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xenbiology · 3 years

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Hey, Professor! Rats Anon's... Housemate's daughter, I guess, if that's how he said it before. I have some questions, re: sanctuaries, but first, I wanted to let you know that we wound up adopting a Bata!

Her name's Blue Java Nanners (my older brother helped). She has this really nice yellow shade to her hide, and... I know she can't see closers, but for some reason, whenever we set out blankets or ribbons or anything for her during those first few weeks, she'd always go for the teal ones. Maybe it's the texture, or the smell of the dye... I dunno, but, yeah. Blue Java.

We don't know a ton about her past owners, but the shelter did tell us that she was surrendered due to the usual joint problems becoming more of an issue in her old age, so, screw those guys. She's pretty shy, which was surprising, but also very food-motivated, so that's been helpful! I was worried she wouldn't recognize us as her new cast at this age, but I think the fact she knows she can rely on me for sustenance has helped a lot.

Just wanna say, thank you for teaching us about headcrabs! I would've been a lot more anxious about adopting if I hadn't had the information I do now. Honestly, I probably would've rushed into getting a Volkov, which... I still want to down the line, but I'm not ready for that responsibility yet, I think. They're my favorite breed by a long shot, and I'd like one that could help me hunt, but I would need a lot more experience to train it safely. Also, I'd want to adopt a younger one, so that bond could be formed early. That'd be difficult if I tried to do it right away.

... Anyway. Right, I had questions.

Me and some of the folks around here have been talking about setting up a sanctuary nearby for abandoned pets. Dream of all dreams, maybe some endangered Xen creatures, too, but that's... A long ways away. I've still got at least a decade before I need to worry about paying for all those delicate materials... But, the point is, the shelters in the city are flooded right now, and we want to help provide a place where those pets can stay until they're ready to be adopted out.

I'm well aware this will involve a lot of tough cases. That's to be expected with rescues; everyone has a story. We have a few experts with actual degrees and stuff; I'll be taking lessons from them. It's been pretty cool to see people showing up in town just to help with the project.

My main concern is, how can we set up an area that can house multiple different kinds of Xen fauna without them getting too close and hurting each other? My gut instinct was to just keep them in separate paddocks, but I don't know if any of them would benefit from exposure to others. I don't think we'd be ready to take on bullsquids anytime soon, but... Headcrabs, houndeyes, chumtoads, and possibly Snarks. That's the list so far.

There's plenty of open space for all of them, we just need to section things off and make sure nothing inside can get out and nothing outside (that we don't want) can get it. Aside from that, my main idea for having them interact if needed is to create a sort of pasture, where a few of them could be brought out at a time and watched closely. Think, floor time for rodents.

What do you think? Would the pasture help, or is it better to keep them all separated?

Oh! Hello again, it's nice to hear a follow up! I'm glad that everything is working out on your end, it's always fantastic to hear. Especially the fact that you got a rehomed one, which makes me quite happy.

The shyness is normal for any new crab. Batas are friendly, yes, and bred to not be skittish- but they can still be shy! Also, I love the name.

Anyway, onto your questions! This got long, so I put it beneath a cut.

Since the genetic alteration of the combine, they've lost most of that vision (which wasn't the most impressive to begin with, admittedly), due to their eyes becoming subdermal. However, they can most likely still distinguish color, so long as it's bright and vibrant. There's a chance she truly does like teal!

Now, about the rescue. It's true that many shelters are commonly swamped, and any more shelters and rescues are always a good thing- but there's some important things to keep in mind.

The biggest thing I can think of would be funding. Depending on how many animals you have, you will need space. You mentioned having lots of open space, which is wonderful for bullsquids and houndeyes; but headcrabs, snarks, and leeches are all reccomended to be kept indoors; or at least, have an indoor portion. If you want them to be kept outside, you will need very tall specialized walls and play areas where they can hide. Custom buildings are quite expensive. There is also the matter of cost of feeding, vets and medical care, funding of any staff, toys, and other miscellaneous costs. Keeping animals in an underfunded rescue where you cannot pay for good food and medical treatment is no better than not taking them in at all.

