#you have put enrichment in my enclosure and I am THRIVING

[whatareyoudoingwithamaserati]

Im sosorry for all the questions but do you know which vods n stuff have Ash in them a lot? (Sorry if thats vague, just wanting more Ashswag content, feel free to answer this on priv btw ^^)

Also tumblr doesn't like me following you for some reason lol

Hi again! It’s no problem at all! I adore getting asks and an excuse to run through my collection of things :] as the collection of links might show, I am a HUGE Ash fan, and finding all of these videos is so much fun for me

Zam visits Ash on house arrest and helps him start building the mothership

Redd, Zam, Ash, Rek, and Pangi play blockwars

Squiddo and Ash survive in a natural disaster mod (and do weird Dan and Phil roleplay)

Mapicc starts a resturant (Ash shows up near the middle)

Redd, Ash, 5up, Spoke, and Wifies try to get away with murder (in minecraft)

Bacon and Ash torment an AFK Vitalasy

A whole bunch of people make Peepees and Booger fight (lifesteal S4)

Bacon starts IHOB, Ash is a horrible customer

And then not a video or a vod, but Ash also shows up on an episode of Testrun! (Parrot’s podcast)

[creativitycache]

I know you have ADHD so I am wondering what you do (assuming that this happens to you too) when you for days feel listless, unmotivated, snapping at others, and just generally swinging between anger and depression like emptiness. What do I do to get out of this head space?

-

Man I wish I could tell you.

It does happen to me, and I can’t tell you what will work every time. But I can tell you what will make it worse: staying at home.

And that’s so frustrating because in the depths of a depressive episode the last thing you want to do is move. Or be seen by people. Or have to get dressed.

So it’s hard.

This is going to sound a little silly, but it helps me to think of myself both as a zoo animal & that animal’s enrichment team. When animals exhibit similar behaviors, their caretakers put something new into their enclosures, or take them out to experience something new.

And ADHD brains thrive on stimulation. I used to try to stimulate within my DepressionNest by watching something new on my computer, but I’d usually click away feeling bored. So I bodily shove myself into a hat and lumpy sweatshirt and I take a different path to the grocery store.

That’s as little as it takes sometimes. Just going the Wrong Way to the store.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least it has a chance of working whereas staying in my room has a 0% chance.

So if I’m stuck in the Void, I put on my Internal-Zookeeper-Voice and pretend I’m a sad penguin and take myself for a walk. The ridiculous internal narrative helps me cope with the feeling of “blah, why bother” and “it’s not going to work” and sometimes it makes me think of little penguins going for a walk which doesn’t solve the problem but does give me a tiny spark of joy.

If people could add on their own coping mechanisms, that’d be very appreciated.

[fisherfurbearer]

With vivariums, how often do you add new enrichment, if at all? When my corn snake was in her old 40g, I'd add/circulate stuff every week or two, but I'm not sure if I should in her viv. Would just adjusting the climbing branches or leaf litter be enough, or should I go for a more ambitious moving of her hides and stuff?

This...is actually a really good question!!!

(Bear with me here as I’ve been very sick the past few days and Very Jumbled, so my words are even  worse than they usually are, but here we go...!)

To be honest, I haven’t really thought about this before, as weird as that sounds...I’ve been thinking about your question for a few days and it gives me a lot of ideas. My only two “proper” vivariums are for the Eurydactylodes, and the way their hardscape is set up, it’s pretty set in stone, not much can be adjusted. Right now they’re honestly kinda ugly too, not nearly as handsome/filled out as they were before since a lot of the plants tanked and I’m still growing out a couple new plants and getting back into a good routine, so I’m not sure how helpful my answer can be right now.

But thinking back to when the vivs were At Their Peak and when my routine was really good...hmm! I never really circulated their environmental enrichment, but it was always a process of slowly adding new plants and filling in gaps, and “training” vines to grow where I wanted. Over time I added some pieces of cork to the ground, more leaf litter, seed pods, stuff like that, but I never REALLY shook things up. I WILL note though that as their plants grew, especially the quick growing Peperomia scandens vine, the geckos both change their behaviors accordingly! As the vines fill in, get trimmed, and grow back again, Gogo in particular really changes up the paths he takes to get to his favorite basking or resting spots, and as the light penetration changes they both choose new places to sit. It’s kinda neat, and I’m going to try to add some new plants soon and try to get the vivs back to where they were before. I got really...overly ambitious...when I was younger, and that coupled with Life just really tanked over time, but I’ve learned so much and I think this time around the vivs can still be just as nice, if not better.

