#DIY horse treats

[sandra-hippologic]

Top Treats for all Horses in Clicker Training

Here are some ideas that never crossed my mind, but these are all tested on real horses and real clicker training. For all horses: healthy horses, but you an also find treats for laminitis/ EMS /IR horses, too.

Are you curious what other people use as reinforcers (food rewards) in their horse training? I asked around in my clicker community. Here are some ideas that never crossed my mind, but these are all tested on real horses and real clicker training. For all horses: healthy horses, but you an also find treats for laminitis/ EMS /IR horses, too. Personally, I like dry, chunky reinforcers that are…

[preciadosbass]

20/8/24 [4X DIYS — draft from yesterday, key + significant photos at end]

nobody asked, but regarding yesterdays journal - i actually went to sleep at 3 because i got distracted with patrick stump gifs. i was supposed to just be looking for a few blue coloured ones [raa having a colour themed blog is so annoying // there’s so many cute gifs of musicians that aren’t blue/black and i cant change the colour and therefor cant use them =(] but lost track of time. meaning i was absolutely exhausted when i woke up [8:30]

after waking up, i went outside to say goodmorning to boris and scrolled on scenemo/alt diy tiktoks until i got a message from N ‘apologising’ for yesterday. i say ‘apologising’ because i know they didn’t mean it, and they also said they deleted the photos of me immediately. which isn’t true as i saw them press the send button and then put their phone away. they wouldn’t have had time to delete them before whoever saw them, saw them. this means my mum has told her mum, which i’m super embarrassed about. i don’t like people knowing i’m upset about anything they’ve done/someone they know has done. i’m just still worried about it because i know those photos looked so bad and they sent them to so many people. and now, it dosent matter if they get rid of them because whoever those people were have already seen them. i’m so humiliated.

anyway, i carried on scrolling on scenemo/alt diytok until 10:40 when i finally got dressed while listening to my sleeping with sirens live cd. today i wore my purple asking alexandria shirt, a pair of striped purple and black tights, blue ripped shorts, knee high converse, my my chemical romance [danger days] zip up hoodie, my can tab bracelet, a falling in reverse bracelet, and dark blue skull bracelet, a two row studded cuff, diy kandi + elastic bracelet, sleeping with sirens and panic! at the disco bracelet, and last but not least a spiked kandi cuff. [photos at end]. i haven’t made kandi jewellery in a while because i’ve run out of beads, but once i start seeing my other prevision again, i’ll buy some more. today i’m going to reptile experience/possibly going on a long car ride with my dad so i can listen to music full blast without worrying about anyone hearing.

i couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that there’s stupid photos/videos of me going around to strangers. i know it seems like i’m overreacting, but having photos taken of me is such a big deal in my mind and this whole situation makes me feel like the world is ending. i hate seeing my own face and knowing that other people do aswell. the thought itself disgusts me, i only like pictures of my outfit and sometimes that’s too much. after getting dressed, i did my hair and then went outside with boris at 11:20. the weather was being weird and one second it was boiling hot, and the other freezing. but that’s just the uk for you.

i stayed with him until 11:50 when me and my mum left to go out. boris has started meowing everytime i come out to see him and it’s really really cute. i also took a few videos of him before getting in the car. on the way to reptile experience, i listened to early fall out boy + american beauty/american psycho fall out boy, and a little bit of letterbox tradgedy. when we arrived, everyone was having their lunch so i went into the reptile room and said hi to boris #2 [the bearded dragon] and the other visible animals. i also took a few photos of various animals to put in this journal/this weeks recap [photos at end]. along with observing all the other stuff in the room, like the stuff for the horses/ponies.

once everyone in the other room had finished their food, me and my mum went out to the kitchen/sofa area where the rodents live. S [the lead crew member, she’s lovely], put out some ripped up pieces of newspaper and treats for rat enrichment and set all 4 on the table everyone was sat around. we were told not to pick them up [i think it’s because everyone apart from me was really young and rough with the animals], and just let them come to you. i watched as they had their snacks and scurried around the table and sofa that was just by where i was sat.

three came up to me all at once and hoarded around my bracelets. S said it was due to the shininess of the can tab one, and maybe the smell. i let the rats crawl over my arm/lap/wrist and took a few photos. while doing so one in particular kept on sniffing my phone camera lens so the videos look really silly XD — i took a few bits of the newspaper for an upcoming collage as i found a few paragraphs of writing about true crime and that’s one of my interests. [this feels weird to write, i just find the psychology aspect of it interesting]. once the rats were put away and the enrichment was cleaned up, S & A [the other crew member, the one that makes me feel sick of jealousy due to his looks etc] took out pinecones, some lard, and some birdseed.

i already knew what was coming so i moved my bracelets further up my arm and tied bits of string to a few secreted pinecones. we were then told that we were making bird feeders. i covered the pinecones in lard and then rolled it in a sunflower seed based mix as it had the darkest colours. i made five as S said i could make two for the farmer’s gate and three to take home, yipee // once i was done, i looked at a few of the drawings on the wall. a lot of them were illustrations of five nights at freddy’s animatronics. which gave me an idea to also draw animatronics on small bits of card and line them wherever there’s an empty part of my wall. at 1:40, we walked round to the farmer’s gate and hung the pinecones around the wood. [picture at end] S gave me two that had already been made by various people attending, so when we went back round to the buildings and it was time to leave i got to take home the five that id made!! we headed for home at 2:11 after thanking all the workers. on the way back i stopped off to get low cal boba [photo at end cuz it looks just as good as it was]

in the car, i sorted through the photos taken there into an instagram collage to add to the end of this journal + my weekly recap. [photo collages at end]. i also listened to quite a lot of panic! at the disco’s vices and virtues. we [me and my mum] arrived home at 3:20. i didn’t end up doing for the drive with my dad because it would’ve been around 7 hours in the car, and that’s too long for me to be away from boris in the car unless i’m going away. and even that’s a stretch. i stayed outside with boris until 3:50 when i decided i’m going to put up my bird feeder. i took the pinecones outside and called my mum out to try and work out where i should hang them/what i should hang them from. my mum spawned this plant holder thingy and asked me if it’d be any good. i didn’t have another option and it was an alright improvisation so i went into my room to work out what part of the garden’s bank i can see from through my window.

once i’d worked out a suitable place for it to go, i brought it up to the bank and supported the legs with a few bits of scrap wood planks. then i hung the five pinecones along the frame of the flowerpot part. [photo at end] i finished within -10 minutes and then went back inside to my room. when i first got in, i took my stuff out of my bag to give my dad his battery pack and accidentally got scrap bits of purple-like wood all over my bed. id snapped them up yesterday while at the creek for an idea i had. i thought i might aswell make it now, so collected them off my blanket and got my hot glue gun ready. the idea was to glue them around the metal tin that a candle rests in. which is stupid, because this particular wood is the most flammable in the uk so i most likely wouldn’t even be able to burn it. anyway, i collected a few more bits of stick from the garden and lined them around the tin. i finished at 4:30 and took a few pictures of the finished product. [photo at end]

once again, something else useless i settled on making, but at least it looks cute. i watched two youtube videos :[the rest of ‘Q&A time !!! :D’ by nico vamp, ‘a day in the life | fake 🩸 + pictures’ by maya malice, and then almost two more videos from the same youtuber [[‘a day in the life + randumness :3’, & ‘my problem with scenecore’.]] while listening to the last video listed, i made a collage with receipts from charity shopping on thursday + the bits of newspaper i collected today. i hid a secret message in there [its just ‘meow’, photo at the end] and put together the word ‘empierces.’ which means to pierce. get it? like pierce the veil? anyone?? [photo at end — finished at 6:35]

then i listened to the entirety of falling in reverse’s new album [again] — while doing so, i drew lolbit, RWQFSFASXC, and the puppet from five nights at freddy’s on some card. i put it along the side of my doorframe beside pictures of kellin quinn and pete wentz. [theyre so bad you don’t get a photo] then i went outside with boris at 7:35. he was being his usual polite and cute self and i could also tell he was very happy because he was dribbling at ton xp // he let himself in at 7:50 so i didn’t get to spend much time with him on the driveway, but i followed him inside, checked he had food, and wrote 4 paragraphs from this journal. after finishing that little bit of writing, i saw frank iero’s new instagram post + story like WTF IS GOING ON I FREAKED OUT. LIKE WHATS HAPPENING AT MIDNIGHT FRANK?? i went to see him [boris] again at 10 after looking through scenemo/alt tiktok and letting my phone charge a little.

he stayed out with him my for barely any time before he let himself inside to eat. i came inside with him, and during this one of my cousins pulled up to our house as he got me some of my safe food because otherwise i won’t have anything at all to eat tomorrow and it’ll be really easy to faint if the weather isn’t perfect. him and my mum spoke about the holiday that me and my immediate + extended family are going to. he left at 10:45 and then i had a bath. i usually don’t mention washing [etc] as it’s a boring thing to write about/the same everytime. its not like with the questions about boris or when i wake up because that changes. i’m just mentioning it today as there’s nothing i can fill in the spaces of this journal with.

then i collected a few green day [billie joe armstrong] gifs and went up to my sisters room because i swore she was playing the hello zepp saw themetune on keyboard. it turned out she was, i watched her play it and then came back downstairs again. while i was on the sofa, she started playing something else and asked me if i recognised it. it was numb by linkin park, but i got it to confused with another song of theirs that sounds similar at the start. i went up because she wanted me to watch her play it and she followed on the song with ‘centuries’ by fall out boy.

after she’d finished, i went back downstairs to get myself some icy water, speak to boris, and then do my teeth before having a nap. i put on a timer for 10 minutes because i said i’d check up on him every once in a while but when i woke up it was bright outside and my phone was in the same place i left it before my nap. it turned out i never woke up and never got to say goodnight to boris so i freaked out when i realised. i would’ve gone to sleep at 1.

🗝️ — boris/my cat, prevision/keyworker i have to see instead of being taken back into mainstream education, questions about boris/i ask my parents questions about my cat to verify he's okay + will be okay in the morning. its a compulsive thing and i'm hopefully going to be tested for OCD in the future.

[santacarlacarousel]

Which of the Lost Boys do you think is the most likely to…

1. Treat your house like their house? 2. Hand-make you a birthday present? 3. Make you laugh when you are sad? 4. Give you a nickname or be the first to do so? 5. Know how to perform a magic trick? 6. Talk during a movie? 7. Appear in a music video? 8. Impulse buy an inflatable dinosaur suit? 9. Fake their birthday at a restaurant for free cake? 10. Cheat at a board game? 11. Fake a foreign accent? 12. Pet a dog?

Which of the Lost Boys do you think is the most likely to… 

1. Treat your house like their house? All of them tbh I think the real reason you’re not supposed to invite vampires in is because they’ll never leave. You invite these guys over once and they’ll just constantly be popping up to use your hairdryer or something. 

2. Hand-make you a birthday present? I feel like Marko would, like, hand-carve a linocut to make you a custom patch for your jacket. (I know most of his patches aren’t the diy variety but some, like his anarchy symbol, are)

3. Make you laugh when you are sad? I feel like this might be the dark horse answer here, but Dwayne. I think he’s the most likely to actually notice that you’re sad and then do something to change that. 

4. Give you a nickname or be the first to do so? Paul, for sure, considering he’s canonically calling Michael “Mikey” minutes after meeting him lmao. It probably wouldn't be the most original nickname, but he'd be calling you a diminutive of your real name right away.

5. Know how to perform a magic trick? Do vampire mind tricks count? If so then David lmao but if we mean like a stage magic trick, somehow my answer is Marko. Maybe he can use his pigeons like doves.

6. Talk during a movie? Paul and Marko would absolutely chat incessantly all throughout the movie and it would drive David and Dwayne nuts. 

7. Appear in a music video? All of them are hot enough to be in a music video but I feel like Paul would want to be in a music video the most. 

8. Impulse buy an inflatable dinosaur suit? LMAOOOO thank god inflatable dinosaur suits didn’t exist yet in 1987 or they’d have been a fucking terror. Paul buys it, Marko wears it. 

9. Fake their birthday at a restaurant for free cake? The rest of the boys all tell the restaurant it’s David’s birthday and he’s kind of mad because it’s embarrassing but also kind of not because free cake.

10. Cheat at a board game? I don’t think any of these boys have followed a rule ever in their lives. Board game night at the cave hotel would be legendary, they’d all be cheating in a different way and get so mad at each other. Star would be in the background rolling her eyes at them. 

11. Fake a foreign accent? Marko tbh.

12. Pet a dog? I feel like David probably pets Thorn when no one else is looking.

[tehloserprince]

I was tagged by @santacoppelia - thank you! 🥺🧡

1. were you named after anyone? Michael Jordan, ha ha. No, really, my mom's a huge fan. She's followed his career ever since his UNC days. I love telling people that's how I got my name. For the record, although I have an obligatory fondness for my hometown team and a nostalgic love for the Bulls in their Jordan Era, I'm currently a Bucks fan.

2. when was the last time you cried? It's really difficult for me to cry. It's such a relief at times, tho. I cried a few weeks ago, when I realized my special needs dog was having some epilepsy-related issues. I've mostly accepted that I'll probably never see him with a grey muzzle, but I really hope we can share more time together. There are still so many things I want to show him.

3. do you have kids? Nope. Sorta did, once, but I don't really talk about that much. It was a good experience, and I still love/think about her. But my kids are all the critter variety these days ;) I enjoy hanging out with my friends' kids, but they're all growing up too quickly :/ What even is time

4. what sports do you play/have you played? I never really played anything professionally, but I liked soccer, basketball, and running when I was younger. I got into boxing and Muay Thai when I was a little older, and also did a lot of hiking. Unfortunately I'm crippled, so I'm limited in what I can/should do. I try to go on lots of walks with my pup and swim whenever I can. Sometimes I still wrap my hands and hit the bag, which is fun.

5. do you use sarcasm? No, never. (/s obvs)

6. what's the first thing you notice about people? The way they treat other people - especially the most vulnerable - and animals. Physically, eyes and smile. I'm more impressed by people who can be genuinely kind without ulterior motivation.

7. what's your eye color? Hazel.

8. scary movies or happy endings? Depends on my mood! In terms of scary films, gore feels lazy and boring to me. I need a film to get inside my head in order to be scary. But I'm a sucker for happy endings too, which is a lot of projection on my part, ha ha.

9. any talents? Err. Uh. Writing, I guess? Remembering a lot of random info? Friends are consistently surprised that I'll remember so many little details, especially if it's like ... me surprising them with something they mentioned liking at some point. Funny enough, I'll frequently forget why I walked into a room these days, but I'm glad some parts of my memory still excel! I'm also told that I'm extremely patient, if that counts as a talent.

10. where were you born? Charlotte, NC.

11. what are your hobbies? Writing, reading, watching movies and television shows (mostly with the BFF), random crafts, DIY home improvement stuff (I painted my entire house despite my health worsening over the years and I'm very proud of that), canine behavior/training, and playing video games. I don't have as much time for games, but I still enjoy it. Started a new game of Red Dead Redemption 2 this winter, and I've been spending hours just roaming the land with my horse.

12. do you have any pets? Ha, yes! I do a lot of animal rescue and have some life goals related to that, so hopefully I'll always be surrounded by critters. My beloved dog (Skippyjon) passed away in 2022 (old age and CHF). I had a cockatiel for 21 years - a birthday present when I turned 8. We basically grew up together, and the house is still way too quiet without him. I had other dogs (Smokey and Locke), and a lot of fish. In college, I had an "illegal" hamster, Kai (Kaizoku). He was fat and wonderful. I chose him because he squeezed past his siblings, sat in their food dish, and started shoving food in his mouth. King behavior tbh. I had a rat named Stevie in my late 20s. Currently, I have a deaf special needs dog (Oscar aka Ozzy), a cat that I hand-raised because she was found abandoned shortly after birth (Swayze), and a rabbit (Shasta aka Bad Bunny). At some point, I decided that all my rabbits would be named after soda brands, ha.

13. how tall are you? About 5'10".

14. favorite subject in school? Literature, Spanish, Philosophy, sometimes History, Classical Studies, Art. Anything that wasn't math, because I always struggled with that.

15. dream job? If I could make a living off of writing and spend a lot of my time doing animal rescue, I'd be content. Even if I was wealthy, I'd ultimately pursue a simple, cozy life without a lot of fanfare. I'd love to have more money to invest in animal rescue and local community welfare (kids should always have basic necessities imo). Maybe someday ...

Tagging anyone who feels like doing this! Feel free to reblog or tag me if you wanna let me know that you did it. Thanks, this was fun :3

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Okay so for the last few days I've sat down to write this out, I have this queued to answer the blow out post of Diisdoodles

An ex friend who I thought of like family, a person I actually physically met, a person who now focuses on themselves

I repeat beating the dead horse I listened to them, from that Friday I listened and stayed away ranting in the Server we shared as is my coping mechanism. I rant nonsense because it is my insecurities I know and come to my senses eventually and calm down. I do it rhetorically if I am ranting

1. They weren't 17 when we met June 2021 they'd just turned 18 and was going into senior year of Highschool. I have gotten removed from several servers over former shipper habits, nowadays its rare for me to ship, seeing as everyone treats it like it's reality when it's not.

2. The White Supremists joke, ah that that was because every character they have had white skin, also they really hated acknowledging racism just ask em they removed it because others were uncomfortable with it in their writing,

3.That was without the context I laugh because I come from a toxic environment, my parents expect me to act a certain way and get angry if I try to tell them off, they are getting better however if you get pissed at this then yall are hypocrites, you cannot look at me and say your own families have behaved themselves no matter the race or culture, I'm talking everyone. Humans are Humans and we pick on each other, no matter how much we try to pretend we are innocent, we are not,

4. Oh this one hurt, representation is sick and twisted? Simone was dark already she's an Adult worker I even toned down for their sake. She's supposed to represent that money isn't everything Violet wasn't supposed to be a lawyer in the beginning she was supposed to be a doctor but did you know they have a phobia of hospitals so I purposely changed that for them so I wouldn't be triggering them

They're the ones who came up with the AUs min ideas, hey Dii remember Santa? A monster that feeds on the Fears of others and killed others because they couldn't escape said fears and starved to death

Or how about Echo, who is corrupted by the Wind Element and his own hatred for Zane becoming a Serial Killer? Simone was along for that ride corrupted by him,

And then that wind element moves on into another and turns them into a psychopath? Cause God the amount of tearing apart and gore in those would make Stephen King proud,

5. You see yourself as the Leader in everything. Why don't you step down from your high horse and realize being a Leader means you see everyone as equal

Your sheltered suburban 400k lifestyle is showing, a Leader doesn't step on others to make themselves look better,

A leader doesn't see another trying to create with their stuff and tell them no

I may have been using Nindroid Canon at the time, but I was trying to cater to you. I was trying to suggest things to add a bit to it

Did you forget to tell everybody how you muted those channels because you couldn't handle me having Realm 14?

