April Life Update; Pet Sitting Leopard Spotted Geckos

Hi readers,

My brother and his wife went on holiday for two weeks and they asked me to look after their rabbits and leopard spotted geckos. Way back in college I did a two year animal care course and I was lucky that the college I went to had an 'Exotic animal room' where there was snakes, tarantula, america bull frog and some other things. I didn't have much of a fear of anything before I started and doing the course give me a greater understanding of these animals too. 

I can't remember when my brother got these two geckos but I know he was still living at home when they did as I have memories of them being in his bedroom on the desk. I though, have't seen the geckos that much since he moved out around maybe five or six years ago. When they've been on holiday someone else looks after them but this time they asked me and I thought it would be a nice change. 

Rabbits are easy to looked after and I've had many in my childhood and teenage years, so there's no problems there. Geckos on the other hand, surprisingly, need a lot of looking after! 

Firstly, there is a bit of a smell within the geckos' cage which can take sometime to get use to. Staying on top of cleaning them can help this. 

Second, is that geckos eat live food. My brother has these two on large brown crickets and mealworms. The worms are fine but the crickets are super annoying! I had to move them out of my bedroom as that's the only place for the geckos to stay and put the crickets in my old room as I couldn't cope with the sound of them scuttling around in the plastic box! Also, the chirping does bug me, especially at night! I've sort of got use to this now, I just hope that there's not some crickets loose in my room as that won't be fun at all! 

The geckos need feeding every other evening as they are nocturnal and they get about 6 crickets each, which have to be dusted in calcium power. In the morning, any remaining crickets have to come out otherwise they bite the geckos! 

I am a rubbish cricket catcher! The best way I found was a cup and paper method but crickets are fast, they jump and are good at hiding! So, it's become a big task in the morning to try and capture them all and most of the time I don't succeeded. 

Geckos do love the mealworms but they are all fat and nothing else, so they only get mealworms when they've not really eaten the crickets or as a treat. 

They don't seem picky eaters but there are times like when they are stressed or shedding when they won't eat. So, I try and reduce the number of crickets when I think it's needed.  

Speaking shedding; adults shed around once or twice a month and the geckos eat their shedding skin which is why before and after they don't eat or don't eat as much as they normally do. Geckos need a moist box and some special shedding spray to add them in making sure they get all their skin off. Sometimes, they need a human to get gets bits off their toes and tail.

I was't thrilled on this idea of using tweezers to peel dead skin off a gecko! But it wasn't that bad and the spray really helps in doing this. If I don't make sure all the dead skin is off, the blood supple to that area can be lost and the gecko can loose toes or tail tips! This has actually happen with these geckos as their last owner before my brother came to have them didn't look after them correctly. 

Both geckos are friendly and don't mind being picked up. However, I've found that the one photoed above which is the darker or less spotted one, is much more friendly and often wants to be out of the tank and exploring. 

Sometimes, she'll come to the door and stare out or try to climb up to show she wants out! Then I let her out for a bit of a walk around the desk but nowhere else as I don't want to explain to my brother that she's gone missing. 

Afterwards, she'll climb back in again and go to get warm on the heat pad. 

It's been interesting and fun pet sitting the geckos. I've gotten use to them now and it'll feel weird when my brother comes to pick them up later tonight. I'll be glad to get rid of the crickets though! For me, geckos are not a pet I'd like to keep as they do need lots of looking after and I'd rather have a animal that was soft, fluffy and cuddly!  

Below, are a few more photos I took. I need to end this post now as I've got a story to write for my other blog. So, until next time!

(Photos all my own). 

August Life Update: My Brother's Wedding

Hi readers,

Today I wanted to write a quick post about my brother's wedding. It happened on Thursday at a place called Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, UK. The castle was really lovely and dates to the 1800's, so it's all intact still, not like the castle we stopped at on the way there! There's not much left of Beeston castle, it looks like the ruins of a large tower on a tall hill now. The well was interesting though and you could see a lot from the top, though it was a very clouded day.

My room, photo below, at Peckforton was really nice. I was staying in the top floor of one of the towers. It faced out over the chapel and tower gates as can be seen in the photo above. I had a window box and a fire place, which I'm a lover of both, but I do wish I'd had my parent's bathtub as mine was just a normal bath/shower combo. I didn't sleep so good though, I don't like beds that are not my own and I think on the night of the wedding I was so over-tried that sleep was beyond me! Well....my parents and I had been up till 3am in the wine cellar reflecting on the day.  

