Punk
3(?)May 1997 - 18 Jan 1999

Cloud was found in a vet's parking lot as a kitten. I adopted him through a woman who ran a kitty orphanage as a hobby, straight from the vet's office. Two weeks later, I adopted...

Cloud and Eclipse are a package deal, and dogs were against my lease for several years. He looks like a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd, but he's 1/4 Doberman and 1/4 Beagle. Gods know what his father was. He died of renal failure.

Bossy, a.k.a. FunnyPaws, was found at a rest stop in the Upper Penninsula. She has thumbs in front and dewclaws in back. Normal cats only have dewclaws in front. Her spots look like a giant set of fingerprints on her back. My husband calls her Howler Monkey. 

 Wadsworth Longfellow is a Ball Python. I bought him as a yearling from a coworker. He eats one full-grown mouse every five days, when I have enough mice.

On August 4th, 1999, I learned a harsh lesson in snake-keeping. Longfellow escaped, and our best guess on his route was through a hole in the floor meant for the laundry waterpipes, and into the space between the insulation and the floor. Since it was a rented trailer and not a owned house, we couldn't just rip out the insulation until we found him.

I had thought the holes in the screen of the lid to his tank were securely covered. I was dead wrong. I should have bought a better lid in the first place.

On 12 Aug 99, Longfellow was found snoozing on the front porch, wedged between a portable barbecue and the wall of the trailer. I celebrated by going out and buying his dinner, and some material to patch the holes in his cage top. He reacted to being returned to his cage by curling up in his box and awaiting dinner.

I had another scare 18May01, when he was found after a few hours in a cupboard behind the Macaroni & Cheese. This time the escape hole was a slit where the edge of hte cage had worn through the screen. The cats helped with that one.

 Custer, aka Booger, was named for a comic book character. We adopted him from some friends who wanted to breed their Manx. I don't recall all the details, but the result was Custer and 3 other kittens. The two tailless kittens suffered from broken legs (resulting from birth trauma)and were eventually euthanized. Custer's brother is still alive and well.