jlynratcliff
03-10-2011, 10:24 PM
Hello! I've been commenting on threads but hadn't formally introduced myself yet so first I apologize for that!
I've pretty much always been an animal lover. As a kid my mom & I would pick up injured animals and nurse them back to health-this was way before internet and most of our care giving was done by guessing and instinct. I grew up mostly in Key West and there are no squirrels there. I was happy to move to central fl (almost 14yrs ago) were there are squirrels galore because I've always loved them.
I have not ever rehabbed squirrels but look forward to jumping into helping these little guys!
My husband and I have many animals. We have been together almost 14yrs and in early 2003ish we had cats and dogs and added rabbits (showing and breeding the rabbits as a hobby). I also got interested in fish tanks and quickly got a gig as a volunteer aquarist at MOTE marine aquarium in sarasota so I could learn first hand about what I was getting into. I volunteered there for over a year but had to stop when we lost our home and about 60animals in a house fire. We lost everything...well almost everything. Some of our family survived because of where they were located: those who survived: one cat, 2 tortoises, and our rabbits and a few fish. It was devastating to loose our animals as they are part of our family. We lost cats dogs fish tortoises frogs turtles chinchilla skinny pigs bearded dragon and a mud skipper in the fire. We were told that had we been home we had a 5%chance that we would have survived. My husband and I were at a rabbit show which is the only reason I'm here today....rabbits saved our lives-literally.
Having lost so much of our family we decided not to rebuild and purchased 5acres out in the boonies which has provided us the chance for different types of kids. We now have cats dogs chickens ducks 1 fish tank 2 tortoises a goose a peahen and of course my bunnies! We had a potbelly pig and had 2 sheep out here as well.
I have tons of experience bottle feeding animals-from kittens to sheep. Both my sheep were bottle babies and I wouldn't have it any other way! I raised my baby boy sheep "elwood" in my home. He slept in bed with me until he outgrew the biggest childrens diapers and had to go outside (that was a sad day for me!) The female sheep (sloan) came to us later and was only on the bottle a few weeks (her mother had been attacked by dogs and killed so she was older&close to being weened when she became part of our family). We lost elwood to a water mocasin bite and sloan died of heartbreak-even tho I spent so much of my time out side with her.
I have not ever kept squirrels but look forward to letting them into our home&hearts soon! This is the perfect time for me to get into this. I have been showing rabbits for over 7yrs and the last 4yrs I was involved in the politics of the clubs. I just finished my term as presidet of the florida rabbit breeders association and altho I'm still a member of the bod I have a lot of free time on my hands now that I'm not running everything.
I have not worked since 2004 due to a headache I've had since august 2003 (its nonstop&never goes away). I have nothing but time so fostering some kids will bring me a new joy to each day!
Thanks for reading my "babble"! I can't wait to get some babies in my house!
Jennifer
I've pretty much always been an animal lover. As a kid my mom & I would pick up injured animals and nurse them back to health-this was way before internet and most of our care giving was done by guessing and instinct. I grew up mostly in Key West and there are no squirrels there. I was happy to move to central fl (almost 14yrs ago) were there are squirrels galore because I've always loved them.
I have not ever rehabbed squirrels but look forward to jumping into helping these little guys!
My husband and I have many animals. We have been together almost 14yrs and in early 2003ish we had cats and dogs and added rabbits (showing and breeding the rabbits as a hobby). I also got interested in fish tanks and quickly got a gig as a volunteer aquarist at MOTE marine aquarium in sarasota so I could learn first hand about what I was getting into. I volunteered there for over a year but had to stop when we lost our home and about 60animals in a house fire. We lost everything...well almost everything. Some of our family survived because of where they were located: those who survived: one cat, 2 tortoises, and our rabbits and a few fish. It was devastating to loose our animals as they are part of our family. We lost cats dogs fish tortoises frogs turtles chinchilla skinny pigs bearded dragon and a mud skipper in the fire. We were told that had we been home we had a 5%chance that we would have survived. My husband and I were at a rabbit show which is the only reason I'm here today....rabbits saved our lives-literally.
Having lost so much of our family we decided not to rebuild and purchased 5acres out in the boonies which has provided us the chance for different types of kids. We now have cats dogs chickens ducks 1 fish tank 2 tortoises a goose a peahen and of course my bunnies! We had a potbelly pig and had 2 sheep out here as well.
I have tons of experience bottle feeding animals-from kittens to sheep. Both my sheep were bottle babies and I wouldn't have it any other way! I raised my baby boy sheep "elwood" in my home. He slept in bed with me until he outgrew the biggest childrens diapers and had to go outside (that was a sad day for me!) The female sheep (sloan) came to us later and was only on the bottle a few weeks (her mother had been attacked by dogs and killed so she was older&close to being weened when she became part of our family). We lost elwood to a water mocasin bite and sloan died of heartbreak-even tho I spent so much of my time out side with her.
I have not ever kept squirrels but look forward to letting them into our home&hearts soon! This is the perfect time for me to get into this. I have been showing rabbits for over 7yrs and the last 4yrs I was involved in the politics of the clubs. I just finished my term as presidet of the florida rabbit breeders association and altho I'm still a member of the bod I have a lot of free time on my hands now that I'm not running everything.
I have not worked since 2004 due to a headache I've had since august 2003 (its nonstop&never goes away). I have nothing but time so fostering some kids will bring me a new joy to each day!
Thanks for reading my "babble"! I can't wait to get some babies in my house!
Jennifer