Homemade Hamster Food

Sources of good fats: walnuts, blanched sweet almonds, roasted peanuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, roasted soynuts, millet

Protein: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, roasted peanuts, walnuts, blanched sweet almonds, freeze dried turkey, mealworms, roasted soynuts, flax seed, millet, quinoa, chia seeds, hard red wheat berries, nutritional yeast flakes, barley, spelt flakes, freeze dried chicken liver, freeze dried crickets, freeze dried chicken, freeze dried river shrimp

Macrominerals and Trace mineral-

Calcium: basil, sesame seeds, spirulina, chia seeds

Phosphorous: sesame seeds, spirulina, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds

Iodine: spirulina, oat, wheat berries

Selenium: chia seeds, wheat berries, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, blanched almonds

Iron: chia seeds, basil, spirulina, sesame seeds

Molybdenum: blanched almonds, peanuts, walnuts, barley, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast flakes

Vitamins-

Vitamin A: carrot, spirulina, freeze dried chicken liver, bell peppers, basil, parsley

Vitamin D: freeze dried chicken liver

Vitamin E: sunflower seeds, blanched almonds, peanuts, basil, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, parsley, bell peppers, cranberries, carrots

Vitamin K: basil, carrot, spirulina, parsley, dried berries, carrots, bell peppers

Thiamin: spirulina, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, barley, oats, peanuts, carrots, bell peppers, parsley

Riboflavin: spirulina, blanched almonds, basil, freeze dried chicken liver, bell peppers, freeze dried turkey, carrots, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds

Niacin: peanuts, carrots, basil, freeze dried turkey, freeze dried chicken liver, bell peppers, sunflower seeds, barley, carrots, parsley

Pantothenic Acid: Sunflower seeds, bell peppers, freeze dried chicken, freeze dried turkey, wheat berries, carrots, spirulina

Pyridoxine: basil, millet, sesame seeds, freeze dried turkey, freeze dried chicken, sunflower seeds, bell peppers, carrots, spirulina

Biotin: blanched almonds, oats, peanuts, carrots, walnuts, nutritional yeast, wheat berries, roasted soynuts, berries, cranberries, sunflower seeds, freeze dried chicken liver

Folic Acid: basil, carrots, sunflower seeds, peanuts, flax seeds, blanched almonds, parsley, bell peppers, quinoa

Vitamin B12: freeze dried chicken liver, freeze dried chicken, freeze dried turkey

So this isn't a complete ingredient list, but this is very close. I now have 32 regular ingredients. I don't weigh my ingredients by grams anymore, I have realized it's pretty much useless anymore, I know how much each of my hamsters generally need and eat in each department of fat/protein/carbs. Each of my hamsters (though I have different species many of them are the same since I have six) need extreme differences in their diet for what is recommended individually. I just use volume measurements even when doing my base food mix, and then alter it from there when I feed each hamster. This is why I don't include measurements, I also don't sell my food at all... because hamsters are hugely different for each individual, and generally each person who would feed their hamster it needs to know what a healthy hamster looks like. In general all my hamster lost an extreme amount of weight for the first week or two, then they gained it back in lean muscles. They lost a lot of what I call excess fat. 

Most of my hamsters are rescue hams, so they come to me in some sort of bad shape or being fed crap food. I have two I want to discuss in detail, one is my severely aggressive dwarf ham and my other is a syrian who has some physical problems with his hips and and muscle atrophied side. My dwarf hamster, Icarus, actually had a bad bacterial infection that started to heal itself when I switched him to the homemade mix that the vet said was a really good choice and his aggression and anxiety in general has reduced. My syrian, Badger, I have adjusted his food to have more lean proteins and omega-3 fats, his hips are moving better and his atrophied side has actually gained muscle which it never has before. I am very happy with how it has helped not just them but also everyone else. If any of my readers have any questions about my food, I will gladly answer them.

Different Hamster Types and Basic Care

There are 32 different known types of hamsters in the world. There may be more that are undiscovered, the thing with wild hamsters is they are almost never seen. Hamsters even in captivity are extremely nocturnal, so wild hamsters are skewed to this life style even more. The fact that they are extremely nocturnal and are usually found at 18+ feet under ground, it's very rare to run across a hamster in the wild unless actively looking for them.