6. Oh I am still mad about everybody else it's just you I'm vocal about because you traumatized me that much.

Though.she.be.little and General Yasur were apart of the trio,

Though.she.be.little gave bullshit excuses, who takes an RP so seriously like you have to change it thats ridiculous! I actually felt pretty damn guilty for forgetting their Sexuality and would still apologize for that to this day

General Yasur just baffles me. Honestly, I asked if I could vent and they said yes. I need clarification I need bluntness I need someone to rant to to keep that side out of the public. I found out how cold and not understanding they are towards mental issues after I asked for clarification and got blocked.

We were friends for longer than Diisdoodles I remember talking to them in 2018, and now they were so quick to shut me out.

7. You're really looking for an angle here, no I don't I have friends who are proshippers so if you're saying I should judge someone not on their personality and who they are but by their fictional shipping habits

Seriously dipped your toes into the Anti pool have we?

When I made that comment about you I apologized immediately and like I said in a prior post tried to explain my mindset but again you took it to heart

I don't care wtf you are doing I'm neutral and just here to read fanfics and support my fandoms, not get dragged into bs drama that reminds me of the Dems and Repubs fighting

8. No I don't because those people drive me nuts I can get hard headed about certain subjects but I'm no expert and clearly have no power

Came crawling to you? Full of ourselves again are we if I knew this would've happened looking for a friend

I would've never joined your stupid ass server

I remember the exact day I brought up the borg siblings, and you are immediately interested and wanted to hear more and even asked to put Chloe into an idea of an AU you had

And you kept on going. All I know you saw now is a meal ticket, easy street, yank these guys, and take off.

9. Felix is Transgender is it bad I wanted some rep and not have this Nindroid walk around hunky dory after being misgendered? Dysphoria is real and it's horrible.

10. You NEVER included anything at all the reason I mentioned it so much is because you avoid these subjects if your gonna be a show runner get your head out of your ass and be inclusive

None of them ever experienced anything you always had a fairy tale sheltered ending

God reading Harker made me wince because she was like an abused Housewife under Echo

Oh honey it's okay your murdering people but it's okay

Even children's shows push the envelope better!

11. It's because unlike you I didn't have someone to actually teach me this is the part I will admit I fucked up, I do have these and I am a lot more reactive then most

That kinda happens when your 2 years old sitting on the edge of the bed watching your caregivers abuse each other,

My brain learned to feign and shove the emotions away to survive no not an excuse, I know I did damage but I didn't know my emotions and that's why this keeps rearing up,

Didn't you do the same with this post I am writing about, however? You reacted to something that, by the normal sense, isn't a big deal

That picture its posted on Facebook it's on my Tumblr from Way Earlier like, no there is no reason, DMs when I feel angry I'm going to put walls up and show you your wrong, especially when I don't trust you to tell the truth.

You lost my trust the day you created lilac should I show everybody your plagiaristic side because I never got an apology for that

Now if I posted your Address or Name now that would be a big deal, yes my readers I know that very personal information

Diisdoodles in tern knows mine,

Makes me shake my head whenever they go off on a rage this is what the 5th or 6th time you've thrown a Temper Tantrum when people don't act like you want them to. Because to me it was all about you it was all about your Nindroid Canon

it was all about helping you create these worlds do I have no right to feel frustration that I can't create anything I want to do without you throwing a temper tantrum and muting channels that you want nothing to do with because it's not your stuff.

12. Wow with even I literally can remember the line I said that may make you think that I was arguing oh because Even is this way I thought that she would be this way, that's not arguing it's called overexplaining and I do it a lot because narcissistic parent it's how I get myself out of trouble, but it causes more trouble than it is worth especially when you have a person that takes everything to heart like you.

You say I couldn't handle being told no

way to put words in my mouth I don't fucking care honestly even isn't my character never was never will she be nor was Pandora or brat or Charlie

I never copied any of these guys afterwards not like how you did with mine

Quit trying to make yourself look better by telling lies because you removed me from all the servers and hide behind a block. Gee, it sounds to me like you really want this to be one-sided.

As for the final thing I love how you don't mention the fact that I literally asked you guys if you were okay with me talking about that fanfic because I knew it was dark.

I wrote it when I was 14 going through SA myself, yeah that makes it a ton worse but I love even more that you left out that context because we were all on voice chat and I don't recall sending it to you but the link is still up to this day because you know what I never delete things no matter how much a fandom changes shifts or whatever I just give them a warning about the stuff on my page.

It sounds to me like you have issues that you need to sort out because this whole post has just been seemingly about making yourself look better that's all I saw this as

That's all it's ever been about you got into some anti friends who are now side-eying you because of our former friendship and now you want to make yourself look better and God forbid if I post that picture because that shows your lying about your place in our relationship

And honestly that's such cowardice it's not even funny

Next time put some context because you know what I'm not afraid to put some context for people to read you just think about yourself in the long run and not others

You want to talk about white privilege look at yourself in a mirror didn't even have a fast food job they worked for Daddy as a secretary and had their own schedule live in a $500,000 house could go out and buy Legos whenever they wanted they could even within 2 weeks buy a $500 plane ticket to fly from where they live up to the city where the convention was being held for a weekend

Should I tell them about your car and what you wanted to do with it

And how much that actually fucking terrified me that I would hear that you got into an accident knowing that it was on purpose and that possibly the person that I see like a sibling or saw like a sibling was dead.

You're not the only one who is traumatized and you need to acknowledge that.

[xoxoendlessvibes]

100 WAYS TO HAVE FUN WITHOUT ANY FRIENDS🍸

billiondollahbaby:

 I cut a lot of toxic people out of my life last year, including family and friends that I’ve known forever and now I’m at a point where I don’t really have any friends. I’m not gonna lie, it was very hard to do. But once I learned how to spend time with myself and actually have fun, I appreciated the process, this took me a couple of days to make, so I hope you guys really enjoy this!

Heres 100 ways to have fun without having any friends:

Treat yourself to a full body massage every month

Go ice skating or learn to ice skate at your local ice skating ring

Regularly get your nails done or do them yourself 

Go to a concert to one of your favorite artists or as many as you can

 Get dressed up and visit a museum or art gala that you’ve never been to

Treat yourself to a facial or do one yourself at home 

Binge on Netlfix while snacking on some delicious sushi and wine

Go to a bookstore, find yourself a comfortable spot, and read a book, or journal your thoughts

Take your bike for a ride around the area while blasting some of your favorite music

Pack a basket with some drinks and sandwiches and have a picnic at the park  

Learn a new language, you can teach yourself or attend clubs for people that are also trying to learn

Style your hair, do your makeup, and take a bunch of selfies for the gram

Go to a lantern festival 

Take a trip somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit

Learn to play a new instrument

Enroll in a gym class that interests you

Follow local food guides on Instagram and try out different foods at the places they recommend

Get a new piercing

Get your dream tattoo

Go to the gun range 

Purchase a DNA ancestry kit and learn more about what makes you who you are

Attend as many plays as you can

Volunteer in something that you’re passionate about

Go swimming or learn how to swim

Take yourself out to the movies

Write and publish a book

Buy yourself a new summer dress or bikini and wear it to the beach

Tackle your fear of heights and go sky diving

Visit a cat cafe or animal shelter

Go shopping 

Learn how to make a new recipe

Take aerial silk classes

Take ballet lessons

Redecorate your bedroom or apartment 

Set the mood, light up candles in your room, dim the lights, and try out new sex toys

Get your hair done or buy a cute wig that you’ve always wanted

Cosplay

Attend a convention

Attend a Paint and Sip class, you get to paint art and drink at the same time

Explore local spots in your city as if you were a tourist

Take up martial art classes

Go to the arcade

Play video games

Visit an aquarium

Watch the sunset or sunrise

Binge watch Korean dramas

Buy yourself some chocolate and flowers because why not

Create your own makeup 

Go on a hike

Go glamping/camping

Go to a music festival

Train and run a marathon

Go on a local yacht cruise

Visit pop up shops and bazaars

Go horseback riding or learn how to ride a horse

Go to the zoo

Go surfing or learn how to surf

Ride a plane around your city

Adopt a pet

Buy new toys for your pet and play with them some more

Take a pole dancing class

Attend a TED talk

Stargaze

Purchase lingerie and pose for yourself in the mirror

Go roller skating or learn how to roller skate

Have a photoshoot by yourself or hire someone to do a photoshoot for you

Attend a fashion show

Attend a circus

If you’re into spooky stuff, go to a paranormal tour and dinner adventure 

Go to a sports game

Attend a comedy show

Take part in murder mystery dinners

Crash a wedding

Go the farmers market

Tackle a puzzle

Go the drive in theatre

Create new clothes out of your old ones or transform ones from the thrift store

Go sledding or learn how to sled

Play mini golf

Make pottery

Go indoor skydiving

Try karaoke

Go snorkeling or learn how to snorkle

Try karaoke

Try Go Kart Racing

Create YouTube videos

Go to a rodeo

Place a bet at a horse racing event

Start your own blog and make extra cash from it 

DIY crafts

Go on a drive through wild safari

Play an extra in a film

Go skiing or learn how to skii

Attend a book signing event of one of your favorite authors

Go to an estate sale in a wealthy neighborhood

Learn a new skill online

Go to karaoke night at a bar

Enter a contest

Listen to a podcast

Join a support group

SHOP THE STORE

[nikjmiles]

Drive Smart: The Hidden Costs and Top Picks for Savvy Car Buyers-FEATURE from Test Miles on Vimeo.

When purchasing a new family vehicle, it's easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of price tags, shiny features, and fuel economy stats. But if you want to truly maximize your investment, it's time to flip the script and consider those sneaky hidden costs that can take a toll on your budget. We're talking insurance, ownership costs, and the all-important resale value. These factors, often brushed aside, can make or break your financial peace of mind. The Analytical Approach to Car Buying Picture this: you're at the dealership, heart racing as you eye that sleek new ride. Your right brain—the emotional side—is in full control. But wait! It's time to engage your left brain—the analytical side. How much will insurance spike with this new car? What about repair expenses down the road? And crucially, what will it fetch when you're ready to sell? These questions are your secret weapon in making a savvy, forward-thinking purchase. Resale Value: The Unsung Hero Consider the end of your car’s lifecycle first. Brands like Lexus and Toyota are rock stars in the resale value game. These cars hold their value better than many competitors, making them smart buys. For off-road enthusiasts, a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Lexus GX isn’t just a rugged choice; it’s a financially sound one. These vehicles keep your budget intact and boost your confidence on every terrain. Tech and Performance: The BMW Benchmark Let’s talk tech. BMW is leading the charge with cutting-edge technology. The BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid stands out, marrying stellar performance with exceptional value. With over-the-air updates, you save trips to the dealer, ensuring your software is always up-to-date. Imagine sitting in your car, ready for a trip, and finding the latest updates installed overnight. Now that’s convenience. And performance? BMW’s M Cars are legends on the track and road. Would it surprise you to know the best-selling M car is the all-electric i4 M50? This car shatters preconceptions about electric vehicles, delivering thrills and efficiency in one sleek package. Electric Dreams: Ford and Chevy Leading the Way Considering electric? Opt for a manufacturer with a solid service network. BMW’s 366 dealerships across the US make servicing and charging a breeze. If you’re eyeing a Ford, the Mach-E GT and Rally are fantastic choices, priced at $54k and $60k respectively. These models will satisfy both your practical and performance needs. Don’t overlook Chevy’s electric offerings. The upcoming Equinox EV is expected to drop below $30k with federal tax incentives. For something more robust, the Silverado EV boasts a range of 440 miles, a blistering 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and the innovative Mid-Gate feature. This allows you to expand the bed to 10 feet long—perfect for those unexpected DIY projects. My quick demo of this feature racked up over a million views on social media! KIA: The Dark Horse of Value For value hunters, KIA is hard to beat. Their all-electric EV9 is winning awards left and right, offering 300 miles on a single charge and starting under $60k. KIA’s upcoming lineup, including the EV3 and a potential pickup truck, promises exciting times ahead. With a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty, KIA combines reliability and affordability like a pro. Future Forward: BMW’s Bold Moves Finally, let’s indulge the left brain with BMW’s upcoming treats. From the fun and stylish SKYTOP model to the rumored M5 wagon, and the versatile Neue Klasse Sedan, BMW is set to redefine driving excitement and practicality. The Bottom Line The secret to getting the best value in a car isn't just about style, tech, or fuel economy. It's about looking at the full picture: ownership costs, resale value, and long-term reliability. Engage both sides of your brain, and you’ll drive away not just with a car, but with a smart investment. Ready to drive smart? Keep these tips in mind, and your next car purchase will be a triumph of both heart and mind.

[recentlyheardcom]

Someone once told me that the art of living ‘ideally’ revolves around the presence of health and soundness of mind and body, which develops inner strength against the lashes of a stressful life. In one way or another, we all need that kind of immunity, that sense of wholeness and well-being which follows therewith. So, if you feel like you’ve been on the cold and dark track of gradual deterioration for too long now, then now’s the time to pull yourself out of that spell and get back on the road of healthy living. But where should you start? How about the incredibly easy and insanely effective hacks I’m mentioning below for your convenience? Let’s check them out one by one, and see how many works for you. Boost your Mood with Orange Peel Your mood has a direct effect on your health. So, keep it uplifted by sniffing a fresh orange or rubbing its essential oil on your wrists. There is something sparky about its fragrance, which wards off anxiety and stress. Read More: 7 Easy Tips For Being A Better Musician Eat Mindfully Slow down and appreciate each morsel of nourishment, which goes in your mouth by eating ‘mindfully’. Put some soft music on, savor each flavor, and properly chew your food instead of gulping it down in a rush. This way you won’t overeat and will feel much, much better. Meditate over Yoga Bring an alignment between your mind and body by undertaking some yoga sessions, preferably bright and early in the morning. The stretching exercises and the meditational sittings will surely kick-start your day with a boatload of freshness. You can invest in an actual class. Or, you can save money by watching the tutorials on your TV, hooked with a nice cable deal that has an affordable rate like Local Cable Deals or some such. Read More: Four Crucial Daily Horse Care Tips To Implement Take Herbal Tea Regularly If there is anything that can boost your energy, calm your nerves and help you sleep better, it’s an herbal tea. Fresh and warm, it is definitely a healthy cure in a cup. Unglue your Eyes from the Screen Make it a habit of giving yourself substantial breaks from the stressful technological world. Unhinge and relax in the beauty of nature around you. In addition, too much staring at a smartphone screen damages the eyes. It is a known fact. Sleep to your Fill Yes, I do notice the dark circles below your eyes that you’re trying so hard to conceal. FYI, the perfect remedy lies in a fulfilling sleep. Go to bed an hour earlier, remove all the distractions from your way, count the sheep and drift away into an at least seven-hour long sleep. You’ll wake up refreshed. That’s a guarantee. Read More: 10 Hilarious Myths about Golf Scrub Away the Muck Each day, your skin encounters all kinds of dirt particles, smoke, soot, dust and chemicals, which generally float in the air. So, it’s up to you to treat it right by scrubbing on a daily basis. I recommend two DIY scrubs: Olive oil & salt and Coconut oil & brown sugar. Easy as that. Take the Stairs Next Time Research shows that sitting for prolonged periods of time in a day is likely to increase the risk of death by cardiovascular diseases. So, avoid sitting too much, especially at your desk. Make walking a habit and always take the stairs to build up your metabolism. Avoid Booze if You Can Alcohol is pretty hard on the pancreas and liver, so don’t over-take it in a week. Cut it down to a safe level. Opt for Less Sugar Binge-consuming sugary products like double-fudge chocolate cakes, pop-sodas, gelatin, and cookies is a direct gateway to obesity, which is a dreadful ailment. So, decrease your sugar intake (don’t cut it down completely) and regain your health thereby. Read More: Effects Of Memory Foam Mattress Designs On Health Make Lemon Water your Companion Lemons are natural antioxidants, i.e. they flush your body of toxins. Super simple to prepare, lemon water supercharges you on the go and keeps your gut healthy and happy. Make an effort to hydrate yourself with this electrifying drink throughout the day.

Sweat Through your Workouts Nothing like building up a good sweat from a 10-minute exercise session, before you pop in the shower to get ready for work. You can choose any module from Zumba to HIIT, whichever suits you best. Sweating will break the unhealthy fats in your body and boost your metabolism. Read More: How to find out which discipline of MMA is best for you? An Apple a Day… Fresh fruits and vegetables contribute directly to building your immunity and supplying you with the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your body need. So, do make them a part of your diet. Prefer Cold Showers Everyone likes a warm bath with Epsom salts on a crisp, winter day. But it is a cold shower which is proven to have many interesting benefits, like tightening pores, boosting alertness, increasing blood circulation, etc. Try them before you say anything. Read More: Top 7 AI and Robotics Inventions of this year Breathe Deeply Most of the time, you take shallow breaths which give you as much oxygen as you need to stay alive. Nevertheless, in order to truly feel good, experts suggest taking deep, belly-full of breaths for at least five to ten minutes a day. This ‘diaphragmatic breathing’ improves your mental acuity, lowers your blood pressure and soothes your nerves. So, with the aforementioned hacks in place, getting a wonderfully healthy lifestyle is totally within reach. Don’t you think so? Read More: How Can Yoga Help With Addiction?

[sendgiftsphilippines000]

Chocolate gifts are the best gifts

Finding a gift that is perfect for that unique individual can be troublesome, particularly when there's strain to make it great. Anyway, looking for a gift doesn't need to be such a task! On the off chance that you dislike meandering around the shops for quite a long time searching for the perfect present, then you can definitely relax; there is a more straightforward way. You can now purchase everything and anything on the web and have it conveyed to your door inside two or three days, so there truly is no compelling reason to worry about looking for presents; simply make an effort not to leave it as late as possible.

