Things to Consider with Horse Rehoming

Do you plan on adopting a horse to take care at home? Like any other pet lover, taking care of a horse at home is one hobby considered by some animal enthusiasts. If you are thinking about horse rehoming, there are certain things you need to consider. After all, horses generally require your dedication and an ample amount of your time

Horse rehoming is basically the process of acquiring, finding, rehabilitating, inspecting, or retraining unwanted horses. The main purpose of this is to place uncared for horses into new and more suitable homes conducive to their health

Owning a horse entails a lifelong commitment because horses have a lifespan that can reach up to thirty years. Just like domestic cats and dogs, horses have become more prized and loved companions. However, caring for a horse is expensive. If you are a beginner, keep in mind that you might have to shell out a huge chunk of money just to properly handle a horse at home.

Things to Consider before Owning a Horse

Having a horse at home can give you a very fulfilling experience in life, provided that you and your horse are fully prepared for your future. As a horse owner, you need to ensure that you are willing to attend to your horse every day, rain or shine. Proper horse care must be religiously practiced all the time. 

Caring and owning a horse is fun and greatly rewarding. If you have a horse or a pony, be it permanent or temporary; remember that the law requires you to properly care of it. Of course there is no ‘perfect’ way to perfectly care of horses and ponies. After all, every animal has different situations. Basically, it is up to you as the owner to practice reasonable steps to guarantee you meet all the needs of your horse; from their environment, their diet, behavior, and health and welfare

Environment.

When thinking about horse rehoming, consider having a suitable place for your horse to live. By nature, horse fear of confined places as this makes them feel trapped. Therefore, your horse should be in an environment with wide-open spaces where they can freely roam around. Furthermore, horses are athletic animals and they love to move around continuously as they look for and eat grass. The larger the space is, the better. Although keeping a horse in stables are generally safe, experts say stabled horses are a lot more exposed to fumes, toxic dust, and germs than those kept in pastures. You have to ensure, for that reason that the place where your horse lives is free from any forms of hazards and that the fences are in top condition and escape-proof.

Diet.

Providing the right diet is another major consideration. Horses should have a steady access of fresh and clean water. They have to be provided with ample opportunity to graze, ideally a twenty-four hour access. For stabled horses, their diet should be in the form of forage. Pastured horses, on the other hand, although grazing is generally enough, have to be added with hard feed and forage to achieve proper bodyweight.

If you think about horse rehoming, make sure you have fully understood all the basic requirements needed. Along with your dedication and constant care, to raise and care for a horse at home is something immensely fulfilling.

A Closer Look to Ants Life Cycle

Do you know that ants have the capacity to carry objects which are 50 times more of their body weight? It is an admirable trait considering their tiny size, right? But ants are not only admired for that aspect, their existence and way of life as a “community” are oftentimes equate to an ideal society except that they are not humans. However, they live in a way that cooperation is a natural behavior that attributes its survival in whatever conditions they are in. To help us better understand it, we will have a closer look of ants’ life cycle.

The life of an ant evolves in four cycles – egg, larva, pupa and adult. Their metamorphosis process is almost similar to butterflies and caterpillars.

The eggs are in oval tiny shape with approximate size of 1mm but the egg of a doomed queen is significantly bigger in size. Then reaching the stage of larva, they become like worm but with the absence of eyes and legs. Ant workers will vomit a certain amount of food to feed the larvae. Also at this phase of ants’ life cycle, larva keeps shedding skins due to its growing size.

Next is pupa wherein it will be covered with silk cocoon. This metamorphosis process turns the pupa into an adult.

The duration of ants’ life cycle vary. It can be within few weeks to a year. This is attributed to various factors such as surroundings, availability of food, temperature and humidity. In terms of longevity, worker ants can live up to seven years while queen ants reach up to 15 years.

Ants akin to the society of human beings have caste system too. The basic classes are workers, queen and male ants.

Ant workers are considered as the sterile females and they comprised the biggest population in their colonies. Generally their scope of work is gathering and storing food, building tunnels, defending the colonies and taking care of the larvae which involve feeding, grooming, transporting and protecting. However, this scope of work differs according to kind of ant species. For instance, some ant species categorize their worker’s jobs and responsibilities according to their size while other species divide the jobs and responsibilities according to their age.

The queen ants are destined because of their size. Generally they are twice or more bigger than the size of a worker. Their main role is to reproduce and lay eggs. Because of this nature, they are responsible too in locating the best nest site. Like a trait of any mothers regardless of the kind of specie, they also assist the workers in feeding and grooming the larvae.

Lastly, there is the male ant. Their main responsibility is to mate the queen and they die within two weeks after mating the queen. This is only the purpose of their existence. They do not even take part in any activities within the colonies.

Perhaps ants’ life cycle is totally different from the life cycle of human beings but their complex existing way of life and system has proven to be effective and efficient. They epitomize the ideal community wherein individuals cooperate with each other and are working together for the greater good of the group. Indeed it is interesting to learn how these tiny creatures can live peacefully even they are thousands of individuals in their colonies.

Your Guide to Lovebirds Breeding

Lovebirds are one of the most interesting species of birds. It’s not surprising to find people into lovebirds breeding. But as these birds are somehow delicate, you need to know how you can go about the task with surefire success. To help you in this regard, read the following useful tips.

Get the right pair.

Before you laugh, you need to get a male and female lovebird for mating. While this might sound funny at first, experienced lovebirds breeders would know that it’s very hard to tell love birds apart. Relying on the birds’ physical differences is very tricky. That’s why bird owners need to get a specialized DNA kit to identify the gender of the birds. However, it’s more advisable to have the identification done by professionals. This would help avoid hurting them or worse, creating trauma.