Though there are so many types in the wild there are only technically 5 types available in captivity. The Syrian, the Campbells dwarf hamster, the Winter White dwarf hamster, the Robo dwarf hamster, and the Chinese dwarf hamster. In the US commercial pet trade there are no known pure bred strands of Campbells or Winter White dwarf hamsters, only hybrids. The only way to get a pure strand for sure is through a reputable hamster breeder.

Why does having a hybrid over a purebred matter? Unlike with mixed breed dogs, mixed sub-species of hamsters, the two dwarf species, are not healthier when mixed. In fact they are more likely to have not only a myriad of physical health problems but also many behavioral health problems.

The minimum cage size for hamsters is 450 sqaure inches of uninterrupted floor space. However I personally think this only applies for single dwarves, especially robos, and only depending on their individual needs. I don't think you should go any smaller as their permanent cage, but larger can often be far better. Though sometimes too large too quickly can be detrimental. Syrians in my personal opinion should have a cage floor space minimum of uninterrupted 650 square inches. More territorial hamsters often do better with larger cages and deeper substrate.

I prefer making bin cages, with wire squares attached to at least one side and the top. The wire always needs to be no bigger than 1 inch by 1 inch openings and made only of galvanized wire. Attachment can be done by wire or cable ties depending on your hamster. It is amazing how much a hamster's behavior can change with a larger cage. No commercial cages available in the US stores are acceptable for any sized hamster that I know of.

Hamsters have constantly growing teeth. There are certain ways to take care of this, wooden toys (though some hamsters never chew on wood), providing lab blocks in their diet, providing nuts with shells, cookies made for dogs that have hamster safe ingredients and low fat preferably, also a dog dental chew called Whimzees, the mini alligator or toothbrush is usually a fine size for a hamster (any other dental chew is usually unsafe). Seed blocks or cookies for hamsters sold in pet stores are usually high in artificial sugars and fats, and have little to no nutritional value. I have started making my own seed blocks where I control every ingredient that goes in, instead of using cane syrup and honey to stick it together, I use small amounts of honey (around 1 and a half teaspoons in a couple cups worth seed mix) and an egg. I also add a small amount of protein in the form of a tablespoon of mealworms per batch, and also add a few pinches of dried berries. I am also working on making rodent safe cookies, with a total of five ingredients in them to bake for my hamsters, which would be perfectly safe for rats or mice, and even dogs.

Foods (I currently do not feed commercial foods of any sort)... there are many types of acceptable commercial foods out there. However in my mind they still have unnecessary additives in the form of probiotics/vitamins/ minerals, all in a raw form, which are harder for hamsters to digest. The only reason these are necessary to add, is because of how their food is processed. A lot of pellets and lab blocks have unnecessary added sugars in the form of molasses and cane sugar. However it is perfectly possible to make a healthy diet out of commercial foods. A normal adult dwarf or syrian hamster needs 18% protein, 5%-6% fat, 8-15% fiber. Robos need a much higher protein level even as adults, they do best at 20-22% protein, 7-8%, 8-15% fiber. Growing pups, at 6 months or below need 22%-24% protein for dwarves and syrians, and for Robos always shoot for 24%. These levels can be reached with a seed mix and some sort of protein booster. Protein boosters can be anything from lab blocks to multiple types of freeze dried meats and insects. However each hamster is an individual especially with their diet, so what be good for a few other hamsters may be severely bad for the current hamster you have. You must pay attention to your hamsters weight.

Hamsters need the chance to be able to get to a vet if needed. Just because they are small pets does not mean they won't eventually need a vet, and usually small animal vets can be relatively expensive.

What you want to look for in a good lab block and seed mix, is something that has no or few added dyes, no unhealthy preservatives and no dangerous ingredients. Hamsters should be offered fresh food on a regular basis, this means fresh vegetables, a few fruit, and some types of healthy unseasoned meats. Whoever has told the public that hamsters are purely vegetarian are totally wrong. Hamster's are omnivores and actually do better on a higher protein content than most rats. In the wild they hunt and eat insects, they also scavenge dead animals when they run across them. However their diet is largely grains, seeds, and vegetation.

Wheels are relatively important to hamsters who will use them, however there are often hamsters who will never use them. In my opinion these hamsters need larger cages than minimum because they don't get the usual exercise they would with a hamster who use a wheel. Toys and hideys are severely important to keep hamsters entertained.

