I got this from
https://www.tagquestions.net/pet-tag-questions/ - just so you know. There were 20 questions. But I didn't see that you needed to know how old I was when I got each pet - if you know how old I am now, you can figure it out from answers to other questions - and I didn't see the point in having a question asking what the pet's name was when I was already heading each pet's questions with their names. So it's 18 questions instead.
If you have any pets, feel free to play along, either in the comments section of this post, or on your own blog. I’d love to read your answers.
WARNING: possible TMI alert for the answers to some questions, just so you know. Also, this post might get a bit long, because I have four petkids right now, and am doing this for all four of them, from eldest to youngest.
Anyway, here are the questions, and my answers for each of my petkids:
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Mollie.
1. How did you come up with your pet's name, does it have any specific significance? Mostly I just liked it. Molly is a name I've liked since I was young. But I wanted to spell it with the “I-E” ending rather than the “Y” ending, because I always think it looks prettier. Plus, it was chosen as another “M” name I liked to go with the name Maizie when we got the two chinchillas, and I had to spell Maizie’s name the way I did so JAWS (my screen reader) would say it properly (it kept wanting to say it like “Macy” with every other spelling) and they matched better if I used the "I-E" ending for Mollie's name as well. OK, so I probably would have done it anyhow, but it was a good excuse. *wink*
2. How old is your pet? Mollie is almost four and a half. She was four on October 12th.
3. When did you get your pet? Almost four years ago, when she was about six months old.
4. What breed is your pet? She's a charcoal short haired chinchilla.
5. How did you get your pet? Mollie and Maizie both came from a local petshop, where Mollie was depressed, and they'd gotten Maizie to cheer her up. We originally asked about them because we felt sorry for Mollie, but ended up bringing both of them home.
6. What is your pet’s favorite food? Cheerios and oatmeal.
7. What is your pet’s favorite game? She doesn't really have one. Mollie's not the most playful of chinchillas. She prefers to quietly watch TV most of the time. When she does play though, she likes to bounce and climb, or run on her wheel.
8. What is your favorite thing to do together? Watch TV. Mollie loves the TV, especially crime shows and Disney movies. Her favourites are "NCIS" and "The Little Mermaid" for some reason. I'm also pleased to report that she enjoys the "Harry Potter" movies. Lucky for her, since I rewatch them on a semi-regular basis, and she lives in the living room where the TV is.
9. Do you go outdoors? If yes, where is your favorite place to go together? Mollie never goes outside.
10. What is a bad habit that your pet has? Peeing in her food bowl when it gets down to just the bits of food she's not so keen on from her dry food mix. I know she does this, because I'm the one who cleans the bowl and puts fresh food in afterwards.
11. What is the best thing about your pet? She's easy to keep content. Just make sure she has snacks and TV, and she's happy.
12. What is the naughtiest thing your pet has ever done? Other than peeing in her food dish, she hasn't really done anything naughty.
13. What is the funniest memory involving your pet? When we first learned how much she loved "NCIS" after she set up a chinchilla alarm call because the TV went off during an episode, and then made happy chinchilla noises while bouncing up and down when we put it back on.
14. What is the best memory involving your pet? The first time we saw her start to come out and play. With how depressed she was when we got her, seeing Mollie doing anything other than sulking in her house was wonderful.
15. What is the hardest thing about being a pet owner? With Mollie, keeping her cage and the area around it clean. Chinchillas poop a lot, and it doesn't all stay in the cage.
16. What is the most rewarding thing about being a pet owner? Cuddle time - when she'll allow me to have some cuddle time with her, which I admit isn't often - and hearing the sounds of happy chinchilla chittering.
17. Does your pet have a nickname and what is it? Kitty-Bunny, Mols, Miss Mollie, Cranky Paws, Sweet Pea, and Baby Girl.
18. Have you ever taught your pet any tricks, if so, what? No. I've never taught Mollie any tricks.
***~~~***
Lilie
1. How did you come up with your pet's name, does it have any specific significance? Someone who used to look after me when I was little, and lived next to us in the place we lived in when we first got Kero had a Westie named Lily, and it struck me what a great name that was for a Westie. I didn't give it much thought, but from the moment I decided I wanted a female Westie, I knew I had to have my own Lily. Of course, I had to use the "I-E" spelling for the ending, so she went with Mollie and Maizie... Well, and because I think it's pretty.
2. How old is your pet? Lilie just turned three a couple of weeks ago. Her birthday was March 26th.
3. When did you get your pet? Almost three years ago, when she was eight weeks old.
4. What breed is your pet? She's a West Highland White Terrier, more commonly refered to as a Westie.
5. How did you get your pet? We looked for puppies for sale near where we live - spacifically female Westies - and then went to Kent to get her, since that's where we found one we were happy to deal with that we could get to.
6. What is your pet’s favorite food? Chicken. She's also a big fan of pizza, but chicken is her favourite.
7. What is your pet’s favorite game? Fetch. Lilie is ball crazy!
8. What is your favorite thing to do together? Play ball.
9. Do you go outdoors? If yes, where is your favorite place to go together? Along the seafront. Lilie loves her seaside walkies almost as much as she loves playing ball... Only almost though, which is lucky right now with her walks being seriously limited by the current virus situation.
