Blossom

I got Blossom on the 6th of August 2007 because I was afraid Tyler was dying and wanted a companion for Peppy as he is such a social skunk. The only time to get a skunk baby is summer so it was either now or next year. There are not many adult unwanted skunks... And obviously I don't mind the idea of having 3 skunks. ;-) Tyler is not keen on skunk companionship anyway so a friend for Peppy was a good idea regardless of what was going to happen or not happen with Tyler. I advertised online to look for another skunk and a girl from one of my skunk lists actually replied. She deals with exotics, sells them for the breeders. I'd wanted another boy but she only had a girl left. She comes from the south of England, sort of near Bournemouth, but was taking 2 skunks to Bristol so said she could meet us there at a service station. She had 2 girl skunks and one boy skunk with her, the other people were having the boy and a girl so we could choose between the 2 girls. One looked like Tyler, the other had white spots on her legs like Peppy and was more white like Peppy. Pete chose the one who looked like Tyler. I was going to call her Skye or Taylor but before we left, Pete came out with Blossom. He was only reading the honey jar I had left out. So of course I shouted "did you just say Blossom?" and he said yes and I thought that's a nice name, too. Do you remember the 90's TV series called Blossom? Anyway, so the name stuck. She's a very clever girl, within a week she was toilet trained , she learnt her name and came when I called her, figured out the cat flap and managed the stairs. She is sooo active but also so greedy. She spends *hours* looking for food. She's up at least 10-12 hours running around, looking for food. She gets 2 main meals and 2-3 smaller snacks. She looks like a tub on legs when she's eaten. She's just right regarding her weight, not thin but also not fat. We used to have loads of snails and slugs in the garden before she came, they all came out at night and you could see snails everywhere. But within a fortnight Blossom ate all the snails and the slugs soon followed. We don't have any now... She eats *anything*, any meat, any veg, any fruit. I had some ox heart for the ferrets and dogs and Peppy and Tyler would never touch that. She ate it. One evening I had a meat/ organ meat/ tripe/ veg mix for the dogs and I thought surely Blossom won't touch that. Wrong.

She bit a lot during the first month, if fingers smelled even a little bit of food, she would nip. When I cleaned toilets or did anything on the floor, she'd nip in case my hands were edible. When I held her, she got frustrated because she wanted food and would nip. But then she became much better. Stopped nipping when I did the toilets and I could hold her without her biting. She drew blood every time so getting nipped by a skunk is not a pleasant thing.

Peppy and Blossom sleep together, have done so almost since we got Blossom. At first I caged her at night but then she acted up because she wanted to be with Peppy so after 4 or 5 nights I left her out. I'd also caged her because she piddled all over the floor but once she was free range, she soon became toilet trained. She only piddles on the floor a bit when she wants breakfast or dinner. ;-) But mostly uses the toilet. ;-)

Update 19/11/07

I think skunks imprint on food but Blossom is just plain greedy, I mean there's no way she would have got green tripe from her breeder and yet she eats it... A few times she came in from the garden and was throwing up some weird stuff so God knows what she'd eaten... Once Stripey brought in a dead bird and it wasn't his for very long because Blossom snatched it and ate it. And that after her big breakfast! I wouldn't be surprised if she became more picky with age, seems once they've stopped growing, they're not greedy to the point where they'll eat anything edible.

Update 21/11/07

Blossom was spayed yesterday. I watched it and took pictures. I was scared something would go wrong because Blossom has finally become a friendly, sweet skunky girl. She used to bite a lot, when she was hungry or when I was holding her and she didn't want to be held. When I did the toilets, she used to jump on my hands and bite them in case it was something edible. Whenever she wanted to get her own way, she bit. And then from one day to another she started coming for cuddles! At the vets I was cuddling her for an hour before the spay. Michaela just masked her, the spay took about 12 minutes and the stitching 12 minutes or so. Michaela now does inside stitches when she closes them up so it's all neat and tidy. It is such a small incision. Blossom is spending some time in an empty ferret cage, I'm surprised she's being so good and not tearing everything apart. I let her out for a few hours though but not when Peppy is up because he's quite rough with her, as in trying to mate, and he'll hold her tight... Blossom is only 1 kg! She is so tiny, I wonder whether she'll grow any more...

Update 04/01/09

Blossom has become a very cuddly girl and usually comes for cuddles morning and night like Tyler used to. It's wonderful to have a skunk do that.