Bedding, I only use Kaytee Clean and Cozy, with no scent. Carefresh has more dust and can be a problem with rodent with Upper Respiratory Problems. Wood shavings are safe if you use Aspen, no types of soft wood combinations are safe as they are known for causing cancer, cedar and pine aren't safe at all. Anything labeled as odor control is most likely filled with baking soda which is known for causing Upper Respiratory Problems in rodents and possibly death.

Disclaimer: Just because I make my own food, does not mean you should. In fact I don't recommend for most people, I did months of research, it is not cheap compared to commercial foods unless you have a bulk store near you who can provide you with everything. It also takes a lot of time and observational skills. You have to know what a healthy hamster looks and acts like and have to have the funds to take your hamster to a good small animal vet.

Soon to be posts for hamsters- Taming Syrians, Dwarves, and Robos
Keeping multiple hamsters together
What goes into my Homemade food, and how it has affected the health of my hamsters
What creates diabetes in hamsters?
Different product reviews I personally use
Different Treats I make (though I will not be putting exact recipes I will be selling them)

How I Met Dewey, and How He Changed My Life Forever

Dewey... his story is both amazing and long. If you don't think dogs or animals in general can be just as important as a human life then you probably won't understand a thing in this post. Though if you want to read it, I encourage you to read it with every ounce of my being, he has changed many people's views on what a dog can be.

Dewey is not your typical service dog, first of all he is a shelter dog, a rescue who had some severe behavioral issues when we first got him. He also weighs at most, when he is his heaviest, 13 pounds, and is a perfect mix between a rat terrier and a chihuahua, though it is extremely likely he has quite a few other breeds of unknown origin. He is very obviously rat terrier and chihuahua though, both with his personality, body build, and his intelligence level. If you have never had a dog that made you feel like an idiot on a regular basis you have no idea what you are missing. Because honestly, though it may sound bad or annoying, I would never willingly buy or rescue an averagely intelligent dog again.

Now Dewey is not the typical intelligence a lab might possess. Those dogs are intelligent where they are easily trained, however Dewey is intelligent on so many levels. He is intelligent where he is easily trained yes, but he also intelligent in the way where he can easily think about a situation and choose whether following my command would be the best result or not. Honestly when he chooses his own path and I allow it, he often chooses something with a better result than something I would choose. The fact that he was easy to train, could think for himself independently, and bonded to me very strongly; made him the perfect service dog for me.

Originally when we rescued him, he was fear aggressive to literally almost everything and anything he could or would come across in his life. He hated cats, other dogs no matter whether he could see them or not, most other people, children, sounds he didn't understand. It was so horrible back then, that when you meet him today and I tell people about how he was back then, people are completely shocked. He is literally a different dog. Some of it is him growing up, a lot of problems ended as he grew up to around 3 years old and grew out of his "puppy stage" of life. However there was so much work that went into getting him to that stage and then even passed there.

I didn't even consider making him my service dog until I talked to my psychiatrist about how much he helped me and how he occasionally seemed to get upset before my anxiety attacks. My psychiatrist back then, talked to me about working on making him a service dog. I was more worried about making it safe for him to go out in public without severe explosions of aggression, and so after I honed his alerting just a bit more, I worked intensively on each facet of his fear aggression. The hardest things in his life that have been to over come is dog aggression, and child aggression. However now I am happy to say, child or baby aggression no longer exists in Dewey at all, he is all waggy tail and loving licks when he meets children of any age. This he learned from lots of positive reinforcement, so when we spent several days on end with my cousin who was toddler at the time, he was on leash and every time he approached her with no sign of aggression (even if it was just a sniff) he was given a high value treat. Soon he realized he didn't just get those treats, but if he stayed near her, she dropped amazing stuff as well. He is one of those amazing dogs that don't steal food from children unless it is obviously offered to him or dropped. However if he did bark at her there was still punishment given, I often would say leave it and pop his collar, then remove him from the situation to let him calm down.

