soapdragon

I am not nearly as experienced as all of the above peeps but I'd say no, too! Noise issue for sure in a suburban area. Also you only have two girls and they would probably be 'overwhelmed' by his attentions so not really fair on them.

Thank you people! I will try smearing lemon juice onto the plastic tray of Hilda's cage, Lewis; great idea! She has many other things to keep her busy...I bought a big chewy thing with lots of textures and hung that in the corner of the cage where she has been nibbling but she just elbowed it aside and ate the cage anyway!!! Sadly can't get ES a haircut due to lockdown but its a short back and sides anyway so probably not much more to come off - the three 'boys' had their hair cut the week before Christmas unlike their stupid mother who didn't think and now looks like Medusa on speed!!! I'll keep trying various shampoos...........and check how much he is actually using!

I'm tearing my hair out on two fronts and looking for products that actually WORK so wondered if the wise Forum folk could help with the following; 1. Hilda the Stunt Hamster is chewing again. In spite of her HUGE 100cm x 50cm x 50cm very expensive cage, lots of toys, hay box and food scattered (not in a dish) for her to forrage for she is still gnawing the plastic. I've looked on Amazon for anti gnaw sprays but most are for dogs so I'm not sure if suitable for rodents. All have very mixed reviews and are quite expensive. Can anyone recommend a product that will stop her chewing the plastic? I had thought about rubbing the area with vinegar or using some of the stuff that is supposed to stop nail biting but not sure about suitability for wee furry ones. 2. YS is 3 weeks short of his 13th birthday and, suddenly, his lovey thick hair is incredibly greasy. He washes it daily but, only hours later, it's oily and rat tailed again (and smelly!) I can't find any shampoo that will cope with it. It's proving impossible to find shampoo specifically for oily/greasy hair; in my youth shampoo only came in three variations...dry, normal and greasy but the words 'oily/greasy' just don't appear on bottles any more. I asked in our little village chemist and they couldn't find anything on their order list that looked even halfway suitable, I'm avoiding other shops due to Covid but cannot find anything on the Tesco site either. He's not spotty and his skin is fine but his hair is just horrible. Thank you, in advance!

I wonder whether that will affect the taste of the eggs????!!!!

There is a saying that you are never more than a certain distance (can't remember what but it's scarily small!) from a rat. We had rats in the compost bin and living under the she after the chickens had departed......our neighbours feed the birds hence food on the ground. However, a competent pest contoller should be able to come up with some sort of plan. Your rat man sounds very negative and not at all pro active. Maybe swap rat men!!!

Some bright spark somewhere predicted, just after Christmas, that the peak of the infections following the Christmas get togethers would be around 18th Jan. Let's hope that things start falling significantly over the coming days. OH said that he heard this morning that the lateral flow tests planned for secondary schools have now been scrapped. ES/YS school started these last Friday on the keyworker children and put a huge amount of work (which could have been spent planning teaching, GCSE assessment protocol etc) into setting this all up only for three days of testing. They now have masses of PE, tests etc. HUGE waste!

I seem to recall that The Forum was 'reset' somehow a while back....I blame that (or Donald Trump or the aliens or Covid or the aluminium saucepans!)

Oh that is good news, Tricia! Our village surgery has started vaccinating too but, as I am 'only' 56, I don't expect a call in the near future but I will keep my fingers crossed for you. With regard to what to wear for OH......if it's a 20 min walk suggest not heels! Sorry, not being helpful there! T shirt and thick jumper topped off with a coat? Apparently, as it's all a bit 'production line' they prefer not sleeves that have to be rolled up....easy access is best! Having looked at the weather forecast (actually the 'wetter' forecast) full waterproofs probably wouldn't go amiss!

I used to keep the poop separate as it was fierce! It used to go to a fiend with a very big allotment who had lots of 'ordinary' compost to mix it with to dilute. We only have a small garden so didn't have much foliage, grass etc to dilute the poop.

Hope it wasn't expensive, Beantree.........sometimes it's just a cable or tiddly little bit that let's the whole system down (she types, hopefully 😎). There are warnings in the press today that those who have had the vaccine must not be complacent and must still obey all the rules as it's not known if those vaccinated could still pass Covid on!!! Is it just me or is it rather worrying that there seems to be a huge gap in the knowledge of how this is all working (or not working!)? Equally, I haven't heard a definitive pronouncement on how long the immunity lasts once the two jabs have been administered. Maybe it's just me being Aspie but it worries me that there is all this vaccinating etc going on in the short term but very little (or no) info on the longer term effects on us all as a society.

My parents - just in the south Oxfordshire area - had theirs last week too but had to travel in a taxi to get to the 'vaccine hub' as the local surgery wasn't administering it. It's great that it's being rolled out so quickly but I do worry having seen many pictures of lots of elderly people waiting in long queues in the extreme cold. If only the Oxford vaccine could be sent out to GPs.

Even if there is 1 side effect in a squillion it would put some people off......doh!

We'll need a picture of this handsome new lad then, Beantree!

I didn't realise that you could download the exemption card and, in effect, self certify with no formal authorisation. Therefore, if certain people don't want to wear a mask they just download a form and tell everyone they are exempt!

I used to scoop out the seeds and 'spaghetti' before roasting the squash and the bantams loved the 'middles'. I used to put the squash innards in the run in the morning and then remove anything they'd not eaten when I went to shut them in so as not to attract rats etc overnight.