Hermione's babies born 22nd March 2010

[jennyb]

And some more

[judyw]

Hi Jenny

They look great. You babies are a week older than mine. I am so please for you, when are you going to put them out?
Would like to ask what is mum and baby eating in the pics. Looks like apple or cherry flowers I might be wrong.
Thanks Jenny

Judy

[candyfloss]

They're so cute jenny! Judy has just asked the very same question that i was going to ask you. What are they eating?! 

[jennyb]

Thanks Judy and Candyfloss, we are going to try putting them outside tomorrow. They are eating pear blossom.

Today was a busy day, i cleaned out Abigail and Bailey's aviary will have some pics from that and also cleaned out Hermione and the babies, hopefully for the last time if they go in the aviary. That was a challenge, catching mum and four babies. One baby did get slightly hurt in the process i hope it will be ok 
It was an accident, we was putting a second baby in the carrier when the first baby tried to get out just as we were closing the lid and the poor baby got crushed, it did screetch abit. The baby was stunned for quite a while after, i just hope it will be ok. After that we realised we can't risk cleaning them out anymore so thats made the decision really that they must go outside a.s.a.p. So we decided not to risk any more babies in the same carrier and put the other two in a hamster cage, one baby started using the wheel and loved it. The mum went in a separate hamster cage. The babies are staying tonight in the front room. Also i'm abit concerned about Abigail, i thought she wasn't pregnant but today when i had her inside i thought she looked like she had put weight on  She was in the cage for hours while the aviary was cleaned i just hope she didn't get too stressed because that isn't good if she is having babies She was started to pace back and forth in the cage.

Pics:

1. Bailey and Abi's house
2. aviary floor
3. looking into safety door and Asriel and Pearl's home
4. flight area of the aviary
5. wood chips
6. Abigail
7. Bailey
8. Abigail and Bailey
9. baby washing face
10. babies and mum in nest

[jennyb]

Heres one video of the babies pestering Hermione, then settling down for a feed. This one was taken Sunday 25th April and they were 34 days old.

<a href="http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Hermionesbabies.flv" target="_blank">http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Hermionesbabies.flv</a>


Video two was taken on Monday 26th of a five week old girl footstomping, this is so cute and i love it when they do it, Hermione does it too.

<a href="http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Footstompingbaby.flv" target="_blank">http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Footstompingbaby.flv</a>


I do have some more, haven't got time to upload them now, will try later today

[judyw]

Hi Jenny

Hoe often do you clean out the outside aviary as it must be more difficult to do it than the cage inside. We do the cage ones a week.
Judy

[DayleC]

I love it when  they do the foot stomping......

[jennyb]

Hi, only once a year, the full clean which includes changing the wood chips. But twice a year i clean the mesh and all the toys are scrubbed. Their sleeping house probably about three times a year including their nest boxes. The litter trays in the avairies i clean weekly. The indoor cages i clean once a week.

The babies are now outside, I have seen at most three babies out at the same time and mum. Abit worried about the fourth baby. Both Asriel and Pearl have come over to investigate them and climb on the cage. Hermione seemed abit freaked out at times. The babies are also abit nervous which is understandable it is quite noisy where we live, with kids up the road and trains and my immediate neighbours can also make alot of noise at times. They haven't been visited by the local Cats yet but i don't think it will be long. I know i will worry about them tonight but hopefully they will be fine.

[jennyb]

<a href="http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Babiesfeeding.flv" target="_blank">http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Babiesfeeding.flv</a>

Video above taken Monday 26th April

[jennyb]

<a href="http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Hermioneandbabiesoutside.flv" target="_blank">http://i677.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid677.photobucket.com/albums/vv139/chirpiechipmunkz/Hermioneandbabiesoutside.flv</a>

[judyw]

Wow they look good.
In the first photo mum looks very big next to the baby. Bless.
How did they do on the first night?

[jennyb]

Thanks. I think they are about half the mothers size now, one girl is bigger than the others. I have seen all four babies and their mum so they survived their first night. Today they have also been more active than yesterday, i think they are getting more used to it. One baby was in wheel most of the time. Asriel and Pearl have both shown interest and like to climb on the cage. The mum is not very happy about that but i haven't seen any aggression from Asriel or Pearl.

[jennyb]

Today i coloured the girl babies with different colour food colourings, thanks Pinkpill it is a great idea.

Red - Blossom
Blue - Lottie
Black - Isabella

One baby was doing an alarm call earlier when a Crow flew over the avairy and they all ran in their nest box apart from Hermione who carried on eating. They had several visitors too, a Cat and this time Hermione hid aswell and two Squirrels an adult and what looked like a youngster. The adult one is probably the Squirrel who comes quite regularly. The young Squirrel seems to be quite nervous and was running up the walls and up the mesh of the aviary. The Squirrels often do take interest in the Chipmunks who don't seem bothered by them at all. The young Squirrel didn't stay long so i didn't get a pic. Asriel yesterday morning was in his wheel so i got a pic of that too. I tried the Chipmunks with coconut today and Abigail was eating it abit, the others were more interested in the blueberries.

Pic 1 - Isabella, Lottie, Hermione, Blossom and Ronald-Harry
Pic 2 - Isabella and Lottie
Pic 3 - Lottie
Pic 4 - Asriel, Hermione and Isabella, Lottie, Blossom and Ronald-Harry
Pic 5 - Asriel in wheel
Pic 6 - Squirrel
Pic 7 - Ronald-Harry
Pic 8 - Hermione and Blossom
Pic 9 - Abigail
Pic 10 - Abigail

[pinkpill]

yeah punk chippies rock 

its a good idea but like i say the only problem is u av to keep re applying as the buggers lick it off 

[jennyb]

Lol Pinkpill, yeah found that is what has happened. Babies are six weeks old. Found today Blossom still had a pink spot on her head, yay but Lottie and Isabella were colourless  So i had a look at the photos from last time and Isabella looked bigger than Lottie so reapplied the colour to what i hope are the right ones. Maybe they didn't like the taste of the red. The girls were trying to have a drink from mum but didn't look like they were getting much, i guess she will be drying up now. They all seem fine but are alittle bit nervous especially Ronald-Harry who sits in the corner. Blossom seems the most bold followed by Lottie. I put a cover over the cage at the weekend as we had rain    The weather this week is not great but i might let them out tomorrow weather permitting or it might be wednesday. We may have some sun tomorrow but tonight they are talking about frosts  , still....