The Pet Corner covers the know-hows for taking care of pets within the wizarding world every other Thursday. A pet will be chosen every week ranging from those students can have at Hogwarts (ie. mouse, cat, etc) to the wild and sometimes elusive advanced creatures (ie. hippogriff, dragons?) as the topic. Because we all know animals come in different species, the pet guide will also be specific to the species of the chosen pet. Special shoutout to Sixin Snapedore for suggesting this week’s installment, Cornish Pixies!

Cornish Pixies are small (about eight inches), flying (despite being wingless), electric blue creatures with a close resemblance to their relatives, the fairies and doxies, and are classified as XXX beasts by the Ministry of Magic. Don’t let that little size fool you though! These tiny creatures are incredible mischief-makers known for annoying the lights out of wizards if set loose and are amazingly tricky and smart. For these reasons, only advanced, older students should even consider having these little devils as a pet. So if you are such a student or a grad or even someone who has a hint of interest in owning a cornish pixie, here are a few pointers. Cornish pixies can be bought within WoP at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley.

 

Fun Fact!

Did you know that Cornish pixies can only communicate with other cornish pixies? This sound is often described as high and shrilly, alike to two birds arguing excitedly.

 

How to Take Care of Them

Food:

Cornish pixies are not picky with what you feed them which is an awesome positive amongst the glaring inconvenience. This means that you can be flexible with your pixie’s diet and the possibility of adopting a pixie with specific tastes different from others. If you notice your flying companion is only at gnat level annoying, then I suggest buying the Universal Pet Food from the Magical Menagerie to perk the creature back up to apocalypse level annoying.

 

Shelter:

If you wish to keep your (and your roommates’) sanity on those stressed filled school days, you should buy a cage for your cornish pixie. Luckily, the cage comes with the small creature during adoption so you do not have to further pour out more of your dwindling life savings (those pixies are eeexpensive).

 

Danger:

As there are no known key predators of pixies, the only danger you should be worried about is, unfortunately, with yourself. Although Cornish pixies never have any malicious intent behind their mischievous actions, it is possible for you to find yourself stuck in a rather -precarious- situation. One common behavior of pixies is carrying people by their ears and dropping them off or hanging them in an inconvenient location so be sure you have a plan in case you find yourself dangling from the ceiling.

If you find yourself unable to control your electric blue friend, the Freezing charm might be the most suitable method to stop the pixie in its tracks.

 

What is it Like Having One as a Pet?

Since I am once again too young to own such an energetic pet, I’ve politely asked Daily Prophet journalist, Esteban Mackleroy, about daily life with his cornish pixie of two months, Pixie.

 

Describe the daily lifestyle of your pet.

"Oh goodness! She's such an energetic bundle of joy, myself sometimes can't even handle her! She barely rests, as she flies around all the time, making dizzily glitters around the house and on the other pets! So she's mostly awake running around, being a little troublemaker. But that's their nature, and she's quite mediocre when it comes to it, meaning that she doesn't do it ~all~ the time, thankfully! Or that would be a little issue. Usually, she also loves to fly around the outside and run on the gardens, especially on sunny mornings! Or, very rarely when the moon is full. Outside of that, it does what a creature should do, and I let it be free most of the time as I don't want it to feel kidnapped or locked away!"

 

Did anything interesting happen with your Cornish Pixie?

"As it's been a short time, nothing ~that~ interesting has happened yet, but if I had to mention a particular event, it would be when the Pix was literally glowing all blue! In the middle of the night! I honestly don't know why or what happened and I'm still very much curious about it to this very day!"

 

Describe your Cornish Pixie's personality and/or relationships with your other pets.

"Oh, as mentioned before, she is very goofy and a prankster! So she pulls pranks on the cats most of the time...and rats...and my owls...and my pygmy puffs! All of them! She likes to pull the cats from their tails and run around them! With the rats, she likes to enter their gigantic cages and take their spaces and make herself home as if it was hers! She also forces the owls to snap at her, as she just pokes them and be annoying in general (and cute.) While the Pygmy puffs, actually, and SOMEHOW like her! Which is quite good, as they end up playing alongside her instead! Overall, my pets don't hate each other, thankfully!... Although sometimes the mice could get a little bit grumpy."

 

So overall, it doesn’t seem that owning a cornish pixie is an impossible task. Although, if you are someone with a lot of pets (like me ☺), you might want to consider whether your current furry and/or feathery friends would be able to tolerate such a troublemaker before adopting. After hearing Mackleroy’s fascinating statements, I myself am looking forward to the fateful day when I can bring home one of these tricksters.

 

Last Thought/Advice

To end this edition of The Pet Corner here is some advice from Mackleroy for any of my potential Cornish pixie owners out there:

“First thing, don't deny adopting one of these creatures because of they hysterical nature, it's what makes them so unique and adorable! Second, if you do actually adopt them, make sure to take care of them, and patiently wait for them to become confident in their new habitat, and give them space and liberty, or else they'll keep pushing aside everything you wish for them!”

 

Thanks for reading this installment of The Pet Corner! If you wish for me to mention a specific pet, please comment below or owl me and remember to write down the specific species if applicable.

 

See you all next time!

This blog post has been written by:

Hannah Windsor