omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 9, 2017 22:31:15 GMT
So i've been hanging around for a while, and you guys have been giving me some amazing advice, since i'm new to degu ownership! he already seems happier! so i thought i should do a wee into post about myself and my pets! so I'm Omiai, call me Omi. Though my real name is Erica. currently 27 and from & living in scotland, still with my folks. I work as a Barista and coffee master for starbucks, been working for them almost 10 years. I sometimes enjoy it. But i would love to be an author. I read far too many books (usually 100-250 a year, no joke) i studied filmmaking & screenwriting at uni (University of the west of scotland) I currently own the following pets: 2 gerbils (Ash & Acorn, approx. 3 years old) a rescue mutt, Riley (not sure, anything from 9 to 12) a rescue degu, chip (no clue!!!) i've previously owned 4 gerbils (in 2 pairs), and 2 dogs (both cairn terriers) and several goldfish. i adore animals, and if i had the money, time and space, i would have a menagerie! sadly i do not, though i'm doing pretty well considering! here's some pictures of my pets, old and current, because i love to share them with people! Pippin (brown) & Crowley (White) storm (white) & tempest (brown) Acorn (brown) & Ash (white) - my current pair of gerbils My mutt, Riley (he's a Belgian Tervuren, collie, border collie, greyhound, whippet & bull terrier mix XD) my previous dog, cairn terrier paddy: My degu, Chip
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Post by yasmin on Jun 10, 2017 2:35:22 GMT
Happy to find out more about you, Omial. I too am a former gerbil owner – love them, they're the perfect pet. I have also had mice and a lizard and a finch and fish, but now have exclusively degus and budgies. (Also have two cats – cats are my husband's thing but I love them too.) Love the pics. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by randomname on Jun 10, 2017 5:48:04 GMT
gerbils are AWESOME!! You're right Yasmin, they're perfect little critters to live with. Riley is gorgeous, has the same colouring as my Minnie. Love brown dogs It's funny how most of us have had gerbils at some point - is this why we love degus? I describe degus as large gerbils to people who haven't seen them. Gerbils are a gateway pet!!
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Post by Emziedee on Jun 10, 2017 11:33:46 GMT
Nice to meet you! Love the photos my mutt is called Riley and my man is called Paddy
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 10, 2017 12:32:44 GMT
haha that's brilliant XD if it helps, paddy was a girl before we got her, i really wanted an irish wolfhound, and i wanted to call him Paddy, but my dad snuck out one day when mum and i were out and got her, so i demanded we call her paddy to make up for it
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Post by randomname on Jun 10, 2017 12:36:06 GMT
haha that's brilliant XD if it helps, paddy was a girl before we got her, i really wanted an irish wolfhound, and i wanted to call him Paddy, but my dad snuck out one day when mum and i were out and got her, so i demanded we call her paddy to make up for it omg I was looking at scottish deerhounds & irish wolfhounds to adopt last night!! My favourite kind of dogs too, but I didn't know they had such short lives. Definitely don't have room for one at the moment, but I can dream right?
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 10, 2017 12:37:32 GMT
yup! my dream now (i was 8 then) is to have a czech wolf dog :3 i love wolves, but would never keep one in captivity, but wolf dogs are stunning! it's a shame the deer and wolf hounds are so massive XD our current dog is just the right size for us, he's about the size of a collie, maybe a tad smaller
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Post by Bexi87 on Jun 10, 2017 19:57:42 GMT
I've never had a gerbil. Maybe I need to sort that?!
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Post by goolover on Jun 10, 2017 20:22:45 GMT
Never had a gerbil either but how cute are they! Welcome to the forum Omiai, nice to meet you and your pets
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 10, 2017 20:26:46 GMT
thank you ^^ it's lovely to be here and gerbils are such sweet pets.
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Post by savvy on Jun 10, 2017 21:02:14 GMT
It is great to meet you properly. Hope you'll stick around and share more about your pets.
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 10, 2017 21:14:28 GMT
i plan to! it's great to have others to talk to about my pets who understand them! plus i think my friends and everyone at work are fed up with my pet stories! XD
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Post by goolover on Jun 10, 2017 21:37:02 GMT
LOL, tell us about it, we have all experienced that vague look on people's faces followed by the 'what's a degu' and the boredom as I tell them how i've spent my free time each week! Yes, you can share and talk about them as much as you want on here and we will actually enjoy hearing it all!
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Post by savvy on Jun 10, 2017 22:27:39 GMT
Oh yes, we do love to talk about our fluff babies. Hands up how many have said we have degus and been greeted with the words 'how big a dog is that?'
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Post by goolover on Jun 10, 2017 22:34:48 GMT
ROFL, yes Savvy, when I was booking Nina in at the old vets we used she said what pet is it, then asked me how big she was and something else dog related, I had to tell the lady that Nina was a rodent, not a dog, we decided to move vets after this!
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 10, 2017 22:39:45 GMT
oh dear XD i'm lucky with my vets, they are really competent with small animals, especially the head vet. some of the trainees aren't so good, when i took the gerbils in i had to hold them for them to have a look at them, because they had no idea how to handle them, but the head vet is amazing with them, she can get them under control for exams without stressing them too much. it's like magic XD
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 11, 2017 12:58:35 GMT
Nice to meet you and your furry family I think I'm going to need some gerbils one day too Pippin looks super cute, is he burmese or siamese?
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 11, 2017 19:26:46 GMT
he was siamese colouring, but other than on the bag of gerbil food i used to get them, i've never seen another with his colouring. same with storm, because he was white, but not an albino, because he had black eyes and a smudge of brown on his nose. :3
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 12, 2017 5:49:44 GMT
So lovely to get to know you more, Omi! Love all the pictures, and have to say, the siamese gerbil really caught my eye as well. Did he have robust health, or did you notice any weaknesses in him? I ask because with degus and with many other animals, there are troubles that come with specialty colours.
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omiai
Foraging Degu
Posts: 86
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Post by omiai on Jun 12, 2017 11:32:08 GMT
well he had the kink in his tail as i've said, but i think that probably happened before birth. Otherwise, he was really healthy. He died from a chest infection in the end, but i didn't notice any real problems with him. Unlike the albinos who obviously tend to have more problems. my white but not albino and my current regular brown gerbil both had stomach lumps, probably cancerous. Then the white not albino also ended up with a brain tumour. he lived to at least 4 though, so he was at the end of the life span, so big health problems like that were to be expected. so yeah, don't think pippin (the siamese one) had any more issues than the others. actually he might have had less XD
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