News & Events

It’s not just children that are at risk in a hot car in this weather, pets are even more vulnerable.  Leaving the car window open is not enough.  Take the pet with you when you leave the car.  When we send animals out in this weather, we always warn you to keep them out of the direct sun.  Crickets expire faster than anyone else, so be especially careful with them.

Those of you who attended the fabulous tour of AERAS, the TB Research Facility in Rockville, know what an interesting neighborhood we live in.  For those of you who missed it, you will have a second chance to hear about their vaccine research on:

July 21, 2010, Thursday, AERAS will be presenting our next Science Cafe at Branded ‘72, at 7pm.  Everyone is welcome, including those of you who were on the tour, because there will be even more answers available for the questions that have come to mind since the tour.

With all our birds being bred locally, we don’t often have lots of  African Grey Parrots at any one time. Was I ever surprised when we had 2 and in walked a gentleman with 3 more for us to handfeed. One is sold and in a new home but there are still 4 lovely babies for you to visit. That is in addition to the 5 Green Cheeked Conures, 2 Parrotlets,2 Lineolated Parakeets, 5 Cockatiels and even 3 Rosy Bourkes in addition to our usual large selection of wonderful birds.

Have you seen the latest on CHINCHILLAS?  It actually includes pictures of Chinchillas in Chile in 1923 before they  came to the U.S. and started the industry here.

The Wing Trimming video will help you keep your bird trimmed and safe as the season for open doors and windows is here. Ruth at Animal Exchange will also do wings and nails for you with an appointment.

Do we have opportunity for you…

Animal Exchange is actively involved in the Rockville Science Center Science Cafes that we began in January 2009. Each month we invite a local Scientist to join us for an informal presentation and discussion of their field of expertize. If you have been to them you know how very interesting they are even if the discussion is not something you know much about. That’s what learning is.

Wednesday May 19    Dr Edward Celarier  from NASA will present                        ” A Brief History of the Earths’ Atmosphere ”

Wednesday June 16   Dr Sten Odenwald, also from NASA will discuss                 ” Where Next NASA ”

July will feature both a Cafe and a tour of the AERAS vaccine production facility right here in Rockville at a date TBA.

August 12   will see, we hope, the Perseides meteorite shower at the Redgate Golf Course.

Science Cafes were started by a small group of Rockville residents and have grown to involve not only members of the Science Center Board but also  the scientific honor society Sigma Xi with their distinguished local members.

Cafes meet at Branded “72 on Gude Drive starting at 7 P.M. Cafes are FREE . Food and Beverages are available for purchase. Even if you don”t choose the excellent spare ribs, there are vegitarian possibilities in addition to great desserts.

Our new series of training classes will start  in mid June and conclude in July.  Sunday sessions such as Parrot Psychology are available as individual classes but if you would like to work at Animal Exchange we encourage you to be here for all 26 hours of  our basic training. The schedule is available at the store.

We do get questions about  that cute little mammal that delivers eggs this time of year but we do not have any. We do have wonderful Holland Lop and Dwarf Rabbits but they are not seasonal, they are year round pets that  are delightful companions, living for an average of 8 years and doing very well either indoors or out. We have all the equiptment you will need but it’s lots of fun to build your own outdoor  hutch. Just be sure it will fit thru the door if you build it inside.

Have you ever seen an Amboina King Parrot? We have  a locally bred male that is a joy to behold. He is DNA sexed but you don’t need to do that to his next door neighbor, a 12 week old male Solomon Island Eclectus Parrot. The male and female Eclectus are so different in appearance that they were originally described as 2 different species.

Yes, we have bunnies but they are not Easter bunnies. Our bunnies are year round rabbits that are great pets that live about 8 years. Most of our bunnies come from a nationally ranked Holland Lop breeder so they are tinyand have their ears hanging down with adorable faces. Come and see them and you will understand why we choose these bunnies.

Finches? Yes, lots from Green Singing Finches to Red Headed Parrot finches to Lady Goulds. Zebras and Societies too.

We are now into our second year of sponsoring Science Cafes in conjunction with Rockville Science Center Inc and Sigma Xi.  If you have been to any of them, I know you look foreward to the next one every month. Speakers have presented fascinating glimpses into their field of scientific inquiry and engaged the audience, responding to an amazing list of questions each time.

Cafes are held at Branded’72, a very good barbecue restaurant on Gude Drive at 7:00 PM on the 3rd Wednesday of the month except in March when we we moved to March 10 so as not to interfere with your St. Patricks day celebrations.

Cafes  are FREE but  you can order food and all beverages if you desire. Vegetarians can even find lots of options so join us March 10 to hear all about Bees with our speaker from the University of Maryland.

After the February snows, it’s hard to believe I considered the December event a blizzard. This time I spent 5 days at the store and there were a number of issues that came up that were shared by customers:

*Power outages – We had a number of folks with power out for a long time and these are suggestions for how to deal with it:

Birds maintain their own body temperature even warmer than ours. Be sure they have lots of food and they will be fine. Covering their cage tightly with blankets will keep heat in but they don’t eat in the dark so one of our creative customers put a battery operated LED lantern by their food. It worked bu remember only to do this with finches and other birds that will not eat the lantern.

Another customer who had their house go down to 41, put their Senegal in it’s carrier and slept with it. I think the owner benefited the most.

Small animals also generate their own heat so the same applies to them as to birds except they will eat in the dark and might even eat the lantern. A  small box for them to sleep in is a good idea.

Reptiles are best put in a bag and kept under your shirt where your body heat will keep them warm. If they get too active, move them to a pocket where they will not be as warm.

Fish are a problem. If you still have hot water, float covered jars of hot water in the tank and replace a needed. Watch the thermometer in the tank. Large tanks decrease slower than small ones. A single Betta can go in a small amount of water and be kept in your pocket if you have a totally secure plastic bag.

E-mail us with any other tips you may have at animalexchange@erols.com