I did so want to take a bath in this tub, but I didn't get the chance. In fact everything went so fast, I sort of feel like I missed it all and I so wish I'd taken more photos. Speaking of, I decided I'm not going to post up any photos of anyone but me. That's because it's personal family photos and I do feel the need to ask people if it's okay for them to be published here. Though even if they said it was okay, I'd still feel like this wasn't the place. So, I'm just going to share the photos I think are okay for here.

For the last few months/weeks leading up to the wedding, I'd become worried that I'd be super bored or wouldn't fit in. It had been weighing on my mind a lot, if my dresses were okay and what I'd look like in the photos. Well, beside from the photos - I'm so not good in any photos really- everything else was good. The day went by with lots of things to keep me busy - like chasing around after my brother to drag him in the photo booth and meeting relatives and friends I'd not seen in ages. 

My brother and his new wife had ordered a bird of prey display, an ice cream cart and an string quartet to keep everyone happy whilst they got all the photos out of the way. I loved all these things and I had a lot of ice cream and watched the birds flying about. I even got to hold one! He was an owl and his name was Mango, he also was the bird that delivered the wedding rings at the ceremony.  

This is an eagle hawk. He was a bit scared and didn't really want to fly around everyone. At one point he went off to investigate the ice cream cart and we didn't think he was going to come back! But then he did and everything was okay again.

I tried all the ice cream from this cart, but the vanilla one. It was really nice and since the weather was warm and sunny, it was very fitting. A few people hopped on the bike behind the cart and had their photos took, but I didn't. I have a nice one of the bride though. It was a hit with everyone I think. 

This was the room in the great hall were my brother got married. They then used it as the dance room for the party. The theme was purple and sliver, with a touch of Game of Thrones and Disney. I really liked it and it looked great. The DJ played some good music too - most of it seemed to come off the list I put together online as I reconsidered a lot of the songs! I really loved the table decorations too! They were floating candles with purple flowers underneath them in the water. They were present everywhere and this photo below with them by one of the great hall windows is really nice.  

  

Of course, no wedding would be complete without a cake! Their's was just so awesome. They had Game Of Thrones on the bottom with them seating on the throne at the top. The middle section was images of Totoro, which is the bride's favorite anime and like my second. I love it and it was so cute. The top was Disney couples. each layer was different, but we only got to eat the lemon one. The other two were red velvet and chocolate. I got a good picture of them 'mock' cutting the cake with a big sword.  

I think one of my favorite things was the chocolate fountain. There was lots of things you could get dipped into the chocolate, including mini doughnuts, fudge, fruits and gingerbread man! I think that's one of my new favorite things. I tried to find a photo of the chocolate fountain, because I didn't take one, but it seems that no one else so far has! I got this photo of me eating a gingerbread man, though I don't think it's a good photo, but I wanted to put up something. 

 Lastly, we went into the wine cellar. It was really nice and the perfect place to have a few more drinks before going to bed. My other brother's girlfriend and my next door neighbor ordered some tea and I was surprised that no one had thought to serve hot drinks down here. Like I said at the start, my parents and I were the last to leave. It was such a long day, but also really good. 

I still can't believe how fast it went though! I'm enjoying seeing all the photos everyone else took too. Hopefully, I'll get to see the one from the photo booth and the hired photographers. It's nice to be home, but I do miss the castle. Also, I have a sister now! That's going to take awhile to sink in. 

Next week will be a book review. See you then. 

Photos all my own.

New house!

Hey everyone, this is the view from my new room! and the rest of the photos are the first from my new house in ormskirk. I moved in on Sunday and have only just finished sorting my room out last night. Had to wait because the landlady was being funny about putting posters up on her newly painted walls. But the house looks so bare! It least it feels homely and we are going to buy some more posters tomorrow at the freshers' fair.

The best feature of my room has to be this! my double bed, which I only found out I had got the day before I moved in. Luckily my mum lent me some sheets - purple satin ones! but they do fit in with the theme of my room. Only problem is I have to be careful getting out of it, because the sheets are slippery and I already fell out of it on my first night! But I like it anyway. I'm sleeping really good too and that's something I know I don't do well with when I'm away from home.

The first wall in my room, my wardrobe and the bean bag chair -Ally's shrine. My room is massive! I like it a lot and I've checked out how my housemates have set up their rooms and I decided that though I wasn't bothered about which room I got, I'm glad I choice the one I did, because its the best! I love the house though AKA The Pineapple, there's a good size living room and kitchen and its closer to uni. Only problem is that there's a very busy main road just outside, and though its very noisy I'm not going to let this get me down.

Some idea of how big my room is and my door! the sticky note that my housemate suggested says the room the size of a planet. I've to agree there. :)

That's mostly it. I applied for two jobs at uni and I need to apply for my teaching course too. Already the days are flying by. I'm also wearing my contact lenses too and its messing up my vision so its time to go!