..of trade shows and Hallowe’en, new ratty items and more

So this has been a busy few weeks with several trade shows and new products, staff changes, big birthdays and more.

Remember Shirley who managed our Bath store for the past 6 years? She moved back to her homeland in Scotland in July but we decided to join her for her 50th Birthday celebrations and Pearl Wedding anniversary. She had no idea we were coming, so it was a complete surprise. The party was a Shania Twain tribute party, yee-haw! and it was much fun too. Here are some pics:

Before that we had the Hagen show, the Happy Pet Show, PetIndex and Aqua 2011 – exhausting stuff but we have seen lots of new products which we are putting in store now. So, what do you like from below? Let us know..

So, who likes fancy rats? Guinea pigs? Wabbits? We have lots of lovely ratty customers and one very special chap has made us some wonderful igloos, hammocks and octopuses for our store. We have some very special designs in for Hallowe’en too – and we can have David make us bespoke items for our customers – so you could order an individual item just for your precious pets. They are very reasonably priced and great fun. Take a look below and see what you think. We would love your feedback.

And finally to Hallowe’en! We are putting up our display tomorrow and we had a few requests for doggie Hallowe’en coats and rat treats etc so why not pop in and see what you can find in our display? We will have pumpkin treats, devil dog coats, skull ornaments and more!

Follow us on Twitter @NotJustPets, on our NotJustPets Facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Notjustpets-Pet-Shops-in-Bath-Frome/103981576322758 or take a look at our website at www.notjustpets.co.uk – or pop i and see us in Larkhall, Bath or Frome. Tel: 01225 461478

… of beardies and bunnies

Just a little update for our #Bath store this week – new harlequin bunnies in as the last ones went out so quickly – these are gorgeous bunnies with fabulous temperaments – so come in and meet them, you’ll be welcome! We also have one last mini lop for sale, a gorgeous wee thing whose brothers and sisters sold almost as soon as they came in – which was very recent – so this li’l fella needs a home now.

We have some fabulous short-haired, multi-coloured guinea pig boys in too – once again, really hand tame and easy first pets.

There are copies of the small animal care sheets on our website – but click here to download a rabbit care sheet or a guinea pig one.

Our reptile section has some new additions! We have taken on a few slightly imperfect, but perfectly healthy bearded dragons. We have one adult beardie – who is around 13-14 months old and has a slightly shortened tail and a couple of missing toes. He is lively, friendly and would make a fabulous first reptile pet. Come into the #Bath shop to see him and handle him if you are thinking of buying him. The two new baby beardies will be ready at the end of October.

We also have leopard geckos in the shop – also great first reptiles.

We are open tomorrow (Sunday) from 11am to 4pm

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Offers Offers Offers

We have a number of offers in store this week – they’re selling fast, so come in as once they’re gone, they’re gone!!

First up, Barking Heads Puppy Days 12kg HALF PRICE while stocks last – but come in quickly, it is selling like hot cakes!

James Wellbeloved NEW Large Breed – buy 15kg get 4KG FREE! or buy standalone packs of 4kg Large Breed for ONLY £9.99!

Have you tried Probiotic Live dog food from Bacterfield? It’s good.. and here’s a video link all about it http://youtu.be/9weJp2ZiCl – We have a special HALF PRICE offer on it right now – 1.5kg only £4; 4kg only £9 and 15kg only £20!!

We have new tanks coming in, so our Elite Style 35 tanks are on special price at only £59.99! Again, while stocks last (sold another one today!)

New Exo Terra products arriving soon, like the new Moss Matt substrates – so we have a range of Exo Terra bowls and feeders on special offer (click here to see the offers on the website – save up to 30% off RRP!)

Dog Crates all on special offer! New crate mats coming in this week too plus some lovely new beds on order. Small £24.99; Medium £32.99; Large £47.99; Extra Large £59.99; Giant £74.99!

We also have a range of tortoise boxes, tortoise tables, vivaria and tanks on offer – including the Fluval Chi, Edge, Flora and Nano tanks! Save, 12%, 17% or as much as 38% on the Fluval Edge from RRP! A beautiful 46L version of the Fluval Edge is arriving very soon!

