| March 26, 2007 Critter of the Week is taking a "Spring Break" this week in order to sort through all of the fantastic supplies donated by the Petco Foundation |
| March 19, 2007 Zeus the Golden Greek Tortoise Zeus had been a classroom pet and then a family cared for him before he came here. He is about 12 years old and will live to be about 100! Zeus is a favorite on our shows and fun to care for. He eat greens, fruits and vegetables. He enjoys basking in the sun and browsing in the grass when it is nice outside too. We chose the characteristic slow Tortoise this week to celebrate our big news too- 14 months after submitting the application Critter Camp finally received its official 501c3 tax exempt status from the IRS!!!!!! |
| March 6, 2007 See the bottom of the Home page for the Message that has been making the rounds on our animal rescue lists! Animals available for adoption: 3 Zebra Finch fledglings (one white and two gray) , Rick James the ball python, and the 7 young mice ( see below) They have been adopted- March 2007 |
| Critter Camp is a Not-For-Profit Registered Charitable 501c3 Tax Exempt Corporation Critter Camp is a 100% NO-Kill Shelter/Sanctuary Operated by Volunteers All income supports the rescued animals |
| February 26, 2007 Derm the Ferret Derm is a 6 1/2 year old male ferret with adrenal disease. He had extensive fur loss when he came here but in fairly good health otherwise. Since he is older we chose to treat the adrenal disease with a melatonin implant. It appears that he has begun to re-grow some fur and still remains very active. He is somewhat of a 'grumpy old man' and doesn't like to play as much as the younger ferrets do. We had a couple of very nice carry sacks generously donated recently to help us hold the ferrets, and other critters, close while keeping our hands free to do other work. We had a blast making another video of various critters in the carry sack & we posted it on YouTube!! |
| Milo & Otis February 19, 2007 Milo & Otis are an unusual couple! A male rat & mouse bonded pair! They were left at a Petco store and the manager asked if we would take them here since they would be difficult to adopt out together and they did not want to separate them. They also do not want to encourage such pairings as they usually are not a good idea. This is just a rare example. These boys are buddies, they groom each other and snuggle up to sleep. On their ride here they huddled together for comfort. We will watch them for any signs of aggression, but they are both mature and appear to be very happy together. |
| Ferret Pre-Game Show 2-14-07 Check out our answer to the Puppy Bowl and Kitty Halftime Show!! See it on YouTube too! Other news - We have baby finches! Three eggs hatched and now there are two gray and one white healthy zebra finch fledglings! They just hopped out of the nest yesterday! |
| Pongo Perdita Spot Streak Patch Spooky Blaze the Mice February 4, 2007 These adorable young rescued baby mice are available for adoption. Pongo is a male and the rest are females. The girls can be housed together as they are litter-mates and will get along fine together. Mice can be fun and easy pets to care for. They live about 2 years. These are now about 4 months old. They are fairly tame and should calm down even more with some more handling. Email or call for details. You can also see them on our new Petfinder.com page! |
| Parro & Tweety the Parakeets 1-29-07 Tweety recently came to Critter Camp to keep Parro company. Tweety had been found outside in the cold by Animal Control. Both 'keets are boys and they get along very well, grooming each other & chattering together. Parakeets are very social and generally need the company of another to be happy. |
| January 22, 2007 Brownie the Guinea Pig Brownie is a young male guinea pig about 6 months old. He is a very handsome black and orange/brown Abyssinian (longer haired.) He loves people, chews at his cage bars for attention, loves his head rubbed, and does like to nibble, but not bite, fingers. We feed him pellets, oats, grass hay and fresh fruits and vegetables. He had been given as a gift to someone who could not keep him and they could not find him a new home, so they brought him here to Critter Camp. Guinea pigs are frequently abandoned because they require more care than the average person realizes, and people often develop allergies to them as well. Guinea pigs are native to South America and live in colonies in the wild. |
| Pinkbelly the Hairless Hamster January 15, 2007 (She went to the Rainbow Bridge March 2007) Pinkbelly is a 3 year old female hairless hamster. Hairlessness is a genetic defect and they usually cannot reproduce. Generally the hairless rodents do not live very long as they have a weakened system. When pet stores get a hairless rodent they often ask us to take them so that we may give them appropriate care. We use only Carefresh soft bedding for her and make sure she is not in a drafty area. Pinkbelly is remarkably healthy and active. We have had to try several new cages for her because she is also an escape artist! She is fun to watch and play with. Notice in the picture that you can see the food she stores in her cheeks. It looks pretty unusual! We also have a video on YouTube of her . |
| Critter Camp's Critter of the Week is taking a holiday season break and will return after the first of the year. There is still time to help with our end of the year fundraiser! Donations accepted by Paypal, check money order, cash, and supplies! Visit our website: www.crittercamp.biz Watch for lots of exciting news coming up soon too! And in the meantime please enjoy these websites with adorable animal pictures: http://www.babyanimalz.com/ http://kittenwar.com/ http://www.catsinsinks.com/ |
