Consolidated Kansas

[tazcat70]

I agree about the cat situation, however, I hope that the lady is talking with the owners to try and resolve the problem before hauling them off.

My daughter has been asking for a snake since she was 2. She saved up her money and was going to get one. I told her a ball python or nothing. We both read up on them, she was still eager. I then suggested that the money, she was going to spend on a snake and required items, would pay for quite a few horseback riding lessons. She still wants a snake, but the lessons are going great! Well not now that the weather has turned, and cold season is upon us. She hasn't been for about a month. She usually spends all day out there on Sat and Sun, she helps with other chores and works off her lesson.

 

[KsKingBee]

I totally agree with Heather (HEchicken), about the cat situation. Years ago I had three Norwegian Elkhounds, and as any proud dog owner feels about their type of dogs, they are the absolute best. However if ANYTHING would venture onto our property it was doomed, skunks, coons, opossums, moles, gofers, dogs, and yes cats. To watch the hunting teamwork of these dogs is amazing! Two of them would keep the animal at bay while the third would attack from behind. I had two altercations with my neighbors and their pets.

One day I found a cat dead in my backyard, the yard was totally enclosed with a six foot privacy fence. I did as I always did and put the dead animal in the front street and called animal control to pick it up. The next week same thing, another cat, I put it in the street and a while later a man from two doors down came and knocked on my door enquiring about the cats. I told him what happened and he told me about his grieving wife. Poor guy was in a bad position, he understood but he also had to console his wife.

My backyard neighbor had a German Shepard and a Black Lab, they liked to argue with my dogs across the fence. One day when I was talking to Dave I asked where his dogs were. He said they dug under the fence and my dogs killed one and severely injured the other and it was in the garage. I felt awful about it and offered to pay the eight hundred dollars he spent on the vet for the dogs. He said no, that his dogs dug into my yard and that is just how it goes. We remained good friends although I always felt bad about that situation especially since after a bad storm took down my fence and my dogs finally killed his last dog.

 

[Trish44]

I agree about the cat situation, however, I hope that the lady is talking with the owners to try and resolve the problem before hauling them off.

My daughter has been asking for a snake since she was 2. She saved up her money and was going to get one. I told her a ball python or nothing. We both read up on them, she was still eager. I then suggested that the money, she was going to spend on a snake and required items, would pay for quite a few horseback riding lessons. She still wants a snake, but the lessons are going great! Well not now that the weather has turned, and cold season is upon us. She hasn't been for about a month. She usually spends all day out there on Sat and Sun, she helps with other chores and works off her lesson.

Well from what my friend told me no the woman isn't trying to discuss anything with any of the owners, she is just trapping the cats & turning them in & the trap she is using isn't really a very humane trap either. My friend has been trying to inform people in the area who have cats about the situation & what could happen to their cats if they wander onto this woman's property. My friend has her cats pretty well contained now where they can't get out of her yard, but others haven't been so lucky. I'm just glad we don't live in town & have to deal with any of it.

KKB, that was a sad situation with your neighbor's animals. There are just some dogs as well that are hard to contain, fence or no fence. There are even some that will tear through a dog run fence to get free, I have seen the aftermath of some of those dog runs. They have a law here in Winfield that owners of dogs are only allowed to have their dog tied up outside for so many hours a day then they have to be taken off the chain or rope & taken inside or other enclosure. I know they don't enforce that unless someone complains, but it is a pet peeve of mine for people to keep a dog tied up outside for hours & hours & often you see them sitting right out in the sun with no shelter whatsoever & no water. Those are the people that shouldn't be allowed to have a dog.

I made it through my first physical therapy appointment today, it didn't go too bad. I found out how bruised, swollen, & stiff places are that I hurt when I tried to move the ankle & knee on that leg for the therapist. My ankle is turning a lovely shade of green now from the bruising. I was given a bunch of exercises to do at home as homework till I go back. I'm just hoping I didn't further injure my knee since I had to have surgery on it 2 years ago for a torn meniscus. I really need some cleats to put on my shoes or boots to walk on the darned ice with, something to give me some traction.

 

[HEChicken]

My daughter has been asking for a snake since she was 2. She saved up her money and was going to get one. I told her a ball python or nothing. We both read up on them, she was still eager.

I started out with a Ball Python and they are a good choice for a beginner snake in some respects. They are quiet, gentle and need very little. Unfortunately, they can also be a little picky about eating in captivity, and sometimes refuse to eat non-live food. I didn't want to feed live because it can be a risk to the snake - sometimes a mouse or rat will turn on the snake and injure it, so I wanted my snakes to eat pre-killed food. You can buy it in the freezer section of the pet stores. Mine would only eat about once a year - I offered at least once a month but most of the time she refused. The problem there is that I would defrost the rat, and get it warm for her, then offer it, and if she turned her nose up at it, I would refreeze it once but I was reluctant to continue to freeze and thaw the same rat so after the second refusal, I would have to throw it out. That felt like the rat's life and death had been in vain and I felt bad about doing it. I ultimately sold her to a collector who had advertised on Craigslist looking for female Ball Pythons for breeding. He was so excited to get her that he drove over an hour to come and see her.

That is when I turned to Corn Snakes. They come in a variety of colors and have more personality than Ball Pythons. Yes - snakes DO have personality

. Each one of mine has truly been an individual with its own unique way of doing things. I have one who is so food aggressive, he will come swarming out of his tank as soon as the lid is off, head swaying fast one way and the other, looking for the food. Another will politely take the food I offer her, and then go and place it in the back of her tank and more often than not, forget about it. I have to remember to check on her and if she hasn't eaten it within 4 hours, I'll remove it and give it to someone else. Some like to be handled more than others. Some of mine have made eating errors, latching onto my finger instead of the food (its no big deal - it feels like being scratched by velcro) while others are always very careful and have never made such an error.

