Q: It seems that my 8-year-old son may be having an allergic reaction to the guinea pig we got six months ago. I have read that the allergen may be more the bedding than the pet itself. Any suggestion for hypoallergenic bedding? We love this little guy, and he has been a very welcome addition to our household.
A: I've noticed that most of my clients who keep guinea pigs put a great deal of bedding two or three inches in the cage and then change it only once a week. All this bedding being kicked around by a guinea pig all week long creates a dusty mess, and dumping it out once a week is hard to do without it getting all over the house.
I just spread a few sheets of newspaper on the bottom of my guinea pig cages and then put a sprinkle of bedding on top like sprinkling cheese on top of spaghetti. Every day, I just roll up the used newspaper and bedding into a long cigar and throw it out, then put a fresh sheet of paper with a new sprinkle of bedding. It literally takes only a minute to do this, and the cage is clean and dust-free.
There are many bedding products you can use. I have found that Aspen Wood Bedding and the natural-colored Care Fresh Bedding seem to be the most free of dust.
Q: Yesterday I saw what I thought was a blue jay flopping around on the ground in distress. As I walked closer, I noticed it was not hurt but sitting on the ground with its feathers all fluffed up and picking up something in its beak and then rubbing it all over its plumage.
I just sat there, watching, for a couple of minutes, then the bird stopped, shook out its feathers and flew off. When I got to the spot where the bird had been sitting, I saw that it was an ant hill with lots of busy ants. Am I correct in assuming the bird was rubbing its feathers with ants? Why would it do this?
A: You saw a natural bird behavior that is rarely witnessed. Scientists call this anting. It is an aspect of avian feather maintenance that is imperfectly understood. We do know that ants secrete formic acid. It seems logical that the bird is rubbing the ants throughout its feathers to coat them with the formic acid, thus killing feather lice or other parasites in the plumage. It is one of those mysteries of nature, an instinctive behavior that birds do not need to be taught.
Q: At our vacation house, my son found quite a few little red salamanders crawling in the woods after a rainstorm. We brought five of them back to Long Island and set them up in a terrarium with leaves and moss collected from the area around our house. A pet store sold us pelleted food for newts and salamanders. We sprinkled some in the terrarium, but they just ignore it. Is there something else we can offer them that they might like better?
A: The salamanders you found are the juvenile form of the Eastern newt. As adults, they live in lakes and ponds, but as soon as the tadpoles develop legs and can walk, they leave the pond where they were born and live a terrestrial life in the moist forests, hiding under leaf litter, where they eat very small termites and other live prey. In this life stage, they are called red efts.
The adult newts that live in the water will eat the pellets you bought, but the little red juveniles will not. They need live food. About the only commercially bred insects you can buy for them are wingless fruit flies.
Your life will be a lot easier and the newts will be a lot happier if you just take them back up to the area where you found them and turn them loose. There are very few salamanders native to the United States that can be successfully kept in captivity. They should always be appreciated in their natural environment but left strictly alone.
2011年7月13日 星期三
2011年6月19日 星期日
How business travellers feel right at home
BACKPACKERS and business executives may occupy opposite ends of the travel spectrum, but one thing they often share is a desire to feel less like a tourist and more like a local.
And among the best ways for a backpacker to gain a more authentic experience is “couchsurfi ng” – the practice of using social networks to connect with like-minded people and then crash for a few days in whatever relatively clean space they have available.
Now a collection of travel websites is helping sophisticated travellers forgo five-star hotels or boutique properties for some couchsurfing of their own. If your first instinct is to recoil at the idea of bedding down on the couch of a hairy political science student, relax. These sites offer attractive upmarket apartments and homes whose owners are out of town.
One of the most popular and fastest growing sites is the San Francisco-based Airbnb, which recently raised $US7.8 million in venture capital funding. The company, which receives 10 per cent of its revenue from Australia, offers properties in 8000 cities and 167 countries, with options ranging from modest apartments in the heart of New York to a fairytale castle in Umbria – and pretty much everything in between (including boats, lighthouses and even an igloo).
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Since Airbnb arrived in late 2008 plenty of rivals – offering essentially the same model – have emerged. They include housetrip, with more than 100,000 properties in Europe, and, more recently, 9flats and My Friends Hotel.
