My Little Zoo

I just want to start this post by saying, if you are thinking about buying or adopting an animal, please make sure that you have the time, money and affection to make sure the animal you are taking home is happy. Having pets is a resposibility, and you need to think about their heath and happiness. Animals like hamsters and cats are easier to look after, and animals like chinchillas and dogs are a lot harder. I would say having animals is like having a baby. I always call them my furry babies. But in all honesty, having animals is an amazing thing, I spend all day with my wonderful animals and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I thought I would introduce you to my wonderful furry babies and tell you a little bit about them. I hope you enjoy!

So I will talk about my rabbits first. I have a 18 month old Buck (boy to you and me) His name is Castiel, we named him after a character in one of my favourite TV programes, Supernatural. He is a Rex rabbit and his fur is the softest thing I have felt in my life. He is a very active and fun boy, who loves to run around and hide in his tunnel. He likes to be stroked but he doesn't really like to be picked up. We adopted him in June 2014, he was the first pet my husband and I got since we got married, and he will always have a special place in my heart because of this.

We also have a 7 month old little dwarf rabbit doe (girl) called Aria, we decided to call her this because there is an Aria in two of our favourite programmes, Pretty Little Liars for me and Game of Thrones for him. She is a lot more calm and dosile than Castiel, they get along well at the moment, but we are waiting for another 5 weeks before we put them into the same hutch. She has the most unique colouring. She is prodominatley black with a white stomach and what looks like thumbprints of tan fur on her neck. She likes to be held and cuddled, and I spend at least 30 minutes cuddling and stroking her in the sun-shine. she loves to sunbathe and lay down she is a pretty lazy rabbit. We have only had her for 4 months but she has really settled in to the family.

We have a large metal run, which is easy to set up, it was quite affordable and was delivered really quickly. We have a wooden den for the rabbits to get some shade, and a plastic tunnel to hide from one another. The rabbits seem to love it, especially Castiel because he has loads of binkies as soon as I put him in the run. At the moment we have the rabbits in two serparate hutches, because Castiel has just been neutered and we have to wait 8 weeks until they can be put together. We have a small hutch with is Aria's temporary home, and then we have a two story hutch which Castiel lives in at the moment, but in 5 weeks they will both live together happily ever after (we hope!) They both like to munch on dandilion leaves and celery and both love to eat! Chubby Bunnies!

We have two roborovski dwarf hamsters, both females called Ellen and Jo. Those again are characters from Supernatural. They are very fast and zip around their cage and burrow in their burrow box. They both adore dried sweetcorn and running around in their ball. It's difficult to catch them and they are too hyper to hold and stroke. We don't know how old they are, but I have a feeling Ellen is older because she is almost double the size of Jo. Ellen is the first one to do everything, first to eat, to get into the ball and to take treats out of our hands. Since we have had them Jo has really come out of her shell, she was really shy and slower, but now she will run on the wheel with Ellen for ages. They are so cute and lovely to sit and watch them run around and hide in their log.

Their cage set up is pretty small, we would like to get them a bigger cage in the future, but we haven't found the perfect one. We have to make sure that the cage is mostly plastic, and I have to make sure they have lots of things to play with. We have a running wheel, a suspension play area, a log to hide in and a burrow box which they love. As I said before they both love dried sweetcorn and monkey nuts.

Next we have our newst member of the Hawkins family, a beautiful male chinchilla called Merlin, we are both fans of fanatsy books and films, and we decided Merlin was the perfect name. He is perfect. He is sleepy and lazy in the day and active and hyper in the evening. He's very cheeky and tries to get out of the cage when i open the door. He has the most adorable face and I just love to watch him run around. His favourite part of the day is when he has his dust bath. He gets really excited when he sees the bath.

He is in a temporary home as we have just ordered a massive cage for him to run around in, also we are wanting to get a female chinchilla for Merlin to cuddle up to at night (well in the day) The cage he is in at the moment has loads of ledges for him to jump on, some loofa stones and a hay ball for him to chew, he loves his wooden bed, but he doesn't like hay in it, he just throws it out before he gets in. His favourite food is monkey nuts, Chinchillas cannot have treats like other animals, but we give him a monkey nut every evening before we go to bed.

And finaly, I will talk about my beautiful baby. A 2 year old Stafordshire Bull Terrier. She has beautiful brindle colouring and amazing honey coloured eyes. We adopted her in August 2014, from a reputable rehoming centre. She was a stray before she was brought in, and when we tried to connect with her she was very shy. Now though she is crazy and you would never think that she has had a bad life previously. She is amazing with people and loves affection. Her favourite thing is having her belly rubbed. She isn't too great with other dogs, but hopefully in time she will get better. She loves to snuggle up to my husband and I in bed at night, which we love for a while. but waking up in the morning to Leia kicking me and breathing down my neck. She is a spoilt girl and has two dog beds as well as our bed too. She eats normal biscuits, but now and again we add gravy and some meat, which she gobbles up straight away.

I love all my babies equally and in the future we are hoping to get some more animals to add to our 'zoo'. I hope you enjoy this video and I will do many updates about my animals, whom I love very much!