Provide a good and spacious breeding cage.

There are actually two types of breeding you might want to consider. Group breeding means that you would have several pairs in one spacious cage. Meanwhile, those who are just starting out might want to consider traditional breeding which only involves a pair of lovebirds. Whatever the type, you should ensure that the birds have big a cage for playing and flying around. Also, the material of the cage should be evaluated. Some wire mesh for breeding cages can prick the birds’ feet. Ensure that your cage is made for lovebirds breeding by choosing materials that aren’t accident stimulators.

Give the birds enough daylight and food.

Lovebirds aren’t fans of the dark. As such, it’s best that you give them adequate lighting. Some even go as far as putting soft, artificial light in cages. Aside from these, you can prep your lovebirds up for breeding by giving them enough food and water. Give your birds seeds, fresh fruit, and vegetables to keep them nourished. Their water container should have fresh supply every 12 hours. Clean the cage as much as you can. Note also that lovebirds must at least be 10 months old before breeding.

Attach a nesting box.

This shouldn’t be much of a problem as almost all nest boxes you see in stores are compatible with love birds. During lovebirds breeding, the birds fancy putting materials inside their boxes. With this, you have to put non-poisonous twigs from willows and fruit trees near the cage. You’ll see them stripping these twigs and putting them inside the nest box themselves. Some breeders also advise putting some flax leaves everyday as lovebirds use them in their nests as well.

Observe the birds from time to time.

Funny as it might sound, lovebirds also need privacy. Breeding won’t push through if they are continuously watched by people or other birds. You’ll know that breeding has been successful if the female spends longer time in the nesting box. At this point, you need to prep up for more food and water suppliers. Generally, lovebirds lay around four to six eggs. Never inspect the eggs and hatchlings while the birds, particularly the female, are around. Both parents will feed the hatchlings from the food supply you provide them.

Venturing on lovebirds breeding is not difficult as long as you have the heart for it. The trick is to research more about the species.  Other than that, simply enjoy the company of these truly lovable birds.

Peach Faced Lovebirds: Proper Care and Feeding

Lovebirds make very good pets at home. Even for those novice bird enthusiasts, keeping a lovebird is generally easy. There are basically different varieties of lovebirds. One of the most popular ones is the peach faced lovebirds. What are these types of birds then? Why are they very popular? How do you go about in properly taking good care of them?

The traits of these birds are typically very tiny in size but are known for its big personality. These types, love playing and interacting with people, especially with their owners, and they are very playful with new toys. When in their cage bars, these birds are often found weaving their nesting materials. Except when sleeping, drinking, or eating, you can always find these birds very active and always playing. Peach faced lovebirds think of themselves as if they were on the top of the ladder. They are often noticed wanting to go after almost anything that it believes it can conquer. And since they are active all the time, they turn any ordinary activity into an interesting game. However, at the end of the day, these birds are the sweetest particularly to their owners, often snuggling and settling down with their humans to rest. 

At home, you need to spend a great deal of your time with them. Just like any other pets, they will bond with you and will treat you as a good friend, willing to do anything just to protect you. Because they have high energy, expect them to be playful with you most of the time. 

In terms of behavior and health concerns, these peach faced lovebirds are territorial and nippy, thus it is important that you handle and reinforce them with good behavior. These breeds love to indulge themselves with seeds so better provide them with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits or whole grains. Typically, pellet bird diet is essential as their base for nutrition. However in most cases, they are hesitant to eat pellets unless they are used to it and they were weaned onto it the moment they started eating. 

When determining the age of these pet, you can easily tell its age thru the color of its beaks. Adult birds often have orange, red, light gray or horn-colored beaks while the younger ones have black-marked beaks. 

The cage should be big enough for them to stretch their wings and legs comfortably. Add some toys or anything that catches their attention, otherwise, they might get bored and think about escaping. Cardboard tubes and mirrors make good toys. Take note that these birds are great escape artists. With that, try to secure their cages with the right locks to avoid escapes. Just like our lovable pet, once they tried to escape and one of them do made it successfully. Fortunately, we caught it before it flew away.

Also, their cages should always have ample supply of fresh water and food regularly. Offer them veggies, legumes, fruits, or pellets. Variety is the key here. Just like humans, they get bored easily when eating the same types of food over and over again. When properly taken-cared of, your pet lovebird can actually live between ten and fifteen years.

Having peach faced lovebirds at home is simply amazing. The joys they bring and the mischievous and sometimes annoying but equally relaxing behavior they show is totally one thing to look forward to after a day’s work.

How Do Birds Mate?

My wife and I have the same feeling with respect to animals, we simply care for them.

Before we got married, we bought two love birds and named them 'Pochi' and 'Etsi'. Upon researching of their species, we found out that they are a Peach-faced Lovebirds, but, with a different mutation. We were pretty amazed with their everyday activities, and, the thought that they cannot live without their companion or partner, which is every lovebirds' natural behavior. They are very energetic and intelligent couple, and also very playful. We take good care of them and show them love everyday.

Just wondering almost about 2years ago since we bought them, they not yet have born a baby bird... How do birds mate? ;) What are the factors that would most birds consider before mating? Well, this is a big challenge for us. Our goal is to find ways to help them create a big happy family.

So to all the bird lovers out there, please share us your thoughts and understanding on how do birds mate in this journal. We are really so eager to help our love birds have babies.