But last year British start-up Onefinestay took the idea to a new level by introducing an innovative model designed specifi cally for business travellers. Rather than just holiday rentals, the company combines top-quality homes (average value of about £1 million) with the services that guests would expect from a four- or five-star hotel. Chief executive Greg Marsh says these “unhotels” offer the best elements of hotel service in the setting of a “carefully curated home”.
“What that means in practice is that we take great care to clean the place before each guest stay, deck it out with five-star linens and toiletries, greet guests on arrival and provide useful tools, such as a free iPhone to ensure we’re accessible 24/7.”
The properties have complimentary WiFi and the company puts barcodes on selected items – such as artworks and television set-top boxes – so guests can use an app on the iPhone to view short videos in which the owner explains an item or how it works.
Cultural differences mean some household gadgets have required more explanation that initially expected. “Americans can’t use kettles,” Marsh notes. “It’s because they’re much less common in the US. We had a case recently when a family put an electric kettle on a gas hob ... with predictable results.”
Onefinestay has proved particularly popular with business travellers from the US and Australia (the company’s secondlargest source market), who often stay in London for longer periods of time. “We have also had business travellers who arrive in groups or project teams and prefer to share a single living space, rather than having to crowd into the business lounge at a hotel or squeeze into a hotel room,” Marsh says.
Prices in the British capital range from £125 per night for a one-bedroom apartment in St James to £1145 per night for a five-bedroom house in South Kensington.
Marsh founded Onefinestay with two other entrepreneurs who had experience in the property management, logistics and technology fi elds. In March they raised $US3.7 million to fund expansion. Backers include some of the online travel industry’s most respected players, including Lastminute.com cofounder Brent Hoberman. The funds will be used to enlarge the company’s London operation, where it offers about 50 upscale properties. However, Marsh says he is “eagerly eyeing” other markets, including New York, Paris “and even Sydney”.
Onefinestay’s model is evolving. In response to guest demand, it recently started a partnership with food service Deliverance, which brings a choice of five different cuisines to the door. “When you place an order, it goes straight onto the fi nal bill. So it’s as simple as hotel room service, but more varied.”
He says the company is keen to launch a loyalty program. “And there are plenty of other services for guests we are keen to start experimenting with, from taxi services to a hotel-style concierge. We are in talks with a number of great London companies that provide those services at a world-class level.”
And among the best ways for a backpacker to gain a more authentic experience is “couchsurfi ng” – the practice of using social networks to connect with like-minded people and then crash for a few days in whatever relatively clean space they have available.
Now a collection of travel websites is helping sophisticated travellers forgo five-star hotels or boutique properties for some couchsurfing of their own. If your first instinct is to recoil at the idea of bedding down on the couch of a hairy political science student, relax. These sites offer attractive upmarket apartments and homes whose owners are out of town.
One of the most popular and fastest growing sites is the San Francisco-based Airbnb, which recently raised $US7.8 million in venture capital funding. The company, which receives 10 per cent of its revenue from Australia, offers properties in 8000 cities and 167 countries, with options ranging from modest apartments in the heart of New York to a fairytale castle in Umbria – and pretty much everything in between (including boats, lighthouses and even an igloo).
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Since Airbnb arrived in late 2008 plenty of rivals – offering essentially the same model – have emerged. They include housetrip, with more than 100,000 properties in Europe, and, more recently, 9flats and My Friends Hotel.
But last year British start-up Onefinestay took the idea to a new level by introducing an innovative model designed specifi cally for business travellers. Rather than just holiday rentals, the company combines top-quality homes (average value of about £1 million) with the services that guests would expect from a four- or five-star hotel. Chief executive Greg Marsh says these “unhotels” offer the best elements of hotel service in the setting of a “carefully curated home”.
“What that means in practice is that we take great care to clean the place before each guest stay, deck it out with five-star linens and toiletries, greet guests on arrival and provide useful tools, such as a free iPhone to ensure we’re accessible 24/7.”
The properties have complimentary WiFi and the company puts barcodes on selected items – such as artworks and television set-top boxes – so guests can use an app on the iPhone to view short videos in which the owner explains an item or how it works.
