Deer Hunting Season, Corn Harvesting(whatever this is called) and Bunny-Blogging News! (Plus a lot of other random critter stuff!)

We have corn all around our house, and the front corn is being cut down. 

It's very exciting to see it be cut down by the interesting tractor equipment, but a lot of deer like to sleep in it, so they dart out when the tractors go through cutting down the corn. 

Please be very careful when driving by a corn patch to avoid accidents with deer and car collisions. 

Since I've made my first point, I'd like to move on. But first, here are some pictures (actually just one)of the tractors (not sure what these are really called but whatever) cutting down the corn.

A decent picture of our view of the.... tractor...harvesting..vehicles... Whatever they are called. Don't ask me.

Back to my next announcement - which is that I just wanted to tell all of our deer hunter friends to have a great hunting season!

 Can't wait to see if our deer hunting blind gets used this week.

 We already had lots of deer run into our already deer-infested yard due to the corn-cutting-down. 

Including three does rampaging into our backyard and breaking our horse pen, and a huge buck running with a humongous corn stalk tangled in his antlers. Quite a comical sight. 

Moving on to another announcement - a lot of hilarious antics are going on at Houseful Of Rabbits! (Sooooo... Check it out!!! ) (www.houseofrabbits.blogspot.com)  

And at Life With Reno Rabbits.... Gerald has passed away... ): 

Visit Life with Reno Rabbits for more info on sweet bunn Gerald.

Let's go to some better news. At

http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/, the authors announced their arrival home. 

You decide if the look on Dougal's face is disapproval or not! (:

I also have something any bunny owner may be interested in. If you live in or nearby Minnesota (wish I did, this thing looks fun!) your rabbit would love to go to Hoppy Hour, a fun playtime session for lots of rabbits in the organization called Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society. The website is http://mnhouserabbit.org

and it has all the information you need to know about Hoppy Hour. From what I read the only requirements is your rabbit needs to have a clean bill of health, and should be spayed or neutered(for obvious reasons and because they are less prone to fight with other bunns when spayed or neutered). Here's the info I pasted below:

Hoppy Hour

Bring your bunny for a chance to play with other bunnies! You are sure to have a great time watching all the bunnies and talking with other bunny lovers. On the bunny "playground" will be a few small agility obstacles for the buns to enjoy, but this is not a class. Mostly, its just a time to hang out and enjoy the cuteness of bunnies at play.

In order to participate, rabbits have to be sterilized and free of illness. Admission is $3/rabbit, but people are free and have just as much fun! Check the events calendar for dates and locations. There is no need to register, but if you are are a first-time attendee wanting to join us at the South Saint Paul location, please contact us to get the address and directions.

This sounds like loads of fun and your rabbits will certainly love this. Also it's such a coincidence that disapproving rabbits.com takes their bunns here and even had a few pictures for us.

As for our own pet rabbits, Daisy and Lily are both healthy and happy. I put a big stick in Daisy's pen for her to gnaw on, and apart from the noise of her chewing away at it and the cleanup of some wood pieces strewn all over, it's great! 

She says hello. 

Got a bit of snow yesterday, and a bit more on Monday, and it's been really cold. 

I also picked up the next books in the Warriors series today. I had to force myself to put them down long enough to do Critter Corner which is almost impossible - these books are unputdownable! But of course I had to post something so I did stop reading.

Power of Three -  Outcast

Very good installment of the ongoing series! I'm proud of myself that I got to Power Of Three already! 

This is the third book. I also got book four and five just in case - but these ones seem thicker than The New Prophecy, so I hope I have time to read all of them. 

Oh and whoever did not read the post about mice socialization please do. It was published after the one before it, for some reason, sorry. 

As for Minnie, she is sleeping.

Close up

Finally, I got a request a while ago about what rabbit food and hay I used.

 We use Oxford Timothy Hay(never alfalfa) and we just got Purina Rabbit Chow.

 Anyone considering getting this brand, read on. 

I love it because it's good quality, and the rabbits obviously do. The store-brand food we got just a while back was the same formula as the guinea pigs and hamsters. Bad for bunnies, though! We love Purina Rabbit Chow. 

It's very healthy and both bunnies have no more icky poop covered bottoms. This was an issue with the store-brand food - the food messes up the digestive systems and they get wet mushy poop stuck in their bottom fur. This is not only smelly but rubs off on clothes, and looks gross. Plus, the poor rabbits probably got lots of tummy pains and aches. "Gastrointestinal upset", it's called. So we got the new food. The price poses no issue for me - what matters is whether it's good quality and healthy or not. But still, it was a great price! 10 bucks for this size. Plus there are no colored dye "nuggets" in here or added treats, which is bad for bunnies. What I'm talking about is those little hard colored things in the rabbit food. The bag looks like this - It's called Complete. 

  

You probably notice the pellets are a little thinner than other pellets. I noticed that too. 

(Not how much there is actually in a bag, the other half is in a plastic container.) 

The bag even came with a feeding instruction tag - most rabbit foods don't do this. 

So I hoped you enjoyed my update post. I love doing these since they are so fun! 

Here's the re posted lists of products that do and don't test on animals. Just wanted to put it out there again.

Here Is A list of Brands that test on animals. It's obviously not a complete list but I will add onto it later on.