Now a lot of people have problems with collar pops or any sort of "physical punishment". I do a huge combination of heavy positive reinforcement, a small amount of punishment when needed (and lots of different forms), and lots of catering to my dogs individual needs. In my opinion dogs are extreme individuals, in fact all animals are, and that fact alone means that no type of training is perfect for every dog. I use what works best for Dewey. In fact if you have heard some of the commands I use for him during our training sessions or working walks, some of the words make no sense in the normal dog training world. He doesn't know heel, he doesn't know off, he doesn't respond to a lot of things like a normal dog would. And it's not because I didn't try to teach him the norm, it's just because he didn't respond well to those words compared to words I now use. Dewey is one of those dogs who I can pretty much have an entire normal conversation with and he will understand at least half the words. Sadly this means we have to spell words that will make him excited, which is at least 30 words, and recently we have noticed 3 words he can now spell without a problem.

There are two types of dog training in the dog training world, -Punishment (which is what people consider the positive reinforcement and no force training) and +Punishment (which is what the "old world" training is. Such as dominance rolling, collar pops, any physical punishments). Now most people are one or the other. Most -P trainers will tell you dogs learn better through force free training. Most +P trainers will tell you that it is instinctive to use +P training so they will respond better. However I think dogs individually vary too differently to say these absolutes. I think an equal training where you use a little of both with a lot of positive reinforcement and a little +punishment and/or -punishment (preferably both types) so your trust and bond is not damaged, is key to a balanced dog. Now there is never such a thing as a "perfectly trained" dog in my opinion. I honestly think training is something that will always needed to be reworked and reinforced, because dogs will forget or will test their boundaries. This is what mentally healthy dogs should do in my opinion. It is your job as their trainer, to redirect their thoughts and remind them what they should be doing. I don't post on my dog forums anymore because they don't allow talk about +P training, which in my opinion isn't fair. However I understand where the moderators are coming from. If +P training is used incorrectly, like it is by so many certified trainers and people who think they can train dogs themselves without studying, it can be severely detrimental to the dog's psyche. I personally would not use any sort of +P training on a dog I was training right away until I had studied that dog's triggers in several situations for a week, and was able to read it's signals safely. Then I would carefully introduce +P training in a safe environment with minimal damage and minimal stress so that I could view the dogs reaction. Each session would last at most 15 minutes, followed by a long relaxation break of 30 minutes with preferably something they love to chew on and preferably in a room or place they feel safe in, either alone or with someone they feel safe with. Then after the relaxation break they get a 15 minute play session, another 10 minute break, and then another 15 minute session of +P training. However I would only charge for the 30 minutes of +P training.

So if you think about it in my training session that would involve +P, it would 15 minutes of stress, 30 minutes of like a meditation destress moment, 15 minutes of play to release built up tension, 10 minutes to just relax after the play so we don't go into the next training session too amped up, and then another 15 minutes of stress. Then preferably after I left the owner would follow through with the chewing session.

These kind of intensive +P training session are only really needed with aggression based or fearful dogs. Once or twice a week at most is what is recommended for intensive training session of any sort for any dog.

With Dewey, when he came to us, our lives changed. We were looking for a 4 year old female. We got an 8 month old male. He totally chose us and it was so worth the change we made. Because the beginning wasn't exactly perfect and we definitely had to adjust, everything about him is just... amazing. I wouldn't say he's perfect, because he has his faults that many people wouldn't find perfect, but his faults make him perfect for me. His past wasn't great from what we know, when he arrived at the shelter he was 5 pounds underweight, he still had his dew claws (never got them removed and still has them today), had to be neutered, and was definitely not a normal dog. He was found in the Napa Golf Course. And technically we were looking for a dog, but at that moment weren't planning on getting one. But when he walked into the room all waggly and happy, we put our names down, and I haven't regretted once.

I will be posting a general dog training guide in the next post because I got a comment about the desire for one, the first dog training post will be simple commands and how to train them. These are the basics that no dog should be with out. Probably after a couple more posts on other animals or care revolving around them, I will talk more on controlling and helping reduce negative behavioral traits of your dog.

~Amber

The Introductions of Everyone

So lets get the introductions out of the way:

Icarus (hyrbrid dwarf): One of my four hamsters, he is my project baby right now. I planned to rehabilitate/tame him and rehome him. However that definitely didn't happen. His past care had caused severely detrimental behavioral characteristics. He is extremely aggressive, so aggressive that I didn't feel it was safe for him to be given to another family especially since a lot of families who are interested around in hamsters around here are either college students who don't have a lot of time or young kids who are afraid of biting hamsters (or don't have the patience for aggressive hamsters), then there is the fact that gaining his trust to just take a treat from my hand took 3 months. I didn't want to shove him into another home where he didn't know anyone and they had none of his trust. This last week I have been able to hold him with no biting. However a couple days ago I had to take him in due to a bacterial skin infection that I was finally able to notice after being unable to give him proper health checks for so long. I took him to the vet and during that visit I got his nails clipped and him treated (which was being prescribed silvadene due to the fact that his infection had started clearing up already) however during that half hour I knew I lost a lot of trust I built, and though right now he will take treats without biting, and petting is ok, holding is definitely out of the question.

