Thursday, May 31, 2012

Baby update

Wow! I was gone for 5 days and when I got back it seemed as though my "little" babies weren't so little anymore. They sure do grow quickly! Here are a few very recent pictures of my babies!

Alicia's~


































Fiona's~



Too cute!!! :)
















Update on Fiona's babies:

The silver tipped steel black buck was sold yesterday to a 4-Her. The black chinchilla buck and black doe will be going to a new home tomorrow. So, there are 2 very nice little black bucks left!

Update on Alicia's babies:

The black buck was sold to a nice pet home. And the gold tipped steel black doe was sold with the silver tipped steel black buck from Fiona. I'm keeping the black doe for the time being. And (hehe) I am STILL trying to decide whether or not I should keep the one brkn. chestnut agouti buck. So, there are for sure 2 cute broken chestnut agouti bucks left!

So, all together I have 4 adorable little bucks left!

Want one???

Ashley

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Feed

I just wanted to share what I've learned about the old feed I used to get and the feed I've switched over to.

I used to get Bomgaar's brand, called Premium Rabbit Feed. But one day a few weeks ago I looked at the ingredients list and noticed how a lot of the first ingredients ended with "products". That didn't sound good enough to me. I wanted to know exactly WHAT I was giving my rabbits to eat. So, I did some studying on it and below are some things that I found out.

First of all, this is how the ingredients list starts out:

Grain Products, Plant Protein Products, Processed Grain By-Products, Roughage Products, Forage Products, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA) ...

This is because feed manufacturers are allowed to use collective terms to describe certain feedstuffs. I sort of dove into this, studying about what is in each of those collective terms, and if everything is good for rabbits to eat. So, here is what is in all of these products:
Grain Products:
Corn*1
Barley
Oats
Wheat
Rice*2
*1-I read that corn is NOT good for rabbits! They cannot digest it very well at all and it can cause a blockage.  It is too high in starch which is not good for them (potatoes are not good for them for the same reason, too high in starch). Corn also tends to put on unhealthy fat.

*2-I read that rice (either cooked or uncooked) is not good for rabbits because it contains too many simple carbohydrates that rabbits can't digest properly.

Plant Protein Products:

Canola Meal

Cottonseed Meal

Linseed Meal

Peanut Meal *3

Sunflower Meal

Soybean Meal

Yeast Products

*3- I found out that peanuts are actually a legume (not a nut) and legumes are at the top of the list for toxic mold right below corn. Some places say that peanuts are okay for rabbits and other places say they are not okay for rabbits. I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Forage Products:
Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal
Ground Alfalfa Hay
Ground Grass Hay
Dehydrated Silage*4
Lespedezo Meal
Soybean Hay

*4-Silage is a fermented, high moisture fodder that is often fed to cattle. This is usually made from corn (the entire plant) and grass type plants. The product is placed in a silo or pile and covered with plastic to allow the product to ferment. Look back at *1.
Roughage Products:
Citrus Pulp
Beet Pulp
Corn Cobs*5
Cottonseed Hulls
Oat Hulls
Peanut Hulls
Rice Hulls
Soybean Hulls
*5-WHAT??? Corn cobs? That is just a bad filler. Look back at *1 again!

Processed Grain By-Products:
(I put stars after all the things that aren't good for rabbits).
1. Aspired grain fractions
2. Brewers dried grains
3. Buckwheat middlings
4. Condensed distillers solubles
5. Condensed fermented corn extractives with germ meal bran
6. Corn bran*
7. Corn flour*
8. Corn germ meal (wet and dry milled)*
9. Corn gluten feed*
10. Corn gluten meal*
11. Corn grits*
12. (Kind of grain) distillers dried grains
13. (Kind of grain) distillers dried grains with solubles
14. (Kind of grain) distillers dried solubles
15. (Kind of grain) flour
16. Grain sorghum germ cake
17. Grain sorghum germ meal
18. Grain sorghum grits
19. Grain sorghum mill feed
20. Hominy feed
21. Malt cleanings
22. Malt sprouts
23. Oat groats
24. Oat meal, feeding
25. Peanut skins*
26. Pearl barley by-product
27. Rice bran*
28. Rice polishings*
29. Rye middlings
30. Sorghum grain flour, gelatinized
31. Sorghum flour, partially aspirated, gelatinized
32. Wheat bran
33. Wheat feed flour
34. Wheat germ meal
35. Wheat germ meal, defatted
36. Wheat mill run
37. Wheat middlings
38. Wheat red dog
39. Wheat shorts
image 1

So, I have switched over to Manna Pro, Pro Formula Premium Feed.

And this is how it's ingredient list starts out:

Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings. Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Feeding Oatmeal, Cane Molasses, Vegetable Oil, Brewer's Dried Yeast...

I think it sounds much better, and it really says ALL that is in the feed so you can KNOW exactly what you are feeding your rabbits. Nothing ends with "products".
The quality of the ingredients in your feed does matter!!!
Ashley

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

This and that... and 34 pictures

First off, here are some pictures of my adorable little munchkins! :)

Fiona's:


Funny ears! :) {they are in the process of lopping}









Alicia's:














And here is something pretty strange to me: Fiona's babies (which are 1 day older than Alicia's babies) are smaller than Alicia's babies, just look at these 2 babies next to each other:

Alicia's on left, Fiona's on right.



I think the reasons for this could be:
1. It's Fiona's first litter
2. Both parents are small Mini lops
3. They stayed in the nest box longer than Alicia's babies

Whatever the reason is, they sure are cute and they are slowly getting bigger.
I got their pictures up on my website finally. There are still 3 available from Fiona's litter and 5 from Alicia's litter are still available... at the moment! I am also seriously considering keeping the black doe and the broken chestnut agouti buck 1.

My little Alaina:





I have 4 jars filled with flowers in my rabbitry right now! I love flowers, they really cheer the place up!


The corner with my 5 tray cages, this corner used to just have 2 cages, and I can stack way more on top of these!


Levi likes to help me when I clean out the trays!




My 6 hole will be for sale soon:




And recent pictures of our dogs Oreo and Daisy, and our cat Midnight which I will be putting up on my website on the other pets page as soon as I can!

Oreo:


Daisy:


Midnight:



And here is a link to see pictures of our adorable kittens that Whiskers had! :)


Ashley

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

SillyTom

My little guy loves to hop around on the top of my long 6 hole cage! I let him jump out on the top (my 6-hole has the doors on the top of the cage) and run around just about everyday.  Here are a few pictures of my silly little guy! :)

There he goes!




Isn't he so cute?






All tuckered out!

 


Ashley