Interesting events over the past couple of days

[ladysown]

1. I helped the lad well some mice to a guy today and we got to talking about what he's raising and selling. Tells me about how he medicates his rabbits frequently for entropathic illness and I told him.. breed it out. He said "It's impossible to do so". I said It is possible you just need to be focused and committed to doing so (and that for the most part I have done so). He was quite adamant that it could only be medicated and it can't be bred out. Also told me all the problems he had with ear mites and how he's discovered the best treatment for it ever. But he's always having troubles with rabbits getting ear mites.

Makes me wonder what conditions he keeps his rabbits in if he's always having to medicate. Mind he gets a lot of his stock from the auction and from different folks. He was quite pleased that I keep my male and female mice separated. Asked if I lose many and said no, the mice are good unless they are too crowded and sit on top each other then I'll lose the weak ones to suffocation. He then proceeded to tell me how his mice are constantly eating each other and these will make good replacements.... EEK!!!

But the mice we sold him are destined overall to be freezer mice. Not sure if I'll be in a hurry to let the lad sell to him again though...

2. Had a gal contact me querying saying

For the life of me, I simply do not understand why you would rather take life from young, innocent animals... than give them a shot at a happy, long life. I do not understand how you can so seemingly easily feed them to your dogs.

This in regards to a couple of rescue buns I have here that I cannot find homes for. My response to this gal (in short form) was that I've been working hard trying to sell these rabbits but the public has spoken. NO ONE is interested in them, not even the local pet stores. They just don't want them. Since I never give rabbits away (since if you can't afford a $20 pet rabbit how can you afford to keep it) is a question I struggle with. What else am I supposed to do with them? I will allow them to be useful in other ways.

3. My son has been joyfully catching voles. LOTS Of voles. Never knew I had so many about the place. They are now being observed in the safety of a large aquarium. They are not to be played with....only watched. He's learning lots... including the fact that I consider them to be vermin and that once he's done observing them they will either be released FAR away from here or given over to the raptor rescue (more likely the latter).

 

[Skyrocket]

2. Had a gal contact me querying saying

For the life of me, I simply do not understand why you would rather take life from young, innocent animals... than give them a shot at a happy, long life. I do not understand how you can so seemingly easily feed them to your dogs.

This in regards to a couple of rescue buns I have here that I cannot find homes for. My response to this gal (in short form) was that I've been working hard trying to sell these rabbits but the public has spoken. NO ONE is interested in them, not even the local pet stores. They just don't want them. Since I never give rabbits away (since if you can't afford a $20 pet rabbit how can you afford to keep it) is a question I struggle with. What else am I supposed to do with them? I will allow them to be useful in other ways.

I've received similar emails when I was looking for a couple different breeds to add to my meat lines. Some people are really a pain in the rear, they're so dense it's almost inhumane to respond and toy with their heads. The email read (going to copy and paste this for full effect).

shame on u or go up north a get a deer if u need to eat go to a food bank and get food. go up north and get wild rabbitt

I continued to respond and her argument got no better while mine pointed out the benefits of breeding, raising and eating rabbit. eventually they emailed be back and told me they didn't have time to play games with me. Lol!

 

[ckcs]

Great post. I think a lot of illness with rabbits can be attributed to how the animals are being kept. This is just my gut feeling and based on what I have experienced. I remember last year I ran into a complication with a medicine which left me in bed for about 10 days. In that time I let my cleaning cage schedule get way behind. As the rabbits are all inside my home I notice a dirty cage. If I don't clean them every 4 days I will start to smell them. Needless to say I went considerably over my 4 day rule. Ammonia level rose and I noticed a few of my rabbits having what appeared to be wet eyes. This went away within a day after I finally got all the cages cleaned. I believe if i was subjecting my rabbits to poor conditions like that on a regular or daily basis that I would have a whole host of problems. Seems to me when you have the same problems popping up time and time again that you need to figure out the cause.

As for the lady about the unsellable rabbit you said it best, the people have spoken. She clearly didn't want them either.

You have to tell me how your son is catching voles. They drive me nuts. I have caught 1 by accident. I was turning a compost pile and there it was. I know I will have to live with them as we live next to a lot of woods and I have no plans on killing all the grubs and worms in my yard. I wouldn't mind relocating a few of them now and then though.

 

[ladysown]

You have to tell me how your son is catching voles.

live traps. we place them with a trail of seeds under rabbit cages, in the shed, near the hay....

We catch whole litters (and their parents) at a time.

we have 2-3 sets of parents and offspring.

 

[ckcs]

Thanks for the response. I may have to pick one up this season. A friend of mine catches his moles with shovels. He sits outside a lot of if he see movement he jams a shovel in behind them and pops them out. Then just grabs them and takes them someplace else. Despite mazes upon mazes in my yard, I have only seen the one that was at our compost pile. I just looked at pictures online and mine are moles not voles.