But I digress! Even though I haven’t/don’t change up much Intentionally (plants growing out don’t really count) I actually think I might try to come up with new ideas for how I CAN do that for the geckos. Their enclosures are pretty small (12″x12″x18″, but remember that Didi is just 3.75″ from tip to tail and Gogo is only 4.25″!!) and the hardscape is permanent so I’m not sure exactly how much I could do, but maybe there ARE options...?

It’s a tricky balance between “familiarity” (‘ah yes this is MY home, where I feel safe and know where my favorite places are and how to get there!’) and “novelty” (switching up environments, trying out new decor, hides, tactile surfaces, etc.), if that makes sense.

It REALLY depends on the individual...like the mice/rats? Oh yeah, switch that shit UP!! Turn the whole enclosure upside down every week, switch up EVERYTHING and cycle through hides and bring back old favorites and try out new ones!! These guys LOVE it!! Quail...? Oh goodness, even though they’re getting braver, if I switch Too many things at once they get VERY STRESSED and pace for at least a few days before going back to normal...it’s a real balancing act with them and they really do well with a lot of familiarity, but Also novel changes and gradual improvements over time.

And with a living vivarium of course, you’re looking at a more “permanent” set up. The substrate is Alive, the environment more natural, and in most cases it’s probably harder to move everything around due to practicality (Dirt is Messy! Leaves are Messy! Reworking the vivs is always a disaster!! And I can definitely imagine a larger vivarium being heavy and difficult to shift around frequently, too) and it may not be preferred to do so, either! I would still have to test my theories in practice when I eventually get into larger reptiles, but I believe there can definitely be a happy medium between building a “familiar”, safe, enriching environment that will always be enjoyable for the inhabitant, AND providing novel enrichment.

The tricky part is knowing HOW MUCH to change, and HOW FREQUENT...

For example, once again, consider practicality. How big is the enclosure, how difficult is it to remove decor and move objects around? Are there living plants? If so, will moving decor around disturb them? And consider the individual. What is their temperament like? How do they respond to changes? Are they very active, curious, always on the move and rushing snoot-first to check out anything new? Or are they the type to hide or display signs of stress when anything familiar is changed? What’s the balance there, between desensitizing to Changes and building up Confidence and Encouraging natural behaviors and mental stimulation, vs. Distressing and Disturbing their sense of Safety/Familiarity?

Once again I notice this a lot with the difference between the mice and the quail. The quail are verrrrry timid about changes and even though I will add foliage in the same places as before, and clean everything up and add features I know they enjoy, it takes them time to readjust if I change too much at once (which I HAVE to do sometimes, during deep cleans, but I’m hoping over time they will grow more accustomed to it and won’t be as stressed in the future. Yet another reason in defense of why changing up environments CAN be a good thing...! It’s just a balancing act, is all) but compared to the mice or rats, they’re ALL OVER anything new!! Doesn’t matter if they’ve never seen it in their life, they want to sniff, jump on, run through, run on, explore, explore, EXPLORE!!!!! They THRIVE on new things and changes, but they also like a sense of familiarity (ex. they love tunnels, and use them to run from place to place...so each time I redo their enclosure, I might switch out what KINDS of tunnels we have [shape, material, size] to keep it Interesting. I also try to keep at least a few of the same hides as the last time, so it smells/feels familiar) and seem to enjoy that too. 

BUT BACK TO VIVARIUMS and how this all fits together!!!!

As I’ve said, I haven’t actually considered changing up my boys vivs, but I think this is something REALLY COOL to think about, not just for future vivs, but now as well!! I might actually try adding even more hardscape for them, like switch up the wood features on the ground, add some thin branches that can be moved around later. And this time I’ll plan for the plants as they grow and are trimmed back, as that’s a pretty cool “natural” environmental shift over time...even just letting some plants overgrow really changes up their environment, and encouraging that might be a good thing. I’ll have to experiment and I would definitely make future vivariums a bit more Flexible with their design so I could experiment more with this, as my options are somewhat limited with the geckos vivs, but still!!

And regarding your viv...!!! I have some ideas for that too!! These are some General Ideas, but here’s what I think:

- I know corn snakes in general are pretty active noodles, and although it depends on your individual corn, you may be in a good place to test out this Theory that switching up pieces of a vivarium could be beneficial enrichment. Corns in general seem like the kind of snake to adapt well and benefit from occasional changes, so here are some ideas to consider...

