Converted one of my stable stalls to a Bunny Habitat

a reply to: Gazrok

Awwww, sorry to hear you lost your horse last year. I hope the new one turns out to be a great one for you.

a reply to: Night Star

For a while, only having the one, she was lonely, but we now have 4 other horses that board with us, so at least she's got a lot of company out in the pastures now. (and we certainly needed the boarding income!)

a reply to: Gazrok

Wonderful! It must be fun for animal lovers to visit your place. I wouldn't know where to begin. Oh look, horses! Oh look bunnies! Oh look...LOL

a reply to: Night Star

I suppose so.

We have:

5 horses now, on the property (1 is ours, 4 are boarders).
3 bunnies
7 chickens
2 outdoor (barn) cats
5 indoor cats (and currently 4 kittens)
4 chihuahuas
1 lab/chow mix
1 king snake
1 Malucan Cockatoo (basically a white parrot)

By the end of the year, we'll likely add:
2 feinting goats (my wife really wants them, but I'm just not seeing the point)
4 Koi fish (in a small pond in our medicinal/herbal garden)
1 dragon style lizard (I really want one of these. I'd have to build a habitat for it though).

We have a lot of friends with small children, so they like coming here. Though I think the little boys get a bigger kick out of the big tractor than the animals. They love to ride in that thing, or in the pulled cart of the riding lawn mower.

a reply to: Gazrok

Five indoor cats and 4 kittens ???? OMG, I can imagine the litter box duty in your house! LOL

I love chickens and horses and bunnies! I don't see them very often, but I love them!

Five dogs too? OMG! It must cost you guys a fortune feeding and caring for all these animals. Nice to see your family has such a passion for them and that they have a good and loving home. There are way too many homeless animals and it's heart breaking.

I've seen those goats you mentioned in videos. Funny and weird as hell. LOL

Though I am familiar with certain breeds of snake, I'm not sure how big a king snake gets. I suppose they eat mice and or rats? I love snakes, but I could never feed them what they need, not even frozen ones! My Niece's husband has a big snake. I even named her Lily. LOL Once I begged him for one of the little rats that was supposed to be the snake's food, said I'd pay for it, but he let me have her. I saved one little life anyway. Then he had some big fish and bought a lot of feeder goldfish. I got to save a few of them too. LOL

Does you cockatoo like to dance? I have seen videos of parrots dancing and also the parrots of friends and it is hysterical! They really get into it and keep the beat too!

Koi fish in a pond? Oh yes, you must get those! Beautiful!!!!!! When you do, set up a thread so we can all see them!

Lizard? I LOVE lizards! I use to have some crested geckos that I just loved and even got to watch the babies hatch from their eggs.

I'm down to one Siamese cat, a turtle, two tanks of fish and one big bowl with a betta fish and Mousie the rat.

That awesome! Looks like bunny heaven.

Yes, our Cockatoo likes to dance (and swear, and talk, and laugh), though the funniest thing she does is drink soda from a can (once it is down to the last few sips). She grabs it in her beak, and tilts it up to drink. I have to get a video of that sometime. It's a trick she'll do on demand, every time, so easy to capture.

I'm not sure how big a king snake gets. I suppose they eat mice and or rats?

Naw, it is pretty small, and eats small fish and insects. My wife won't keep any animal that has to eat mammals.
That's why it may be tricky to find a decent lizard too, as we like the bigger ones, but need one that we won't have to feed mice to, etc.

The kittens will go to good homes soon enough, though we'll keep one. We have a pretty big home for them (over 4000 sq ft) (and about 4 different litter boxes that all get cleaned daily, so yeah, that's a fun chore). The chihuahuas are pretty easy to keep, and the larger dog has a huge dog yard to run and play in (and he'll have a doghouse out there soon, as that's my next minor project).

As for the Koi, yes I'll certainly post pics as I complete any of my projects. I'm just so glad to be getting them done, and I'm sure my wife is more confident after seeing I can actually DO these things (I think she had some doubt)...

It must cost you guys a fortune feeding and caring for all these animals

Yep, that's why we board horses. The monthly board fees we collect pretty much helps us foot the bill to feed and care for all the animals. The horse is the most expensive one, as keeping a horse is about $150 a month, and that's just hay and feed (apples and carrots too), and farrier (hoof treatment). Cats and dogs get dry food in the day, canned food at night. I only have to buy chicken and bunny feed about once a month at about $15 a bag. We get large bags of dry food for the cats and dogs, and look for sales on the few brands they really like. Just cheaper stuff (I'm not about all that fru-fru feed that costs a fortune). Gravy Train cans are still 50 cents a pop, but still cheaper than even multi-packs of other brands. Cat food cans are cheapest by the 4 pack (for some reason). I always go by price per oz. Bird food is about $15 a month. (parrot food and Reeses Pieces, her favorite treats)

We're actually seeding the pasture with more Timothy and Alfalfa grasses, to maybe eventually cut down on hay cost, and we'll eventually grow apple trees, and carrots in the garden to cut down there too.

a reply to: Gazrok

That was very informative. Great idea to grow apple trees and carrots in the future to help with the cost too.

Had my cousins (my uncle's kids, who are now in their 20's) come visit me last weekend. One had kids of his own, twin girls, about 2 years old. None of them (their spouses came too), had ever been here before. Everyone had a blast with the animals, and the girls just loved being led on the horses! So cute.

It was cool seeing them after so many years (probably been about 6 years or more), and seeing my second cousins, the little girls. They had so much fun visiting all of the animals (and ended up taking one of the kittens home, hehe)!

We should be getting the other horse sometime next month, so that will be nice. With 3 horses we can ride, I'm sure the gals will get out more and do so.