Scotti (robo dwarf): Another one of my hamsters, however he is one of mine that I know will never be tamed and I honestly haven't tried to tame. There are some hamsters I view as untameable. However with every single one of my hamsters that I have currently and have had in the past, I have safely been able to handle, I honestly don't think Scotti would ever bite me, however I don't ever think I would be able to catch him for him to get the chance. Scotti is a robo who lived most of his life in a pet store, he came into my life at 8 months old, and since he came into my life he has been extremely fearful. I have tried every type of training technique there is for hamsters. Everything from noninvasive tissue paper that is scented, to picking up and forcing them to deal with me by sitting in a bath tub with me. However what I have realized with Scotti, is he does best when he is left alone. He has become extremely more comfortable about us talking to him and being out in the open with us out in the room after 8 months of not really bothering him other than the typical cleaning his cage, feeding, watering, and leaving the occasional treat in his cage. I have tried offering different treats of various value to him, nothing gets his attention and he'd much prefer to run. So I prefer to let him be himself, when it comes to getting to the vet, I have ways to catch him if needed, not that examining him will be easy, but I hope the need will never come.

Gabriel (golden syrian): Another one of my hamsters, he is my other untameable in most ways hamster. In fact Icarus is easier to tame than Gabriel, though Gabriel has never ever been as aggressive as Icarus. In fact I don't really think Gabriel has the capability of being aggressive. Gabriel is another rescue, who is a wet tail survivor. He came to me at 6 months old and as an avid runner, he needed a good food so back when I was feeding a commercial diet I switched him to my diet which was much healthier for a hamster than what he was eating. Gabriel didn't need long to settle in, he is always willing to take a treat (only pumpkin seeds are worthy of taking) from my fingers, but only if he wants to. When I was originally taming him he would take pumpkin seeds four at a time once a week. Then I learned that this was the most I'd ever get from him. However after trying to handle him the first time for the first cage clean, it wasn't a problem, he wasn't exactly a fan of it, but he wasn't interested in biting me at all. Now I can easily handle him by scooping my hands under him, and holding him against my chest so he can't see out. When I am doing health checks, he grunts and grumbles in obvious complaint, but then again he is vocal in general and will grunt if I move something in his cage in a way he doesn't approve of, or if something doesn't do what he wants. Gabriel is pretty much anti-social but not aggressive.

Badger (silver syrian I think): My last hamster, he is by far my most social and friendliest. He has always been friendly, when I first got him I originally thought he was a pregnant female hamster. Though he was at the point where his testicles should have dropped his physical disabilities were so severe that it caused him to get so badly constipated that his testicles were constantly constricted into his body. However, once I was able to stimulate most of the feces out of his body and get his guts moving with canned pumpkin, and some hamster probiotics he was very obviously a boy. And it was obvious he was definitely not a physically normal boy. I bought Badger expecting a healthy pregnant female, I technically got a physically and mentally disabled male. Badger has something wrong with his hips, whether it is neurological, a physical defect that he was born with, or a physical injury that happened when he was a baby that healed wrong, we don't know as we have yet to have him xrayed. However we have learned ways of keeping him healthy and moving at the moment that he shows little problems moving. When we first recognized his problems it was extremely obvious, one side of his body is atrophied compared to his other. He throws out his leg and it seems like his bad hip is almost fused in a way though we aren't sure. We realized early on, having a wheel and running on it regularly is very helpful to keeping him moving correctly. He also benefits from a few massages a week. I also add healthy omegas from seeds such as flax, sesame, and chia to keep his joints moving as good as they can. His mental capabilities aren't all normal either, he kind of has what people call OCD in the hamster world. He stares in one spot (which is normal for a hamster if its at most one minute) for five minutes sometimes, he also often seems to react to my presence almost as if I startled him because he didn't realize I was there, he often runs on his wheel or does things obsessively once he starts doing certain motions he can have a hard time getting out of them. He also isn't exactly what I'd call the smartest hamster, while Icarus is easily the smartest hamster I have ever had, I would put him on the level of an intelligent rat. However Badger is easily stupid... yet he has a great personality and I love him, stupidity and all.

