animallovinggirlie

i had a nandaya conure and a cockateil residing in the same cage for nearly 2 years, last week the cockateil died for no reason, just came down one morning and she was gone, i was sad but didnt really think much of it, a few days later i noticed that there was blood on one of the perches, and when i looked the conures feet were bleeding, now i have 2 dogs in teh house s i just assumed one of the dogs had snapped at the cage when the bird was on the bars (has never happened before but theres always a first for anything right?)

so i moved the cage out of the dogs eye zone and again thought not alot on it after placing an anti-septic animal tea tree cream on the sores,

i came down this morning to what looks like a blood bath in teh cage,

the bird appears to have been self mutilating all this time, he has chewed both of his back toes down to bone, ripped the nail off one of the rears, and the other is only just hanging on, there are open sores also under the soles of his feet and a couple on his "ankle" area. i have him booked in at the only avian vets in the area this afternoon, but i was just wondering if this could be down to stress from losing his cage mate?

i did get him another cockateil cage mate yesterday and they were cuddled up together no problem when i went to bed last night, but i came down to this, any ideas?

theres no signs or ever have been of flakey skin, indicating leg mites and they have ever had feather mites, all i can put this down to is stress, but i also know stressed birds normally pluck, not self harm to this extent. advice? theories?

i currently have a 4 foot tropical fish tank, containing,

2 discus,

2 Yo-yo loach

2 clown loach

1 long nosed elephant,

1 rusty plecostomus catfish

1 tiger plecostomus catfish

1 bristlenosed pecostomus catfish

10 harlequin rasbora

now, this tank was matured for 3 weeks in january, before the first few fish were added (the discus and the clowns), with the rest being slowly added, and i pride myself on the fact that i have yet to have a single casualty, knowing that people can have real problems setting a tank up.

w/e

due to unforseen circumstances, i am having to move house at the end of the month, only a mere 10 miles away, however i still have the problem of moving my fish,

i know the best general way to move fish is in bags, taking as much of the old water as you can etc, etc. however, with the discus, clowns, and tiger plec. being delicate species needing careful attention to the water quality is whats bothering me,

there is no way i can transport anywhere near all the water

i have just set up a 28*12*15 inch tropical aquarium. it has been established for two week, and having had gone through the full cycling routine. its currently being lit for 6 hours in mid morning (3 til 9) and 3 hours in an evening (11.30 til 2.30) i today purchased 2 discus, and 2 clown loach to go in it, its temperature is holding stead at 27c, and a Ph of 6.5.

i was just wondering what tank mates people would sugest to go in with these? obviously not to put in right away as im not wanting to put too much in at once, but im wondering what things people are thinking?

im thinking with having clowns for the bottom, and discus for the mid range, of maybe some silver hatchets to live at teh top? i'm also thinking of maybe a shoaling type fish to background the discus, maybe rummie nose tetra? and maybe one or two yoyo locahes to go with the clowns?

what would you think of this mix? or what suggestions would you all have? my aquatics center recommended maybe rainbow fish?

i have a female border collie, now 7 months old, not yet having had her first heat.

i had always believed that a Bi tch should be spayed before the first heat, however, i have been given two different stories from vets,

one vet suggested spaying before the first heat as it reduces the risk of problems later on,

however another vet said to only spay AFTER the first heat, because that way the "puppies" hormones have upgraded out of "puppy growth" stage to adult stage. this vet suggested that a dog spayed before their first heat has a higher tendancy to put on weight and have weight problems because their body still hasn't matured and therefore is still in "puppy growth" stage. putting every micro-nutrient from their food into body mass.

i am torn as to what way to go, everything i read online says to spay before the first heat, but i cannot find anything about weight problems of doing this, then again i know that this could be because that vet was talking out their backside.

i have a friend, who has 5 dogs, 2 are old and cant do much so are no problem, 1 is 18 months, 1 is 6 months and the other is 4-5 years. the two "puppies" are no problem, but the 4-5 year old is very vocal, when happy or playing he cant help but bark, he doesnt know he is doing it. it is ONLY when playing, and when my friend leaves the house, and the other neighbours say he only barks for about 5 minutes in this situation. anyway i was at my friends house last night with my 2 dogs, and obviously, id just come in with the others so her dog was barking to say hello to us all. not constant barking, maybe 2-3 barks a minute, this was around 6 pm at night, so it was still light, and it was raining so its not like this lady was sat out in the garden having to listen to it all. within about 10-15 minutes, she was on the phone having a right go at my friend, telling her "she has to come home right now, (we were home) and see to her dogs who have been barking constantly for over a hour"

on tuesday, my friend left her house with her, in season 18 months old bi tch, locked in the garden and her whole male dog locked in the house, she came back a hour later to find the male outside with the female after having jumped out of a downstairs kitchen window, so assumed that she must have been mated, phoned the vets, who said they couldn't do anything, because to do the abortion thing they needed to be SURE that she had been mated and was told she would just have to hope she hadn't, so my friend goes out today, again leaving the bit ch outside with the male inside but this time making sure all the ground floor windows where shut. not thinking to check upstairs, came home and sure enough, her male had jumped out of the upstairs window,lucky she didn't kill himself, this time however she caught them locked so knows that she was mated. phoned the vets, who said that because they aren't sure if she was mated the FIRST time or not, that they still cant do anything

i went and picked up my new puppy last night to go as a companion dog to my older German Shepard.

she is a border collie and will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. i only got her back late last night about 9pm so she hasn't been here long. we got home, i put her on the floor with my dog (that i know wouldnt cause any problems) and sure enough, they got on together like a house on fire, lying together, playing, tails wagging etc. thats not my problem, the problem is that she is terrafied of me and my father, if we so much as look at her and try calling her, (even though she doesnt know her name yet) she runs to the furthermost corner of the room away from us, she isn't scared to the sense of snapping at us, but i don't want it getting to that extent, i cant decide now which would be best, keeping her seperate from the other dog for a bit so that she HAS to bond with us, or just leave them together and let her come to us in her own time. what would you suggest? any tips?

i was driving myself and 2 friends to another friends house the other day, when suddenly i got screamed at by the friend i had in the back of the car to "STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!" i continued on knowing that nothing was wrong with my car etc, and again got screamed at "stop please stop... its a... its a... Omg its a bugatti... please stop... please" i hadnt seen what he was on about so carried on going, said i wasn't stopping, next thing i know i have a 19 year old lad in the back seat of my car in tears because i wouldnt stop. he was sobbing his heart out still asking, begging and pleading with me to stop and turn around. i eventually gave in and pulled a U turn, and went back to where he had started screaming, the whole time i kept getting "omg i love you i love you, its a bugatti hehehe omg i love you" etc. and he was punching the back of my seat with joy. when i pulled over down a side street he jumped out my car at like 100 miles per hour and darted off.

i'm not sure what to do. i am in the middle of a moral dilemma and cant decide beween my head and my heart.

i by nature am a very shy person and a social outcast. i can safly say i have 2 people that i can truly consider friends. or have up until this point. one of the friends is a online friend. the other one is a best best friend who lives about 10 minutes away and we talk daily and hang out 3 a week etc. for the last 3 years she has been in a abusive relationship which she couldn't escape from. finally last christmas i along with her family managed to get her out. i found out a few months ago that this guy had been secretly still living with her for a few months because he had been made homeless and she took pity on him. this hurt me by the fact she had fought tooth and nail to hide it away from me. the one thing i pride mysef on is that fact that people can talk to me. so to find out she felt she couldnt talk / tell me really hurt. and i was ready to say "forget it"