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Derek Matthews shared a photo.
October 3, 2017 near Tisse

I came home to find this guy in my apartment. Anyone know anything about owls? It's acting like it knows me! Like, IT'S WAVING!

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The difference is that I presume your house isn't infested by rats and other small vermin for your owl to hunt and eat.

Which would make a difference when it comes to feeding it.

Well I do have a cat, as you know. So even if I had a rodent problem, he would take care of it. I have not problem with the owl flying in and out of my room. Like, do you think I should find a pet store to add supplements to it's diet?

You might need to, depending on what it's able to find for itself. The one thing I can say is that it'll be best served — pun intended — by fresh, whole prey animals. So, no frozen morsels, and not just table scraps of some larger source of sustenance.

Owls can't chew, so most of their smaller meals end up swallowed whole.

Well the no chewing thing explains why the owl just practically swallowed the dead mouse in front of me.

Where do I get fresh food? I don't have to suddenly start raising mice do I?

A pet store might be your best bet to begin with. Otherwise, I know there must be wholesalers about for live mice and rats because the university does experiments with them, but I don't know who they are off the top of my head. Still, that's another option you could try.

To be honest I have some issue feeding live mice to my owl. If it finds and kills it's own that's fine, but the fact that I will have to buy these live mice for it, seems like I am taking the poor mouse to it's doom. To be honest, I had some issues with testing on mice during my university studies. Will frozen mice work? At leaste those one are already dead and you might as well use them. You know?

As a supplement, maybe, but I wouldn't make its entire diet revolve around frozen mice. It's probably better to let it hunt on its own, then.

Though I'd keep your cat away from him, and the same for any small neighboring pets, as well.

I actually told it to not eat my cat and it gave me this look:

I'm pretty sure it was trying to say that eating cats was beneath it. I think my cat is fine.

It's free to go out and hunt as much as it pleases. As long as I don't have to buy live mice, I think I'll be ok.

You've graduated to talking to it and expecting a response. That seems like a good sign, yes.

What I am doing is not different than when I talk to Blaise. Apparently I have really smart pets. Which is fine.

What are you going to name this one?

Well, I was thinking Bronte. It sounds dignified and the name is unisex, since I haven't been able to figure out what sex it is yet.

Don't be surprised if it takes you a while to do. I'm told owls are a notoriously difficult species when it comes to determining that sort of thing.

Which is why I gave ti a unisex name.

Sensible of you, yes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Derek Matthews shared a photo. October 3, 2017 near Tisse
I came home to find this guy in my apartment. Anyone know anything about owls? It's acting like it knows me! Like, IT'S WAVING!