Wildlife: The Heidi Chronicles: They're Here at Last!, 1 by DreamOfSpring

DreamOfSpring wrote:
Last night, Heidi was 1st out, but she did not bring the kits. She ate quickly, and left early.

Almost immediately, Diva and her baby arrived. Diva came up beside me - cautiously - to eat from Fraidy's dish. That was a big surprise since Diva is still uncertain about whether to trust me. Her baby came over there, too, but stayed back a little ways behind her and closer to the safety of the veggie patch. I had taken an egg out with me. Since Heidi had already left, I figured I might as well give it to Diva's kit; for all I knew, they might be the only one's I'd see for the rest of the night.

I chipped the end of the egg and rolled it gently toward the kit. It was a good "throw". The egg came to rest just in front of the baby - and Diva spun around on her haunches to scoop it up right from his feet! I was hoping that she might at least share it with him and use it to teach him egg eating skill, but, no, she picked it up and turned her back to him while she ate it.

Throughout the time they were there, Diva's baby kept going back to the veggie patch to hide, and he frequently is seen some distance away from Diva, so a little while later when I saw him over by the pool, I wasn't surprised at all -- at least, not until I turned back to see him ALSO standing beside Diva to my left!

Whoa! I did a double take. We had too many kits all of a sudden. Who was this new kit - alone at the pool? Did Diva have another kit? Surely this wasn't a lost kit. Then on the fence I saw more kits...and...was that Juliet?

Even as I was trying to figure this out, Heidi and her kits started coming down another part of the fence. Wow! Information overload. Diva and her kit were beside me. Heidi and her 4 kits were approaching the pool. There was a "spare" kit at the pool, and 2 or more extra kits on the fence. They had to be Juliet's.

Heidi and her kits took both dishes, Heidi's and the one that Juliet usually uses. Heidi growled at the spare kit by the pool and sent him heading back over to the fence where Juliet stood with her other babies. Juliet and the rest of her kids came down the fence, and the group made its way over to the area between the pool and the fence. They huddled there just beyond Juliet's usual dish (now taken by Heidi's kits) looking almost uncomfortable.

I felt sorry for Juliet and her babies standing there near the fence hungry but not allowed to eat. Much like human children, I figured the kids wouldn't understand why there was food but none for them. Juliet was behaving. She wasn't threatening Heidi's kids;she just wanted to feed hers. I tossed the remaining few handfuls of dog food and numerous handfuls of peanuts up onto the berm where they stood.

About that time, I "felt" something to my right and looked to see Fraidy over there; so I tossed her peanuts, too. After that, I spent the rest of the evening trying to toss food fast enough to keep everybody's plate full. I was tossing food to Diva and her kit on my let, Fraidy on my right, Juliet and her babies in front of me some distance away at the fence, and onto the lawn in front of me so that heidi's kits would get peanuts, too.

There was some tension, and the kids never actually played together, but there were no fights. All in all everyone managed to share the space. (I got some pics - also missed a lot because I felt it more important to make sure Juliet's kids got to eat, too - rather than having to stand around and watch the others eat. I'll post them soon.

Here is Diva's baby one more time.