The simple aspect is shopping on the web, yet picking the ideal gift is the critical step, so let me offer you some guidance on some incredible gift ideas that work for everybody, whatever their character. Everyone has a sweet tooth craving; therefore, what is a better present than a chocolate gift? Whether you're purchasing for somebody who's a genuine chocolate darling or somebody who simply enjoys a periodic sweet treat, then there's a chocolate box for them! Regardless of whether you're shopping for someone with special dietary needs, for example, a diabetic, gluten or dairy sensitivity, or even a vegetarian, buying chocolate online is simple.

You can send chocolate gifts to companions, friends, and family members straightforwardly by requesting them on the web and selecting the best box, chocolates, and wrapping to make the best gift for them. With so many chocolate gifts available on the web, you can buy anything from small curiosity gifts to extravagant chocolate gift boxes, so whatever your budget or needs, you'll find something to please.

If you adore English chocolates and high-quality chocolates, there are a few extraordinary places you can shop online from private ventures that are specialists in giving extravagant chocolates that will be truly wonderful for whoever receives them. One of my favorite spots to purchase chocolate gifts online is Helen's Chocolates, a little shop in the Lake Region. They stock flavorful chocolates and can make them into expert boxes or sell their very own line of chocolate boxes, ideal for that unique individual. You can also look for unusual and amusing gifts that are sure to make someone smile.

Probably the best chocolate gifts I've seen are chocolate boxes themed around various side interests; these are perfect for adding an individual touch to your present. These chocolate gifts are suitable for a wide range of people and their hobbies. They are themed around football, horse riding, golf, fishing, cultivating, silly make-up, motorbikes, DIY, planting, and for those who enjoy a brew, there is a chocolate gift set shaped like a 16 ounces and pasties! Assuming you're purchasing for somebody with explicit interests, this could be the most ideal gift for them.

If you need something more unique and possibly more decadent, there is a huge selection of chocolate boxes to buy online, with many flavors to choose from. Such gift boxes are also available for those who consume dairy-free or sugar-free chocolate. Remember, if you want to make your gift extra special, you can always purchase customized chocolates for various occasions, which are again available to arrange on the web.

For More Info:-

Chocolate box Philippines

send gifts to Philippines

Follow us:-

Facebook

[gomistore]

4 DIY Backyard Chicken Enrichment Plans (With Pictures)

If you’ve ever owned chickens, you know that the people who label them feather brains have never owned or been around chickens themselves. In fact, these creatures are intelligent, curious, and love to explore the environment they live in. This also means that you shouldn’t just purchase chickens and expect them to fend for themselves. Instead, you need to make sure that you enrich your chickens by giving them things to do and keeping them from getting bored. Bored chickens tend to be more aggressive and less healthy than active chickens. If you’re unsure what to do for your chickens, we’ll give you some of the best DIY backyard chicken enrichment ideas we found in the list below.

The Top 4 DIY Backyard Chicken Enrichment Ideas

1. Nesting Boxes by BackYard Chickens Materials: Wood, Nails, Carpeting Tools:  Hammer Difficulty Level:  Moderate These nesting boxes are perfect for keeping your chicken’s eggs safe until you can gather them. However, these boxes aren’t just for holding eggs. Chickens love hiding places, and this set of nesting boxes will have plenty of nooks and crannies for your chickens to hide. You can even get creative with a maze of nesting boxes so that your chicken has plenty of space to explore. This is a great way to increase your chicken’s environmental enrichment. As for getting creative with the boxes, try turning a covered cat litter box, a climbing tree, or a cat house into a nesting box. 2. Perches & Ladders by Rural Sprout Materials: 10 tree branches of varying sizes Tools:  Saw, rope, scissors, zip ties, drill, screws Difficulty Level:  Difficult One of the most common forms of exercise for a chicken is perches and ladders. Chickens love perching on anything, and though you wouldn’t believe it, they will enjoy climbing the ladders also. Chickens spend most of their time walking around pecking on the ground, but they can be taught to climb the ladders and sit on the perches. Try creating a jungle gym of perches and ladders with different heights and angles to encourage exercise. Make sure you offer some treats to your chickens to encourage them to climb the ladders the first few times, then they’ll start to do it on their own. 3. Feeding Puzzles by Chesire Horse Materials: Nylon net, food Tools:  Hanging hook Difficulty Level:  Easy Feeding puzzles are available from retailers, but you can build your own with just a nylon net, food, and a hanging hook. This is one of the easiest backyard enrichment ideas on our list. Normally, these types of puzzles are advertised for dogs and cats, but they work great for chickens as well. Take your nylon bag and hide the treats for your chickens inside. Put it on a hanging hook, and direct your chickens to the bag. It won’t take long before your chickens are happily pecking away at the puzzles to get the treats inside. 4. Mirrors & Bells by Fresh Eggs daily Materials: Mirrors, bells Tools:  None Difficulty Level:  Easy Mirrors and bells are usually reserved for small birds that live inside, but your chickens can enjoy them as well. You can take bells and hang them from your chicken’s pen or even let them roll around on the ground. However, it’s essential to make sure the bell isn’t small enough for your chicken to swallow because, as you probably already know, chickens will eat anything. Mirrors are perfect for your chickens to admire their reflections in, and trust us, they will if given the chance. They also catch the light and set off flashes that will keep your chicken entranced and pecking at its own reflection for quite some time.

Conclusion

If you want your chickens to be healthy and non-aggressive, you need to provide them some enrichment, whether it’s with food, habitat modifications, or toys. The projects we detailed are more affordable than commercial options, and most of them take less than an hour to complete. Featured Image Credit: EF Photography, Shutterstock Read the full article

[giveemhales]

I have been reading stucky fics for a couple years now, and 2020 gave me the opportunity to read even more. Plus, I got back on tumblr and got to see the many great things the fandom has to offer. So I want to celebrate some of my favorites of the year!

Over 8000 stucky fics were published on ao3 this year, so I am obviously leaving out some great fics (I still have literally hundreds on my to read list I just haven’t gotten to yet). But even if I didn’t get to read all of the fics, I read some great ones and want to share.

Here are my favorite stucky fics published in 2020. I hope you find something new to read, and thank you to all of the content creators for making the year more bearable!

My top 20 stucky fics of 2020 (sorted by length):

Trojan Horse by @galwednesday (2k, shrinkyclinks, bucky and steve creating chaos and saving the day, fluff and humor) (you don’t need to read the other stories in the series, but you should bc they’re great)

hit me baby one more time by @deisderium (10k, assassin!steve, assassin!bucky, enemies to friends to lovers, angst and fluff)

Take You for a Ride (On my Garbage Truck) by @goodbyeblues-ao3 (modern setting, garbage man!steve, programmer!bucky, but steve thinks he’s homeless, bucky is a disaster, misunderstandings, fluff and humor)

we freak on the cam by @howdoyousleep3 and art by PrettierAndYounger (21k, camboy!bucky, porn star!steve, fluff and smut)

The Warmth of His Hands by @fauvistfly and art by @capdeady (21k, modern setting, baker!bucky, bucky does pottery, rich steve, artist!steve, finding love through tiktok, mistaken identity, angst and fluff)

Love Me Tender Like What Keeps Me Well by @thiccbuckybarnesfic (24k, historical AU, a/b/o dynamics, alpha!steve, omega!bucky, marriage of convenience, miscommunication, steve being guilty and a dumbass, mpreg, angst and fluff and smut)

sharpen your teeth (tell yourself it’s just business) by @voxofthevoid (24k, canon divergence, bucky treats steve as his mission, emotional manipulation, angst with a happy ending)

Taste the way you bleed by @trenchcoatsandtimetravel and SinpaiCasanova (Bladerunnerblue) (27k, canon divergence, werewolf!steve, vampire!bucky, arranged marriage, memory loss, angst and fluff and smut)

Don’t Give it a Hand, Offer it a Soul by @captaintoomanybattles (30k, winter soldier!steve, shield agent!bucky, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending)

A Noble Steed by @leveragehunters and art by @artgroves (37k, shrinkyclinks, royal bucky, warhorse!bucky (less weird than it sounds), curses and magic, angst and fluff)

Coming Up Easy by @musette22 (45k, author!bucky, teacher!bucky, DIY youtube videos, strangers to lovers, mutual pining, (light) angst and fluff and smut)

Change Your Stars by @trenchcoatsandtimetravel and art by @histoires-eternelles (52k, a knight’s tale AU, medieval AU, identity porn, tournaments, mutual pining, prince!bucky, sort of knight!steve, angst and fluff)

Crooked Little House by @magpiemurph and art by @maichan-art (59k, shrinkyclinks, modern setting, magical realism, supernatural bucky, enemies to friends to lovers, angst and fluff and humor and smut)

Heavy Lies The Head by @odette-and-odile and art by @inflomora-art (59k, fantasy AU, prince!bucky, guard!steve, mutual pining, curses, angst and fluff and smut)

The large and the smol of it by @kalee60 (63k, shrinkyclinks, but also shrunkyclunks, identity porn, de-serumed steve, WS!bucky, mutual pining, angst and fluff and humor and smut) (sequel is also great)

While Our Bones Keep Looking Back by @emptydistractions12 (64k, a/b/o dynamics, alpha!steve, omega!bucky, canon-divergence, angst with a happy ending)

Hellhound on my Trail by @blondieewritess and art by @potterspink (70k, shrinkyclinks, hellhounds, supernatural bucky, angst with a happy ending and horror)

Crash and Burn by @hanitrash (74k, shrunkyclunks, a/b/o dynamics, alpha!steve, omega!bucky, dating apps, identity porn, angst and fluff and humor and smut)

Who Prays for the Devil? by @bourneblack (79k, shrinkyclinks, mafia AU, coffee shop AU, disabled steve, mob boss!bucky, secret identity, angst and fluff and smut)

A Year and a Day by Julie_dAubigny (burningbrightly) (94k, medieval AU, a/b/o dynamics, alpha!steve, omega!bucky, courtesan!bucky, fake/pretend relationship, mutual pining, slow burn, tournaments, angst and fluff and smut)

+3 WIPs I’m excited to (hopefully) see more of in 2021:

What Lies They Told Us by @darter-blue (4k, mobster AU, mob boss!bucky, nurse!steve, enemies to lovers, angst with a happy ending (... I assume))

The Way I Feel For You by @becassine (20k, shrunkyclunks, a/b/o dynamics, alpha!steve, omega!bucky, bucky is a disaster, fake/pretend relationship, mutual pining, angst and fluff and humor)

Captain of Death by @starstruckmyths (105k, mafia AU, mob boss!bucky, fighter!steve, protective bucky, memory loss, forced fighting, angst and fluff and smut)

[sourwormsaresour]

Headcanons on the type of pets La Squadra would own?

Holy shit this was too fun to make, especially with giving the pets names.

Sorbet and Gelato have their own Crusty-White-Dog™ that's a Maltese Terrier named Armani. The dog hates and barks nonstop at everything deemed threatening (aka, everyone and particularly the rest of La Squadra) and yet those two will claim she's the sweetest thing in the world. True to her name, they deck her with Armani branded clothes, either specially made dog fashion or they had a DIY done to make it look like an Armani outfit- down to the bright pink leash she wears dripping in the Armani logo. She eats the finest dry kibble and only drinks Ferrarelle Sparkling water; she will know the difference if you switch it up. She's the epitome of "I demand pets but only do so with your eyes" to everyone. Despite loving Sorbet and Gelato the most, she demands all their attention on her and she will cockblock those two if she catches them being affectionate to each other instead. Despite having a nice bed, she always sleeps between the two of them and will whimper if they kick her out of the bedroom so they can get intimate. Those tear-stained eyes always look like they've seen everything, despite being constantly babied by her owners. If Armani could, she would kill everyone.

Risotto, the biggest man in Vento Aureo, has a little Syrian hamster he called Ace. He thought that a pet with a shorter lifespan would allow him the perfect balance of having a pet but not being very attached to it compared to pets that live longer- he was wrong. If you ever come into Risotto's office as he worked, either you are greeted with Ace running around in his green hamster ball, walking around Risotto's desk as he worked, or running in the hamster wheel behind the desk. Ace's tank is an old Aquarium tank Pesci gave to Risotto that is now full of soft bedding, toys, and Risotto frequently cleans it. There are days where Risotto just spends hours watching his hamster walk around the room, eating little treats, and staring at Risotto with its beady eyes. It's gotten to the point where you can't walk into Risotto's office without noticing a lone sunflower seed or piece of bedding on the ground that Risotto didn't notice until you pointed it out. Every time Ace passes from old age, Risotto buys a new Syrian hamster and calls that one Ace. He hasn't kept track of how many hamsters that came and went so far, but treated every one of them as if they were the first Ace. He takes pictures of Ace doing the most relatively boring things and will share them with his members.

Illuso got a Sulphur-crested cockatoo named Scapino as a joke. He thought they didn’t require much attention but later felt bad when he found out that they need specific proper care. He proceeds to care for it as if it was his child. Illuso taught his bird how to speak and swear at people, specifically swearing at Formaggio and occasionally at Ghiaccio. This man will shower his bird with the best treats (expensive nuts, dried fruit, chicken bones) and has a special bar for it to perch on when they're in the shower together. This bird has free reign all over Illuso's place and wears a little anklet thing to verify that it has an owner should it escape. The two of them have spa days together and it’s one of the most wholesome things in the world to witness. Scapino will actually join Illuso on missions too, staying in the mirror world the whole time, and it provides him some comfort from his social anxiety. Sometimes Scapino sits on his shoulder as he walks. Illuso trained it to stay and hide in the mirror world so that it wouldn’t fly away or blow his cover when he’s working. But the bird will fly around in there and will watch anyone that’s getting murked in front of him with no remorse and commenting on it too. Imagine you’re dying in the mirror world and your last moment is this fucking bird looming over you going “night night, motherfucker”. JESUS CHRIST. 

Prosciutto used to be on the whole “pets are unnecessary” train but he had considered looking at breeders for the best quality dog. And then one rainy day he found an abandoned Portuguese Water Dog puppy in an alleyway and at Pesci’s insistence took it in. Turns out the puppy was bought by a rich family for their kid but then abandoned when the kid wasn't interested in it anymore. Prosciutto insisted that the dog was going to stay for one night and then sent to the pound first thing in the morning. It's been years now and the little dog is now a big fluffy good boy named Pon Pon. The second biggest chunk of Prosciutto's paycheck is for this dog; I'm talking grooming services with paw-ticures, an all-organic raw diet, the nicest beds that even a human would wish they can sleep on. Pon Pon is properly trained with all the basics and tricks, because Prosciutto doesn't want to deal with a misbehaving dog, but it will use puppy eyes against the old man now and then. He give you the best smiles if you call him a good boy and if you glance at the right time you can see Prosciutto smile for a brief moment. Had he lived longer, he would have made Pon Pon famous on Facebook like Boo the Dog. Prosciutto will also not admit that this dog has helped him get laid a few times, because every person he did bring home always got a kick out of Pon Pon.

Ghiaccio has a pet snake- an albino ball python named Bianco. Ghiaccio was also on the “pets are unnecessary” train too but mainly because he can't stand loud pets (i.e. Illuso and Sorbet and Gelato’s pets). When Risotto suggested he get a snake, Ghiaccio looked into it, researching and meticulously setting up the proper enclosure  and found himself going to a local reptile expo to find Bianco for sale. He’s fascinated by his snake to say the least, and would use leftover containers or Tupperware for Bianco to spend more money on proper equipment or food. Ghiaccio is really involved in online reptile forums and frequently debates with people on topics such as the best substrates to use, whether live rodents are better than frozen, ethics of breeding certain species, etc. He often gets worried when Bianco becomes picky and Ghiaccio would spend sleepless nights trying to get his baby to eat. Ghiaccio would walk around with his ball python wrapped around his neck or lets him slither around in his room under supervision but he mostly leaves him alone in the enclosure. There are times where he would claim he has the best, smartest pet and everyone just rolls their eyes like “yes the white fettuccine that got stuck in a toilet paper roll an hour ago is so smart”. But they let him rant about it. It’s kind of cute to say the least.

Pesci is the definition of people whose entire LIVELIHOOD is making his room into an aquarium. His room is full of strictly maintained, cleaned, and decorated tanks full of various types of aquatic animals. I’m talking Dwarf Puffers (Antonio, Portia, Jessica, Bassiano, and Solanio), Albino Gold Axolotls (Moe, Larry, and Curly), Red Ear Sliders (Franco and Ciccio), Clown Fishes (Browser, Mario, Toadstool, and Koopa), Brazilian Sea Horses (Tom and Jerry), a Blue Betta Fish named Valentina in a 30+ gallon aquaponics tank that grows a variety of plants each season- to name a few. He rebuilt his entire room to keep everything running and even had Melone help him set up timers for lighting and temperature control. Pesci will cry if you somehow made the pH level off by 1 or did not care for his animals properly when he’s away. He’ll even lecture you about bad tank setup. He's a prominent member of the aquarium  community in Italy and will regularly redecorate each tank to suit the year and mood. This is where he’s spending his cut on the 20 million lira job: caring for his mini aquarium room. He occasionally gives away his pets’ offsprings for extra money (he doesn’t breed but sometimes he ends up having a ton of baby animals he can’t take care of) and would have been a YouTuber for his fish content. Now that I think about it, Pesci reminds me of my mutual @nexter2nd. Please go follow them.

Melone has a Holland Lop bunny and you cannot change my mind. He actually had a pet bunny growing up, another Holland Lop named Echo and Grep, and his current one is named Sudo; all three are named after UNIX commands. He has a large dog crate he diy-ed to be a roomy enclosure in his room for her that he cleans frequently but also allows Sudo free reign of the room when she wants to go out. Because of his job, he makes sure all his wires are covered so his bunny isn't tempted to chew them and watches his bunny diligently whenever she roams around. Easter time is when the denim jacket, pastel bows, and flower crowns come out and Melone makes sure to take a lot of photos. He also housetrained his bunny and taught her a few tricks, similar to how he trained Echo and Grep years ago. Sudo is spoiled in terms of getting a lot of pets, new toys, and feasts on the finest veggies and delicious hay. Melone also makes sure the first thing he teaches his Juniors is to not harm the bunny. Surprisingly, he's against breeding Sudo and has her neutered. This is mainly because he doesn't have the time to breed and raise more bunnies but also he hates the idea of selling the grown bunnies off afterward. 