And don’t forget we are still selling Marina ClearView Background Adhesive for only £4.99! This revolutionary image-enhancing solution seals background to aquarium glass, resulting in a flawless, illuminated view from every angle.

More offers coming soon.. watch this page!

Three lovely shops in Bath, Larkhall and Frome

.. of Frome Cheese Show!

Wow! What a busy day we had at the Frome Cheese Show on Saturday. Our tent was busy all day – and especially so when the rains came down. All of our animals and exotics were a hit with the visitors – and so many people were fascinated with our snake skins and spider sheds.

A lovely young lady called Rebecca who was completely arachnophobic managed to hold a large tarantula skin – well done, Rebecca!

Did you know that a tarantula sheds its exoskeleton (shell) – and even leaves the fangs behind? Have you seen the eye caps on a snake skin that has been shed? All amazing stuff!

There was lots of handling of rats and hamsters and of course our lovely bunnies and guinea pigs. We also sold lots of dog toys and treats on the day to happy dog and cat customers and gave away plenty of freebies.

Tigger bounced in for a visit and lots of visitors were captivated by our supersoft mini-lop bunnies or had a cuddle with Harley, our Harleqin Bunny – who nearly found himself a new home on the day!

Thanks to all who visited the tent on the day and all our lovely staff who helped prepare for the day and especially to Anny and Beccy who worked really hard – and left the day with very little voice left!

More pictures of the Cheese Show on FromePeople

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NotJustPets (Frome Pet & Aquatics) at Frome Cheese Show Saturday 10 Sept!

Yes! We will be hosting the Animal Nursery at the Frome Cheese Show again this year on Saturday 10 Sept at the West Woodlands Showground, which is gratefully sponsored by FDC Law – visit the show website here at http://www.fromecheeseshow.co.uk/

Anny will be joining us from our Bath shop and Beccy from our Frome store. We will be bringing lots of animals for you to see (and some to handle) including guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, gerbils, a hamster and a budgie plus stick insects and giant african land snails. We will also have spider and snake skins (sheds) on show, care leaflets and flyers and some freebies too.

We will have some fabulous BARGAINS including a new probiotic dog food, dog and cat treats, chews and toys.

So, do pop in and see us in the Animal Nursery on Saturday and meet us and some of our animals – you’ll be welcome! Dogs are welcome too! We share our tent with the Larkrise Community Farm who bring some of their farm animals too – usually ponies and ducks etc – see them here http://www.larkrisefarm.org.uk/

.. of Summer School at Keble College in fair Oxford

Summer School? I hear you ask. Yes! I was delighted to win a scholarship from bira to the Oxford Summer School which is one of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of UK retailing – run for the trade, by the trade. The school was established in 1923 and apart from the War years has been running ever since. What an experience! We formed the 82nd Oxford Summer School and I was honoured to be part of Team 1 – otherwise known as “Número Uno” as a tribute to Lucas Ricoy, a member of our team who was from Barcelona. This was an intensive week of work, work, work and more work and then some serious play too! We certainly lived up to our name in the Karaoke competition – we came first with our “Chippendales does It’s Raining Men” wearing bin liners, foil and tissue paper along with charity dresses for our larger “women singers” and wigs I happened to pack (just in case!) against 24 other, very worthy teams. I am proud to say I was in charge of that task, but what a team! All leading lights and very talented folk from Ralph Lauren, Debenhams, Nike, Marks & Spencer, Matalan, Fenwicks, Signet and Masseys. Pictures? I hear you cry. Oh, ok, then..

We were urged to “seize the challenge” and the school promised to “deliver an inspirational experience that challenges and develops retail managers, helping to give them the confidence and motivation to realise their potential”. It certainly lived up to this promise – in spades! In return we were asked to show “commitment, respect and integrity” – how could we not?