10. What is a bad habit that your pet has? Chewing. She's not so bad these days - at least she only chews her own stuff as a rule now - but we've had real issues with Lilie chewing our stuff in the past.
11. What is the best thing about your pet? She's so cute and smart.
12. What is the naughtiest thing your pet has ever done? It's hard to decide between the time she chewed through my internet wire, the time she ate one of my audio books, or her passion for eating shoes.
13. What is the funniest memory involving your pet? Lilie has this cute wiggle dance she does when she's happy. One time, she was doing it for someone in the street outside a store, and the store owner came racing out to see her because he, "Had to see the cute waggy dog." He'd seen her on his security camera, and just couldn't resist her adorable wiggle dance.
14. What is the best memory involving your pet? When I was recovering from my hysterectomy last year, and every time I moaned in pain, Lilie would come see me, and if she thought I was moaning too much, she'd go running to fetch Kelly. I thought it was so sweet how a little not quite two-year old puppy (since that's what she was at the time) was trying to take care of me.
15. What is the hardest thing about being a pet owner? With Lilie it's always been her chewing issue.
16. What is the most rewarding thing about being a pet owner? Being greeted every morning with that adorable happy wiggle dance, and loads of Westie kisses. It's a great way to start the day.
17. Does your pet have a nickname and what is it? Lilie has loads of nicknames. The most often used are Lilie-Pad, Lils, Flower, Snowlilie, Woo-Woo, Lilie-Monster, and Hyper Hound. But there are loads more.
18. Have you ever taught your pet any tricks, if so, what? Lilie can count to ten, count backwards from ten, and even do a few sums (as long as all numbers involved are ten or lower). I keep trying to get it on camera to show you, but she won't do it when the camera is on. Kelly thinks she finds it funny to see my frustration when she won't perform for the camera. She also knows the basic stuff like, "Sit," and "Beg," and can do a high five too. Oh, and she's the only one of my dogs I've successfully taught to lay down on command.
***~~~***
Castellan Logan
1. How did you come up with your pet's name, does it have any specific significance? Castellan is his Kennel prefix; he's the only one of the petkids I currently have who has a title. As for Logan... It would have been the name of my son, had I been able to have one.
2. How old is your pet? Logan is almost a year old. His birthday is next week, on April 14th.
3. When did you get your pet? Almost a year ago, when he was eight weeks old.
4. What breed is your pet? He's an apricot and white Cavapoo, which is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x Toy Poodle.
5. How did you get your pet? We had him couriered here from the breeder Kero came from in Wales.
6. What is your pet’s favorite food? Any food you're willing to let him have. Seriously, Logan just loves food in general. He'll even eat lettuce! He's quite partial to a bit of toast or chicken though.
7. What is your pet’s favorite game? He loves to play tuggy best. Mostly though he's happy to play anything, as long as he's involved and getting attention.
8. What is your favorite thing to do together? Cuddle. Logan is a real cuddler.
9. Do you go outdoors? If yes, where is your favorite place to go together? Logan enjoys walkies, but isn't as enthusiastic about long walks as Lilie; Logan's more the, "Let's have a quick walk, and then go home and curl up for a nap," kind of dog. He likes it best if we're going out to lunch, like if we're going to Oscars (our favourite local cafe). Unlike Lilie, he's not minding the limited walks because of the virus thing much.
10. What is a bad habit that your pet has? He gets incredibly jealous if anyone else is getting attention, and will try and push in, even if he's been getting attention before. You have to distract him with something so you can give any of the others some attention.
11. What is the best thing about your pet? His love of cuddle time makes it easy for me to persuade him to curl up with me to watch TV or read.
12. What is the naughtiest thing your pet has ever done? Refused to go potty where he's meant to - even though it was only a few steps away - because he wasn't getting his own way. We know he does it on purpose sometimes, because he'll look at you defiantly while doing it.
13. What is the funniest memory involving your pet? Logan hated water at first, but when we had the really hot weather last Summer, I kept making him go in the tub to play in the cold water to cool off. He learned to love it so much he now jumps in the bath wanting the tap on so he can drink from it and play with the water. It's so funny I keep letting him have the tap on, just because it amuses me.
14. What is the best memory involving your pet? The day the courier brought him home. After following his progress since birth, it was amazing to finally get to hold him in my arms. I imagine it was similar to the way someone feels waiting for the arrival of a human baby.
15. What is the hardest thing about being a pet owner? Potty training. Seriously, why are boy dogs so hard to potty train? He knows where he's meant to go, but sometimes just doesn't. I mean, sometimes he does it out of spite - see above for more on that - but sometimes it's like he just can't be bothered to take those few extra steps to the puppy pad. Luckily, he does use the puppy pad more often than not. But still.
16. What is the most rewarding thing about being a pet owner? Puppy cuddles. Logan is great for puppy kuddles.
17. Does your pet have a nickname and what is it? Logan is another one with a lot of nicknames. The most commonly used are Logi, Logi-Bear, Bear-Bear, Little Bear, Bear-Boy, Marshmallow, and Floppy-Loppy-Dog. But, like with Lilie, there are loads more.