Lark: He is one of my two birds, Lark is a Bourke's parakeet. And I honestly gotta say if all Bourke's Parakeets were hand tame like him I would honestly prefer them far above budgies. Budgies have their place, but if you live in an apartment and need a quiet bird but want the same intelligence as a budgie or a parrot you NEED a Bourke's parakeet. Because though they have every ability to get loud, their sounds do not carry like a screaming conure, and they are definitely more tolerable. Bourke's Parakeets do not talk from what I have learned, all they do is trill, whistle, and sing in notes. However they have every ability to learn new patterns and types of whistles, I got Lark at 2 years old, he is now almost 4 and he easily has learned at least 10 more patterns. He has learned most of the common wild birds around my area, a couple songs from the tv, and to wolf whistle. He is incredibly intelligent for a bird I thought would have lower intelligence than a budgie, he has learned to manipulate us in only ways a parrot could. He also loves attention and thrives on being able to talk to us and be held. He is strongly bonded to me, and if anyone else hold him he will most likely fly off of them immediately, while with me he will easily fall asleep and stay sitting until I put him back. He doesn't like people to pet him, though he has no problem with "stepping up" onto hands and returning kisses.

Kookie: My other bird, however she is purely my mom's. She loves my mom, is bonded to my mom and because of the species she is and the way she was brought up she does not enjoy other people very often. She is a yellow nape amazon parrot, with very little of that yellow in her nape. However she is absolutely gorgeous. She is 32 years old or so. She has been with my mom since she had just gotten her green baby feathers and was only eating gruel. She is older than me, and has been technically my older sister since I was born. It's weird, she is extremely jealous of me, doesn't trust me, is fearful of me, and so acts aggressively to me. However I will most likely be the one she is left to because I am most likely the one who will bond with her after mom dies, or will at least be able to correctly take care of her even if she is aggressive. Even if it comes to the point where I need to rehome her, I know I would screen people with such OCD and paranoia mom would be happy with whoever she went to. Even though we aren't always on the best of terms, I love her in a weird way.

Miko: One of my two cats, though he is honestly mom's I do a lot of the work for him too. He is diabetic due to poor breeding and poor care in the home before we got him. We got him in his senior years, he was at least 7 years old, and severely obese weighing at least 19 lbs when we got him possibly a pound or two more. His preferred weight is 16 pounds, so considering he naturally a big cat, 19-20 lbs was huge. He looked like a balloon and moved uncomfortably and couldn't jump really. It was sad. Eventually within a year of getting him he lost weight but then he lost weight to quickly. We took him in once he reach 13 pounds from 19 within six months. He got tested and surprise surprise he was diabetic. His sugars were way out of control. They suggested on getting on a purely wet food and preferably pate wet food diet. However with him, wet food of any kind is extremely hard to do, then we add our other cat into the mix who is pretty much the complete opposite and who desperately needs to free feed and it just wasn't possible. So we went with an extremely high in protein and high quality, low glycemic dry cat food... which let me tell you is extremely expensive. And then doing wet food with high protein levels that has gravy or juices however we also mix raw ground chicken into it, giving the protein boost (still keeping the soupy texture they all like), and giving a higher calorie meal for whatever amount they eat for the cat whose unable to keep as much weight on compared to Miko. Thankfully we've found a happy medium. Miko's personality, though he is expensive with some of his medical problems and his quirks with the kitty box and some foods are not always... desired, his personality makes up for all of it. He is a cat that is constantly happy to see you, and not just for food. He loves to cuddle and you can mold him like a teddy bear and he will purr the entire time. He will greet you like a dog at the door. He is stupidly curious and loves a piece of paper on the floor just as much as he loves laying on the couch. He is contiouosly makes me laugh. I can tell his past people did not treat him great, though I am honestly not sure if abuse or intentional abuse was a part of it. He is afraid of feet and brooms more than he should be, he is just weird about certain things, and was much worse about it in the beginning. He was declawed and not in the best way, before we got him, which has caused some severe problems with how he walks on his paws on how he deals with the litter box. Now that he's learned and adjusted to our house well, he loves his new life and is so happy here.