The speakers for the week were so inspiring – from Marco Capello (chairman of Liberty and ex MD of Merrill Lynch) to David Meckin, amazing finance guru and author of “Naked Finance” (thank you for signing a copy, David). We also met Beverley Aspinall, MD of the newly refurbished Fortnum & Mason (and yes, she was totally in charge of the refurbishment project, which is an awe-inspiring achievement). Other speakers included Tony Wheeler, the MD of Peter Jones, Steve Connell, MD of Inspire and Chris Walton, a fabulous and inspirational Performance Psychologist. We had merchandising experts, marketing experts, finance experts, IT experts and retailing experts extraordinaire! The tasks followed the themes of these speakers – a merchandising day, a finance day (I’ve never seen so many calculators in one place), a marketing day and a ‘business exercise’ day (where we had the simple task of setting up a department store from scratch in eight hours!)

The organisation was seamless – 225 delegates, 25 group directors plus speakers and guests and numerous tasks every day. Jeannie and the Team in the admin office certainly had their work cut out and the preparation in the previous year must have been enormous from all involved. The timetables worked to precision – I think even our sleep was timetabled! The paperwork was all ready in time for us every day, the group directors were fabulous in their support and guidance and the organisers bubbled over with enthusiasm all week. On the social side, the week began with a warm registration welcome and lovely champagne reception; the Sunday offered up a beautiful Chapel service in this architecturally stunning building, replete with the Blessing being sung to us a capella by the 5Ways Barbershop Harmony group – this brought a tear to my eye (and to the eye of our rugby-playing group director!) Our meals were delicious and were served in the wonderful “Hogwarts” dining hall of Keble College by wonderful waiting staff, the karaoke was immense fun and the Thursday evening was a delight from start to finish with a superb dinner where we were serenaded by the 5Ways Barbershop Harmony group once again from the balcony, to the Champagne welcome and the fabulous disco in the marquee (and boy did we strut our stuff) .. all the way on to bacon butties and coffee at 1.30 am!

The daily work tasks were not easy but we learned much – from eachother, from the group directors, speakers, from the organisers and from the comprehensive content of the course. We kept learning logs to record our key learning points and to provide an action plan for the future in our work, our businesses and our personal lives.

May I express a huge thank you to Alan Hawkins and all at bira for this wonderful opportunity and I would also like to record a special thank you to our Group Director, Steven Bradley for his wonderful support, enthusiasm and guidance throughout the week and who, along with the fabulous Dominic Prendergast (he knew all the words and moves to all the karaoke songs), Cheryl Owen and Ryan Cooper (and the other 8 members of our Número Uno team) made this a week I will never forget.

Summer of the Cat Event – Saturday 20th August at Bath Pet Centre!

Summer of the Cat Event

Nutritional experts, cat food offers & freebies and cat rescue fundraising

Bath Pet Centre

7 Lower Borough Walls, Bath, BA1 1QR. Tel 01225 461461

Email: bathpets@aol.com Web: www.notjustpets.co.uk

Saturday 20 August!

Special Offers from:

Royal Canin

Meowing Heads

As well as freebies from Lily’s Kitchen

And..

Bristol and Wales Cat Rescue

will be here fundraising –

and they will be bringing rescue kittens for you to see

http://www.bristolandwalescatrescue.com/

Offers of the Week! Plus Summer of the Cat Event on Saturday 20th August at BATH Pet Centre!

We have lots of offers in store this week – plus a special event on Saturday, repeating the event we had in Frome a week or so ago – Summer of the Cat (with partner Royal Canin).

Offers this week include lots on the Habitrail Ovo Range:

The Ovo Maze and Pad only £23.49 for both (saving £21!!)

The Ovo Loft only £35.99 (RRP £56.16 – a HUGE saving)

The Ovo Loft & Tower only £35.99 (saving £34!!)

Then we have the 8-in-1 Delights Treats on special offer – Buy 1 get 1 half price! Available at our Frome store while stocks last.. get ’em quick, they’re selling fast!

We also have some wonderful bunnies in and beautiful Belgian Hares (see our new caresheet on the Animal Info Page) and we are offering our EXTRA LARGE 6′ hutches with integral runs for only £199 with one of our bunnies and just a few pounds more for a pair. These hutches are well-constructed, waterproofed and are ideal for large rabbits. We are also offering fabulous prices on our smaller hutches for small bunnies and guinea pigs.