18. Have you ever taught your pet any tricks, if so, what? Not really. I mean, he knows the basics like, "Sit," and "Beg," and will even do, "Wait," on command. But that's about it.
***~~~***
Artemis
1. How did you come up with your pet's name, does it have any specific significance? It was Kelly's favourite of the unisex names on my, "Things I want to call my tortoise," list. We did have a name ready for either a boy or girl. But when we learned we wouldn't be able to tell if it was a boy or girl until the tortoise was a few years old, wanted to go with a unisex name. Artemis is unisex, and being Greek works for the fact it's a tortoise originally from that part of the world, so that was what we went with.
2. How old is your pet? Artemis is about seven months old. Artemis' birthday is September 6th.
3. When did you get your pet? A couple of months ago... January of this year.
4. What breed is your pet? A Hermann's Tortoise.
5. How did you get your pet? Artemis came from a local reptile and aquatic centre. They're right by our dog groomer, so we spoke to them, got the setup from them, and then got the tortoise from them.
6. What is your pet’s favorite food? Not sure. Artemis loves the greens and herbs (and odd bit of fruit) I provide for tortoise nibbles, but I'm not sure on favourites. I don't think we've really had the tortoise long enough to be sure.
7. What is your pet’s favorite game? Artemis loves to climb things. Other than basking under the lamps, digging in for naps, stomping around exploring things, and being cuddled, that's pretty much all Artemis does, but the tortoise really does seem to love to climb. It's actually quite impressive how well Artemis climbs, especially when you consider how heavy that shell must be in proportion to the tortoise's actual body.
8. What is your favorite thing to do together? Sit in a sunbeam while Artemis climbs all over me, or cuddle while sitting in the sun.
9. Do you go outdoors? If yes, where is your favorite place to go together? Artemis doesn't go outside. It's too cold right now anyhow, but seagulls are too much of a risk to take the little tortoise out there, even if we weren't on lockdown.
10. What is a bad habit that your pet has? Trying to get my attention by squeezing between the glass at the front of the vivarium and the tortoise cave. Artemis can get free from there eventually without help - we've seen it happen - but will wait there as long as possible in hopes we'll think we need to do a tortoise rescue. It's basically a hint that the tortoise wants some out of vivarium time. I wouldn't mind so much, but it means opening the glass has to be done very carefully, because you have to be ready to grab the tortoise before she/he falls, since the moment the glass slides away, that's a risk. Moving things wouldn't help, because the same risk applies when Artemis leans against the glass in more open areas to try and get my attention. It's kind of cute that Artemis tries so hard to get me to notice her/him, but means opening the glass of the vivarium has to be done with great caution.
11. What is the best thing about your pet? Artemis is quiet, though fast for a tortoise moves slowly enough that I can keep track of where she/he is, and pretty easy to take care of once the habitat is set up. Tortoises also potentially live a very long time.
12. What is the naughtiest thing your pet has ever done? See the question about bad habits above, since Artemis isn't really that naughty. Or hasn't really been that naughty yet anyhow... Give it time. *wink*
13. What is the funniest memory involving your pet? The day Logan and Artemis first had a face-to-face encounter. I was holding the tortoise, and Logan wanted to see what I had. He jumped up on my lap, and they came face to face. The dog was more scared than the tortoise. Artemis only took a moment before wanting to stretch out her/his neck to see what Logan was, but Logan kept hiding his head under my arm for ages before he got the courage to look the tortoise in the face again. Seeing something as big as Logan scared of something as tiny as Artemis was rather funny.
14. What is the best memory involving your pet? The day I learned Artemis had bonded with me. Kelly was talking to the tortoise, and the result was an annoyed glare, followed by Artemis retracting her/his head in to his/her shell. I came in to the room and spoke, and immediately Artemis's head poped back out, and the tortoise started trotting quickly towards the front of the vivarium. When Kelly pointed this out, I opened it up, and put my hand in there ready to grab the tortoise, who promptly started to climb in to my hand.
15. What is the hardest thing about being a pet owner? With Artemis it's the worry of making sure the vivarium stays at the right temperature. We've not had any issues, but it's a constant worry for me.
16. What is the most rewarding thing about being a pet owner? Tortoise cuddle time is surprisingly hygge. Artemis is a wonderful reminder to take life as it comes, enjoy the simple pleasures in life, and take your time about it.
17. Does your pet have a nickname and what is it? Artemis the explorer, Pickle, Artemis T Tortoise, Sweetheart, and Little Bud.
18. Have you ever taught your pet any tricks, if so, what? No. At least, not unless climbing on my hand if the tortoise wants to get out of the bath once the timer is up counts. I put my hand flat in front of Artemis, and offer the option to stay in the bowl or climb on my hand and get out. Mostly Artemis picks the latter, but every so often will stay in the water a few moments longer. Not sure if you'd count that as a trick, but it's the closest thing to a trick that Artemis can do. At this point anyhow.
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
Conjuring God by Jason Howl
