WHY A SKUNK??
Jun 25, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf92ThtFBIc

good morning you guys welcome to Tuesday
I cannot believe we're already two days
into the week yesterday was like such a
blur because there was so much
excitement going on within the household
that I feel like I woke up and it was
all like done before I knew it but I
just wanted to come on here and get this
back a little bit I just wanted to come
on here and kind of give you guys a
little bit of a brief update and not
just that but answer some of your guys's
questions that I've seen a lot of people
ask and I figured well you know what
might as well just do a video on it kind
of give you guys a little bit of back
history as to what Sebastian is about
why he came about and the little
information that you want to know about
him
so starting back a little bit about
about six months ago during therapy and
it was kind of time it was going through
the time when I was really focusing on
my trauma of when I was a child and the
molestation and things like that I
really hit a rock bottom with just I I
guess I kind of took it as a deep
depression and it wasn't just a deep
depression but I felt like I was kind of
even though my husband was there holding
my hand my therapist was there and I had
so much amazing support it's still it I
felt like I was alone once again and I
felt like I was having to walk this
journey by myself as I did when I was
little and I was a complete mess I
really was and during that time my
doctor bumped my meds up quite a bit and
also added in another depression pill to
help with not just my depression but my
anxiety because there was just so much
going on emotionally with me at that
very moment so during that time we kind
of started visiting the subject of an
emotional support animal
and for us the only animals that we ever
had as a family is two birds they were
cocktails Bert and Ernie and they were
amazing
they were so loving but we ended up
having to place them for a new home
because they were birds that did not
like being in their cage so therefore
they would fly around the house like no
other which was fine we always would
clip their wings but I didn't like
clipping their wings because I felt like
I was taking away their freedom and
that's what birds are about is to fly so
they would fly and just have a great old
time but with that being out of their
cage came they would poop everywhere and
as much as we would be cleaning they
would still be dumping somewhere so once
I got pregnant with Omar and I knew that
you know he was gonna be crawling and
being pretty interested in what is
flying around the house and this huge
cage that's in the living room we
decided that it would probably be the
best decision at that time to go ahead
and place them for a new home which we
went through a very very close you know
is process because we want to make sure
they were going to a good home it wasn't
like we were just giving him up because
we were tired of him or because we just
wanted to get rid of him I mean it was a
very hard decision but we knew it was
what was best for us and for Omar at the
time especially because he was a preemie
and with preemies they're not really
technically supposed to be around like
fur animals things like that so there
was a lot that went into why we decided
to go ahead and rehome Bert and Ernie so
that is about four years ago that we
placed them for adoption so during that
time I mean we pretty much were like
anti animal like we just were like you
know this it's it's not something that
we are about as getting animals and
getting rid of them you know we
understand that it's a lifetime
commitment and when you take that
commitment you take it seriously and we
were just never in a position to do that
however as I was going through my
therapy and my therapist had brought up
emotional support animal and because of
everything I was going through it wasn't
that Ollie wasn't doing a good enough
job it wasn't that you know I wasn't
getting this
Court at home or in my therapy sessions
but there was something and most people
that have emotional support animals will
understand this it's something that is
yours and it's for you and there's just
a different type of connection that an
emotional support animal can give that
you might not be able to find in just a
human so I you know I told her I said
well you know that's a discussion that
I'm gonna have to have with my husband
obviously you know it's not just
something that I can you know just make
on my own especially because it's gonna
be a family you know decision and
responsibility I mean yes it's mine but
you know it's a family event so me and
all II start talking about it and we
just you know at the time when I
discussed it with him six months ago he
was just like you know I don't think
we're ready and he just he wasn't really
interested and and I understood that and
I respected that because he wasn't
interested he wasn't ready for it and so
therefore I knew it was something that I
would maybe visit later on but it just
wasn't something for that moment so
let's fast forward to about two months
ago I went ahead and brought it back up
to him and because again we're kind of
getting into deep therapy again so my
therapist brought it back up if you know
me and all he had talked about it and
you know I told her that you know I did
you know obviously months ago but we
haven't visited the conversation again
so I brought it back up to him and he
was like you know Amy he said here's the
thing he's like we cannot Islamically
and this is something that's kind of
touching on religion but islamically we
cannot have pet dogs in the house for
the sake of the religion so now if it
was a service animal as in like it was
one to service you if you were having
like a physical health need that they
would typically could save your life
that is a different situation but to
just have a pet or like an emotional
support pet those are guidelines that we
don't well we don't know about the
emotional support part but it just
wasn't really something that we really
were either both thinking much about
cats were pretty much out of the
question because I'm not much of a cat
