Summer Holiday Pets

Summer holidays are here, and childrens thoughts are turning to pets, first thought 'I want a pet,' next thought 'what shall I get?,'
The important thing to remember in this situation is that a pet however small is for life not just the holidays. Whatever animal you add to your family must be cared for, through out his life long after the school holidays are over. That being said this is a great time of the year to add a pet to the family. People are at home more, living is more relaxed with no school runs etc days are longer and playing in the garden with the new puppy or rabbit is a very attractive prospect.
At this time of year a rabbit or a guinea pig can be accomodated in a hutch in the garden, they will enjoy the fresh air but take care to protect them from extreme weather which can sometimes occur in irish summers, these animals hate to get wet or be in draughts. A hutch must be covered over or moved into a shed if heavy rain or summer storms are expected. Alternatively house your animal in a spare cage indoors in bad weather.

Rampant Rabbits

Rabbits are back in Pets and Ponds in a big way. We now have six or seven rabbits in the shop. They are in beautiful colours, white, brown and 2 very very tame dwarf wild-colour rabbits. These two in particular are very suitable as a first pet as they are small and used to being handled.
We also have plenty of guinea pigs, in many ways these cute little animals are even better as childrens pets than rabbits. You can keep them in a roomy cage indoors and they soon come to know their owners. They will greet a familar face with whistles and calls quite distinctive to guinea-pigs. They can be picked up and held probably initially by Mum or Dad until they get tamer and easier to hold. Much fun can be had feeding and caring for them as they will always respond to their young owners.
Also in stock this week are two grey Chinchillas, a male and a female recently introduced to each other and starting to settle down together. Chinchillas make a very special pet, with their active ways and their unbelieveably soft fur. They need a large high cage with a few paltforms to jump between. Chinchillas are so lively they resemble a squirrel in the way they can jump and climb. Give them also a bath of Chinchilla Sand in the bottom of the cage. It is essential for the maintenance of their beautiful fur, they will roll and turn in it with delight.

Goodbye Godzilla!

The green iguana that lived in the corner terrarium in our shop has been sold. He goes to a good home and we wish his new owner lots of luck with him.
On a happier note we are now planning what to replace him with as an eyecatcher for our customers. Ideas are flying around with the current frontrunner being maybe a jacksonnii chamaeleon. Whether we can actually source one is another matter.

Next month in mid-September we expect the arrival of some special breeds of rabbits, guinea-pigs and maybe birds when we will have a delivery of animals coming in. So watch this space as we never know until they come exactly what we might get.

Baby turtles are in stock again and proving very popular with children. While small and cute now it must be borne in mind that they will eventually grow to about 8 or 9 inches across their shell. They are nevertheless quite an interesting pet to keep, requiring little love and attention in fact they really don't care who takes care of them. It is essential to clean out their water regularly otherwise it may smell. A filter is very helpful in this regard. Feed them a variety of food. They will eat proprietary turtle food available from the shop and this is a complete food for them but you can also give them small earthworms, some green food such as small bits of cabbage or chinese leaves, (never feed them lettuce it is too soft for their digestion) even little bits of raw meat cut or scraped very fine.

Friday evening again and the week is nearly over again. This week was certainly a busy one. Dungarvan seems to have seen an influx of holidaymakers, many visitors to the shop this week were from further afield than Waterford and surroundings, and hadn't been to the shop before.
We also saw the arrival of a few interesting new animals.
THE DOG-RABBIT!
We have a lovely semi-long-haired rabbit in a cage by himself on the floor. I think next week his cage might carry a sign reading 'I am not a dog!' Quite a few customers came into the shop today and exclaimed' Oh, a puppy, isn't he sweet.' Others came up to the counter asking 'Is that thing in the cage a dog?'

Yes he is very sweet but also quite conflicted, a mini identity crisis is probably approaching. Anyway Fluffy the puppy/rabbit is very tame and in need of a good home where he can be let out to roam around a little, as he does not enjoy staying in his cage and clearly thinks he should have the run of the whole shop. Any takers?

GORGEOUS GUINEA PIGS
The small animal island saw the arrival today of a few new young guinea pigs, they are quite shy and young but ideal for new owners as this is the best age to get them at and start taming them.
Guinea pigs make good pets for children with a little help from Mum and Dad. With a little effort at the beginning to take them out of their cage and handle them they will quickly get to know their new owners. As they are larger than hamsters they are easier animals to hold and cuddle and rarely if ever bite if they are handled with respect.

FABULOUS FISH
Fish are absolutely flying out the door of the shop this week. The quality of the last shipment was excellent and we had almost no losses in the shop at all.
A beautiful selection of Platys are in the Tropical section but these hardy little fish can also be kept successfully in goldfish bowls and small tanks, if the water is at room temperature. Care needs to be taken in winter months not to replace the water with icy cold water. If the water is very cold take a little from a boiled kettle and mix through to bring the new water for the bowl to an acceptable temperature.
Other fish that can be kept by fish-keeping beginners in this way include guppies, and zebra danios.
So there it is, you needn't limit your options to the obvious choice of goldfish when you buy a small tank although if you must have goldfish Pets and Ponds have over two hundred of them in three or four different colours, and several different sizes and price options.
Enjoy the holidays and browsers are very welcome in our shop,
even more so if you buy something!

Fluffy Bunnies and Super Snakes

Hello world, Pets and Ponds is now officially one year old and what a year its been. We have come from wet behind the ears Pet Shop Beginners to fully fledged Pet SHop Owners ready and willing to answer customers questions. In between a lot of animals have come and gone, some more reluctantly than others as it is all too easy to fall in love and want to take them home myself. Check these out..

Welcome to Pets and Ponds

Its hard to believe but we are now approaching our first birthday. The shop opened it's doors on the 21st July 2007 to an eager public. That first day will live in all our minds. It was quite incredible, we had crowds of people all wanting to see what strange animals we had in stock.


SO WHATS IN STOCK?
Today we offer an even greater variety, in stock at this time we have 9 rabbits some long-hair, guinea-pigs, lots of hamsters, mice, gerbils, and zebra mice from Africa.

In our exotic section we have a variety of snakes, banded king snake, corn snakes, a breeding couple of black king snakes, royal (ball)pythons, Bairds Rat Snake, a few chinese water dragons, an adult male bearded dragon, an african spur-thighed tortoise, a bright orange rossellini rat snake, some leopard geckos, a veiled chamaeleon, and a Tiger Rump Spider.

Fish include a wide variety of tropical fish all the usual suspects like platys, mollies, danios, neon tetras and a few more unusual such as emperor tetra, red face severum cichlid, various gouramis and more. Our selection of fish is constantly changing as we import them ourselves and occasionally special order items can be sourced. Our last order included a potamotrygon motoro stingray for a very happy customer.
The bird-room has a selection of canaries, budgies and zebra finches. This week we have a nice pair of metallic blue red-rumps.

A wide range of dry goods are always in stock to cater for your pets every need and if we don't have it we can sometimes get it depending on availability.

Pond customers are very welcome, we have pond liner, filters, pumps and accessories and we can offer advice on design, and pond maintenance.

Call in and see us soon.
We look forward to it!