Anything For Animals

posted by admin on Jan 30

If you are considering taking on some fire-bellied toads - then read on:

There amphibians are one of the easier amphibian species to take on for a first time keeper - but are still great fun for the more experienced; and are great to look at.

With their ‘plain’ back colouring, they look like a piece of swamp grass or soggy leaf - until they lift up their legs and leap away!  Their undersides are brightly coloured - showing bright red swirls and flashes!

Small in size, friendly in nature and able to live at room temperature - they hardly little leapers couldn’t be easier to cater for!

Basic Care:
They will live quite happily in a decent sized vivarium in a warm room with access to daylight or a light (not heat) emitting lamp.  I do have a heat wire running under their water - as they don’t like to take a dip in  the cold!

For my 4 toads, I have a 2ft by 1.5ft by 1ft vivarium, which is ample.  They have a submerged water tray in the centre with substrate and bark chips on top and around the water.  There are also some bromiliad-like plants buried in this substrate which they love to hide in.

There is also a large piece of cork floating half in and half out of the water for them to hide under and use to climb in and out of their warm pool - as well as several smaller bark chips floating on the surface for them to hold onto.

They absolutely love to just float in the water with 1 foot on the bark and then hide under the log in the daytime.  And 1 of mine just lives withing the leaves of the plant - only coming down to eat!

Feeding Time: 
Being quite small, they need to feed on a smaller prey species - and it has to be alive.  These toads will often reject food that isn’t moving and one of mine was sitting within millimeters of a tiny locust for 30 minutes before it twitched its leg and was gobbled up in a second!

They just love wax worms - and they are greedy little monsters too with one of mine eating 4 wax worms in a row!  I just didn’t think he has the space inside him as he was my smallest!

There is no sharing at the dinner table - so when I feed I have to put in more than necessary otherwise some might not get anything to eat at all! 

However, if they aren’t submerged in the water, under a log or in the plants - they will take these wax worms out of your hand if they are hungry - which is nearly all the time!  A great sight!

Toads Will Be Toads:
As will all toads, they do have toxic chemicals in their scent glands which appear like a small bow-tie on the back of their necks.  These glands on my toads help me to identify them as some are brown, some bright green and others barely visible.

Due to these glands, it is best to always wash your hands after handling your toads, and to keep the water very clean and these toxins wash off into the water and can make your toads poorly!  And don’t forget to treat the water first anyway with a suitable water conditioner

Now go grab your camera and take some great shots of their fire bellies! 

posted by admin on Apr 26

There are dozens of veterinary surgeries in your area - but how do you choose the best one for your needs?

All vets have to be fully qualified to run a surgery, and all nurses have to be in training or fully qualified, but receptionist don’t have to have any training or qualifications at all - but then neither do ‘dog trainers’, ‘dog walkers’ or ‘dog sitters’.

So it is important to make sure that you are happy with everyone in the veterinary team.  But what else should you consider?

Price:
I put this first - although many would say that it was the least important.  If you have pet insurance, then cost of treatment is virtually irrelevant as all costs - bar your excess - will be covered by the insurance company.  So no need to worry about anything other than getting your pet the best available medications and treatments.

However, it is always worth knowing the cost of the basic routine things as these may be too low for the insurance to cover - or not covered at all, like vaccinations, neutering, nail clipping, tail docking and wormers etc.

Location:
Proximity to your vet is very helpful in case of emergencies or if you just want to nip to the vets in your lunch break for a routine appointment - but you need to think about what that surgery can offer.

For example, not all surgeries offer overnight care or specialist care, and some don’t invest in larger machinery - so if you take you injured puppy to your nearest vet, they may then need to send you to a more distant vets to get the work done - and this may be a different company too.  Therefore, if might be wise to register with a vets that has everything onsite in the first place.

24-hour treatment isn’t offered by all surgeries either - they sometimes share with other vets.  So you could call your normal surgery (5 min drive) at 2 am and they recommend their emergency surgery which happens to be a 45 minute drive away - when if you had checked a vets that is 10 minutes from your house may have their own 24 hour emergency vet!   

Your Pet:
The above 2 examples are more likely to affect you if you have a dog or a cat, but if you have an exotic pet like a skunk, snake, parrot or tortoise, then you may be best to find a vet that specialises in that species rather than take you chances with a ‘normal vet’.

Although a ‘normal’ vet is qualified to medicate and treat all animals, they may not have the continued training in exotics that a specialist has, so might not be able to offer the best solution to your problem - no matter how close they are to your house!

And, they may not have the equipment necessary to deal with it anyway - for example - a boa constrictor wouldn’t last too long in a dog pen, and I know for a fact that most vets do not keep glass tanks and humidistats in their back rooms!

Same goes for horses and goats - I can’t imagine you can just walk into your local surgery with one of those!

posted by admin on Apr 15

This new Act was introduced to make sure that all pets in England and Wales had a basic standard of care.

Whether you are the owner or the keeper of a pet, whether it is large or small or indoors or outside; you are responsible for adhering to the ‘rules’ of this Act, and violation of them could result in the confiscation of your pets and possible criminal prosecution (up to 51 weeks in prison and up to a £20,000 fine).

The guidelines are very easy to understand (and many would say; obvious), and so abiding by them should be easy for any animal lover.

As a pet owner or keeper, you have a legal duty to ensure the welfare of the animals in your care, and you must ensure that the following ‘needs’ are considered at all times:

A Suitable Environment:
This means that it needs to be suitable for that particular animal; for example a horse and a gerbil will have very different ’suitable’ environments!

A Suitable Diet:
This means that it needs to be a suitable diet for that particular animals; for example a dog and a canary would need very different ’suitable’ diets.

Suitable Housing:
This means that they need housing that is suitable for each particular animal.  This is on 2 levels; firstly it must be suitable for each particular animal in the sense that a cat and a tarantula cannot both be kept in the same size cage; and secondly on a compatability level, that a cat and a tarantula should never be kept in the same cage, whatever it’s size! 

To Exhibit Normal Behaviour:
This means that the housing you keep it in and the food you feed it allows the animal to grow and develop normally for it’s breed or species without deformity.  It also means that the animal can move about with ease and isn’t mentally stressed or seen to be suffering in any way. 

Be Protected from Pain and Suffering, Injury and Disease:
This means that the animals must not be kept in conditions that will affect their growth, completely restrict their movement or in a dangerous or hazardous environments.  It also means that if they do become injured, sick or diseased that they will need to be seen by a qualified vet and medical treatment and pain relief (if necessary) sought.

If you are in any doubt about to how to properly care for your pet, ask your local vet or pet store, or contact an animal charity like Dogs Trust or PDSA for advice.

posted by admin on Jan 10

Finally, the snow has all gone and the temperature is rising!

Outside of my window this morning there were 2 roe deer trekking across my garden, and out the side by the bird feeders, I saw a nice collection all feeding at the same time: 2 blue tits, 2 great tits, 2 robins, a blackbird and 4 pheasants!

It’s great to see everything still fighting their way into spring, and I am now living in a perfect rural location to witness the changes from winter.

I have already registered myself with many charities and wildlife surveys to make the most of my time here and to help with the monitoring of our native mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians and plants!

And of course, it will give me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the world I live in! 

Identifying the calls of birds and the sounds of mammals will really improve my enjoyment of the natural world - and could even help on my CV when I apply for future employment, volunteer opportunities or further education!

Great New Years Resolution don’t you think!