You know that Formaggio has a cat: the little Russian Blue cat named Sweetie Baby. Sweetie Baby was a kitten that he found outside his home. The little thing was the sole survivor of its litter and nearly starving to death, so he took her in thinking he will bring her to the shelter when she recovers; that cat now lets him live in HER apartment rent-free. Despite feeding her cheap dry food and constantly shoving her into bottles, he treats her like a queen otherwise. He will dress her up in little outfits (much to her annoyance) and often would be too aggressively affectionate towards her. Still, there are moments where she would cuddle with him during the later nights and allow him to put on one iced-out bow he just spent a quarter of his paycheck on. Walking to his apartment and even the backdoor of La Squadra’s HQ means carefully walking through the stray cats mewling at your feet, because Formaggio will feed any cat he sees. Initially, Risotto wanted the cats gone, but then he finds out the cats doubled as security when he watched some robber attempting to break in but getting their eyes scratched off instead.

[mythicalshoes]

My (unprofessional) guide to FMT

CHAPTERS:

1. [Considering Fecal Transplants]

2. [Donor Selection]

3. [What is a “Perfect Donor”?]

4. [Risks of FMT]

5. [Get Your Donor Tested!]

6. [Fecal Transplant “Disposable Materials Method”]

6.1 [Preparation]

6.2 [Preparing the FMT solution]

6.3 [Administering FMT]

7. [What to expect after FMT]

8. [My Personal Story]

8.1 [Symptoms Before FMT]

8.2 [Symptoms After FMT]

9. [My FMT Timeline]

CONSIDERING FECAL TRANSPLANTS

I want to start this guide by saying three things. 1) I am not a doctor or any kind of expert. 2) I am a long-time IBS and chronic illness sufferer who found relief using FMT therapy. 3) The following guide is just my own opinions, experience, and research that I’m posting for informational purposes only, because I get messaged constantly on social media with the same questions over and over and I thought it would be convenient to put my answers into one big guide.

I am not advocating for anything and I’m not trying to sell anything. I am not affiliated with any company. I’m a 31-year-old chronically ill female who draws pictures for a living. Again, this is only my own limited knowledge/experience and I am NOT a medical expert, so take everything in this guide with a grain of salt.

With that said...

If you’ve reached the point where you’re considering putting someone else’s poo into your colon, then you’ve likely exhausted all other options. Typically the people who seek FMT have debilitating and hard-to-treat health issues that aren’t responding to the usual therapies. Me? I was on death’s doorstep and doctors had no answers for me. They had officially given up and left me to die from some unspecified GI issue that made my life completely unbearable. That’s why I turned to FMT, but everyone’s story is different. First off, FMT did not totally cure me, but it did improve a lot of my health issues to the point where my quality of life is tolerable again. Some people see more success than I did, some see less. So, temper your expectations going forward.

FMT is sometimes marketed as a miracle cure that can fix any problem, but there’s little evidence to support this. When researching FMT, please pay attention to the source and don’t be misled by people who have a horse in the race. That is, anyone who charges for FMT material or runs an FMT clinic is not going to be 100% honest about what this procedure can and can’t do for you. They will exaggerate for the sake of profit. Stick to actual peer-reviewed studies and real science, not sketchy anecdotes from strangers, Facebook posts, and testimonials from randoms.

Ironically, you’re better off trusting a regular gastroenterologist than a doctor who works for a dedicated FMT clinic for profit. These “FMT clinics” are always shady, in my experience. They often pay random people to post fake testimonials on popular forums like Reddit and Facebook and take down any negative reviews. Don’t trust any post that recommends a particular doctor or clinic, there’s a high chance that it’s a paid shill.

There is scientific evidence to suggest that FMT might be an effective therapy for:

C.difficile, IBD, and IBS

Despite what these FMT clinics claim, there is NO evidence to suggest that it is effective for:

Autism, mental health issues, chronic fatigue syndrome, cancer, weight loss, or literally anything else. FMT may or may not really help those issues, but nothing has been proven and the science behind it is poorly understood at this time. It’s up to YOU to protect yourself from crooked doctors, shills, and scammers trying to profit off your illness and desperation.

If you can find a legitimate gastroenterologist or infectious disease specialist to perform FMT for you, this is advised. But because of current FDA regulations, this can be nearly impossible. This is why so many people turn to “DIY FMT”, or performing the procedure themselves. This method is not advised as it can be unsafe. But for those suffering debilitating health issues with no other answers, they often decide they have nothing to lose and try it anyway.

If you find yourself in a position where your quality of life is miserable and doctors have tossed up their hands, then read on. But it is strongly advised that you seek medical advice from a certified medical doctor and try all of their recommendations for your condition FIRST before considering FMT. FMT, especially the DIY method, should be an absolute last resort. It is not without risks.

DONOR SELECTION

The hardest part of getting a fecal transplant is not the procedure itself, it’s finding a suitable donor. Even the companies that supply FMT donations to hospitals reject around 99% of applicants because they don’t meet the standards. Your chance of finding a perfect donor on your own are slim to none.

But depending on your condition, your donor may not have to be 100% perfect. Plenty of patients have reported success with donors who are just “good enough”. This is highly individual and the mechanics are not well understood, so what results you get is basically a roll of the dice.

Some everyday people and even medical doctors who own FMT clinics sell samples from “healthy, screened” donors online to anyone who is willing to pay. I strongly advise against using their services, because there is absolutely no guarantee about the quality of the product you’re getting. You’re literally buying frozen feces online from a totally unknown source. It could be dog poop for all you know, you just can’t prove what you’re actually getting from these sellers because there is no industry to regulate it. Just because someone has a medical license does not mean they have your best interest at heart. Please be VERY wary of anyone selling FMT material online. A safer alternative is to use someone you know and trust personally, even if they’re not a perfect donor on paper.

WHAT IS A “PERFECT” DONOR?

Ideally, your donor should meet the following criteria: Under 40 years of age, fit and athletic, not overweight or underweight, no significant health issues, no significant mental health issues, birthed vaginally and breastfed, no antibiotic use within the last year, no history of IBS or other bowel disease, no history of cancer, no missing organs, takes no medication, no significant allergies, little to no food sensitivities, eats a clean and healthy diet with little to no fast food or junk food, no risky behaviors, non-drinker and non-smoker, no history of drug use, in a long-term monogamous relationship, no STDs, consistently produces 3-4 type stools on the bristol chart. Current studies suggest that the donor’s sex or relation to you doesn’t make a difference. Their general health is most important.

Obviously there is no one on earth who will meet all of those points, so your best bet when choosing a donor is to try and meet as much of that criteria as you can. Got a healthy teenage niece on the basketball team? Got a fit grandson who plays baseball? Those are good places to start. Kids and teens should be considered first, as they haven’t had time to rack up a bunch of health issues.

Ultimately, your donor should be an honest person who you trust.

RISKS OF FMT

Fecal transplants are still new in the world of western medicine. They’re proven effective for c.difficile infections, but little else. The long-term effects are poorly understood and their benefits are often over-stated.

The human microbiome (that is, the bacteria in your gut) is responsible for many, many more processes in your body than just digestion. As scientists study this field more, they discover that the microbiome is also heavily involved with the immune system, the brain, aging, allergies, and much more.

This is why finding a healthy donor is so critical. Anything that is wrong with your donor can potentially be passed on to you, including things you may not suspect such as allergies, mental health issues, and a predisposition to cancer. When screening your donor, you must question them thoroughly and consider all allergies, food sensitivities, and family histories of disease they have. If your donor is not trustworthy, then you’re wasting your time, hence why you should use someone you know rather than a random stranger.

In addition, seemingly healthy people can also carry harmful bacteria and parasites without even knowing it. These harmful bugs may not cause problems in their body, but can potentially wreak havoc in yours. This is why you must…

GET YOUR DONOR TESTED!

Donors should be thoroughly screened using blood and fecal tests to rule out any infectious diseases. C.difficile spores, STDs, dormant e.coli strains, parasites, viruses, and more can hide in plain sight even if they aren’t causing symptoms in your donor. Your body is different, and there’s no guarantee that these diseases won’t spring to life once you become their new host.

The best way to get your donor tested is to find a doctor who is understanding about your issues and is willing to cooperate. They will help you get all the tests you need. There are also companies which sell various tests online, but they can get very expensive very fast. The company OpenBiome, which provides FMT material for hospitals, screens their donors for the following:

BLOOD TESTS…

-Complete blood count with differential

-Hepatic function panel (AST, ACT, ALP, bilirubin, albumin)

-HIV

-Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C

-Treponema pallidum

-HTLV I and II antibody

STOOL TESTS…

-Clostridium difficile (c. diff) toxin b, PCR

-Salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, vibrio

-Shiga toxin EIA with e. coli 0157 culture

-H. Pylori

-Ova and parasites

-Giardia

-Cryptosporidium

-Cyclospora

-Microsporidia

-Rotavirus

-Norovirus, real time PCR

-Adenovirus, EIA

-Vancomycin-resistant enteroccus

-Extended-spectrum beta lactamase

-Carbaperemase producing gram-negative rods

NASAL TESTS…

-MRSA

-Covid-19

You should aim to get your donor tested for all of these things if possible. If that isn’t possible due to cost or some other reason, remember that you are taking a big risk and you must weigh if that risk is worth it to you. Some of these viruses and bacteria can cause serious illness and be fatal. Keep that in mind and please do not skip out on testing if you can help it. Even companies like OpenBiome have experienced deaths and serious illness in their patients after FMT because they did not screen thoroughly enough.

Once your donor has been screened, you can move on to performing the fecal transplant.

FECAL TRANSPLANT “DISPOSABLE MATERIALS METHOD”

There are currently 4 methods of administering FMT: freeze-dried pills, nasogastric tube, colonoscopy, and enema. In studies, all of these methods show similar rates of success. Anecdotally, different patients seem to see different degrees of success depending on method. If pills aren’t effective for one person, colonoscopy may be, and so on. Each method has its own risks and benefits. Compared to the others, the enema method has the least amount of risks overall.

This particular method of FMT is an enema-based method which uses 100% disposable materials, making cleanup fast and easy and ensuring the most hygienic experience possible. This is the method that I personally use and have found positive results with. Everyone is different and it may or may not work for you.

SUPPLIES

1gal Ziploc bags

Disposable Fleet enema bottle, emptied and rinsed (standard size)

Plastic funnel (the end should be small enough to fit into the Fleet bottle)

Cheap plastic bowl

Plastic liner to fit the bowl

Fine mesh strainer (you can find these at the dollar store or very cheap on Amazon)

Toothpicks (for unclogging enema bottles, if needed)

Disposable well-fitted gloves

Plastic spoon

Disposable mask (optional, but recommended)

Goggles or glasses (also optional, but recommended)

Garbage bags

Paper towels

Timer

Bristol stool chart

Diagram of the colon

Distilled water (should be new and unopened. Do not use distilled water which has been opened for longer than 2-3 days, it can grow bacteria)

PREPARATION

Starting 1-2 days before your FMT, eat a low-fiber diet to slow down digestion. This will help you retain the FMT solution longer. Some people take Immodium to achieve this, but only do this if the diet method doesn’t work. (If you are doing FMT to cure active c.difficile, do NOT take Immodium as it can cause toxin buildup).

Some people take laxatives to clear their colon before performing the FMT. Personally I find this counter-productive as it makes it harder to hold the solution. A plain water enema may do the job, but neither laxatives or enema are necessary for everyone. In my experience, they didn’t make a difference.

PREPARING THE FMT SOLUTION

This process is ideally done within 10 minutes or less, as the longer the donor’s fecal sample is exposed to air, the more helpful microbes will die. Keep this in mind, but don’t panic and please work carefully. Doing the procedure safely is more important than doing it quickly.

Open a window or two and make sure the room has good airflow. (Don’t skip this step, even if it’s cold outside. This will protect your lungs from the bleach vapors and your nose from the poo smell...)

Put on your gloves, mask, and eye protection. Then, make a 1:9 solution of Clorox bleach:water and use it to wipe down your work surface. The bleach will nuke all bacteria. Let air-dry, then wipe with a damp paper towel and dry. Lay a garbage bag over your work surface. Have an opened trash can nearby. All of your equipment should already be sterilized (a dishwasher is good for this. Do not run your FMT supplies with dirty dishes, run them alone with bleach.)

Lay out your supplies and do a couple imaginary practice-runs so that when the time comes, you won’t waste time fumbling around too much.

Your donor should defecate into one of the disposable bowls lined with plastic. Keep urine and other bodily fluids out of this bowl. While they’re doing that, microwave about 1 litre of distilled water for 1-2 minutes or until it’s about human body temperature.

Once you have the fecal sample, compare it to the bristol stool chart. It should resemble numbers 3 or 4. If it does not, it’s best to throw the sample out and try again later. Using a bad sample can alter the outcome of your FMT. Your donor may have to adjust their diet to get the desired color and texture. Darker and firmer seems to be better in experience.

If the sample is good, scoop it into a Ziploc bag using your plastic spoon. Add some of the distilled water you just microwaved, force as much air out of the bag as possible, and then mush the sample around until it has the consistency of paint. It should be thin enough to run through your strainer, but not too watery. Remember that oxygen kills microbes, so be gentle and don’t agitate the bag too much, just enough to get the desired result. You should also make sure the water is not too hot before adding it in because this will also kill microbes.

You will now have a “raw slurry”, and it must be processed through your mesh strainer to filter out all the undigested fibers and pieces that may clog your enema bottle. If possible, tape a second Ziploc bag to the bottom of your strainer to make this process easier. Use your spoon to stir the slurry around in the strainer and add more water if necessary.

Your second Ziploc bag will now contain a more watery solution. Pour this solution into the Fleet enema bottle using your funnel until it’s filled all the way to the top. Put the cap on tightly. Toss all your soiled supplies in the trash bin and change your gloves.

ADMINISTERING FMT

Spread a garbage bag on the floor (linoleum is preferable) and lay down on it. You will want a pillow, blanket, timer, and some kind of entertainment nearby because you’re going to be down here for a while. Bring your filled enema bottle, some paper towels, a trash bag, and a toothpick with you.

Now it’s time to insert the enema bottle. If you’re female, you have to be extra careful during this process because if the enema tip makes contact with your vulva, it can cause vaginitis or a UTI, so just insert it in any way that’s most convenient for you. Once it’s in, lay down on your left side or back and squeeze in the full contents (or as much as you can).

If the solution won’t go in, try changing the angle of the nozzle because it may be pressed up against the wall of your colon. Please be very gentle and don’t force anything or you can hurt yourself. If the solution still won’t go through, the enema tip may be clogged. Use your toothpick to unclog it and try again. This process may take several minutes, just try to be patient while you empty the bottle. Once it’s empty, wipe yourself with the paper towels, remove your gloves, and throw everything in the trash bin.

Lay on your left side and set your timer for 20 minutes. Look at your diagram of the colon as you massage your abdomen to work the solution through. The diagram will help you understand where the solution needs to go. After 20 minutes, flip over onto your belly. After 20 more minutes, flip to your right side. After 20 more minutes, flip to your back. After this point, put your feet on the wall and try to be upside-down if your health will allow. (Don’t do anything too acrobatic without your doctor’s permission!)

After you’ve been upside-down for a while (as long as you can physically stand it), you’re free to get up and go about your day if you like. The excess water should have absorbed into your colon by now, so the solution shouldn’t be too hard to hold in. But if it is, you may want to remain laying down as much as possible for the rest of the day.

Ideally, you want to hold in the solution for at least 24 hours. If you’re not able, that’s okay too. I’ve heard success stories from people who held it for less than an hour, so don’t lose hope. You can try again in the future if needed.

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER FMT

Some people notice effects within an hour or two, some may not notice anything for weeks. In my case, I didn’t notice any changes at all until about a week after the FMT. Suddenly my stool began to smell and look more like my donor’s and my IBS symptoms were lessened. This effect became stronger and stronger over the course of a week, and after 2 weeks they hit their peak. I felt fantastic and had zero IBS symptoms whatsoever. I could suddenly tolerate some foods that I couldn’t tolerate before FMT.

These benefits lasted for about 2 months, then slowly began to wane. The benefits returned after a second FMT, which again, took 2 weeks to fully kick in. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that more FMTs within a short amount of time may “seed” the gut with microbes better and cause the effect to stick around longer, but again, these are just anecdotes I’ve read from patients. According to clinical studies, most patients sustained some kind of benefit from FMT for at least a few months. Some did not. Your experience may vary depending on your donor quality, donor compatibility, and your own body.

In my case, I noticed only positive benefits from my FMTs and no negative side effects. However, anecdotes and clinical studies both mention that some people have negative side effects which are usually temporary and self-limiting. Bloating, low-grade fever, diarrhea or constipation, excess gas, and nausea are commonly listed.

If you experience excessive watery diarrhea, vomiting, blood in stool, or high fever, these are not normal side effects and you should seek medical attention immediately. You may have picked up a harmful pathogen from your donor (see the “Get Your Donor Tested!” section).

Remember, your results are only as good as your donor and their sample. Bad donor = bad results. Sometimes even donors which look good on paper may not be a good fit for your needs. FMT is not without its risks and the science behind the human microbiome is still in its infancy. We do not yet know the long-term effects of FMT, but we do know that it’s possible to inherit allergies and other health issues from your donor via FMT, so weigh these risks carefully if you’re considering this procedure.

I hope this guide was helpful to you. Once again, this is only one random person’s experience, so take it with a grain of salt and consult a licensed medical specialist before considering any type of alternative medicine. “Alternatives” are just that—alternatives for when the first line of treatment fails. Traditional medicine failed me, so I wrote this in hopes that maybe it can help others who are in a similar position.

MY PERSONAL STORY

I’ll try to keep it short and to the point. I’ve had IBS since I was a kid. Tons of food sensitivities, sickly, just not healthy overall, but at least I was functional. This all changed when I was 27-ish. I took antibiotics for a UTI and my health quickly spiraled into hell. I developed POTS. I contracted c.diff. I was stuck in a wheelchair for almost a year. My weight dropped to 93 pounds. I went from healthy normal female to 99-year-old zombie basically overnight, and doctors could not figure out why. I had every test under the sun, and nothing was found. I suffered for several years before considering FMT.

Symptoms before FMT:

General malaise, exhausted all the time.

Random low-grade fevers.

Random GI inflammation that caused nausea, diarrhea, bloat, early satiety, and abdominal pain that would often be so severe that I’d contemplate suicide.

Intolerance to basically every food. All I could tolerate was white rice, bananas, and white bread. Any kind of fiber caused intolerable abdominal pain and diarrhea. Even when I just ate “safe” foods, I still felt bad.

Random hot flashes and violent limb convulsions, especially at night. These were not seizures, I was fully conscious when they happened.

