house! We were visiting a local dog & cat rescue centre on 19 Oct 2008 to look at a dog. Someone had just handed in a chinchilla as a "stray" - it's a bit of a long story, but we ended up bringing him home, and naming him after the dog we didn't get. We estimated him to be about 4-5 months old and he is extremely friendly. Now he has completed his quarantine, we plan to neuter him and introduce him to one of the girls, probably Barbie.

Name:

Barbie

Species:

Standard chinchilla

Sex:

Female

About:

Barbie came from a rescue centre in Cornwall in March 2004. She was originally found wandering round a carpark in St Austell, and was captured in a barbeque box, which is how she got her name. She is an unusually people-friendly chinchilla who will do anything for a raisin.

Name:

Phoebe

Species:

Light-medium tan chinchilla

Sex:

Female

About:

Phoebe arrived in November 2004 and she came from a breeder who was having to cut back. She spent the first few weeks in quarantine from the other chinchillas. At first she was quite shy, but after a few weeks became much braver and now comes to see us if she thinks we might have a raisin for her. the aim is to get her introduced to the other two chinchillas in their large aviary-style cage.

Name:

Ginger

Species:

Ginger & white guinea pig

Sex:

Female

About:

Ginger's Mum was Brown, who was pregnant when she was found dumped in a wood in Norfolk in on 20th April 2005. Ginger and her brother and sister (who we homed with friends) were born on 23rd May 2005.