Andee: My other cat, we call her our perpetual kitten. She is absolutely tiny, loses weight extremely fast when not on the correct diet, but when she weighs the right amount she weighs a mere 7-8 lbs. She is pure cat through and through. She prefers affection when she wants it and will run away from you if you are doing something she doesn't agree with. However she has some of the cutest quirks and is absolutely loving when the sun goes down. I got her as a kitten at 3 weeks old from a neighbor across the street. She needed bottle feeding and lots of care. I still miss caring for her as a kitten.

Cleopatra (Cleo): One of my breeder leopard geckos, she is absolutely the friendliest thing considering when I first got her I didn't have to tame her at all. However I have always had to deal with too much albinism in her gene pool. She has severe problems with seeing any sort of prey with any sort of lighting that would be considered normal for a human. She is absolutely gorgeous, but she needs to be fed a lot and very often compared to my other leos to keep a good weight on her. She is also relatively large compared to my other leos.

Amazon: Another one of my breeder leos, she is a beautiful jungle pattern leo. She has gorgeous colors and is relatively short and chubby for a normal sized leo. I call her my bull dog. She is friendly and easy to keep weight on, she also has good breeding. She eats like a champ, her favorite feeders are probably silkworms or isopods.

Phantom: A petco rescue, she is stunted and has interesting ghost morph markings. However she is hard to get growing. She is also extremely aggressive. She has the most active tail out of all my leos, her tail easily expresses her feelings more than any other leo I have ever had.

Chronos: He is my Blue Tongue Skink, he is named after the titan though I did take some liberties with the spelling. If you meet him you would know why he named as such. I can handle him easily without any sort of injuries, however he never stops complaining. When he was a juvenile we had to deal with a severe case of reptile mites with him, I bought him under the pretenses he was captive bred, however if he had been he would not have had mites. So the lesson I took away from this, pay the extra expenses for a captive bred, there is usually a good reason for it and at least know for sure if it is a reputable breeder. He loves his diet, which consists of all types of feeder insects, raw meat, raw organs, raw frozen dog food just to make sure he is getting the bones he needs in his diet, and fruit, and sometimes veggies if I can convince him to eat them.

Teo: My Hermanni Tortoise, he is absolutely gorgeous and sweet. He is spoiled with organic greens and squashes on occasion. When I have them I give him fresh edible flowers from my garden and cactus certain times of the month. I very occasionally give him a tiny bit of fruit, like every other month at most. He lives inside but goes outside regularly for sun. He also gets soaked pellets once a week that I mix with pure canned pumpkin otherwise he wont eat it.

Hope: One of my permanent chameleons, she is a jackson's xanth, which if anyone knows their jacksons knows that those ones are supposedly the largest. However Hope is considered extremely small for her sub-species, her length at most is six inches including her tail. She was brought into a pet store at probably 6 months at the oldest, she spent an entire year there getting poor supplementation at best and no uvb. The side effects were eventually mbd so bad that even as healthy as she is now, she will never look physically normal, she will always have bent legs from the way her bones healed after every break. When I got her, she was constantly falling and pretty much lived on the floor of her terrarium, which people in the store didn't know enough to see that as wrong. She was so sick that it took me six months to get her even near normal. But in my opinion she is truly amazing, and after having her near a year she has shown a trust in me I thought she would never have because as soon as I got her I was constantly medicating her or feeding her through a syringe. However she has proved me wrong in so many ways.

Ryker: My other chameleon, who was my original chameleon and pretty much my guinea pig and my gateway drug into the chameleon addiction. He was and is truly different than any other chameleon in both his personality and many ways on how he is affected by life in captivity. He is captive bred and born, which means he is from a captive line and was born and raised in captivity. However his health problems can show how detrimental that can be. He, unlike other chameleon, cannot tolerate halogen bulbs or too strong of artificial basking bulbs at all, he burns extremely easily no matter how far away I place the bulb or how low of wattage I go. His eyes are also extremely sensitive. He does not do well with any kind of artificial uvb lighting without enough cover, no matter how strong it is. Yet he is my most tolerant chameleon, even now when he is having trust issues with me because of medicating at the moment, I have never worried about him biting me. Though it hurts me that he won't eat from my fingers or with me in the room at all, at the moment.