General low-level inflammation throughout my whole body, but especially my GI tract, with seemingly no trigger.

Symptoms after FMT:

All of the above symptoms were reduced by at least 80-90% and some disappeared completely. 2 weeks after my first FMT, I could suddenly tolerate agave syrup, green beans, sweet potatoes, and salmon, all of which would have caused me major pain before.

The low-grade fevers and convulsions just stopped completely. My energy levels improved significantly. I still can’t tolerate a large amount of veggies/fiber, but a small amount goes over fine. Before FMT, I literally couldn’t eat a single steamed green bean without horrible pain and diarrhea the next day. My appetite still isn’t great, but it’s better than before. I could only tolerate 800-1000 calories a day before FMT, now I’m eating around 1400-1900. I no longer wake up every morning with abdominal pain and urgency. Stool quality went from 5-7 on the bristol chart to 1-4.

I got incredibly lucky with my donor quality, but he still wasn’t perfect. Over 40 years of age, history of drug use but no current use, sensitivity to corn, and some minor allergies were his biggest drawbacks. Otherwise he was a healthy, fit, athletic individual who ate only clean and whole foods and had no history of antibiotic use in his life.

My results will not be your results. My donor is not your donor, and my body is not your body. If you do decide to perform a DIY FMT for whatever reason, I cannot guarantee that you will see the same results I did. Again, I’m only putting this personal anecdote out here for informational purposes.

MY FMT TIMELINE

8/1/2021 : 1st FMT. Noticed relief in autoimmune symptoms (tremors, sweats, headaches, runny nose, low energy) within 8 hours. 2 weeks passed with no further improvements and I thought the FMT failed, but did notice stool color, consistency, and smell slowly changing to match donor stool. Within 2 weeks, stool quality had completely changed from yellow and unformed to brown and formed. GI pain had disappeared and I felt incredible. Could now tolerate some vegetables, poultry, salmon, and protein shakes which made me very sick pre-FMT.

9/29/2021 : 2nd FMT. GI symptoms began creeping back about 2 months after first FMT, presenting as mild pain in the mornings before bowel movements. Performed 2nd FMT and symptoms once again disappeared within 2 weeks. Felt great.

10/30/2021 : 3rd FMT. GI symptoms began creeping back about 2 months after second FMT, presenting as mild pain in the mornings before bowel movements. Accidentally spilled donor material during enema process and caused a BV (bacterial vaginosis) infection. Took topical Metrogel + Fluomizin which helped but didn’t cure the infection. BV would persist for the next year, with symptoms fading and flaring off and on, kept under control with occasional doses of boric acid suppositories (like one capsult every 1-2 months). Besides my clumsy mistake, the FMT was a success and GI symptoms once again were under control within 2 weeks.

11/8/2021 : 4th FMT. Decided to perform one FMT a week for a while to see if the effects would “stick” longer than 2 months. Had some mild GI issues for a week after this one, possibly because I was still struggling with the BV and the massive stress that came with it.

11/23/2021 : 5th FMT. Nothing remarkable to report. Sustaining GI symptom relief.

1/31/2022 : 6th FMT. Symptoms began creeping back from the 5th FMT, once  again presenting as bloat and GI pain with bowel movements. FMT cured them within 1 week this time instead of 2 weeks.

3/13/2022 : 7th FMT. My donor started drinking a homemade probiotic drink he made from fermented beets. Not sure if that was the cause, but this FMT provided 4 months of relief instead of 2 and I felt better than ever. Able to tolerate sourdough bread which I couldn’t even tolerate pre-cdiff.

7/13/2022: 8th FMT. Started eating protein cookies with pea protein around 6/12/2022, which is aggravating to the GI tract. I had tolerated these cookies pretty well pre-cdiff and decided to try them again, but they eventually gave me problems even back then, so I stopped eating them for years. Was doing great until I added these to my diet, then started experiencing old symptoms of colon inflammation (GI pain, constant bloat)

Not sure if the seventh FMT would have lasted longer if I didn’t add these damn things to my diet, they just seemed to knock me off course. Was also under MASSIVE amounts of stress as I had just moved into a worse living situation to take care of my dying mother. I was feeling better than ever until I started eating these. I feel this 8th FMT didn’t make much difference in my condition, I was still having constant bloat and mild to moderate GI pain with most bowel movements. Donor’s sample was much softer and more yellowish than I prefer and I should not have used it, as I have had better results with darker, firmer samples. Lesson learned.

9/1/2022 : 9th FMT. I felt like the 8th FMT was a failure because for the first time, I didn’t notice much (if any) improvement in symptoms afterwards. Symptoms were still much milder than they were before my very first FMT, but still bothersome enough to affect my daily life. My donor and I were living in an RV instead of an apartment by this time, so our ability to cook was limited, therefore my donor’s diet changed substantially. I feel that the failure was caused by a negative change in my donor’s diet (more processed foods) + massive amounts of stress about our poor living situation. Both donor and myself were under a ton of stress which negatively affected both of our gut microbiomes.

Didn’t notice very much improvement after 9th FMT either. Maybe a little more improvement than the 8th, but not much. Sample seemed alright, not ideal but better than 8th in color and consistency. Actually had my very first episode of diarrhea since my first FMT last year, probably triggered by eating too much bread in one day + stress (diet still quite limited). This episode happened about 2 weeks after 9th FMT and I’m not sure if it was related or not, as 2 weeks is when I usually feel improvements. After this episode I started to feel slightly better overall, so who knows. Currently struggling with mild to moderate bloat that comes and goes, and mild to severe GI pain with BMs. These things seem to be triggered by stress and our current living situation is extremely stressful due to poverty, caregiver fatigue, and poor living conditions. Despite these issues I still feel much better than I did pre-FMT overall, which is really a testament to how unbearably awful I felt a year ago.

1/23/2023: Haven’t done my 10th FMT yet because the 9th eventually did kick in after a few weeks and it’s still going strong 4 months later! Stress and diet are the two main things that trigger my IBS these days, as opposed to before FMT, when minor things like seasonal allergies and weather could trigger me. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, it takes more to trigger an episode now. There are still many, many things I can’t eat without extreme pain, but my IBS episodes are much shorter and less intense since my first FMT. I can tolerate a slightly higher volume of foods and more variety than before. My diet currently consists of white rice, white bread, bananas, salmon, chicken, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Sometimes I can tolerate sourdough bread, Orgain Clean Protein shakes, or a bowl of plain pasta. Still no automimmune-type symptoms since my first FMT, which is amazing.

3/17/2023: 9th transplant still going strong! I’m eating 1500-1800 calories a day and actually managed to gain a couple pounds. I haven’t branched out and tried to eat anything new. Just sticking to safe foods until I get to at least 105 pounds. I’m 98 pounds currently.

6/14/2023: Still haven’t done my 10th transplant because the 9th is STILL working 9 months later! I’m up to 1800-2000 calories a day and my weight is finally back in the triple digits--103 pounds! I’ve been feeling great overall. Too much fiber still bloats me and gives me colon pain. My diet is still mostly bread, bananas, and rice, but I am eating a lot more meat now. I have chicken or salmon once or twice a week with no negative effects. Before FMT, I could hardly tolerate meat once a month and I would feel super bloated for days afterwards. Once I reach my 105 pound goal I want to try branching out with more foods.

7/31/2023: Did FMT #10, not because symptoms were returning but because I got a random UTI and had to take Macrobid for 7 days. Did the FMT the day after I took the last Macrobid capsule to hopefully prevent cdiff from returning.

8/11/2023: Did FMT #11 because the Macrobid gave me BV, which I was treating with boric acid suppositories, and accidentally inserted a capsule into my urethra so I had to go back on Macrobid for 5 days to prevent a new UTI. So, that’s 2 rounds of antibiotics and 2 FMTs in 2 weeks. I’m praying the cdiff and UTI both stay away for good. I might do another FMT next week just as an extra precaution.

9/7/2023: FMT #12 yesterday because I began having diarrhea/appetite loss and feeling generally unwell for a week prior with no apparent trigger. Fearing the Macrobid may have triggered a cdiff relapse, I decided to do another FMT to be safe. Within 1-2 hours my appetite returned and I felt so much better. Now it’s the next day and I feel totally fine. I went from being sick in bed to doing yard work in a matter of hours. I’ve done this 12 times now and I’m still absolutely amazed by the results every time. It is seriously like a miracle.

So far so good on the UTI, it has not returned yet. As for the BV, I’ve been treating it with boric acid using one capsule every 2-3 days. I plant to continue this regimen for a month. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try a round of Fluomizin followed by 2 weeks of boric acid, which is what seemed to kick it into remission last time.

1/28/2024: FMT #14 was a couple days ago. My digestion has been fantastic up until a week ago, when I started having loss of appetite, bloat, and diarrhea. This was possibly triggered by stress, diet, or some other infection, I don’t know. I have been eating meat 3-4x a week with no problems since October, but I think I overdid it with fiber and meat last week and my gut freaked out. So far the FMT has taken the edge off my symptoms, but I’m not 100% yet. If it doesn’t kick in within 2 weeks I’ll do another one. This happened on short notice because my symptoms were so unbearable, and my donor didn’t have time to prepare. Normally he eats a specific diet for a few days beforehand.

The BV has been miserable since I took Macrobid for the UTI, way worse than before. I suspect the Macrobid killed off the last of my natural lactobacillus bacteria in the vagina. Boric acid and Fluomizin helped temporarily but it came back with a vengeance. Since Metrogel did nothing, I suspect the “BV” is actually AV (aerobic vaginitis) which is extremely hard to treat, even with antibiotics.

My new plan is to treat it with probiotics instead, similar to the way I treated my gut with FMT. I will take a week or 2 of boric acid, followed by 3 days of Fluomizin to clear out problem bacteria, and then insert Femdophilus Advanced 10bil capsules daily to hopefully add lactobacillus and crowd out the bad stuff. Yes, I’ve seen 2 OBGYNs about this...both of them were worse than useless. I tested negative for BV as usual (which is common for BV sufferers because the tests are crap), so they told me the infection was all in my head and I should just “ignore it”...Despite the fact that two general practitioners actually inspected my vagina and said “yep, that definitely looks infected, go see an OBGYN”. So yeah, doctors being as worthless as ever, forcing me to take matters into my own hands yet again. :/

I suspect the AV is contributing to how bad I feel right now. I have classic UTI symptoms but tested negative for UTI repeatedly. AV can cause similar symptoms. Symptoms are constantly feeling hot but temperature is normal, random chills, , constant urge to pee but little comes out, fatigue, headache, GI upset, just feel generally unwell. This is similar to how I felt with the UTI but I’ve tested neg twice now. I am also suspecting diabetes as both of my parents are diabetic, which can also cause these symptoms. Considering my diet is mainly rice and bread, I wouldn’t be surprised. Anyway I’ll get tested for various things and report back.

1/29/2023: So, I was right this whole time. Vaginal test came back positive for enterococcus faecalis, and it’s severe. Doctors have been jerking me around, not listening to me, and giving me the wrong tests for 2 years, but I finally have a freaking diagnosis. The bad news: this type of infection is basically impossible to treat. It will require ampicillin and/or gentamicin, which will definitely bring the cdiff back and probably won’t even cure the faecalis. Currently using probiotics vaginally and trying to get an appointment with someone competent. If the probiotics don’t work, I will have no choice but to try the ampicillin and take it alongside Vancomycin. I will be doing FMTs during and after this course to help prevent cdiff. That’s really all I can do.

3/9/2024: FMT #14 fully kicked in after 2 weeks and I’m fine now digestion-wise. It also cleared up my UTI/general illness symptoms after a few days. I’m a little less fiber-tolerant this time around, but things are slowly improving. I used to eat 11g of fiber every day with no issues, now I’m back down to 7g. Sometimes I can get away with a maximum of 9g if I take it down to 6g for a couple days after. Something to note: my stool donor had some kind of food poisoning between this FMT and the last one, and hasn’t been tolerating certain foods as well since then. I suspect that’s why this FMT was slower to take and not as dramatic, though it still really helped me.

As for the vaginitis: I haven’t taken the Penicillin/Vanco I was prescribed yet, I’m saving that as a last resort. Probiotic suppositories have definitely improved symptoms massively. I don’t know if they’re necessarily “killing” the enterococcus infection, but they might be suppressing its levels because my AV symptoms basically don’t exist as long as I take the probiotics. Odor is completely gone, burning is absent most days or barely noticeable, excess discharge is way down.

I want to talk about this vaginal infection on this page too because the way I’m treating it uses the same principle as my FMT: crowding out harmful bacteria with desirable bacteria. But can store-bought probiotics have the same effect as natural bacteria? That’s what I want to find out.

The probiotics I’m using are Jarrows Femdophilus (1billion), Jarrows Femdophilus Advanced (10billion), Swanson FemFlora (9.8billion), Swanson gasseri (3billion), Swanson plantarum (10billion). I carefully selected these products because they don’t contain prebiotics or other additives that can cause issues in the vagina. They also contain vaginal-specific strains, the most important of them being l.crispatus which is present in the Femdophilus Advanced I take them out of their original capsules and put the powder into pure vegetable capsules so they dissolve faster.

After experimenting for 6 weeks, here’s my verdict so far: Femdophilus Advanced has the most dramatic effect, but can become irritating if overused. It produces a yellowish “fruity” smelling discharge. Swanson FemFlora didn’t seem to help much, but Swanson gasseri had a noticeable positive effect and causes a white “sour” smelling discharge (not unpleasant, it’s more like a plain yogurt smell, which is what a healthy vagina should smell like due to lactic acid). I only added the Swanson Plantarum recently so it’s too early to say, but it also seems to have a positive effect in keeping AV symptoms away. The regular Femdophilus also helps symptoms, but it works better when I combine it with other probiotics. I think some of these strains work synergistically with eachother. All of them have positive effects alone, but those effects are noticeably boosted when I combine them. I will continue to experiment and report back what I find.

One last thing to mention: I somehow developed a small abscess on my labia minora about a month ago, right before I started the probiotics. I’m 99% sure I probably cut myself while shaving and it got infected, likely from the damn enterococcus bacteria. It’s very small so it took me a long time to notice it, it’s just a lump below the skin that hurts to the touch. After a month it hasn’t really grown or improved, so I set an appointment to possibly have it drained next week. I’ll report back on that too. I’m praying I won’t have to take antibiotics. If I do, I’ll just bite the bullet and take that penicillin/vanco I was prescribed for the AV and follow it up with several FMTs. That’s about all I can do. It’s amazing (and incredibly frustrating!) how one problem can cascade into a bunch of other issues.

I will post about my probiotic regimen later when I get stabilized. I’m still experimenting with it right now and finding out what works best. There is this delicate balance between “too much” and “not enough” I’m trying to maintain, and my period seems to throw the whole thing out of whack which just complicates things.

*

[chayacat]

Devil’s Sweet Star (30)

Fandom: Dead by Daylight

Ghostface x Female Reader  

Rated M for Violence, Language and Smut  

***

Hunting. It's tiring by force when you run after a prey for hours. But the reward is more than pleasant when we finally find it. The fear that we read in their eyes, but also the pity... It's so satisfying. Their little cries asking to let them live. Sometimes it works. But usually, they die. It’s the law of nature. The strongest, the most agile, the most intelligent always gets by, the weaks die. But when you come across another predator, who wants to steal from you what belongs to you, the music is different. And in case you've forgotten, Danny doesn't like to share his things. Especially you.

If Jed promised you to do nothing about the server last time, this isn’t the case with Danny, and less with Ghostface. He intended to give him a good lesson. A lesson he can never forget, even if he died. He had finally found him, he was a replacement, he worked for another restaurant, in another nearby city. Poor guy... he's not even from here and he died for a simple... stupidity.

Danny will always remember his look. From the predator, this fool has become prey. He will always remember his words, begging him not to kill him. Like everyone else, in itself. Danny was too used to it. And the result is always the same: he kills them. this poor fool must never have dared to seduce you, NEVER. He has paid a high price for it. Certainly, he must have family, friends etc... But no one in Roseville will know about this story. Since he didn't live here.

Danny is already very nice to let his alter ego Jed take care of you; he will not let all the men approach you! However, a smile stretched over his face. This little tantrum you had during your last meeting, it's like you ordered him to kill this server. It was your little signature on the murder contract.  Of course, you still wanted to make the innocent little girl, who doesn’t want to harm anyone. But there... there you have to show a completely different facet. You haven’t explicitly said it, but the fact that you are tired of being seduced and taken for a weak as this "damn server!" said is more than enough for him.

“I knew you had your own dark side... my beautiful bird. Your little cage of purity begins to break... But you don't have to care... I would be there to take care of you.” He said to himself, looking at your picture.  

He kissed the picture before putting it in the drawer of his nightstand. He took the frame where the picture of Carla and him was. If only he could go back in time, he could have acted, he could have asked another doctor to treat her, to give her the right treatment. And she would still be there. But the time machine doesn’t exist. He has to deal with it. He rested the frame and prepared to go to work, today he will not be at the police station. Today he will be at Hoggins' House. Since he was accused of killing McKellan, he has been trying as best he can to exonerate himself. And it's a golden opportunity for Danny to spot places from the inside.

He took the opportunity to look in the mirror. The shy Jed disappeared little by little, leaving more room for Danny. And it was perfect, that's exactly what he wanted. The more he let himself go, the more his alter ego faded in your eyes. Soon, all that will remain of Jed is his name. And one day Danny will be able to reveal his identity to you. His TRUE identity. No more hiding. Danny pulled out his phone and called Mattew. It’s with him that he will interview Hoggins today. Melina, on the other hand, continues to work with the police.

“Hey Jeddy! How are you doing? Are you ready for the interview?” said Mattew cheerfully on the other line. Jeddy... a nickname that even Danny has become accustomed to over time. He wonders what nickname he would have given him with his real name.

“Hey Mattew I am fine, thank you. Of course, I'm ready, probably more than you. I'm sure you're not even dressed yet.” responds Danny chuckling.  

“Think again! I am dressed, my hair is done and I'm ready to go! I come to pick you up or you pick me up from my house?”

“I'm coming to pick you up. I haven’t forgotten what almost happened last time.”

“First, it wasn't me but the other big idiot in front and then I'm a very good driver! But if you want to pick me up... I'm not going to hold you back.” Mattew replied.  

“I got it... Chris took the car. Okay, I'm coming. Get ready, in 5 minutes I'm here. See you right away!” Answers Danny before hanging up and sighing. Mattew will never change.

