California - Northern

[capayvalleychick]

How cool is that! It is a blonde racoon. Unlike an albino there is coloring/pigmentation because tue eyes are not red and just like a polar bear it has skin coloring (polar bears have black skin just like this sweetie) which you can see on the hind leg and face including around the eyes, mouth and most noticably that little nose.

awww... it looks like a pine marten to me (larger relative of the weasel), but i don't think they have white coats in winter... or it could be a stoat (or ermine), but they are smaller & supposed to have black tail tips. perhaps an albino marten?

definitely not a raccoon, albino or otherwise... the face looks all wrong for that.

but aha, BLONDE raccoon brings up something that looks more similar -- found this photo with google search:


there's still a trace of the face mask (this was the lightest one in all the photos that search pulled up), but it's possible. NOT albino, though. and the ears still look too big for the critter in Kim's friend's photo, to my eye?

i didn't know there WERE blonde raccoons!

 

[lawatt]

It has a striking resemblance to the Arctic Fox, but I couldn't find anything that said if they are in WA or not.

it DOES look like one, but arctic foxes are much farther north -- and with climate change, likely moving even farther north. they are strictly boreal creatures, they aren't even in the southern parts of Alaska...

Kim, one of my friends on FB thinks white morph of red fox -- but like you, i think the face looks more marten-y. definitely not albino.

edit: here's a link to different color morphs of red foxes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vulpes_vulpes_colour_variations.jpg

 

[capayvalleychick]

it DOES look like one, but arctic foxes are much farther north -- and with climate change, likely moving even farther north. they are strictly boreal creatures, they aren't even in the southern parts of Alaska...

Kim, one of my friends on FB thinks white morph of red fox -- but like you, i think the face looks more marten-y. definitely not albino.

edit: here's a link to different color morphs of red foxes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vulpes_vulpes_colour_variations.jpg

Can a fox climb up the corner of a building like that?

 

[lawatt]

Can a fox climb up the corner of a building like that?

i don't know, although she seems to think so -- but i'm still not convinced the face is right for a fox, nor that big of hind foot showing. here's another marten photo, in contrast:

face looks right, but the fur is wrong. i wonder whether there are white morphs of martens?

 

[alibra]

The chick is chirping but seems exhausted & wabbly. Dry but crusty. Keeps laying down. Is it ok? This is only my second hatching ever and the chick hatched over night and was perky and fluffy but wabbly.

 

[chiqita]

Marans can hatch late, but 26 days is very late.

It is a good thing you have the Brinsea Octogon coming!

HUZZAH! I have never had chicks last that long, gg waiting!

Oh Alibra that is the best news! Keep us updated!!
That is what I would say but @capayvalleychick said it better. Remember that animals don't fear death, they experience fear when there is pain and illness.

OK, I'm going to get philosophical here. feel free to pass over it.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with the statement animals don't fear death. I think they do. They have a sense something is coming and do get scared by things they sense as dangerous and will go a LONG ways to get out of situations that they think could cause death. Just look at how a chicken fights you wen you are holding it down, that is feat it cant get away from you killing it. I do think that animals want to live, and if you can help then live they are glad to do so. Because of that thought, I do sometimes do more then others would in these situations. Look at how far I went with purples ( and I now thing she might have been brain damaged, so I was wrong there!) I will inject, dose, move, do minor surgery, and things WAYY more complicated then I ever thought I would do for these fragile freaking things. I do think you can feel when they have given up so to speak, and I stop if I notice that.

I didn't feel this way as strongly until I was involved in taking those lives. My goal now is if death IS coming, that they never see it and experiance that fear. A quail being held in my hand is somewhat used to it and mearly annoyed or startled not terrified, likewise a rooster i'm holding in a way he is used to being carried. For someone who has as small and delicate wrists and hands as I do, I got really good at snapping a neck and crushing a windpipe immediatly for little if any suffering. So If I am not deliberatly taking the life, If i see a way out of the suffering I will head twards it.


That does not mean if your choice in this case is to put him down because you think there is not an end to the suffering, I would not respect and agree with it. I would humbly suggest if you can ( I know some cant, not judging here) break his neck right where the hippocampus meets the brain stem in his own home around the space he feels he knows it will be the least painless way he can go. I know people have the very best of intensions taking their birds to the vet but it seems kinder to me to do it in another way.

I kow the opion expressed here is not one shared by a lot of people, but i felt compelled to mention it anyway. Carry on with your normal programing.

what??!! Is it hard to clean? I have a hatch coming up withy brinsea. Do any of the new hovabators have automated temp and humidity?

You can hatch out ok in a little giant even the chicks are making heat themselves, so the exact parts are not as critical as theya re earlier. Plus, no fans not as big a deal.

I looked up the terrestrial mammals list for Olympic National Park, and they have both martens and fishers -- but as far as i can tell, neither turns white in the winter.

so, sorry to let you down, Kim aka @capayvalleychick -- but i'm not sure. it really doesn't look raccoonish to me, though -- and with that black nose, it's not an albino. i can ask some biologist friends, if you'd like?

OK, being able to casualy go ask biologist friends is awesome! I'm stealing your life laura.

but aha, BLONDE raccoon brings up something that looks more similar -- found this photo with google search:


there's still a trace of the face mask (this was the lightest one in all the photos that search pulled up), but it's possible. NOT albino, though. and the ears still look too big for the critter in Kim's friend's photo, to my eye?

i didn't know there WERE blonde raccoons!

They got tired of all the jokes and dyed themselves gray and black. Take that blonde jokes!

 

[chiqita]

The chick is chirping but seems exhausted & wabbly. Dry but crusty. Keeps laying down. Is it ok? This is only my second hatching ever and the chick hatched over night and was perky and fluffy but wabbly.

I missed this one. Give it food and a bit of sugar water asap if it pooped, I imagine it used all the yolk hatching. It could be a bit weaker for the first time, give it lots of warmth and easily digestable energy.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Can a fox climb up the corner of a building like that?

Yes, foxes are very good climbers. They can climb down either feet first or head first.

 

[EZFarms]

Ahhh i keep wanting to candle my eggs while they are on lockdown and make sure they are forming well. its so hard not to open the bator and look >·<

 

[Happy Chooks]

i don't know, although she seems to think so -- but i'm still not convinced the face is right for a fox, nor that big of hind foot showing. here's another marten photo, in contrast:

face looks right, but the fur is wrong. i wonder whether there are white morphs of martens?

I'm not trying to argue with you, I love a good mystery guessing game.

Look at the paws on the marten, the animal in the picture has very narrow paws. Face looks similar though.