Monday, February 28, 2011

Cleaning up Munchkin's stuff: Part 3!!!

Part 3 is here!

So after seeing part 1 and part 2 you guys are probably wondering what there is left to clean now that Munchkin's cage and playpen are clean. Well...




As you can see, I create a large mess in my cage cleaning process.

The first thing that I do now is wash Munchkin's litter scoop (yes it is shaped like a ferret, which is because Petsmart was out of bunny shaped scoops when I bought it.) Anyway, I wash that and the scoop for his food. And I obviously thoroughly rinse and dry each one. Oh and I always do the litter scoop LAST.


Then if his hay bin is almost empty, like it was this week, I clean that up too. First I take any good hay out and set aside. Then I am left with a boatload of teeny tiny little shredded bits of hay that Munchkin won't eat and I wouldn't let him because it is just like dust. So I dump the hay dust in the trash.
 This is what I am left with... a dusty bin.
 So I take the vacuum and suck all the dust out.

Taa daa!
 And then I fill it with fresh timothy hay and orchard grass hay. (the orange thing in the picture is a marigold. I sometimes get him hay that comes with marigolds blended in it. He loves that.)

Then I vacuum out the bins that I store all of his supplies in because they tend to get food and hay in them, since I sometimes spill a few pellets when I scoop his food in the morning:

Ta-da!

And after all this cleaning, and a week of sweeping out Munchkin's cage in the morning, the broom is dirty.

So I vacuum it off really well. (After too many pieces of hay get stuck in the bristles of the broom it doesn't sweep very well so I like to vacuum them off really well.

Then since the floor looks as if I was using hay for confetti, I vacuum the floor.


Then I just put everything away and I am completely, finally finished!
 Yay!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

New page!

I have a new page called "Pet Profiles". If you want to check it out you can click on it on the top right side of the page!

Cute picture and video of Pipsqueak!




Okay, there was supposed to be a video here but it won't upload, I will try to get a new one of it later! : )


this is kinda funny... while this video was uploading Pipsqueak was doing the exact same thing she did in the video... eating a pumpkin seed in my hand. She loves to do that now.

Monday, February 21, 2011

How I clean Munchkin's cage part 2: cleaning the playpen

Hi everyone! Time for part 2!!! In this part I will tell you how I clean Munchkin's playpen. This usually doesn't take me very long. All I really have to do is vacuum it out and clean off his toys. Every once in a while I wipe the floor down with a very small amount of vinegar diluted in water. But I only do that like once a month or so.


So here is what the playpen looks like before I clean it:


It usually isn't too bad, Munchkin keeps it pretty clean.


The first thing that I do is shake out his towels (if they have been out for a couple of weeks I usually have them washed and give them new ones, but if they aren't too old and if they are clean I just shake them out):




Then I collect all his toys, and replace most of the cardboard pieces and tubes with new ones:


Now I get out the vacuum. I am just going to pause and say how much I love this vacuum. It is a Dyson ball, and it is a version that is meant for homes with pets, so it is really nice and it is easy to use. I love it. It is amazing with pet hair.

So anyway, back to cleaning the playpen.


The next thing that I do is vacuum off all of his toys. (I like to do this because he gets them furry especially if he is shedding):

After that I take them all out of the playpen and I vacuum the floor:


Then I take out the special "skinny" vacuum hose attachment to get the stuff (mostly bunny fur) that gets in the space between the cage and the wall:


Then I put everything back in and I am done with the playpen!




Sorry, once again the video is sideways, and I am moving the camera kinda fast. I don't know why I always go and hold my ipod sideways for videos! 
update: well... it was sideways, but it flipped around to the way it should be when it uploaded. Weird.


Coming soon.... part 3 and How I clean Pipsqueaks cage.  


and...


I have not forgotten tour videos! I am going to try to do them this week. Be warned, they will be in many tiny little parts because there is a size limit on blogger videos, but they should still be good. I am going to show you where my pets live and their stuff. I will do some on the cat and the dogs too.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

How I clean Munchkin's cage: Part !

So here is step-by-step how I do Munchkin's weekly cage cleaning. (I clean up the cage daily, but every weekend I do a complete cage cleaning and wash and vacuum everything)

So I first separate the playpen from the kennel, and put Munchkin in the playpen because I clean out the kennel first.

Here is what the kennel looks like before I clean it:

The first thing I do is to take everything out of the cage:

Next I take out the plastic pan and dump out all of the loose hay and pieces of litter in it.

Then I vacuum any leftover pieces off the pan:

After that I  spray the pan with a mixture of equal parts water and vinegar:

Next I rinse it off with very hot water making sure that I get all of the vinegar off.