- Vivs naturally change over time. Plants grow, plants get trimmed, leaf litter decays, stuff like that. Adjusting plants (for example, adding new plants over time. Doesn’t really follow any rhyme or reason for me, it’s more of a natural “ooh but what if I put THIS here, or filled this space with THAT, and what if I grew something in this shady spot here, or this colorful one in the bright place here...” and that on it’s own can Improve a viv over time, and be a form of enrichment) and adding fresh leaf litter (try different types!! A couple different kinds of leaves looks better, decays at a varied rate, and is better for microfauna. They’ll eat the faster decaying ones first while the slower ones stick around longer.) can help keep things Fresh and Good

- I REALLY like to design things with Zones. I tend to think of enclosures/vivariums in terms of Choices and Factors. Factors like light/dark, warm/cool, humid/dry, open/hidden, high/low/below, hard/soft, etc., which all give the animal a Choice if they want to be one thing or the other... “Right now it’s daytime and I’m nocturnal and want to be in the shade, where it’s cooler and more secure.” “Right now it’s daytime and it’s time to Bask and Bake My Focking Eyeballs even though I have the CHOICE to be in the shade and NOT Bake My Forkking Eyespheres.” or, “I am a mouse and my instincts say I must DIG.” Stuff like that!! 1000% of the time, no matter what, the animal should ALWAYS be able to make these kinds of decisions, and enclosure/vivarium design DIRECTLY IMPACTS THIS!! No matter what changes, these basic factors should always be considered. (Of course, it changes based on the species, like for tarantulas I always think in terms of humid/dry, arboreal/terrestrial/fossorial, open/hidden, but the Ratios of these Zones changes greatly based on the species...like Kitty [bold semi-arboreal desert webbing tarantula] vs. Flaveri [terrestrial/heavy burrowing not-very-webby tarantula] are VERY different even though they’re both tarantulas. Does that make sense?

- Within these “zones” and with the idea of Choices in mind...it’s still possible and can be a good thing to mix up their options!! Some ideas for a corn snake might be...have a hide or two at different levels. One or two underground/half buried, at least one at ground level, maybe one thats elevated slightly, or visual barriers (think loose foliage that can be moved through but blocks them from view) above ground level. That gives them so many options right there, and you could always think about maybe switching one or two of those hides out (while keeping the rest same, for Familiarity) and testing different kinds of hides, maybe!! Wood vs. rocks vs. faux material vs. whatever!!! Test things out, see what they like, and remember it for later so you can incorporate that more often. It doesn’t even have to follow a rhyme or reason, maybe just mix up a piece of decor or a hide or two once every week or two, or:

- Mess with tactile enrichment!!!! This is a big one, I bet!! Try out different types of substrate, like a Big pile of leaves maybe with a Good Smell inside to encourage Sniffin’ and Searchin’, try out sand or small pebbles or different textures of wood/branches!! Cork bark is way different from ghost wood or driftwood, you feel? And maybe come up with “Permanent” parts of the hardscape that you never/rarely change, and a few easy to move parts that you could shift around or switch out sometimes...

- Also just Personal Opinion Time, which is probably going to change more over time as I gain more Knowledge and Experience, I feel like...no matter what, an animals enclosure should be Extra Enriching All The Time, and Always offer them choices WITHOUT the need to have it all turned upside down on a regular basis just to be interesting. It’s like...making your bedroom/house Yours. I wouldn’t want to totally redo my entire house every month let alone every week or two...it’s nice to live somewhere that feels like Home, but it’s also nice to change things to fit Me as time goes on. That’s something that some animals are very good at doing, themselves. Tarantulas and rodents especially, they take what you give them and run away with it...they make their own tunnels, their own hides, their own comfort and enjoyment. They take the Template we give them and say “okay now what about THIS?” One of the MOST IMPORTANT components of Great Environmental Enrichment/Design is that, I feel. Giving them an area where they can express natural behaviors of all kinds, and make Choices for themselves, and utilize/alter their environment in a safe, positive manner that allows them to Thrive in their own enclosure.

That isn’t to say that changing things up is bad either...in a lot of animals cases I think this is a good thing, and a Great Vivarium Designer/Animal Caretaker is always striving to improve, so it’s a natural trend over time to see improvements and changes made to enclosures and husbandry no matter what. Even if it doesn’t follow a regimen, as my vivs don’t seem to, they still evolve and get better over time, and that in a way is also enrichment. Just comparing pictures of my first attempts at the gecko vivs to where they were at their peak, or how my tarantula enclosures have evolved, that’s a great way to visualize what I mean by that. It doesn’t follow a pattern, but that’s not to say that I DON’T switch things up or try to provide Different things. It’s less of novelty and more of “general improvement” for the geckos and inverts though, I think.