person cats are kind of one of those
that yeah if they want to be loved on
the love on you but if they don't want
to be loved on you you better get ready
to be scratched basically and that's not
what I wanted I wanted something that I
can cuddle with all day if that's what I
want to do I want to be able to take
them to go out with me places and so as
we discussed all these things and you
know discuss the options and stuff Ollie
said you know give me a couple of days
and let me let me do a little bit of
research and I'll come back to you on
the subject I was like okay you know I
mean it's fine so couple days later goes
by and he comes back and he says you
know I've done a lot of research and I
I've read about you know a couple of
different animals and he said you know
what would you think about a Phoenix ox
and at first I was like what is that you
know so we looked it up I see what it
was and I was like oh my gosh that is so
cute so I started doing a more research
on it watching the YouTube videos and
stuff and they're very cute but they're
very skittish and they're very hard to
get to I don't think that they would
work well with a home with kids in it I
think that it's more of an animal that
you would need just adults or a one on
one person or one on fox person so I was
just like yeah I don't know but I'll
call the you know fish and wildlife and
see about it I called them they were
like absolutely not an organ it is
illegal to have a Fox and organ as a pet
I was like okay so that door was closed
so then he said well how about a skunk
and at first I was like why like because
I've always thought skunks were cute I
mean I've always loved skunks I
absolutely have never seen a real skunk
in life time like walking on the street
or something like I've never seen that
except for once we had a family of
skunks in our backyard that just
appeared one time and they were there
for probably a couple months and and
then they disappeared but those that was
the closest I've ever come to a skunk so
when he said that I was like well you
know I really don't know
because I don't know what they're all
about so again me and him started
researching a more he had already
researched quite a bit of them but I
wanted to do a little bit of my own
research so I did and skunks are a very
compatible animal with children they are
very intelligent
you can box train them to go to the
bathroom in a sandbox
they are very cuddling they always want
to cuddle cuddle cuddle they have their
plays you know their place personality
that when they want to play they'll play
but they're very loving and they don't
like to be alone which is what I wanted
I wanted something that didn't want to
be alone so that he would want to be
with me at all times because that again
that's part of being emotional support
animals having them with you all the
time that's just part of the fun of it
so I was like well now we got to find
out if they're even illegal in Oregon we
are legal in Oregon because foxes are
illegal so I call tonight well we
actually we were discussing a monkey but
those were illegal there's absolutely no
monkeys allowed it to be captivity in
Oregon so that was out of them out of
the question we asked about a squirrel
those were out of the option because
they're illegal to have in captivity in
Oregon so when I ran across the word
skunk
they were like out actually you can have
a skunk and I'm like really and so we
started just you know the slow process
that happens with getting an exotic
animal you have to have permits here in
Oregon to have one so they are legal to
have an organ but you cannot breathe em
nor can you buy them in Oregon so you
have to buy them out of state and either
have them flown in or you have to go and
pick it up and bring it back in but you
cannot purchase or sell a skunk in
Oregon so then it came the whole
challenge of finding a breeder
now skunks I found out only breed once a
year and they breed roughly around
November I want to say it is I could be
off a little bit on my dates and they
have their babies about May June and
they're being let out between July and
August roughly you know give or take a
few a month or so from one that might
got pregnant a little bit sooner
so to get a skunk when you want a skunk
is far and in between you usually have
to put your name on a waiting list
sometimes one to two years ahead of time
to get yourself a skunk so I kind of was
like at that part in my mind thinking
okay well you know as much as we want
one the chances of getting one is
probably next to slim because you know I
mean we're just starting and the thing
is we're starting like in the middle of
June when majority of them are going to
be getting ready to be set with their
families so I reached out to one lady
she had one that was 2 years old
I really didn't wasn't filling it too
much um I really wanted one from baby so
I can raise it up once to be with me and
r1 to be with me know my personality I
know their personality and also to be
raised up with the kids and the family
because it's ultimately gonna be a
family pet so I reached out to this one
lady she had a two-year-old but I was
just like ah no so then we kept looking
I found another breeder I talked to him
and he was like actually I have a set of
triplet boys and I have three girls but
the three girls are sold and one of the
mills are sold so I have two of the
triplets left and I was like really and
he's like yes so we started the whole
put a deposit down I called Fish and
Wildlife we had to start the process of
getting the the permits which the permit
is only $28 a year that is nothing I
thought it was gonna be a couple hundred
and it was just something like boom boom
I mean it happened so smooth that I was
like this is too good to be true like
this is honestly too weird I was just
waiting for something to you know hiccup
and be like oh sorry it's not gonna work
out so and I wanted a meld that was the
other thing too is I didn't want a
female I wanted a Mel and and he was a
melt obviously so after getting the
permits and you know getting together
with the breeder through email and text
messages he got the flight purchase
and he flew him out yesterday and he