Cultural differences mean some household gadgets have required more explanation that initially expected. “Americans can’t use kettles,” Marsh notes. “It’s because they’re much less common in the US. We had a case recently when a family put an electric kettle on a gas hob ... with predictable results.”
Onefinestay has proved particularly popular with business travellers from the US and Australia (the company’s secondlargest source market), who often stay in London for longer periods of time. “We have also had business travellers who arrive in groups or project teams and prefer to share a single living space, rather than having to crowd into the business lounge at a hotel or squeeze into a hotel room,” Marsh says.
Prices in the British capital range from £125 per night for a one-bedroom apartment in St James to £1145 per night for a five-bedroom house in South Kensington.
Marsh founded Onefinestay with two other entrepreneurs who had experience in the property management, logistics and technology fi elds. In March they raised $US3.7 million to fund expansion. Backers include some of the online travel industry’s most respected players, including Lastminute.com cofounder Brent Hoberman. The funds will be used to enlarge the company’s London operation, where it offers about 50 upscale properties. However, Marsh says he is “eagerly eyeing” other markets, including New York, Paris “and even Sydney”.
Onefinestay’s model is evolving. In response to guest demand, it recently started a partnership with food service Deliverance, which brings a choice of five different cuisines to the door. “When you place an order, it goes straight onto the fi nal bill. So it’s as simple as hotel room service, but more varied.”
He says the company is keen to launch a loyalty program. “And there are plenty of other services for guests we are keen to start experimenting with, from taxi services to a hotel-style concierge. We are in talks with a number of great London companies that provide those services at a world-class level.”
2011年3月20日 星期日
Love Royal Caribbean's bedding? Now you can buy it
Add Royal Caribbean to the list of hotel and cruise companies that will sell you the bedding they use in their rooms.
The Miami-based line this week launched the Royal Caribbean Bedding Collection, which includes the same mattresses, pillows, duvets and sheets found on Royal Caribbean's 22 ships.
"The new bedding collection offers consumers a little Royal Caribbean cruise vacation at the end of every day," Royal Caribbean senior vice president Lisa Bauer said in making the announcement.
Royal Caribbean says the bedding is made exclusively for the line in Italy by Matermoll & Emmebiesse. Full size mattresses cost $999; king size mattresses cost $1,499 (or $1,799, if you want a king size version of the mattresses found in Royal Caribbean suites).
A complete bedding set including 230-thread-count sheets with a Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor logo start at $360 for a full size bed.
More information and pricing is online at RoyalCaribbeanBeddingCollection.com.
Royal Caribbean is following in the footsteps of such lines as industry giant Carnival and Holland America, which have been selling bedding for several years (visit carnivalcomfortcollection.com and shophollandamerica.com for more information and pricing). Major lines that have yet to begin selling bedding include Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises and Princess.
Cruise Loggers, are you interested in buying a mattress and/or bedding set from a cruise lines on which you've sailed? Take our quick poll below and then tell us why you voted the way you did in the comment area.
The Miami-based line this week launched the Royal Caribbean Bedding Collection, which includes the same mattresses, pillows, duvets and sheets found on Royal Caribbean's 22 ships.
"The new bedding collection offers consumers a little Royal Caribbean cruise vacation at the end of every day," Royal Caribbean senior vice president Lisa Bauer said in making the announcement.
Royal Caribbean says the bedding is made exclusively for the line in Italy by Matermoll & Emmebiesse. Full size mattresses cost $999; king size mattresses cost $1,499 (or $1,799, if you want a king size version of the mattresses found in Royal Caribbean suites).
A complete bedding set including 230-thread-count sheets with a Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor logo start at $360 for a full size bed.
More information and pricing is online at RoyalCaribbeanBeddingCollection.com.
Royal Caribbean is following in the footsteps of such lines as industry giant Carnival and Holland America, which have been selling bedding for several years (visit carnivalcomfortcollection.com and shophollandamerica.com for more information and pricing). Major lines that have yet to begin selling bedding include Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises and Princess.
Cruise Loggers, are you interested in buying a mattress and/or bedding set from a cruise lines on which you've sailed? Take our quick poll below and then tell us why you voted the way you did in the comment area.
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