Minnie is the name of my mouse and don't forget it!

Babysitting duty was over a couple weeks ago so I took Minnie back to the Wildlife Center. But, I still see her at least once a week. After each visit with her, an ton of questions race thru my head.... Is she happy here? Will she be adopted soon? Does she remember my scent? Is it ok that I laugh when she runs in her ball full of poop? Should I take her home with me? Will Yoda and Rudy eat her? Can Dan handle having another girl in the house?
Don't bother emailing me....I know am such a sucker for animals. So today at the Center, I made my usual rounds thru the place to see which animals are still around and which are gone for one reason or another. I say hi to the baby dove that loves to perch on my head and then search for Minnie. She is still there but why is there a piece of obnoxious yellow paper taped to her cage? Why does it say M&M? Has someone mistaken my mouse for the candy that melts in your mouth and not in your hands? Um, no. Some craaazy beytch renamed Minnie to M&M. She doesn't even look like a M&M. That idiot. So, I had to do what was right. I turned into junior high Marlene. No, I didn't give myself a bad perm and fluff up my bangs with AquaNet... but I did write 'her name is Minnie' on that obnoxious piece of paper. Wow, I just set that craaazy beytch straight. If she comes on the 9th grade lawn again, I will have to throw her in the trash can. After coming back to reality, I decided it was best to throw that piece of paper away. I am still upset.

Seagull Rescue

Today was crazy. Dan and I were at Target buying a new headset for his cell phone... because I accidently put his fancy wireless bluetooth super duper headset thingy thru the washer and the dryer. I am such a good homemaker. As we were driving out of the parking lot, I notice a seagull standing near the sidewalk and it didn't look too hot. So, Dan kindly drove around the block again so we can take a second look. Sure enough, the seagull was covered with oil. Knowing that there was an oil spill that weekend affecting wildlife from San Pedro to Santa Barbara, Dan and I decided to capture it. I jumped out of the car and tried to corner it as nicely as possible... knowing that it couldn't use its oiled soaked wings to fly away. It didn't work too well because the poor thing was scared and a pretty good runner. So super Dan jumped out of the truck with his handy dandy sleeping bag, unzipped it, held it up in the air and walked towards the seagull. The seagull was so scared of the walking sleeping bag that it ran right into my hands. So I wrapped the seagull in some clothing and held it by my feet in the car. The seagull took out his frustration on my hands... biting me with his sharp beak... who knew seagulls had extendo-necks. After calling the wildlife center and the seabird pond, we found out that there was bus near the Ventura harbor that was helping all oiled wildlife. So we put the seagull in Yoda's carrier... I'm sure the smell of a cat didnt make the bird more comfortable but it was only for short ride to the harbor. Once we got to the bus, a wildlife expert placed the bird into a cardboard carrier and our good deed of the day was complete. Soon enough, it will be washed with some Dawn soap and hopefully re-released.

On a side note, the seagull was not covered with oil from the ocean... it was covered with cooking oil. Some fast food places and restaurants empty their used cooking oil into large containers outside of the buildings. If left uncovered, bad things happen... seagulls end up in the containers of oil and eventually drown. Some workers just keep pouring the hot oil into the containers even if there are live or dead birds floating in them. It happened at the good ol' Carls Jr in SB. I wish I could throw hot oil on those stupid people.



This pelican wasn't one of the lucky birds to survive the oil spill...

Nice ball, Minnie

I have decided to put the trama behind me. As a peace offering, I bought Minnie a ball. I guess to give her a feel of freedom and a chance to explore the world, our at least Dan's office.

Day 1 with the ball: Not so good. She stood in the ball trying to escape out of the air vent cracks...

Day 2 with the ball: Much better. Minnie rolled around the room like a champ, especially once she hit the hardwood floor. She also transformed the ball into a rolling toliet. Run, poop, run. A few minutes of running and pooping eventually led to a piece of poop sticking to her forehead. She might have been oblivious to the entire moment but it made my day.


nice ball

Ten baby jellybeans

Today was a happy day and a sad day. On Friday, Minnie gave birth to 10 hairless pink babies in her cage under my desk at work. Two of the babies appeared dead... motionless and whiter than the rest. To give the babies a better chance of survival, we moved her cage to a dark and quiet office to reduce any additional stress on Minnie. After a couple hours, we checked on Minnie and babies. None of the babies were in the nesting boxes. They the scattered outside of the boxes, and the dead babies appeared to be seperated from the live ones. By instinct, the mother will eat the dead babies to prevent attracting predators to the nest. So, to help Minnie out, John and I scooped the dead ones out of the cage. (Well, brave John did the scooping and scaredy cat Marlene held the ziploc baggie open.) We removed a total of six lifeless babies. Two of the six were half eaten. Removing the dead would allow Minnie to focus on the live remaining babies, and not on the disposal of the dead. So, at the end of the work day, Minnie had 4 babies still with her and I had 6 babies in a baggie that were going into the freezer at home.
By Friday evening, as Minnie sat next to or on top of her babies, it appeared that her instincts had kicked in. But, on Saturday morning, three of the four were motionless. I gently removed the dead from the cage and into the baggie in the freezer. So, one remained. Laying alone on its side with its legs moving, the tiny pink baby squeeked. I was tempted to take the sole survivor out of the cage but I knew it had a much better chance with its mom. On Saturday afternoon, I saw the baby laying next to a sleeping Minnie. On Sunday morning, the cage was a mess and no baby in sight. All that remained was an exhausted Minnie and the skull of the last baby.
I'm not sure how such a happy day turned into a terrible weekend so quickly. Maybe it was because Minnie was possibly a first-time mother. Maybe because she had babies with her brother. Maybe all the babies had deformaties. Maybe its just how things worked out. Maybe life is too fragile. Maybe.

My knocked-up Minnie (sigh)

It's true. My baby is having babies. I guess there was nobody on the hiking trail last week to karate chop them apart. I know Mickey and Minnie are an item in the wonderful world of Disney... but in Ventucky, they are brother and sister... and so, Mickey is going to be a daddy and an uncle all at the same time. Great.

For my on-going wildlife education, here's some facts about pregnant mice:

• Diet Supplements: Cheese, Espolac? formula, Sunflower seeds, Fruit, Increased protein/diary
• Gesstation Period: 21 days
• Nesting box: Need 2 boxes, 1 for babies and 1 for her to take a "break" in
• Babies: Up to 12 babies are possible; if there are more babies than nipples, the babies will have to be seperated into two groups and rotated; they should be rotated every 1-2 hours, 3 max; a third nesting box will be needed for the babies rotated out