Anyway, I did find the Corn Snakes to be more rewarding pets than the Ball Python. They need more interaction - and need to eat more often than pythons - but the personality makes up for that. They do better in captivity, and I've never had one that refused a pre-frozen meal. Mine will eat whatever I offer them - they've had mice and rats that I purchased frozen from the pet store, but they've also had mice I catch around here and serve live (catch them in a live trap and release into the snake tank). They also eat chicks, and I use them to cull newly hatched chicks that hatch with defects. They'll happily eat fetuses that are full-term but didn't hatch for whatever reason.

KKB, wow - I am not familiar with Norwegian Elkhounds and had no idea there was a breed of dog that would kill other dogs as well. It sounds like you had a neighbor with a good head on his shoulders though - its nice when people can work together.

Well, my BR cockerel is in the crockpot. It all went well and I was glad for him that it went smoothly - he didn't deserve to suffer at all. Its funny, I picked BR and NH to focus on precisely because un-needed males can still serve a purpose. But when it comes right down to it, especially when the birds is mellow/good-natured and hasn't caused any problems, I really hate having to make that decision. I have two more cockerels growing out that are still a couple of months from being big enough to eat but after them I won't need to process any for awhile, thank goodness.

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, I'm glad processing went well, I understand what you're saying about it being easier to process one that causes problems. I will I'm sure have a few extra cockerels to do something with after I grow some of these chicks out of various breeds. I can tell right away with the Cream Legbars, but at the same time I need to grow them out to choose which ones I want to keep for breeding stock, so I will have some extras later on. I can't tell on the lavender Orps yet since they aren't showing any bigger combs or red combs as of yet. Wouldn't it be nice if all of the breeds were sex linked & we could always know right away which were cockerels.

I just never really have liked snakes much. I don't bother them as long as they're not poisonous & they're not bothering me or my birds. We have a lot of snakes here with all of the rocks in the area & the trees we have as well. Most of them however are not poisonous. The cats occasionally will catch a small ring neck snake & eat it for a snack or we also have these legless lizards here too that are strange that they catch. We used to have a lot of the little blue lizards here, but with the drought we haven't seen as many. I do kind of like lizards & we have seen horned toads here as well & they're getting kind of endangered now.

HEChicken that BR rooster I have is still growing, he just seems so clumsy, because I guess he hasn't grown into his big feet yet. Those two little pullets I got from you are starting to really grow now, one is bigger than the other one.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I love horned toads. I've wanted one as a pet for years. The only vacation my family ever took when I was young (we were very poor), we stopped at a souvenir shop. My sisters both got fools gold cross necklaces. I got a rubber horny toad. I had that thing until I got married. I think they are just totally awesome animals. I like lizard type animals. One of my sons had an iguana for several years when he was young. The Anole lizards used to be all over when my parents lived in North Carolina. I loved those things. Awesome color changing. Also they had what they called glass snakes which was legless lizard. Of course an animal is an animal and I can't help but love them. Snakes don't rate high on my list although I have enjoyed messing with a python before. I love the way their skin feels. But they are enemies to my birds so they aren't welcome here.
I've got two more days of feeding this bunch of roosters. I'll sure be glad to have that pen open but I really should just fill it back up with more roosters that aren't big enough to eat yet.
I had a doctor's appointment this morning so I haven't gotten the birds fed yet. I suppose I should get out there and get it done.

 

[tazcat70]

Heather she originally fell in love with an albino (pink) corn snake. With an endorsement like that she might get one of them. I really wanted to feed frozen too, and heard they were difficult to switch over, but I didn't realize it might be impossible.

Teresa, those BRs of yours are looking really good.

My mother talks about her pet horny toad all the time. He was one of her favorites. They are now on the endangered species list, but back then you could just catch one for a pet.

 

[ChickieWickies]

Trish, we're looking for some nice show birds for 4 H. My son LOVES his Ameraucanas and is looking to add some ladies for his boys. I know you have some pretty birds.

We also have Large Cochins, both White and Black Langshans, and a pair of little frizzles. We also have a bantam roo, James, who thinks he is all that!!! He's hilarious to watch. He hides behind Midge (his "adopted" momma) but then crows as soon as you turn your back.

Any other ideas for available good show birds? We have a ladies pen for our show girls, so they can be a different breed.

Oh, as a side note, I think Danz solved the mystery surrounding my in-laws cat. Sam is a house cat that rarely gets to go outside. One day he disappeared--and a week and a half later he showed back up FIXED. No one knew what happened to him. Here's the kicker--he was a nicer cat BEFORE he was fixed. Whoever fixed him had to know he was a pet--he is VERY well fed. They also feed several "strays" but poor Sam was the only one catnapped. Well, thanks Cowley County.

 

[chicken danz]

HEChicken, I am really upset. I went out to feed and water and my RP Tom is NOT doing well.

He's been just fine but he was just standing there like he was in a daze instead of strutting and stuff. I put wormer in his water and gave him a dose of metronidazole and now he is just laying there with his eyes closed. I picked him up and set him in the shelter and he had no fight left in him. He's been perfectly fine. I noticed yellow diarrhea in the pen. Not a good sign. Not sure what it is but now I'm afraid all the other turkeys might come down ill. Heart breaking! I did give both the girls a half doze of metronidazole as well to be safe. I know I have a couple eggs that are fertile but I sure don't want to loose him now that the girls are laying. I figured out which one laid yesterday and I don't know if one or both of them are.
I also found another pullet egg in one of pens where I had put the 5-6 months old birds. At least this one I understand but have no idea who laid it.
This has NOT been a good week bird wise. I wish I knew what to do to save this guy.

 

[OzawkieKsBantams]

Been awhile