Dewey: And then there is Dewey, my beautiful and amazing dog. My companion through out life, my service dog, My love, someone I can always count on to be there. There is so much to his story that it would be impossible to do it correctly through a small introductory paragraph, I plan to do a whole post on him and all the trials we have through together. He is an amazing creature, he is not just a dog, he is everything. He is one of the most important things in my life. It's hard to explain how important he is to people who think dogs are just animals.

That is technically all the individual animals. There is of course the insects, but I will have to introduce their colonies later, because I plan to do care for their colonies later on.

~Amber

Me and How I Came Here

I suppose I should start by introducing myself and how I came to be a person that I truly view as an animal advocate. I have been through a lot of things in my life. I struggle with mental illness everyday, there were times in my life where I honestly wouldn't be here in this world if I hadn't of have had my animals. The weird thing is, is I don't honestly expect anything from my animals in return. Half my animals aren't able to show love in the way a dog or cat might. Most of my animals are reptiles or some type of insect. Yet I have such an undying love for my wards that taking care of them is all I need, it's all the thanks I need to see them thriving, to see them enjoy a special treat, or be enjoying a bath or shower. Every single one of my animals is an amazing creature brought into my life to be loved and cared for, many of them because they weren't cared for at all in their older homes. Some of them end up going to new homes once rehabilitated and healed correctly, however some of my rescues have made such an impression on my heart that I can not let them go. The fact that my animals have been neglected or maybe even abused in some way a lot of the time it takes months (talking about possibly six months) to even a year, to get them healthy let alone even close to trusting me. I can't worry about gaining the trust of a sick animal, because it usually never happens. Usually with a sick animal you are doing things with medication and such to make them better that they don't necessarily like and so they don't like you because of it. This definitely doesn't mean gaining their trust down the road won't happen however it will take a while, and as their human caretaker you must be as consistent as possible to provide them with security and safety, and therefore make them feel like it is safe to trust you. I have dealt with distrustful animals in everything such as hamsters, dogs, cats, horses, birds, and reptiles. It is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous when that hamster you have been working with for 6 months every day, finally decides not to bite you that day and instead takes that treat from fingers.... then that first step of trust is built from there and everything is so much easier after that one simple building block.

Now I don't just rescue by myself, working with a couple animals everyday would not be near enough to make a difference in this world. I am on several different forums of all types, quite a few of which you can find in links at the bottom of my page. On these forums I not only learn but try to pass on the wisdom that I have learned about each animal I have taken care of. I research each new species I take care of, and not only from one source, but many sources, a few of which are scientific and a few of which are not. I combine these together, and try different things that work for me, I also change things to what work for me and what works for each individual animal. I have learned over the time I have kept rescues and animals in general, that you can't make a difference by saving these animals by yourself, you have to try and spread the word of correct care and what you and other people have learned in their experiences.

I strongly recommend not taking my word as fact, this blog is about what works for me and the animals I have cared for. I recommend taking what I say and then researching about 5 different ways of care. Then taking what you like, whether it is from one type of care or multiple things from different types of care, and doing whats best for you. Though I don't enjoy saying this, animal care is as much of an art as it is a science. If you are new to an animal species you sadly need to experiment, with what works for you and the animal. But you also need to realize each animal is an individual, what may work for one animal may cause another animal extreme stress. You need to learn each animal's personality and try the basics if that doesn't work, think outside the box. Even if everyone, every single "expert" tells you that isn't the way to do it, if you know the basic signs of stress in your animals and your individual animal, honestly don't listen to them. There is no true one way to do everything, there is no one way to take care of every single animal. Every creature is an individual and it may just be you got that one rat who can't deal with other rats or social contact at all. You may have that chameleon who, while chameleons are labeled anti social with humans, your chameleon might like to be held and taken out.

I have dealt with all sorts of animals, probably some type of animal from every class. Yet what I have realized, even just through their dietary needs is that animals from the same species, can be extremely different.

This blog will not only include my current experiences with animals. But my dietary choices I have decided over the years I have been taking care of them. My cage choices. My supplementing choices, and in general the new information that is coming out all of the time. I will of course strongly outline the difference in each animal I have helped and owned, in both the forums and in my rescue/own care.

~Amber