| Pichu the Chinchilla December 11, 2006 Pichu is a young female chinchilla that came to live here about a year ago. She is the friendliest chinchilla we have had, and right now she is our only chinchilla. She goes on our shows so everyone can feel her incredibly soft fur! The young kids also identify with her because a character on a popular cartoon, Diego, rescues animals and he rescued a chinchilla once. So the kids get a kick out of petting the same animal they saw on TV. Chinchilla are from South America and can live up to 15 years, but they are also susceptible to respiratory infections which are often fatal. They also need a daily dust bath to keep their fur and skin healthy. They have orange teeth which show that they are healthy. If their teeth become white it means they aren't getting proper nutrition. Chinchillas usually do not like to be held very much and they can hop really fast! Chinchillas are rodents and they need to chew all of the time. Terribly sad news: Pichu crossed the rainbow bridge within a day of showing signs of respiratory trouble. Chinchillas can be so fragile! We will miss her greatly! |
| Jack & Joey the Lop Eared Rabbits December 4, 2006 Jack and Joey are male Lop-eared Rabbits that came to live here about a year ago. They had a wonderful caring owner, a very mature young lady named Zoe, who had to find them a new home because of a change in her living arrangements. These boys were introduced to our outdoor colony in the spring and fit right in. Rabbits have a very strong "pecking order" and every rabbit needs to learn his place in the colony. Jack was the second in command until the leader, Freckles crossed the rainbow bridge this summer. Now Jack is the top bunny in the outdoor colony of 18 rabbits! Even though all of the rabbits are spayed and neutered they still often will pair up with a mate. Jack's mate is Sweetie bunny. Joey is a bit farther down in rank among the other rabbits, but he still fares quite well. He too has a mate, which sometimes changes, but is usually Smokey. The outdoor colony of rabbits has a large building that is insulated, heated and cooled, as well as two outside runs to play and graze in. They are very happy and healthy rabbits. Zoe and her mom came to visit this summer and were glad to see the boys doing so well. We hope we can raise enough funds to continue to accept more rabbits - we are up to 31 now! And to be able to build another enclosure for the 13 rabbits currently inside the house, so they can run free and play like the first colony. Of course they will all need to be spayed and neutered. We are very grateful to Save a Lot Grocery store in Freeport for donating produce for the rabbits and other critters to eat! Thank you! |
| Flash the Fennec Fox November 27, 2006 Flash is five years old and had been through several owners before coming here to Critter Camp in May of this year. We had him neutered & vaccinated and he is very healthy. Fennecs are native to Africa and were prominent in Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Flash has free run of the house except when we are gone or asleep, then he is in his multilevel large cage. He sees his cage as his den, a safe place where he often goes to sleep during the daytime. He does an adorable "squealie dance" when he greets us and is happy and showing off a toy he found. Flash is one of our more unique Critters here and we absolutely adore him! Check out the videos of him on You Tube too! |
| Quagmire the Bearded Dragon November 20, 2006 Quagmire is a bearded dragon lizard native to Australia. He was abandoned by a family that moved away. He is about 5 years old. His name is Quagmire, because his head bobbing looks very much like the character Quagmire on the Television show Family Guy. We posted a video of his head bobbing on YouTube and it is even mentioned on the Planet Family Guy website! Quagmire always goes with us on our shows. We have him and our other male Blonde D do their head bobbing for the audience. Quag also tries to catch whatever moves on the computer screen too :) You can buy merchandise with Quagmire's picture on it at our Cafe Press store too! |
| Ferri the Ferret November 13,2006 Ferri was our very first "exotic" rescue here at Critter Camp. Ferri had been returned to a pet store by someone who had purchased him and then decided they didn't want him. The store was having trouble re-homing him because he was an adult and we agreed to take him in. We took in his cousin Anastasia as well to keep him company since ferrets are very social and love to play, sleep and snuggle with each other. Ferri has a unique black nose. He has a wonderful personality. He is very friendly with people and other animals. His favorite pastimes are sampling new treats and sleeping in a heap with G-Weasel and Smokey. |
| Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary |
| Critter of the Week |
| March 11, 2007 Update on Derm the Ferret - he is regrowing his fur very rapidly now! He is also perkier and happier! We are very glad we chose to treat his adrenal disease with a melatonin implant. We also welcome Sable the Pomeranian, she will be living with Amanda & Justin and Smokey the Chihuahua. |
| April 9, 2007 Happy Easter! See our Easter Slide Show on YouTube and pictures of the new Baby Degus too! |
| Come visit us at Rock Valley College in Rockford this Saturday, April 21, 2007 for the Earth Day Expo! |
| April 30, 2007 See new Photo page & Dollar Drive April 24, 2007 Help Senator Dick Durbin work for Pet Food Safety! Click here to write to the FDA! |