But actually, within 5 minutes, Danny found himself in front of Mattew and Chris' house, and indeed, Chris had taken the car. According to Mattew, Chris had taken it to the mechanic to do a technical inspection of the vehicle. But knowing Chris.... The slightest screw will pass to the scanner. And it's likely to take the whole morning. It didn't take long to get to Hoggins' residence, as traffic was very fluid, Danny took the opportunity to press the accelerator. At least up to the maximum acceptance rate of the van. He parked not far from Hoggins' car, before getting off with Mattew from the vehicle. They headed for the front door and rang, only to be greeted by Hoggins himself.

“Ah, here you are! the little journalists of Roseville, but please come in! Your friend isn’t here?” Ask Hoggins with a smile.  

“Our colleague Melina has been sent elsewhere Mr...” starts Mattew.  

“No, I'm talking about the other girl... this adorable little bird of paradise that was with you at the reception...”

“(Y/N) doesn’t work at the newspaper. She was just accompanying us. I'M so lucky to have a girlfriend as adorable as her, indeed.” said Danny holding back from sticking his fist in his mouth.

“Oh...Well, congratulations then.” replied Hoggins, with a faint smile of disgust on his face.  

Hoggins guided them to the living room and asked his butler to prepare coffees. He returned a few minutes later and put the tray on the table before leaving. Danny mentally disfigured the man in front of him, if Hoggins also had views on you, then his fall and his death will be nothing but delightful.

“Very well gentlemen, I don’t know if your boss has warned you, but I have a very important appointment, so I may have to leave and shorten this interview. I apologise for that.” said Hoggins before taking a sip of coffee.  

“It won't take long, don't worry... 1 or 2h I think will be more than enough, Right Jed?” ask Mattew, taking Danny out of his macabre thoughts.

“Yes... it would be a shame if Mr. Hoggins missed such an important appointment because of us...” hisses Danny between his teeth without letting Hoggins out of sight... What a dirty pretentious asshole.

Mattew began asking the questions while Danny took notes as his answers progressed. He had started soft, asking him the origin of his rise in the American market. Then after an hour, it's Danny’s turn to ask the questions... and he's not going to go smoothly.

“Very well, Mr. Hoggins. As you know, you and Mr. McKellan are in the midst of a scandal about …" He started before being cut by Hoggins.

“Yes, I know, and I have replied to many of your colleagues that all this was just a plot from my previous partners who sank today. But do I really have anything to do with it? They didn't see things in a big way, that's what lost them.” responds Hoggins nonchalantly.

“Yes of course... But you also know that... you are accused of having ordered the murder of your partner Horace McKellan...because you think he was the one who broke this scandal.” replied Danny, with a slightly provocative look.

“And it's still a plot against me. Horace was a great partner and friend. Even though I accused him and threatened him... I could never have taken action. That’s unthinkable.”  

“You, no... but you could have hired someone. That is what you are accused of. Apparently, you would have chatting with a man three days before threatening McKellan. And given the appearance of the man... I suspect it wasn't to discuss garden and DIY.”

“This appointment... was in the domain of privacy mr Olsen... What we said to each other was about a completely different business than the one I had with Horace.”  

“I didn't know that a man of the high... was doing business with a notorious drug dealer. I wonder what kind of business you deal with together...” Replied Danny with a sneaky grin.  

“I'm sorry gentlemen but... I will have to end this interview. My appointment will not take long to arrive, I don’t want to make him wait, it would be ... counterproductive on my part. I hope, however, that I have been able to answer all your questions. My butler will accompany you.” answer Hoggins with the same grin.  

“You know what they say sir... sooner or later the rider will fall from his horse. And the fool will be locked up. Have a good day.”

The butler escorted Danny and Mattew to the door. Once outside, the two journalists got back into the van and Danny couldn't help but hit the steering wheel with his fists. This surprised Mattew who hadn't seen his colleague being angry before. And for once he lets go... it's really disturbing to think that he's quite inexpressive in nature. At least of what Danny kindly showed him.

“What a son of a bitch! I swear to that damn God that if I didn't hold back for job and Wilhelm's investigation, I would go back inside and I would smash his head against the wall!” said Danny flustered.  

“Calm down Jeddy... If he goes to jail, tell yourself that he will suffer. Already that when you are there, the other prisoners don’t give you gifts ... then a rich man like him, they will not miss him. Let's go eat and have a drink somewhere. It's going to relax you a little bit.” said Mattew, trying to appease him.

Danny sighed and set out to get back in town, with a little smile on his face. On the road, Mattew tried to relax the atmosphere, but it wasn't his jokes that made Danny laugh, but his colleague and friend's attempt to relax him. They stopped to take food and drink from a fast-food restaurant in the city. But as if the day wasn't already annoying enough, two guys approached them to steal them. Danny sighed, gently took off his glasses before giving them to Mattew. Then suddenly turns to punch one of the two men in the face, who fell to the ground. The second hit Danny in return, who punched back in the stomach and another in the head.

“It's good ?? you've had enough or I have to put a layer back?!” said Danny, threatening the two men by raising his fist.

The latter left without asking for their remains. Danny wiped his mouth with a hand gesture, noticing that he was bleeding a little. The blow was more violent than he had thought. He turned to Mattew who looked at him... stoic.

“What?”  

“Dude... This is the first time I've seen you hit someone. It's the day of surprises or what?” responds Mattew.  

“I told you... I'm nice as long as we're nice to me. But if we're not... I may not be very diplomatic. I was too walked on my mouth, when I was little, but today, it's over.”

The rest of the day was rather quiet after this incident. Danny had finally calmed down and with Mattew anyway, it was pretty hard not to calm down. They were both going to the newspaper to deposit what they have noted from Hoggins' interview and, on the way, have met Melina who had survived a full day with Wilhelm. What a miracle when you know her well. The trio greeted and separated, each returning home. Danny returned home, exhausted, and deep down, stills angry to see that Hoggins has views on you. Oh, his death will be a delight in his eyes... Oh, yes... Danny will enjoy it until the last second. As he walked into the building, heading towards his apartment, he saw you coming home as well, and given the way you walk, you look just as exhausted as he is. A smile came to his lips and he caught up with you as you were about to return to your apartment.

“Jed! You scared me...” you said with a sigh of relief.  

“Sorry my love. how did your day go?” asks Danny, with a little laugh.  

“I'm exhausted! we've had many, many, many people today. I believe that since I've been here, this is my most intense workday I've ever had. But... you’re hurt! What happened??”

“Nothing serious... let's say it wasn't a good day.”

“Go inside, I'll take care of it. And no discussion.”

“Yes Madam.” replied Danny, raising his hand before entering your appartement.  

While you were treating him on the lip, Danny told you about his day. He couldn't help but hiss as he felt the disinfectant on the wound. But that wasn’t what was most important to him. The most important thing was to see your reaction to all this, from the disgust with Hoggins, to the anxiety when he told you about the fight that took place in front of the fast-food restaurant. Fortunately, they had no weapons on them... otherwise, God only knows how it would have ended.

“My poor Jed... it wasn't your day... I'm done.” you said, storing disinfectant and cotton pads.

“Thank you, madam. I was wise... Could I have a lollipop as a reward?” respond Danny jokingly.  

“Very funny Jed. I don't have a lollipop but... I can give you that.”  

You kissed him as he kisses you back. Taking you gently by the waist to bring you back against him. Suddenly he felt something unusual, your hand descending gently to touch his ass. If that's what you wanted to give him... he will not refuse.

“Do you really want to venture into this field? Be careful Sweetie, once launched, no going back possible. And I can last all night if I have to.” said Danny with a grin.  

“Prove it. I can hold all night too.” you respond with a provocative look.  

It didn't take more for Danny to kiss you roughly, bringing you little by little to the room. Or you're the one who take him to your room?  No one can say. But Danny isn’t against it. He's been waiting for this for quite some time, and believe me, tonight ...the night is going to be long. You're going to ride his world, but he's going to rock yours.

This is the most beautiful way... to put his mark on you.

***

(And it’s done! I started to play RE Village recently and I'm in love with it! Even if I really freak out with that damn baby of Hell in Benevento’s House! XD I’m impatient to meet Heisenberg 👀...But first, I'm gonna kick Moreau’s ugly ass! I hope you’ll like this chapter like the others ones! Well, it's time for my brain to rest! Have a great weekend to you all! See ya!)

[katalyna-rose]

Kat’s Rat Shopping List

I’ve gotten a few requests for a shopping list of my rat setup (tagging @collapseofthesky because they requested this, specifically, but I’ve had a few others message me), so I thought I’d give it a try and also add a few explanations for why I do some things the way I do. As such, this is going to be a very long post and is therefore under a cut. There will be a basic shopping list without all the explanations at the very end of the post under TL;DR if you don’t care about the rest or whatever.

I had a lot of fun with this and spent way more time on it than I meant to, and might be open to doing more of this kind of thing in the future.

Cage

First up, the cage. Obviously. I’ve said it before but it’s a Double Critter Nation and a Single Critter Nation with the side panels removed and zip tied together. These are sometimes sold in pet stores (the locally owned pet store I prefer has them in stock). I bought mine online because of a really good sale, but you can sometimes get really lucky and find them for resale on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for super cheap. I love this cage because the whole front opens up and that makes it super accessible and easy to clean, decorate, and get to my pets wherever they may be. It’s also huge!

US minimum for rat cages is 2 cubic feet per rat, with a minimum of two rats because rats cannot be housed alone as they are extremely social animals. No, human companionship is not enough, rats need same-age, same-species companionship at all times. Please be aware, as well, that minimums are not the ideal to strive for. Whatever space you intend to dedicate to your rats, fill it! Fill it all up! And if you don’t have enough space for a large cage, don’t get rats. My setup, with the Home Depot/Lowe’s large cement mixing tubs in the bottom, is roughly 45 cubic feet of space. If we’re looking at minimums, this means I could house 22 rats! There’s no way that 22 rats could ever actually be comfortable in my setup. It would be insane, chaotic, and extremely messy. So why would 2 rats be comfortable in 4 cubic feet? They wouldn’t. More space is always better, hard stop.

Also remember that wire cages with bar spacing of no more than an inch for adult rats and no more than half an inch for small or young rats is a must. Tanks are absolutely not recommended for rats due to poor ventilation, which will cause respiratory issues and allow ammonia to build up much faster.

Bedding

This is different from nesting. Yes, it is. Bedding is the substrate used at the bottom of the cage or on shelves to catch errant droppings and urine, and is generally left where it is by the rats because they have no interest in it.

My main bedding is pine wood horse stall pellets. They are as dust free as the alternatives like shavings or paper pellets, and combine the best aspects of both those types of bedding with the ammonia-neutralizing effects of wood shavings and the compact, easy-to-clean nature of pellets. I love them. I also get them super hilariously cheap from Tractor Supply Co, so despite it being a little bit of a drive for me (about an hour round trip) the fact that it’s half the price of the next cheapest option more than makes up for it. I buy a bunch all at once and currently have a few bags left in my trunk because I didn’t have enough closet space for them. It’s great stuff. It crumbles when wet so it helps me keep track of how much and where they’re urinating, and it’s easy to spot clean those areas in between deep cleans.

When choosing a wood, if that’s the route you want to go, remember to check what is safe to use. Pine is only safe when it’s kiln-dried, since it contains fragrant oils that can cause respiratory issues in rats, mice, and hamsters. Some people will advise you to stay away from it entirely, and that’s fine, but since pine is often the cheapest option it’s not always viable. Aspen is a safe wood, but harder to find in pellet form and slightly more expensive as shavings. I use aspen shavings in my litter trays. Cedar wood is NEVER safe, no matter how it’s treated. I don’t think cedar is ever safe no matter what for any animal it’s marketed to, actually. It’ll cause respiratory distress in rats, mice, and hamsters, and guinea pigs and rabbits should never be on shavings regardless though I’m pretty sure they’ll still experience respiratory distress. The oils naturally in the wood are not safe, do not use cedar. Also make sure your bedding is as dust-free as possible, also for respiratory reasons. If you have a small animal, their respiratory system is extremely delicate, and that’s just a fact of pet ownership that you should have learned before getting a pet when you were researching how to care for it.

Since I have two shelves in my cage and they are both shallow to the point of not even having a lip (Critter Nation’s only flaw is the trays that come with the cage), I line my shelves with fleece over an appropriately sized bath mat. Fleece makes a great shelf liner, but I don’t recommend using it in the entire cage because it gets dirty really fast and most rats will chew it up, so you’ll both be changing it every other day and going through it super fast as it is destroyed. However, it makes great shelf liners, especially when very little of the shelf is actually available to the rats like in my setup, where the shelves are mostly covered in other things. Remember that fleece must always be lined with an absorbent layer underneath because the fleece itself allows liquid to pass right through it. That’s the point: the fleece stays relatively clean and dry while the absorbent layer takes all the gross stuff away. Towels are generally not recommended for this because rats can get their nails stuck in the fabric and rip them out, which is painful and distressing for the rat and also you. Anything super absorbent with a really tight weave will do lovely here, hence the low pile bath mats I use. I get them for one or two dollars at Ikea and wash them every week. I keep several around to rotate through. The fleece I use is also a fleece blanket from Ikea for a couple bucks that I cut into four sections because that rendered it the perfect size to tuck around the shelves. This makes my bedding extremely cheap, and that makes me happy because I can spend that money on enrichment instead.

Nesting

This is the material that the rats like to push around, dig in, and sleep in. It’s important to provide soft but preferably absorbent materials for the rats to nest in because it’s enriching, comfortable, and helps them regulate body temperature. Multiple types of nesting are recommended for enrichment purposes. Rats like texture! I use unscented, unlotioned tissues as a main nesting material for within their hides because they’re cheap, safe, absorbent, and soft. I bought 30 boxes of 100 tissues each for super cheap online, but you can also buy dollar store tissues or whatever you have access to. Just make sure they don’t have scents or lotions, because those are not safe for your rats’ delicate respiratory systems. The empty boxes (plastic removed) can also be given for the rats to chew up and play in, or you can save them up to DIY some fun toys later, which is what I’m doing.

I also have two dig boxes, which will also go under the enrichment section. The bins I got for cheap from Target, but obviously you can get bins wherever you want to get bins. Just measure to make sure they fit in your cage properly. The only dig box I want to talk about in this section is the hay box, because the dirt is not actually a nesting material but rather an enriching one. So, hay. My girls love this stuff so much that they drag it all over the cage to shove it into all their sleeping areas. They build actual rat nests in the box, tunnel through it, stash food in it, shred it for fun, and generally spend as much time as possible with the hay. I use oat hay for the seed heads that provide additional enrichment and snacks because the rats have to get to the seeds in order to eat them. If you are feeding a low-quality diet to your rats, do not use oat hay because they’ll fill up on seeds instead of eating their nutritionally-balanced food and that is not good. My rats love their food so much that the seeds are a sometimes snack that I don’t need to regulate because they do it themselves. Any good quality hay will do for a hay box, however, and timothy hay tends to be the cheapest option. Just make sure it’s not super low quality, because low quality hay tends to be dusty. As mentioned previously several times, rats have delicate respiratory systems and dust is bad for them. I buy my hay from Small Pet Select because I like supporting small business, ethical business, and businesses that provide excellent products. They are, however, primarily a rabbit site. I keep hoping they’ll expand the other sections of their shop. Also, make sure your rats aren’t trying to eat the hay. This is highly unlikely because rats are smart and know what’s edible and what isn’t, and hay is not edible for rats. If for some reason your rats are eating hay, do not give them a hay box.

Other nesting options I’ve used in the past include cut up bits of fleece, cut up old clothes you might have lying around, and generally just bits of fabric. Just remember to change out/wash them regularly. Ammonia will build up, and once again that’s bad for your rats’ respiratory systems.

Hides and Hammocks

Rats are prey animals. Surprise! As such, they need plenty of places to hide and feel safe. Rats love small, dark places to rest in. Much like many introverted humans, myself included! Make sure to include plenty of hides all over the cage. Variety is excellent here for enrichment reasons. My rats absolutely love Space Pods! Lixit makes the ones I use, but there’s also a brand called Sputnik that’s basically the same thing. I’ve never seen them in stores, but they’re all over the internet. For rats, make sure you get the large size. Honestly I wish it was larger than it is, but oh well. The girls love it anyway. I kept getting sent only the bottom halves, which is why I have two half space pods in my cage. I got a refund or replacement on both because it’s not what I paid for, but, like… I received the usable half, so I’m gonna use it. The girls don’t like to sleep in them without the covers, but they’ll hang out in there and clean themselves, and they climb through them to get from one spot to another.

In addition to the space pods, I also have various other hides. Lixit also makes a pill-shaped plastic hide that I keep on the shelf over the dirt box. They used to use it a lot more than they do now, and I’m not entirely sure why. Even so, they still use it! I also have a woven grass tent that they enjoy, and a cork log. Neither of those are really for sleeping, but they do hide in them sometimes and generally like to hang out there.

Hammocks are great, and also available in wide variety all over the internet and in stores. My favorite banana hammock was just retired, but I intend to get another. The girls loved it and so did I! Hammocks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and can pull double duty as both a place to sleep and a way to break up the cage so there aren’t any dead drops where your rats can fall from a height and hurt themselves. Fill your cage with hammocks! All the hammocks! Support small creators by buying homemade hammocks! Learn to make them yourself! They’re cheap and easy! Hammocks are great.

Enrichment Part 1: Levels

Rats are climbers. Rats need vertical space as well as horizontal space. Rats are sometimes clumsy idiots who fall off of things. As such, all vertical space must be filled with all kinds of fall breakers. As mentioned before, hammocks are great for this. So are ladders, bridges, ropes, and that Ikea tie hanger I have strung across the back of my cage. If your rat falls from anywhere in the cage, make sure there’s something to catch them!

Also make sure there’s something to do on all the levels of the cage, even if that thing to do is just get from one level to the next. Rats are dexterous and adventurous. Ramps are boring because they’re easy. If you have sick or injured rats, absolutely use ramps! Accessibility matters! If your rats are of sound body, however, make them work for it. Lava ledges and bird perches make great alternatives to ramps. Screw them into the cage walls and watch your rats hop around! They love it. Ladders are also fun, especially if they’re not used the way ladders are meant to be used. Suspend them from things, put them at weird angles, just make sure they’re secure. I get a lot of my levels from the bird aisle at the pet store (or virtual pet store). Be aware that sometimes your rats are going to prefer to climb directly on the bars of the cage. That’s normal! The bars are there, so the rats will climb them. That’s all there is to it!