Then I dry it off thoroughly.

Now I clean his litter box
First I dump all of the contents out:

Then I rinse it out with hot water,

Spray it with the vinegar and water,

Fill it up with hot water and let it soak,

While I let the litter box soak, I get all of Munchkin's dishes and plastic toys ready to be washed:

I fill up a bucket with hot, soapy water

And wash the dishes

Then I rinse them off very thoroughly,

And dry them.

Then I take his litter box and thoroughly rinse out all of the vinegar. (if your rabbit is still learning how to use a litter box, do not deodorize the litter box. So only use water in that case, and no vinegar.) And then I dry the litter box completely.


Then I go to his kennel and remove that towel that I keep under the plastic pan:

Then I sweep up all of the big pieces of hay (they clog the vacuum), and then vacuum the rest:
Taa da!!!

Next I take his towels and shake them out outside (if they are very dirty I wash them and get out new towels)

Now I fill up his hay, food, water, and litter box and put everything back in the kennel:

sorry, the video is sideways. I was using my ipod and I guess I was holding it sideways and I didn't realize.

And, this is only part 1. Part 2- the playpen and Part 3- cleaning up the huge mess I make outside of his cage in the process are coming soon!!!

Note: As it was said in the comments, the sink I use is NOT the kitchen sink. I definitely would not recommend washing pet litter boxes in kitchen sinks. (eww)



Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cute Lacey pictures!

Here are some really cute pictures of Lacey that I meant to put on my post with all the pictures from my ipod:


Monday, February 14, 2011

updates

Hi everyone!

So I am still working on the videos. Blogger has been really slow lately. Anyway I have some videos of Pipsqueak and Munchkin eating veggies and hopefully some cage tours that I will try to get uploaded soon. In the meantime, I have got updates for you! Well, first off, the "three little pigs" Sticks, Bricks, and Straw were adopted! The shelter's two adult male guinea pigs Axel and Ant were also adopted. And apparently the shelter received two more guinea pigs but they were adopted so fast that I never even got to see them! Most guinea pigs spend months in the shelter before they are adopted but those two only spent a couple of days! So the shelter is down to nine guinea pigs now. The shelter's ferret, Tinkerbelle was adopted by one of the staff. And four of the gerbils who have spent over a year at the shelter were finally adopted! So in total for small animals right now the shelter has three mice, nine guinea pigs, two gerbils, and a rabbit. And BIG NEWS! I am preparing to get a new pet! I was really wanting something like a ferret or a pair of guinea pigs, but my busy schedule has made me rethink that idea. I just don't have enough time to devote to a pet like that. And my parents would like me to pay for everything if I get another pet. Sooo, in a month or two I will have a new addition to the pets in the family. I am planning on getting a Betta Fish. So while I am saving up for his supplies and things I am going to do some posts under my critter care blog about Betta Fish.

I just gotta say this post was very difficult to write because Munchkin kept getting into mischief and trying to shred up the carpet and eat my pants!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Recipe: How to make Munchkin's + Pipsqueak's salad

So I thought this would be cool to do. This is a recipe for Munchkin's salad exactly the way that I do it. I just thought it would be cool to show you guys a good salad for rabbit's and how I make it.

You will need:
2-3 medium or large romaine lettuce leaves
1 large celery stalk with leaves
cilantro or parsley
carrot
cucumber
a knife
a strainer
optional: a measuring cup

Step 1: Get out all of the ingredients and things you will need.


Step 2: Cut about an inch long piece of unpeeled (but washed) carrot into slices. Take about a little less than a quarter of a slice and set aside for Pipsqueak. Cut one thick slice of cucumber into quarters.



Step 3: Wash the lettuce and dry it off.



Step 4: Wash off the celery stalk. The kind I get is pretty dirty so I scrub it off with a paper towel too.


Step 5: Cut up the celery stalk into small pieces making sure to set aside a small piece for Pipsqueak. Cut up the celery leaves and cilantro/parsley to fit into the bowl.



Step 6: Assemble the salad! (and set aside a small piece of lettuce for Pipsqueak) And if you want to know if you have the right amounts you can measure the veggies with a measuring cup. Munchkin's salad is about two cups. After a while of making bunny salads you shouldn't need a cup anymore.

To assemble: Place chopped celery into the bottom of the bowl


Add celery leaves


Add cilantro/parsley, carrots, and cucumber


Put the lettuce on the plate


Feed it to the bunny!


Now take Pipsqueaks pieces and feed her:


Now clean up the cutting board:



Note: If I have other veggies in the fridge like broccoli or bell peppers I put some of that in his salad too.