Aveeno
Avon
Banana Boat
Bounty
Cetaphil
Clearasil
Clinique 
Clairel
Coppertone
Covergirl
Dawn
Dove
Estée Lauder
Garnier
Glade
Herbal Essentials
Huggies
Hydroxatone
Johnson+Johnson-S.C.
Kaboom
Kleenex
Listerene
Lysol 
Lo'real
Maybelline
Mars Candy
Neutrogena
Olay
Oscar de larenta 
Oxiclean
P&G
Pantene
Post-it's 
Pledge
Pixi
Ralph Lauren
Revlon
Resolve
Scotch
Scott
Sephora
Sensodyne
Vaseline
Vicks
Windex
Woolite




Here's the other one: 

Yeah, I know. This is a short list. There's many more products out there. I'll be sure to add onto this one too. Okay guys, and listen, New York Color (NYC)is so confusing so I won't add it because their website never clarifies they REALLY do not test. Also several vegan websites state emails they sent inquiring about the testing were never replied.


100% pure
Acne Free
Almay
Avalon
Bare Essentials
Beauty Without Cruelty
Benifit
Bio-Oil
Blistex
Burt's Bees
Cerave
E.L.F
Eucerin
Free And Clear
GloMinerals
Gold Bond
Jergens
Nivea
Philosophy
Proactive Sol.
Revive
Sally Hansen
Sea Breeze
Simple
Bath &Body Works(Specially marked products)
Tre'semme




To see if they test of not, there is a symbol of a rabbit (the international poster child) that states cruelty free or says "not tested". Some products that do test say, FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE AND SAFETY WE TEST OUR PRODUCTS or some other thing like that. Remember, just because something says All Natural doesn't mean it helps nature or animals. Thats a common mistake when searching for only cruelty free products. I really have gotten into making others aware of testing on animals and how terrible it is even past April. It's especially horrible if you have a pet yourself and couldn't imagine anyone doing that to an animal.

My list was just of super common things that people have in their homes. (If you are unsure about New York Color you can do more research but from what I've seen it looks like the nail polish company does test.)

Edit: I can't delete the link to PETAs website and the Beauty wi/o bunnies from PETA.  I just won't paste it here. I don't choose to support PETA because they euthanize 99% of their rescued animals. Not always humanely either. Anyways, thank you for your support at Aprils Animal Cruelty Month at my blog! (:

Chickadee Taps on Window?

One of my Blogger buddies told me about a mysterious chickadee bird tapping on the window. Here is some info and links you might want to check out, along with plenty of my own information.

"Black-Capped Chickadees are bold and inquisitive and are usually the first to find a new feeder. They appreciate a reliable food source and have been known to tap on windows if the feeder runs low."



The Chickadee may be trying to get your attention or most likely get in. A good solution is to check the feeder for daily fillings, or look for something that is irritating the bird. For example, a large squirrel was bombarding our feeder, and the birds got angry at him. They perched in the pear trees and would chirp loudly.  We put out safflower seeds and not as many squirrels came.

 

i have a small bird that goes from window to window tapping on the glass, it does this on the window of any room i'm in?

Do you feed the birds? If so, they have an uncanny ability to sense when the seeds are going out. We have  chickadees and titmice, purple finches, mourning doves and nut hatches near out house. Everyday at noon they gather in the two trees in front of our door and wait for us to open it and spread some seed on the grass and patio. It's great fun to see and hear them. Another reason for your bird to go from window to window is that it sees its own reflection in the glass and thinks it's another bird. We had a bird last year who kept attacking our glass patio door all day long until it was exhausted. We didn't know what to do. Finally, we put a piece of cardboard over the door and that seemed to work. Good Luck!

Not Just Fleas!

The beautiful colors....the migrating geese.....Autumn is the time where you can really appreciate nature.

But it's also the time for ticks and mosquitoes to start biting before the cold snow starts to come. If you let your small pet go on a harness outside, you have to be sure not to stay out too long. "Pets can not only get dehydrated, they can also get bitten pretty bad by those insects out there." a dog website tells readers.

Set up a Mini "Pet Treatment Center!"

Ouch! Have you ever been bitten or stung before? Boy, does it hurt! If you think your dog, cat, or other pet has been bitten or stung, try these simple, soothing methods for pets.

1. Remove any stingers by gently scratching with the side of a credit card or your own finger on the wound area. The stung area will look pink and puffy and will have a brown line embedded in your pet's skin.
2. Take some ice in a plastic bag and carefully press it on the pet's wound. There might be a little blood.
3. Inject any venom in the bloodstream by putting a little baking soda and water or a small amount of meat tenderizer on your pet's wound site.
4. To reduce itching and irritation, put milk of magnesia all over the bite or sting wound.
5. To lessen any more pain, make up an oatmeal bath either using special pet oatmeal-shampoo, or you can also tie a sock filled with regular oatmeal or some colloidal to the water faucet. The water will wash out the sock, creating a creamy texture to the water.
6. Get some ammonia and put it on a cotton swab. Rub it on the area. If you don't have ammonia, grab some hydro-cortisone cream and put a thin layer on your pet's bite or sting. This will decrease any more pain.

When you are done with the treatment, watch your pet carefully. Every day, put a little aloe-vera gel on the bite or sting. The healing process will increase more quickly.

If you think your pet has been bitten by a black widow or brown recluse spider, take him to the vet immediately. You will save his life.

A few tips by Daisy and Peanut (when your pet needs the vet)

• If your pet has lumps all over him, you should take him into the vet. He could have allergies.
• If your pet has a small bug the size of a this period(.) or larger stuck under his fur, this is a tick. When the are as big as your fingernail, that means they are filled with blood. Remove them with tweezers and take your pet into the vet--pronto! 
• A way to keep mosquitoes away is pet-friendly insect spray or, a clip-on one to put on your pet's collar. Mosquitoes aren't something to worry about like a different insect bite or sting is, but it still can get itchy!!