came in at 1:10 yesterday in Portland
and we just went to the airport and
picked our baby up and brought him home
and so far he has done amazing honestly
I mean it's only been the first day and
a half well you know hasn't even been 24
hours yet but he's just such a little
love bug he loves to be up behind my
neck
he will nestled his nose up inside my
hair so he's getting that smell and I
already feel like we're connecting him
and me because I can reach into his you
know his little cage and he doesn't
squirm away from me he doesn't run
nothing however if the kids go in and
try he's just like ahhh and Ollie he's
you know he's he's involved but he's
letting me kind of take the lead right
now and I think that's you know I I
really appreciate that with him is he's
just kind of letting me take the lead
because I do want to bond with him the
most but like I said he you know
ultimately he's gonna be a family pet
but I want him to be bonded to me and
they're very loyal to their owner which
is he would be I want him to be loyal to
me and loyal to everybody but I want him
to be connected to me and know me most
so right now me and him are in our
bonding stage and that lasts for usually
a couple of weeks we're technically you
try not to let him be held by too many
people other than yourself because
you're letting them get used to your
scent your touch your voice and
everything so right now me and him are
in our bonding stage and he's just
awesome he last night last night he kept
me up I'm gonna say that he kept me up
so I tried to do the whole he's gonna
sleep with me and all he's like ah no no
no no he needs to be on a routine he
needs to know when it's bedtime it's
bedtime and he so all he was like no
we're not gonna start this him sleeping
with you every single night because it's
already hard enough we have you know the
kids that were trying to break from
sleeping with us and so nighttime he
needs to know it's bedtime now they are
they are an animal that normally is
sleeping during the day
very active at nighttime but they did
say you can train them to be opposite
you can train them to stay awake during
the day and sleep at night but again we
haven't even had him 24 hours he's still
only six weeks old
he's still a newborn he's he's gonna
learn everything as he goes along he has
picked up going to his potty sandbox
perfect I mean he the first thing I put
him into his little cage and he went
directly to his boot box and he went to
the bathroom and ever since then he's
just been going he goes in there and he
does his business and it's just he is an
awesome animal I could not I could not
be more thankful to oli for you know
suggesting this as being the emotional
security animal that I needed and so my
husband knows me better than I know
myself sometimes I think because he knew
that this would be something that would
fit with me and it really does so now to
answer some of your guys's questions so
yes he is dissented he was dissented
when he was four weeks old he's already
had his first vaccinations of shots and
he's also had his first deworming July
first I will get him an appointment with
the vet here and that will be when we
get him shipped why I'm choosing to do
chip and not the tattoo is because with
chipping he can travel everywhere with
us like I mean we can travel with him
out of country we can travel with him
anywhere because he will be chipped as
long as the air you know the flight
whatever you want to call it rules allow
it then he is allowed to go with us
anywhere so we're choosing to do the
chip and we will get him fixed but we
cannot get him fixed until he's four to
six months old because that's when they
are mature you know and able to have
that surgery done they eat just about
anything
honestly they eat chicken beef
vegetables fruits they can eat mill
worms they
can eat bugs crickets but for me
personally I'm not going to have him on
that diet I choose not to and you don't
have to I would rather keep him on more
of this kind of diet because I can
control the vitamin that's going in and
out right now he is on kitten soft food
which we are trying to we will be trying
to wean him from that year very soon
because they say that kitten food is a
little bit fatty so we don't want him to
have any weight issues because that can
really damage their back so right now I
don't want to strip everything from what
he has had because I don't want to give
him his belly any issues you know with
the runs or anything to worry about
dehydration so we're just kind of taking
it slow and we'll introduce things to
him little by little last night like I
said he had some watermelon oh my gosh
he was loving it up he was sitting there
with his little hands and he was eatin
and chomping away on his watermelon in
fact I'm gonna get him some watermelon
here pretty soon so I can kind of show
you guys him eating but um yeah he's
just he's a little love bug and I am so
excited to share him with you guys and
to let you guys see him growing and
being a part of my channel because this
is part of my journey and he is gonna be
with me all the time so anyways if you
guys have more questions definitely
shoot them my direction I will try and
answer them as I see them I might answer
them through videos just because I get
multiple questions of the same thing so
might as well just you know like I said
answer in a video they typically will
get anywhere from 8 to 12 pounds
especially because he's a male that he
can roughly be about 12 pounds again
it's most important to make sure that
they don't get obese because skunks are
well known for eating absolutely
anything that they find on the ground
they will eat it so I told the kids I'm
like you guys we have a little garbage
can that it's gonna be running on the
street or on the floor so got to pick up
food because I am NOT gonna have him
walking around not being able to walk
because he's so big
so anyways I will go and get him set up
so that you guys can watch him eat some
watermelon and again I hope you guys are
having a wonderful Tuesday and enjoy
your hold on just a minute and enjoy
your video of Sebastian and I will talk
to you guys really soon
mmm bye bye
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