Climbing frames like the wooden wine rack from Ikea that I have in the bottom of my cage are also good to have. My girls love it, and it does double duty as a chew toy.

Enrichment Part 2: Chewing

Contrary to popular belief and old science, rats do not actually require chews to keep their teeth trimmed. Rats trim their own teeth by bruxing, or grinding their teeth together. This does not, however, negate the need for chews. Rats like to chew! What your rat likes to chew best is entirely subjective. Some rats love wood and sticks, some rats will always chew fabric over anything else, some rats will never chew fabric. Every rat is different! Try as much variety as you can and keep stocked up on the things your rats like best. My rats really like woven grass, and I try to keep at least a couple different kinds around for them. I keep a grass mat on a shelf that they like to pull apart, and the woven grass tent will likely have a short lifespan, as well. There’s a woven grass tunnel thing that they’ve put into the dirt box and are slowly but systematically shredding. My girls also like willow sticks, so I’ve got a couple hanging toys of willow that are very slowly being chewed because there’s so much else to chew. The wooden bridges see a fair bit of chewing, and even the lava ledges get chewed on the edges. My girls also love destroying rattan and wicker balls. I bought a bunch of them for cheap and toss a new one in there about every week or so. They love them. I also got a couple things from Small Pet Select like a pine cone, a bit of natural loofah, and a dried okra pod. So far the okra pod has seen the most action and is shredded halfway to infinity. I think they like that it has seeds inside, but the others get chewed sometimes, too. There’s enough variety in my setup that everything lasts a decently long time. Except the rattan balls.

Enrichment Part 3: Digging

As much as rats like to climb, they also like to dig. That’s why it’s highly recommended to have a dig box. Safe substrate is important here. If you’re going with potting soil, make sure it’s just dirt and doesn’t contain any fertilizer. Personally, I found potting soil to be kind of annoying a little expensive. I prefer coconut soil. I use Exo Terra terrarium soil, which is sold in compacted blocks that you have to hydrate. I use two thirds of the recommended water because my rats don’t need humidity. I use three blocks per dig box, and replace the soil every month because the girls will do their business in it sometimes, leave food in it, leave bits of tissue or hay or various shredded chews. Basically, the dirt gets dirty in bad ways and needs to be replaced sometimes. It can also grow things if left too long because of the humidity (which will be a problem regardless of the type of substrate being used). So every deep clean, both dig boxes get emptied, wiped out, and refilled.

The hay box gets an honorable mention here, since it pulls double duty as both nesting and digging. Triple duty, really, since it’s also a forage toy.

Enrichment Part 4: Misc

Yeah, I didn’t know what category to put this under, so here we are. Litter boxes! No, seriously, this counts as enrichment. Training your rats, whether it’s to do tricks or just poop where you want them to, counts as enrichment. Rats are incredibly smart! They’re at least as trainable as the average dog, especially if they come from an ethical breeder who breeds for health and temperament (let me just slide a reminder not to buy live animals from pet stores that source from highly unethical breeding mills in right here; please support ethical breeders and rescues), and will happily take to any training. Remember that positive reinforcement is the only ethical way to train an animal. Treats are great for this, and your pet will love you even more because every living thing loves food. My rats actually didn’t require much training for their litter trays. Make sure that whatever you’re lining the litter trays with is not the same as their normal bedding. If you’re using aspen shavings in the main cage, use pine in the litter trays, or literally any distinct safe bedding. I use shavings in my litter trays and pellets in my main cage. This helps the rats distinguish the litter trays from the rest of the cage and makes it easier to identify where to do their business versus where not to do so. When you first put the litter trays in, just go in at least once a day and toss any poops you see into the tray. If you see your rats using the litter tray, offer a treat while they’re doing so. Rats are extremely clean animals and they like their mess contained as much as you do. It would not be possible for me to only deep clean once a month if I didn’t have litter trays that I clean out about twice a week (or more, if necessary) to get rid of the majority of the mess and smell. I’d be deep cleaning every two weeks at least without them, so the litter trays are a great investment overall. Your rats will never be perfect about using them, because they’re still rats, but they’ll help a great deal.

Also under this section are forage toys! Do not feed your rats from a simple bowl, it’s boring and encourages stashing, which means you’ll never know when they’ve actually run out of food because they’re just going to pick it up and take it somewhere else and have a great big hoard that you’ll find on deep clean day. You can definitely scatter feed, that’s enriching as well because it makes the rats go looking for their food, but forage toys are the ultimate way to feed your rats, I think. I mostly don’t get my forage toys from the small animal aisle. I do have one that’s small animal specific, a little ball that they roll around the get the food out. I also have some marketed for cats, and some marketed for birds. Having multiple kinds is really helpful. I’ve also noticed that while some stashing still occurs, it’s greatly reduced. I refill the toys as they empty and everyone’s happy.

Food/Water

What you feed your rats is extremely important, obviously. Many commercially available pellet foods marketed for rats are actually extremely not good for rats. The same is true cat and dog food. It is a sad fact that the companies that make these foods tend to be far more interested in their bottom line than the health of your pet. As such, do your research! Always do your research! Know what’s in the food and what your animal should be eating, and try to match those two things up as closely as possible. In the UK rat owners typically will avoid pellet foods and prefer homemade mixes for these reasons, but making your own mix is not always feasible and can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Most US rat owners tend toward pellets because it’s a lot harder to mess up the balance of nutrients when it’s done for you. Also, the UK does not have Oxbow, which is one of the most popular brands of healthy rat food. It’s the brand that I use, and my rats adore it. Mazuri is another popular and healthy option, but my rats prefer Oxbow over anything else. I kind of want to try making my own mix at some point, but I’m not sure I ever will. Like with most of my rat supplies, I buy food in bulk because it’s cheaper. A 20 lb bag of Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food runs me about 40 bucks. Be careful to buy adult rat food, even for baby rats, because any food that says Young Rat and Mouse is not going to have the appropriate balance of fat and protein even for young rats. Adult food will do just fine for babies, too. If you want to add some extra protein to their diet, try a boiled egg or bits of meat every now and then, but it’s probably not necessary as long as they’re getting enough food and some extra fruits and veggies now and then. If you want to try making a mix, do so much research before you try it, and make sure your ingredients are good quality.

Rats should also receive other foods in addition to their pellet or main food. Rats are omnivores and love fresh veggies, fruits, milk, eggs, and meat! Make sure you research safe foods before giving them to your rats, as not everything is safe. If you adopt your rats from an ethical breeder, they should have resources available to you on what’s safe and healthy. If you rescue, you can still reach out to established ethical breeders for tips and tricks, or find lists online as you do your research. Some veggies are only safe cooked, some parts of certain plants are unsafe while others are safe, and some foods are only safe for males or females but not the other sex (citrus and mango are the ones I remember that fall into that category). Just do your research and try to keep processed foods away from your rats. Sodium is also not good for them. Any raw meat or fish should be frozen and then thawed before being fed to your rats to kill any potential contaminants. Like always, do your research first!

Rats obviously require water, as well. Water bottles tend to be the most widely accepted way to give rats water, because they don’t evaporate and are easy to keep clean. I, however, have a terrible time with bottles, and they always leak or break. Thus, I have opted for water bowls instead. The girls love them more than the bottles I’ve used in the past, and they’re a little more enriching, as well. The only downside is that I have to wash them out daily. But since I spot clean daily anyway, I don’t mind at all.

First Aid Kit

Any responsible pet owner should always keep a first aid kit around, no matter what kind of pet they have. Pet owners who have particularly vulnerable pets should especially be careful to make sure they have a well-stocked first aid kit. This should include single-use sterile syringes without needles, gauze pads, vet wrap, infant/toddler ibuprofen or acetaminophen, medical tape, cat nail trimmers, and probiotic powder like Benebac. But most importantly, it should include the phone number and location of a vet that will see and treat rats. Have a vet picked out that you have confirmed will see and treat your pets BEFORE getting pets. If an emergency arises and you’re suddenly scrambling for a vet last second, not only do you waste precious time getting your pet the help they need but you may find out too late that the nearest rat-friendly vet is too far away. That means your pet will suffer unnecessarily and you are an irresponsible pet owner. Hard stop. If there is no vet within reach that will see rats, do not get rats. Rats will require a vet trip at least once in their lives, since all rats are extremely prone to respiratory illness. Sometimes this happens for no reason at all, because all rats possess a bacteria in their respiratory systems called mycoplasma. There’s no way to get rid of it and nothing you can do about it except make sure your rats live in a clean, well-ventilated environment with safe bedding and materials. Even with all this, sometimes your rats will get sick. That’s normal! Just make sure you can take care of them when it happens. As such, make sure you have a vet fund at all times of at least a couple hundred dollars, in addition to a well-stocked first aid kit and the name and location of an appropriate vet.

It’s also beneficial and enriching to syringe train your rats. What this means is putting a liquid treat like baby food, yogurt, or apple sauce into a syringe and giving it to your rats. This teaches the rats that the syringe is a good thing so that if you ever need to give them medicine from the syringe (rat medicine tends to be oral and dissolved in a liquid solution, so those needle-less syringes will be necessary) they’re more likely to take the medicine with minimum complaints.

Storage

Maybe it goes without saying, but you also need places to put all of the things for your rats. Keep your first aid kit in a box to itself so you always know where it is, and organize your supplies appropriately. I really like Ikea bins for my bedding and food and other dry bulk items, and I keep a lot of my smaller stuff on a shelf at the foot of my bed. Work with the space you have, and plan appropriately.

And thus concludes this extremely long explanation of the bare basics of healthy rat living. Really, this is the bare basics and not even remotely comprehensive of the options available. Be creative when shopping, and definitely look outside of the small animal aisle at your local pet store because it will not contain anywhere near all of what you need.

TL;DR: A Basic Shopping List of My Specific Setup

-Double Critter Nation

-Single Critter Nation

-Zip ties

-2 Large sized cement mixing tubs from Home Depot/Lowe’s

-Pine wood horse stall pellets

-Low pile bath mats, enough to rotate while washing

-Fleece blanket, cut in quarters to fit shelves, enough to rotate while washing

-Bins to hold digging substrate

-Oat hay from Small Pet Select or Oxbow

-Exo Terra coconut fiber terrarium soil

-Lixit Critter Space Pods, large

-Lixit Small Animal Hideout

-Woven grass mat

-Woven grass tent

-Woven grass tube

-Rattan/wicker balls, lots

-Willow stick hanging toys

-Natural loofah

-Sanitized (and therefore safe) pine cone

-Dried okra pod

-Dog ropes

-Wooden bendy bridges

-C-clips, both the kind meant for shower curtains and smaller ones marketed for kids, for hanging things

-Hammocks. All the hammocks. From everywhere hammocks are sold.

-3 (sometimes 4) Ware Scatterless Lock-n-Litter Small Animal Litter Pan, Regular

-Ikea tie hanger

-Ikea wine rack

-Ikea storage bins

-Forage toys

-Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food

-Ceramic (and therefore tip-proof) water bowls, and/or bowls that can be attached to the cage

-Sterile single-use syringes without needles

-Gauze

-Vet wrap

-Medical tape

-Infant/toddler ibuprofen/acetaminophen

-Cat nail trimmer

-Probiotic powder like Benebac

-The phone number and location of a rat-friendly vet

-A vet fund of at least a couple hundred dollars

A final note before the end: Always remember to do your research before getting pets, do not get pets if you cannot provide a good life for them with MORE THAN the bare minimum requirements for safe and healthy pets, do not buy live animals from pet stores unless it’s part of a rescue program, don’t take the word of just one person as law, don’t be afraid to ask questions respectfully, and always seek new ways to improve your pet care. This has been a PSA from your friendly small animal enthusiast.

[possiblyawesometmblr]

Unus Annus: A Complete Ranked List

well, now that every single video has been released, i’ve compiled them all into a complete ranked list, from best video to worst! this took way longer than it had any right to.  (also, please note this is just my opinion, and in all honesty, this list was really hard because so many of these videos are fantastic. you could tell me that you’d rearrange anything in the 50-250 range and i’d probably agree with you.) 

And if you don’t feel like going through the whole list, here’s Unus Annus ranked by month!

If the video is in: Top 50: 5 points 51 - 100: 4 points 101 - 150: 3 points 151 - 200: 2 points 201 - 250: 1 point 251 - 300: 0 points 300 or below: -1 point (Any ties settled by which month had the highest ranking video overall.)

November: 93 October: 72 December:70 September: 66 February: 66 August: 63 June: 60 January: 59 July: 53 May: 43 March: 37 April: 1

The Truth of Unus Annus (Oct. 31st)

Ethan Finally Becomes a MAN (Jan. 10th)

Phasmophobia in Real Life (Oct. 25th)

Mark and Ethan Attempt an Escape Room (Dec. 6th)

Hunting HeeHoo (Aug. 29th)

DIY Geriatric Simulator (Jan. 18th)

Recreating Every Single Unus Annus Video (Nov. 4th)

Mark Teaches Ethan to Read with Hooked On Phonics (Jun 6th)

Ethan Gives Mark a Viking Funeral (Dec. 9th)

Cooking with Sex Toys (Nov. 15th)

Mark Reviews the Impossible Burger But There’s a Looming Sense of Impending Doom (Dec. 13th)

Helium Therapy (Nov. 29th)

2 Truths and 1 Lie -- Waxing Edition (Nov. 26th)

Ethan Will Be Kicked in the Balls (Nov. 22nd)

Being Brutally Honest With Each Other (Nov. 3rd)

Would Chica Save Us From Drowning? (Jul. 24th)

Mark and Ethan are Now Fathers (Mar. 22)

Ethan Kidnapped Mark (Oct. 30th)

Mark’s Outdoor Escape Room (Aug. 28th)

The Unus Annus Last Supper (Nov. 2nd)

Mark and Ethan Go Casket Shopping (Jan. 11th)

The Sensory Overload Tank (Jan. 7th)

Mark and Ethan Summon a Ghost (Nov. 25th)

Mark Knows What Ethan Did… (Sep. 22nd)

Pee Sauna (Jun 17th)

We Made Nude Paintings of Each Other (Dec. 14th)

All of Our Video Ideas that Never Happened (Nov. 5th)

Mark Teaches Ethan How to March in a Marching Band (Sep. 4th)

Hiding Our Sins From Amy’s Holy Peepers (Jan. 2nd)

Our Perfect (and last) Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14th)

The Barrel - Official Music Video (Mar. 9th)

Edward Pumpkin Hands (Oct. 26th)

This Video Is Completely Unedited (Oct. 17th)

Ethan Teaches Mark How to Swim (Jun. 28th)

The Unus Annus Annual Sleepover (Nov. 12th)

Everything’s Legal if You’re Dead (Nov. 10th)

Harnessing Our Dogs’ Unlimited Energy (Dec. 23rd)

2 Grown Men Attempt the Presidential Fitness Test (Dec. 31st)

Learning to Breathe Underwater (Jan. 13th)

Playing Children’s Games in Total Darkness (Aug. 17th)

The Unus Annus Annual Costume Contest (Oct. 28th)

Saying Goodbye to All Our Guests (Nov. 9th)

We Got Pepper Sprayed (Mar. 10th)

The Cryptid Olympics (Oct. 24th)

Mark and Ethan Get Into a Fight (Mar. 8th)

Mark Punishes Ethan (Jan. 27th)

Ethan Watches as Mark Achieves the Impossible (Sep. 29th)

Drunk College Party Simulator (Feb. 15th)

God’s Fitness Test (Nov. 8th)

3 Big Boys Attempt the King’s Royal Fitness Test (Feb. 18th)

The Beginning of the End (Jul. 26th)

Mark Cooks Blindfolded While Ethan Guides Him Through FaceTime (May 22nd)

Pitching a Tent in the Woods But There’s a Bear 15 Feet Away (Aug. 22nd)

We Forced James Charles to Run a Military Obstacle Course (Mar. 23rd)

We Tried a Labor Pain Simulator (Mar. 20th)

The Bad Kind of Cupping (Nov. 20th)

Ethan Destroys Mark’s Van with a Bat (Dec. 7th)

Duct Tape Crucifixion (Amy, Please Don’t Watch This Video) (Dec. 29th)

A Bear Attacked Us in the Middle of the Night (Aug. 24th)

Mark and Ethan Look at a Puppy for 10 Minutes (Jul 7th)

Building the World’s First IKEA Boat (Jun 27th)

Goat Yoga (Feb. 22nd)

10 Strange Amazon Products Ethan Bought Mark Because He Doesn’t Know How To Spend Money Responsibly (Feb. 16th)

Top 10 Worst Things Your Friend Could Possibly Spend Their Money On (Feb 29th)

Fixing Mark’s Hole with Ramen But Every Time We Add Glue We Get 5% Closer to God (Jan. 14th)

Being Attacked By a Fully Trained Bodyguard Dog (Feb. 19th)

Preserving Ourselves in Wax (Dec. 26th)

Santa’s Mukbang (Drinking 1 Gallon of Eggnog) (Dec. 24th)

The Unus Annus Space Program (Jul 11th)

Ethan Explores Mark’s Haunted Basement (Dec. 17th)

Dummy THICC for Dummies | A Tale of Two Butts | Pushing Our Butts Even Further Beyond (Jul. 4th)

DIY Bungee Jump (please don’t try this) (Jan. 4th)

Unregulated Axe Throwing (Feb. 7th)

Making the Ultimate Unus Annus Burger (Sep. 15th)

How to Rescue a Cat from a Tree (Aug. 23rd)

Beer Sauna: Turning a Portable Sauna Into a Portable Hell (Mar. 16th)

The End of Unus Annus Is Almost Here… (May 15th)

We Accidentally Made an SCP While Amy Was Away (Sep. 13th)

We Play The Newlywed Game While Consuming That Which Will Kill the Other (May 23rd)

Building IKEA’s Hardest Piece of Furniture Without Instructions (Jun 18th)

Recharging Our Phones Using Only Brute Strength (Jul. 30th)

Eating Only Onions for 24 Hours: How Many Onions Does It Take to Kill a Man? (May 8th)

The Candy Bra Challenge (Jul 6th)

We Bought Every Grinch Costume on Ebay (Oct. 13th)

Only UNUS-es/ANNUS-es May Watch This Video (May 28th)

Only Watch From 2:25-6:11 --- DO NOT WATCH ANY OTHER PART OF THIS VIDEO (May 29th)

We Force Mark to Swim in the Ocean (HIS GREATEST FEAR) (Oct. 22nd)