Uhhh I’m kinda spent now with my words...I feel like I went in circles and didn’t actually say anything?? I’m still very jumbled and sniffly and sick and I’m not sure if this helped or answered your question at all but uhhhh yes! Thank you very much for the very good question, it gave me a lot to think about. c:

[mymountainnest-blog]

A Peaceful Time: Puppies at Two Weeks

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

It is true that it is in the quiet that you discover yourself. I have marveled and been touched by gratitude as I watched Rose become a mother and her puppies grow & thrive. We weigh them once a day, sometimes twice depending on the gain. By ten days, they should have doubled their weight. Each met this milestone with ounces to spare. Even my worry over the smallest puppy was vanquished. She is small but mighty and extra solo time with mom twice a day caught her up. 

Puppies received plenty of cuddle time and gentle brush strokes with a soft baby’s brush. Several especially like to nuzzle Bill’s beard and try to nurse. I played soft classical music in our puppy nursery, not for the puppies as they cannot yet hear or see, but for Rose. I particularly like the CD, “Through a Dog’s Ear”. The psychoacoustically designed classical piano arrangements are based on research into how the canine nervous system responds to sound. I know when I play this, we both deeply relax. Happy mom, happy life.

Rose is staying a healthy weight. I am giving less Mother’s Pudding, but will continue to give her goats milk and fresh scrambled duck eggs throughout nursing, along with her kibble, of course.

Our next milestone will be the puppies eyes opening any day now, followed in a week or so by the ears opening. This is known as the transitional period. The puppies are toddling about; weebles wobble & they do fall down. We will begin to introduce one new tactile item and/or one new experience a day. Some examples of tactile items I have in mind this week are a nearly empty baby wipe container (it crinkles), a pillow case filled with crumpled paper (a mini mountain to climb) and a massage tub mat (it tickles our toes). A new experience will be sniffing about a bit in another room of the house in puppy pairs, as well as a couple of dog savvy visitors. This all encourages the nervous & endocrine systems to develop during this critical socialization window through 12 weeks. The collies puppies will become enrichment seekers with the mottos “carpe diem” and “I’ve got this!”  More fun and games to come in the following weeks; all orchestrated to offer challenges and lessons that the individual puppy is ready to receive and achieve. It is actually quite similar to Montessori education for children.

They have a bumper crate bed for a nest area now and a potty pad adjacent to encourage their natural instinct of not wanting to soil their nest/sleep area. Once they are more mobile and their eyes are open, we will provide them with a litter box as we expand the whelping box to a weaning & indoor play area.

Foxhaven Wild Wind Puppies at Two Weeks:

The Girls -- Fancy, Blue and Bowtie

The Boys -- Socks, Stormy and Arrow

While our days are centered on the puppies, life goes on beyond the whelping box at Foxhaven. Many have asked how is our little big man Legend is doing. He is on the mend, bright eyed and back to being the social director, neighing at the horses in the pasture, and the occasional deer. We change his splint every 3-4 days and he is mobile, within his stall & small paddock we made for him. Samwise, our guardian donkey, is keeping him company and watching over him. Sneakers is stealing his hay! Legend will be on stall rest for several months and we are praying for a full recovery. I am planning some therapy horse visits at our local assisted living for Christmas this year. A good activity to pin my hopes on!

We have two new barn cats, part feral, and I pray more savvy than our little kitten friends who have yet to return home. My heart breaks for Rita and Mari; it is the downside of being a barn cat and having the freedom (and mice) that entails. They were in at night with their yummy wet food. I used to tell the horses that they were their nightly entertainment! Here is a photo of one new kitty, Tootsie. She is peeking through an enclosure we put together for them to get acclimated to our barn. Both she and Mrs. Murphy are warming up to us. And the warm goat milk they get each morning, as well as, the ocean delight wet food at night. They purr for it and rub up against the sides of their enclosure when they see me (and smell their treats).

It is a juggle, but I try to give the other dogs as much individual attention as I can. Each Wednesday is grooming and brushing out day. We swap out walk days now that we have puppies that require priority attention. Today was Ty’s turn for a walk-about with his new friend, Spirit. I am learning to treasure the moments, and attempt to live in the present moment. It is not easy with a full life; therein, lies both the challenge and the blessing. Animals have much to teach us.

Bill rode to Lake of the Clouds this past weekend, and is doing ground work with Jaimie. Gold and I need to ride soon! They are all enjoying their bigger upper pasture and being turned out together each afternoon.

Life takes on a rhythm here. A rhythm of peace.