Sanctus's Pygmy Puff Journal - Harkin

[TWSOH]

Day 1:

Myself and Charlotte returned to the castle and found a patch of grass on which to let our puffs socialize. Already i can see a personality shining through from Harkin.

Having put him down on the grass he went very still and seemed near awestruck at the long green blades around him and began to emit what i can only describe as a low humming sound with a rumble from the back of the throat. From the behavior I'd hazard a guess that this is a nervous sound used to express a change in environment to fellow Pygmy Puffs.

Charlotte put hers down and they seemed to sit and stare at each other for an agonizingly long five minutes or so, occasionally making small chirps or hums to one another in nervous banter. After the five minutes had passed Harkin made the first move towards Charlotte's Puff and having snuffled each others faces they went on to rub their sides together and hum.

I would expect this to be friendly scent marking as well as a sign of affection between the two. As it is I've heard that Puffs are happier in larger colonies of their own species so i would be interested to see how wild puff behavior varies from that of a domestic puff with a human attachment.

After the scent marking ritual, Harkin and the other puff (yet to be named) began some clumsy bounding about in the grass, knocking each other over by ramming lightly into each others sides and making high pitched chirping noises. It's easy to tell the two are being playful from the occasional jumping and the shiver that keeps passing through their tiny bodies to express the excitement.



I killed a cricket that hopped through the grass beside me and set it down for the two of them and to my surprise, after hesitating and giving it a good sniff between them, Harkin took a step back and let the other puff eat it with what i can only guess was a look of content that I've seen in birds when the lower eyelids come up into a squint. So far I'm surprised and intrigued, i can only imagine the next few days will be just as rewarding.

[TWSOH]

Day 2:

Harkin took to his new environment in the dormitories very well and the nervous exploration only went on half an hour before he was scent marking the place by rubbing his fur against everything within sight. So far hes spent plenty of time wandering around the room and eating dead spiders from the corners of the room, though i would like to be sure he is eating a balanced portion of food each day at regular intervals so i will be experimenting with food combinations to see what he likes. I think first i will try scrambled egg, seeing as hedgehogs can be fed on such.

As for human-puff bonding, he tends to be off in his own little world at times but then he has bouts of affection in which he'll come and sit in my palm or my lap and enjoy a fuss. Sadly Rumpleteazer my Kneazle from the last CoMC project hasn't taken too well to the idea. She is both jealous that this creature is receiving attention and even more incensed that it's something she feels she should be hunting. She has been stalking the poor Kneazle so ive had to take measures to separate them but it's going to be hard.

[TWSOH]

Day 3:

So i've decided to run a few harmless tests on Harkin today, call it a test of character for the moment. This evening when i had some time to myself i set a mirror in front of him as i know with some animals that it can either be a source of company, confusion or hostility.

He was quite clearly shocked by the sudden appearance of another puff and for a long time he stared. After some minutes of squeaking at himself he moved closer and started looking around the back of the mirror. How clever of him! Anyway after that he tried rubbing his side but soon abandoned the mirror as if he'd come to realize that it wasn't another puff.

I fed him on scrambled egg at breakfast today and he seemed to really enjoy that and sat quite calmly on the table eating whilst we were amongst crowds. He seems comfortable with loud or busy environments as long as he is with someone he trusts.

[TWSOH]

Day 4:

Today i took Harkin with me to lessons after giving him a day or so to get used to the dormitories. I want him to be close to me but realistically i can't be doing with separation anxiety if i want a career and a good education. He was quiet and seemed to enjoy watching the lessons, getting frightened however at any bright lights for the first half of the day. After about two hours he seemed to relax and accept that spell casting wasn't dangerous (Well, hopefully for him it never will be).

After lessons in the evening i allowed him to play with Charlotte's puff Bilbo for a while and then retreated to my dormitories for experiment number 2. Research I've done has suggested that animals can respond differently to situations when music is being played. For example, the Cerberus; Fluffy, in history as well as on a smaller scale i saw an experiment recorded where cats that didn't know each other were put in a room and allowed to attack each other. When the music was played they became far less hostile.

I set Harkin on my bed and put on some classical music, some soothing flute based songs and immediately Harkin seemed to relax. His eyelids lifted up in content and bizarrely he started humming along with the tune, adding in a few chirps at the higher notes. I knew he was still nervous about spell casting so i cast a few basic flashy spells in front of him and success! not a twitch out of him.

[TWSOH]

Day 5:

Today was very much a quiet, rainy day with little do do other than classes. The rather dull classes at that. I spent most of my time on intervals giving Harkin attention and trying to teach him to roll over by using a pack of dead crickets i had my parents fly in, as they have a few animals at home that require such food. I decided to use them as a treat, as i can imagine dead crickets taste a little better than year old dead spiders.

I've been saying "Roll over", rolling him over carefully and then feeding him a piece of cricket. He seems to be thinking about it but otherwise unwilling to co-operate. Fascinating!

[TWSOH]

Day 6:

I woke up with Harkin beside my face again. Much like Rumpleteazer (whom has been sulking about the pygmy puff this entire week and i will have to feed her salmon at the end of it) he likes to be close to your face as you sleep. Perhaps it is the warm breath? or maybe i snore a bit, i wouldn't know.

When he wakes he's so adorable that the most dastardly of criminals might even stop in their tracks. He opens his eyes to a squint and looks slowly around the room, and then at me, makes a small, low chirp and then shivers before rubbing his little body against my face and singing quietly. I'm not used to such a close bond from any animal, perhaps a dog, but it is heart warming. However it does sadden me to think these are so easy to buy and that people consider them novelty pets when they have such big hearts!

I spent today trying to train him to do that trick again but the most i got him to do was come to me when i call him. Well tomorrow is the last day of my journal, I'll see what i can do...i hope i can keep him once the homework is done.

[TWSOH]

Day 7:

SUCCESS! He has learned to roll over! today i was trying again and on the first attempt when i asked that he roll over, he did it. He must have understood more than i realized. I'm so pleased. I'm hoping that over my time with him he will start to recognize certain words like Rumpleteazer has. (Like food).

Last experiment for the journal. I was thinking about how Puffs might live in the wild. I did research but as they were bred as pets from a wilder creature it's not entirely certain. One can look at the puffskein and get an idea but these pygmy puffs really are a different creature entirely sometimes. I noticed he likes being under the bedsheets or hiding in my hair so i set out some straw for him and sure enough he managed to make a hole in it that formed a tight nest. I would try him in long grass but it's raining.

To conclude this journal, after just a week myself an Harkin are very close and i think i adore him entirely and it would destroy me to have to part with him now. Its been an eye opening experience and I've enjoyed every moment of it. To top it off, here is a small set of paintings of Harkin;

There's a set of paintings on the next few pages of Harkin eating, making a nest in the straw, waking up, singing, getting frightened of a jet of light, playing with Bilbo and finally rolling over.