Summer of the Cat Event Saturday 20th August at Bath Pet Centre

So – this Saturday we have our Summer of the Cat Event teaming up with Royal Canin and the Bristol & Wales Cat Rescue organisation. These lovely ladies from the rescue organisation will be having a small tombola and a table of goodies to sell and a few of their more robust kittens with them as people are always happy to see them. The kittens always love it too as they get so many cuddles!! Julie from B&W Cat Rescue says “As you can imagine, they are extremely well catered for on days out and we always take a big pen with food, water, shelter and toys to keep them safe when they have had enough cuddle time.” They hope to bring 2 or 3 of their kittens with them. http://www.bristolandwalescatrescue.com/

There will be plenty of offers on the day from Royal Canin plus specialist advice from their nutrition experts. Everything starts from around 10.00 am onwards. Ring 01225 461461 for details or contact us via our website, Facebook page (NotJustPets) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Notjustpets-Pet-Shops-in-Bath-Frome/103981576322758 or our Twitter page (@NotJustPets) http://twitter.com/#!/NotJustPets

New Belgian Hare Caresheet

BELGIAN HARE CARESHEET/INFORMATION

The Belgian Hare is actually a rabbit, with the features of a hare.

Life expectancy – 5 years +

Gestation period – 30-31 days

Adult weight around 9lbs

Can produce large litters – usually between 5-12 in a litter

They need plenty of space, exercise and enrichment – the cage needs to be of good height, like any other large rabbit, the RSPCA recommend 6ftx2ft and 3ft high

These are one of the most intelligent rabbits and like stimulation through toys such as things to climb on/crawl through, chew & dig and they love ramps and lookout posts. They can also learn to come to their name and be trained to use a litter tray/area

When feeding the important thing to remember is little and often particularly with Hares of 6 months and under and offer them hay, fresh fruit & veg and a good dry rabbit mix through the day and plenty of fresh water

They can be skittish and a little nervous when young but generally have a good disposition and make a good pet as they are intelligent and friendly

They have a dense, shorthaired coat

Mainly for those experienced with the species due to large size and speed

Specialist Info – What to look for

HEAD – Should be long and fine

EARS – Must have substance and be nicely rounded at the top. When posing, the ears should be at the same angle as the head, not straight up. The recommended length is 5 inches, if they are too short they look rabbity. There should be deep black lacing around the top of the ear.

NECK – should be a good length to give a better appearance when posed.

FRONT – should be narrow and long leading to a pair of gun barrel straight legs. The longer the chest and front legs the higher the arch will be.

FEET – should be solid in colour, free of ticking. The back feet should be fine and around 6 inches long.

SHAPE – this is what typifies the breed. The back should be distinctly arched, smoothly round not choppy or square. They should have a graceful racy appearance. The Hare should be fine and not heavily boned.

TAIL – should be straight and have no kinks.

COLOUR – should be solid Chestnut Red evenly distributed, particularly on the haunches and around the jaw. It should be topped by rich black wavy ticking evenly over the body. The colour next to the skin should be dark slate blue. Belly colour should be red but is usually paler and is lighter in the groin.

CONDITION – the flesh should be firm and free from looseness or ungainliness. The Hare should have a healthy appearance.

COAT – should be short and stiff-ish and fly back when groomed the wrong way.

Thanks to The Hoyle’s Belgian Hares website for all their help in compiling this caresheet – visit their website at http://www.belgianhare.org/

Wiltshire Fun Dog Show – Sunday 14th August in Royal Victoria Park, Bath

So we attended the Wilts Fun Dog Show and it was fun! It was a beautiful day in the Royal Victoria Park in Bath and it was well attended by lovely doggies and owners alike. We sponsored the Category “Best Junior Handler” – and this lad Gabriel won with his lovely retriever Lara. Gabriel said, after winning “She is the BEST DOG in the WORLD” – so sweet!

Here is a gallery of photos from the day – thanks to Steph Pearce for inviting us and for all the lovely dog owners and doggies who made it such a fun day – and for Andrew Rowley of Woodborough Kennels for the fabulous training display with Boston, the amazing Rottie.