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Dougal's Pet Corner
The place for your pet stories and pictures, let me have them |
| CHOOSING AND CARING FOR A GERBIL |
There are about 40 known species of gerbil, but the ones
most commonly kept as pets are the Mongolian gerbil and the Libyan gerbil. The Mongolian
gerbil is about 10cm long (about 4in) with black claws and the Libyan is slightly larger
(about 14cm or 5-6 in), with colourless claws. It is generally best to buy your gerbil
through a reputable breeder. A healthy young gerbil which, is best bought between six and
eight weeks of age, should have, an alert, inquisitive personality, a smooth clean coat
with no bald patches, bright eyes, clean ears, with no bleeding or scratching behind them,
a healthy appetite, their teeth should be clean and not to long.
In their natural habitat, gerbils live in communities, they are very much social animals
which enjoy companionship, so they should not be kept singly. A pair of littermates,
either male or female, is the best arrangement, but if you acquire gerbils from different
litters, they should ideally be housed together before they are ten weeks old.
Gerbils need the same kind of warmth as human beings, excessive heat is more harmful than
cold. They require plenty of room in which to live, they are natural burrowers and their
housing should cater for this and should have plenty of bedding. DO NOT USE SAND as this
can cause abrasions to the face, NEWSPAPER or SYNTHETIC nesting material, these can be
extremely harmful causing severe digestive problems or severe allergic reactions. Toys are
an important part of their living quarters, they enjoy shredding cardboard (the inner of a
toilet roll) and climbing, a Y-shaped twig would be good. Exercise wheels should not be
used, as there is a danger of catching their long tails in them.
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Why do they sterilise the needles for lethal
injections? |
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| Porros versus
Roofs |
When Carl Zeiss produced his original prismatic
binoculars, he patented the fact that the far ends of his binoculars (the objective
lenses) were further apart than the viewer's eyes. This greater objective lens separation
greatly enhanced stereoscopic vision thereby providing a better 3D effect. This innovation
proved extremely popular so that when the Zeiss patent expired, the design was widely
copied and is still produced in huge numbers today. The characteristic stepped shape,
still known as 'Zeiss Centre Focus', is due to the use of Porro prisms, named after their
inventor Ignazio Porro. Binoculars of Porro prism design are readily distinguishable from
the alternative more streamlined and modern-looking, 'roof prism' type, which are
essentially two straight tubes. Porro prism binoculars provide excellent images with a
wide field of view, whereas those with Roof prisms have the advantage of being; compact,
usually fully waterproof and close-focussing.
In the last article, the close-focussing of binoculars was highlighted as an aid to
dragonfly-watching. With Porro prism binoculars, close focussing was always difficult to
achieve because the wider 'objective lens separation' tends to strain the eyes when
looking at very close objects. The top-of-the-range binoculars are now universally of roof
prism design, and perhaps the most successful of the general-purpose 8x32 specification
was Leica's BN Trinovid, made popular by Bill Oddie. The exciting news of the moment for
optic enthusiasts, however, is that the long-awaited 8x32 version of the hugely popular
Swarovski EL is now out. With close focussing of 2m and improved focussing wheel, this
instrument could be a serious challenge to Leica. The Glandford shop has one for
demonstration purposes, for anyone wishing to make a comparison. Cley-Spy
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| Are people more violently opposed to fur than leather
because it is easier to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs? |
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