Recreating The Miracle of Childbirth (Mar. 21st)

Making Our Own Sensory Deprivation Tank (Nov. 18th)

Turning Mark into an E-Boy (Feb. 2nd)

The First Annual Unus Annus Roast (Nov. 7th)

Reacting to Your Hilarious Green Screen Memes (Jun 5th)

The Ultimate Trolley Problem (Feb. 21st)

We Looked at Unus Annus Memes (Apr. 30th)

Exploring the Unus Annus Subreddit for Your Delicious Memes (May 16th)

BLACK LIVES MATTER: Resources and How You Can Help In The Description (Jun 2nd)

The Chubby Gummy Challenge (Dec. 4th)

Who Can Teach Their Dog a Trick the Fastest? (Mar. 5th)

Taped and Afraid (Dec. 20th)

We Played Strip Poker (May 20th)

Consuming the World’s Hottest Chip (Sep. 30th)

Mark and Ethan Learn About the Human Body (Jan. 26th)

1 Man 100 Accents (Dec. 1st)

Mark Steals Ethan’s Face (Jan. 15th)

Chickens Teach Us About Life and Death (Feb. 17th)

We Lubed Our Floor for a Sliding Competition (Aug. 3rd)

Mark Conquers His Fear of Night Swimming (Oct. 11th)

The Ultimate Paper Airplane Showdown (Jun 20th)

We Pierced Each Other’s Ears (Sep. 11th)

Crushing Watermelons Betwixt Our Mighty Thighs (Jun 3rd)

7 Minutes in Heaven | 7 Minutes in Hell (Nov. 11th)

Two Men in a Trench Coat Teach You How to Save Money at the Movies (Jun 26th)

Having an Adventure in VRChat Because We Can’t Go Outside (Mar. 27th)

Preparing a 5-Star Meal for Our YouTube Famous Dogs (Jul. 16th)

Mark and Ethan Shave Chica (Aug. 8th)

The Wubble (Aug. 7th)

How to Start a Fire (except don’t…) (Aug. 27th)

Unus Annus (Nov. 15th)

This Is Goodbye (Aug. 5th)

Puberty Simulator (Aug. 13th)

This Video Went Completely Out of Control (Oct. 1st)

This Video Will Never Make Sense (Sep. 23rd)

Blowing Our Souls into Some Hot Glass (Feb. 28th)

We Attempted to Create THICC Water (May 10th)

Brick Soccer (Sep. 19th)

Accepting the Truth (Nov. 1st)

Drinking Real THICC Water...How Bad Does It Taste? (May 19th)

How Far Can We Chuck a 16lbs Rock? (Sep. 10th)

Recreating Ourselves as a Cursed Mannequin (Jan. 8th)

Recreating Childhood Photos (Jun 13th)

Nutball: The Most Dangerous Game (Feb. 10th)

Mark Teaches Ethan How to Play the Trumpet (Aug. 1st)

How to Safely Bury Your Friend (Aug. 25th)

Mark Breaks His Nose on an Aerial Hoop (Oct. 4th)

DIY Bed of Nails: OH GOD, PLEASE DON’T EVER TRY THIS (Jul. 20th)

Pee Soda (Sep. 17th)

We Had to Drink Each Other’s Pee (Dec. 16th)

Creating Mark FISHbach (Jun 21st)

Making Our Own Gravestones to Prepare for Our Inevitable Demise (May 11th)

We Made Fanart for Each Other (Jun 11th)

Bear Trapping 101: An Elegant Knot for an Elegant Beast (Jun 25th)

Pressure Washing Our Sins Away (Oct. 21st)

Literally Finding a Needle in a Haystack (Oct. 8th)

We Ate Dog Treats so You Don’t Have To (Sept. 12th)

Giving Away Our 1,000,000 Subscriber Gold Play Button (Dec. 18th)

2 Idiots Get Crushed By 18-Ft Giant Snakes (Mar. 15th)

We Cryogenically Freeze Ourselves (Jan. 20th)

DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2080 (May 27th)

Fighting Fish to the Death in the Deep Blue Sea (Oct. 23rd)

DIY Teeth (Jul. 17th)

We Attempt to Make UNHOLY Water (Sep. 24th)

We Attempt to Make Holy Water (Sep. 20th)

DIY Cheese (Jan. 29th)

Making an Indoor Tornado to Flex on Mother Nature (Feb. 9th)

Literally Eating Fire (Feb. 6th)

2 Absolute Beginners Experience the Dancing Glory that is Salsa (Jan. 17th)

Team Building for 2: Trust Fall, Tug-of-War, and More! (Aug. 26th)

The Great Ice Cream Cake Race (Sep. 27th)

The Unus Annus Confessional Booth (May 26th)

Blood Bath (Oct. 27th)

2 Dirty Boys Wash Their Filthy Mouths Out With Soap (Jun. 30th)

Who Can Make Themselves Taller? (Jan. 6th)

Mark and Ethan Share a Drink (Aug. 6th)

2 Adults Take a 4th Grade Math Test  (Sep. 6th)

Bobbing for Literally Anything But Apples (Oct. 16th)

Momiplier Teaches Self Defense (Aug. 15th)

The Human Mop (Jul. 21st)

We Attempt Pottery Without Amy’s Help (Sep. 8th)

Becoming One With the Horse (Jun 19th)

Wikifeet: A Tale of Two Tootsies (Apr. 4th)

We Found Websites That the World Forgot About (Apr. 11th)

1 Gallon of Jello Nearly Broke Us (Aug. 20th)

We Finally Drank Our DIY Wine (Sep. 5th)

We Do It Better Than Icarus Ever Could (Jul. 25th)

We Turned Our Bodies Into Art (Jan. 25th)

You Blink, You Lose (Dec. 30th)

Can You Bake a Cookie from Cookie Dough Ice Cream? (Jul. 13th)

Mark Turns Ethan into a Mummy to Prepare Him for the Great Beyond (Dec. 3rd)

Ethan Turns Mark Into a Werewolf (Oct. 29th)

Making Soda with Literally Anything But Soda (Sep. 16th)

Dunking Oreos in Literally Anything But Milk (Jul. 15th)

Making Snow Cones With Literally Anything But Normal Flavors (Sep. 7th)

How Many Slaps Does it Take to Cook a Chicken? (Sep. 2nd)

Play Doh Thanksgiving (Nov. 28th)

Hot Dog’d to Death (Nov. 17th)

Mark and Ethan Build a Scarecrow (Oct. 20th)

Transforming Mark into the Eighth Wonder of the World (Aug. 16th)

Unus Annus Try Pole Dancing (Jul 8th)

Mark Teaches Ethan to Wrestle (Sep. 28th)

Ethan Teaches Mark Gymnastics (Sep. 26th)

Who’s Cutting Onions in Here? (Nov. 6th)

How to Escape from a Hostage Situation (Jul. 18th)

Are We Already Dead? (Feb. 13th)

Bored? Press This Button (Apr. 27th)

Judging Your Terrible Unus Annus Ideas (Aug. 10th)

This is for FUN and NOT a Fetish (Oct. 10th)

This is What Being Tased Feels Like (Jan. 21st)

Learning the Ancient Art of Chinese Archery (Feb. 20th)

Tearing a Phone Book in Half With Our Huge Manly Hands (May 31st)

Beating Inanimate Objects to Death (Dec. 27th)

Edible Slime was a Mistake. (Feb. 23rd)

We Eat Bugs (Jan. 3rd)

Amy Sent Us a Mystery Box (Sep. 21st)

Hydro Dipping a Baby (Aug. 11th)

The Egg Smashing Game (Jul. 12th)

BEYBLADE NUTBALL (Sep. 14th)

Discussing the Idea of Murdering Each Other But It’s Just a Joke and Definitely Not Serious Haha (Feb. 12th)

Mark is Guilty. Ethan Has the Proof. (Jul 1st)

Learning How to Lockpick (FBI Please Don’t Watch) (Jun 22nd)

Mark Needs to Rub Ethan and Only His Mom Can Help Him (Mar. 14th)

Learning to Use the Force (Sep. 18th)

The Secret Unus Annus No-Touchy-Touchy Hand Shake (Apr. 25th)

We Google Each Other to Find Our Darkest Forgotten Sins (Apr. 6th)

Shooting Archery ON A HORSE (Oct. 6th)

Ethan Redefines Male Beauty (Feb. 3rd)

Ethan Roasts Mark for 15 Minutes Straight (Jun 7th)

Playing Cards: The World’s Deadliest Weapon (Aug. 2nd)

Morphing Our Bodies Into Superhero Poses (Jun 4th)

Becoming a Master of Mime (Feb. 11th)

This is the Most Dangerous Children’s Toy Ever Made (Jul. 23rd)

A Serious Conversation Under the Stars (Jul. 29th)

Is Mark a Masochist? (May 1st)

Literally Laying On Literal Broken Glass (Feb. 8th)

Bad, Bad Beans (Jan. 23rd)

DIY Wine (May 30th)

2 Men 200 Accents (Apr. 18th)

DIY Boob (May 24th)

Mark and Ethan Go On a Drum Date (Feb. 27th)

10 Miracle Products to Give YOU the Thiccest Jaw On Planet Earth (Jun. 29th)

Ultimate Horseshoes (Jul. 28th)

Mark and Ethan Get a Full Body Scan to See What Secrets Lay Hidden Within (and learn their body fat) (Mar. 13th)

Acupuncture is NOT Painful (Dec. 11th)

What the Hell is a Pink Trombone? (May 2nd)

Donating Toys to Charity w/ Jacksepticeye (Dec. 22nd)

Poopsie Sparkly Critters (a slime surprise…) (Nov. 27th)

The Great Meat Mistake (Dec. 10th)

DIY Minesweeper (Oct. 7th)

Popping Popcorn with a High Powered Laser (Aug. 12th)

Bobbing for Apples but the Water Keeps Getting Thiccer (Oct. 3rd)

We Buy a Professional Hypnosis Video and React to It (Dec. 5th)

Long Hair, Do We Dare? (Feb. 25th)

Recreating Mark’s Childhood (Jul. 2nd)

Professional Fire Cupping (Going Even Further Beyond) (Feb. 4th)

An Extremely Sour, Not-at-All Sour Meal (Feb. 5th)

Purging Our Sins with a Neti Pot (Nov. 16th)

Attempting to Build IKEA Furniture Without Instructions (Jun 9th)

The Annual Unus Annus Dunk Contest (Jul. 27th)

Our Fans Try to Scare Us With Their Homemade Creepypasta (Jun 12th)

There’s Something Horribly Wrong With This Picture… (June 8th)

Too Many Pickles (Aug. 21st)

5 Products to Grow Your Patchy Beard (Jul. 31st)

What is the Least Viewed Video on YouTube? (Apr. 10th)

Baby Hands Operation (Nov. 24th)

Mark Builds a Pillow Fort for the Very First Time (Apr. 2nd)

Are Reptilian Humanoids Living Among Us? (May 6th)

Mark and Ethan Bet Everything on a Wikipedia Race (Apr. 15th)

We Will Churn Thy Butter (Sep. 25th)

We Take a Lie Detector Test to Uncover Our Darkest Sins (Jan. 12th)

Drawing on Each Other’s Backs in Total Darkness (Oct. 9th)

Drawing Memes from Memory (Nov. 30th)

We Made Every YouTuber Battle in the Hunger Games (Apr. 5th)

Ultimate YouTuber Boxing Showdown (Mar. 30th)

Tasting Weird Food Combos: Pickles and Chocolate? Ice Cream and Soy Sauce? (Jul 10th)

How to NOT be the Perfect Boyfriend (Apr. 13th)

Help Us Break a YouTube World Record (Apr. 17th)

Momiplier Tells Us True Scary Stories from Korea (Oct. 18th)

DO NOT TRY THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES (Aug. 9th)

The Most Dangerous Shave (Jun 23rd)

We Took the Polar Plunge (Jan. 1st)

2 Complete Amateurs Enter a Body Building Competition (Jun 1st)

Does This Magnetic Skincare Routine Really Work? (Jul. 19th)

Mark and Ethan Milk a Goat (Oct. 5th)

Pumpkin Spice “Challenge” (Oct. 19th)

Doing Each Other’s Makeup in the Dark (Nov. 23rd)

We’re Better Than Dogs (Aug. 18th)

We Have the Best Bellies on YouTube (May 25th)

The Good Kind of Cupping  (Nov. 19th)

Hacking the Very Fabric of the Universe (Jan. 30th)

Where in the World is Unus Annus? (Apr. 1st)

Mark and Ethan Become United States Citizens (Jun 10th)

Mark and Ethan Desperately Attempt to Feel Something (May 4th)

We Took an IQ Test (Jan. 9th)

Mark Teaches Ethan Korean (May 13th)

Lost Omegle Video (Mar. 31st)

Finding the Most Cursed Image on the Internet (Jun 15th)

Amazon Shopping for the Apocalypse (Mar. 28th)

Desperately Trying Not to Touch Our Faces (Mar. 24th)

Going on an Internet Scavenger Hunt (Mar. 26th)

Reading YOUR Scariest True Stories (Apr. 21st)

The Scariest True Stories on the Internet (Apr. 12th)

REAL Ghost Hunting At An Abandoned Zoo (March 2nd)

Bleachus Annus (Jul. 14th)

Pumpkin Taste Tier List (Oct. 14th)

Floating in a Real Sensory Deprivation Tank (Dec. 12th)

Was 2020 a Bad Year for Unus Annus? (Aug. 30th)

Speed Reading 1000+ WPM to Gain a Complete Understanding of All Human Knowledge (Apr. 9th)

We Give Each Other Tattoos Blindfolded (Mar. 11th)

Mark’s 1 Weird Talent Leaves Ethan Absolutely Speechless (Apr. 3rd)

Learning to Jump Higher in 16 Minutes and 16 Seconds (Oct. 15th)

You Breathe You Die (Jan.16th)

Breaking Glasses With Our Screams (Aug. 4th)

The 1000 High-Five Challenge (Oct. 2nd)

Becoming the World’s Greatest DJs (Mar. 4th)

Grip Strength Test: Loser Becomes the Winner’s Butler for a Day (Aug. 14th)

Forcibly Turning Mark into Santa Claus Against His Will (Dec. 25th)

We Smell Every Smell (Sep. 1st)

We Wrote a Hit Pop Song in 30 Minutes (Feb. 26th)

Unus Annus Carves the Roast Beast (Mar. 18th)

The Painful World of Aerial Skills (Oct. 12th)

The Koala Challenge: TikTok’s Intimate Couples Trend (Aug. 19th)

Ethan Traps Mark’s Soul in the Palm of His Hand (Jun 24th)

Will We Break the Boards...Or Will They Break Us? (Jun 14th)

DIY Chiropractor (Mar. 7th)

Mark Gives Ethan a HOT (stone) Massage (Aug. 31st)

We Bought a Camera That Can Look Inside Us (Mar. 3rd)

Can Plants Feel Pain? (Sep. 9th)

This is Hiding on Your Body RIGHT NOW. (Jul 9th)

Strange (and legal) Things You Can Do With Your Body After Death (Jan. 28th)

Like It Or Not...This is What The New Human Looks Like (May 7th)

Looking at Long Lost Memes (Jan. 31st)

We Played Mad Libs and Ran It Through Google Translate (Apr. 7th)

Running Internet Drama Through Google Translate (Apr. 24th)

Mark and Ethan Desperately Try to Name a Single State in the USA (Apr. 8th)

Professional Fetish Scientists Rank the Best/Worst Fetishes of 2020 (May 3rd)

Reddit 50/50: Two Player Edition (Mar. 25th)

Mark and Ethan Find the Lost City of El Dorado (Apr. 14th)

Using Google Maps to Find the Lost City of Atlantis (Apr. 20th)

We Hired a Real Hypnotherapist to Analyze Our Darkest Dreams (Jan. 24th)

2 Boys 2 Poops (Sep. 3rd)

This is How We’ll Die... (Jan. 19th)

Nutball Extreme: Taser Edition (Mar. 1st)

You Made Beautiful Music for The Barrel...But Only One Could Win (Dec. 15th)

Can Sound Therapy Heal All Wounds? (Jul. 22nd)

Middle School Science Experiment Teaches Us About Life and Death (Mar. 6th)

Reverse Engineering a Kite to Steal the Idea of Electricity from Benjamin Franklin (Jul 5th)

Ethan’s Relaxing and Totally Normal Nail Salon (Dec. 19th)

Mark and Ethan Take a Personality Test (Apr. 22nd)

An AI Generates Our Worst Nightmare (May 5th)

Learning to Cry on Command to Increase Our YouTube Views (Jun 16th)

How Big Can a Nuke Get? (May 17th)

Granting Access Into Heaven’s Sweet Gates (Feb. 24th)

We Put an Apple Watch in a Rock Tumbler (Jul. 3rd)

Whom Would Eat Whomst First in a Zombie Apocalypse? (Mar. 29th)

Bigfoot is Real and It Ate My Friend (May 14th)

What is the Most Painful Thing We’ve Ever Endured? (Dec. 21st)

Don’t Go In The Ocean....Ever. (Apr. 28th)

An AI Predicts How We’re Going to Die (Dec. 2nd)

Harnessing Our Yodeling Power to End The World As We Know It (May 21st)

The Creepiest Videos on YouTube (Apr. 16th)

What Does Astrology Say About Our Friendship? (Mar. 12th)

Discovering the Secret to Eternal Life (Feb. 1st)

What Happens When a YouTube Channel Dies? (Jan. 22nd)

5 Weird Apps That Predicted Our Death (Mar. 19th)

Emotional Pain vs. Physical Pain...Which is Worse? (Dec. 28th)

How Tall Can a Human Get?: An Impartial Review By 2 Average Height Men (May 12th)

Will AI Soon Take Over Humanity As We Know It? (Apr. 23rd)

Mark and Ethan Hunt the World’s Most Wanted Criminals (Mar. 17th)

The Illuminati...Do They Really Exist? (Apr. 19th)

We Explore the Most MYSTERIOUS Mysteries of Our Wildly Mysterious Mystery Moon of Mystery (Apr. 29th)

Two Male Men Judge Female Women On Their Beauty (Apr. 26th)

We Have the BEST Thumbnails on YouTube and No One Can Tell Us Otherwise (Jan. 5th)

How Much Caffeine Does It Take to Kill a Man? (May 18th)

There’s Still Hope… (Dec. 8th)

Unus Annus ASMR (May 9th)

The Worst Kind of Cupping (Nov. 21st)