Now, back to the buildings- for headcrabs specifically, I've found that the easiest, safest, and personal favorite way to keep them en masse would be warehouse-style buildings. Think something like a large barn or airplane hanger, perhaps? You don't need it to be that big, something like the space below could house 35-60 headcrabs depending on breed, temperament, and furnishings. A building half or even 1/4th of the size would be fine if you wanted to keep smaller groups.

They are tremendously good escape artists, jumpers, and climbers- to keep them outside in a 'fenced in' area is asking for trouble.

You theoretically could do something like a large pheasant run, with something entirely screened in as well, though I find there's more advantages to the 'warehouse' option.

Firstly, though some headcrabs like sun as I mentioned, many prefer darker spaces, and are very prone to sunburn. Unless offered many shelters in an outside area, they are prone to burning.

Another is weather. Large buildings shelter them from rain, storms, snow, and temperature. Xen is a very warm dimension, and though they're fine in any temperature above freezing, they prefer to be warm and out of extreme colds. 60-88 degrees F is the best range, with around 75 as an ideal.

Another perk of this is that you can have multiple casts. If you have multiple buildings, you can separate them into social groupings where everyone gets along! If you're lucky and everyone you have gets along, you can even have tunnels connecting two buildings so they can interact, and put shift doors on them so that you can separate the buildings out if needed. This is especially true if you decide on smaller buildings. Lots of facilities have lots of medium-sized 'barns' with connecting tunnels so they can control who goes where.

For a space like this, I would put lots of climbable things; playhouses, 'cat towers', tunnels, boxes, anything that gets them jumping, hiding, and moving! Toys and such would also be important.

To introduce a new headcrab, I would have a small, screened-in box/room inside of the building to house the new crab in so they can get used to each other without being able to hurt each other.

If you still want to give them outside time, something like a connected, screened-in area is recommended instead of a fence. Something like this!

However, the biggest pro of the buildings is that it separates the species. Most of these species are predatory species, and should not be kept together without supervision, or if you know the individuals. While it might be fine for a single household to have a crab and a houndeye, it's not a great idea for a rescue. There's a lot of stress on these animals if they're getting rehomed, you wont hive time to get to know all of them personally (if you're lucky), and there won't be constant supervision.

Bullsquids will eat small houndeyes and headcrabs with little hesitation. Houndeyes, though more friendly, are more than capable of severely hurting or killing a headcrab, even through play. Not to mention the fact that headcrabs are aggressive to other species unless socialized first, which not all of your crabs might be.

So I wouldn't make a 'communal' play area- keep your headcrabs in buildings; keep your houndeyes in a large fenced-in area with an indoor access barn, and a seperate one for bullsquids, if you take them.

Chumtoads, leeches, and snarks are all tank creatures- meaning, they should generally be kept in tanks that meet their specific needs. So a large indoor area with a lot of tanks, each with their own specific needs. Like this.

None of the aformented species are particularly social (save for snarks, but only with their own species) or would benefit from an outside 'play area' with other species. If anything, they would just get eaten.

So, to ultimately answer your question- keep the species you mentioned all separated from other species, but give the houndeyes a pasture for themselves (and bullsquids their own pasture as well, if you ever take them). You can give the crabs a pasture if you really want, but the building-patio is safer and has less chances of escapees.

Of course, I would also keep another area with smaller individual rooms in case you have any special needs, sick, hostile, or otherwise unsociable individuals.

I think your idea is lovely, but once again, I cannot stress how much of a full time job this will be, as well as a big financial cost to set up. You won't be making much money from adopting creatures out, so it'll mostly be out-of-pocket, unless you can get some sort of funding or grant to get it set up (Which is possible! If you want, I can send you some links to some private companies which might be interested), and/or work mostly on volunteer hours.

Of course, don't forget to research each individual species' needs as well, as they're all unique.

I hope this all made sense, I have the tendency to ramble! If you have any questions (on this or your new friend!), feel free to ask for clarification. I'm always happy to help ⋮o)

#ic #ask #headcrabs #half life

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