https://wsbt.com/news/nation-world/not-snow-nor-pandemic-keeps-punxsutawney-phil-from-his-job-02-02-2021-122744012?fbclid=IwAR0-tmKrInGQC_hR9NhPfX6VH35WfGzcyDvNeUkH9EJjvlTovVxX0TsLKYQ for more.
Hi everyone!
My name is Alex and I run The Pipsqueakery. My partner, Jason (u/CrossP), might also jump in here but he has a lot of animal care to do today while I have a bunch of computer work.
The Pipsqueakery is a 501c3 rescue based in Bloomington, IN that takes in rodents and rabbits with a focus on those with special medical needs. We care for mice, hamsters, rats, squirrels (captive bred and permitted only), guinea pigs, degus, chinchillas, rabbits, gerbils, capybaras, patagonian cavies, prairie dogs, groundhogs, ducks (because why not ducks, one hedgehog and probably a few others that I'm forgetting because I'm constantly sleep deprived.
Some factoids to get you started:
We recently took over rescues in Arkansas, New Jersey, and New Hampshire so that's been interesting.
We're in the process of building a facility.
We believe that animal rescue and human rights intersect such that we have to consider both in all that we do.
I work a full time job in addition to running the rescue. Jason is a stay-at-home hamster dad.
We spend a ton of money on vet bills, and I have to help more than one rabbit pee multiple times a day.
Here's proof on whichever platform you prefer (you actually have to read what was written since the links seem to just want to preview the picture):
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHLPTM_spb7/?igshid=kzxd8znp5xrc
On Facebook go to facebook.com/ThePipsqueakery and this should be the top post on the page including a link back to here.
Edit: I'm still here answering questions but do actually need to feed myself at some point so might slow down for a bit.
Edit 2: I'm going to sleep for a bit but I'll be back tomorrow to answer more questions if any are left!
Edit 3: I'm awake-ish so I'm back to keep answering the questions coming in!
Edit 4: I'm here all day folks. I'm not feeling great so I'll be lying in bed answering questions and tending to the sick animals that don't require me to stand up.
I have been doing composting for about 2 years now with relative success. I didn't read up much about brown to green ratios, so it always took a while to generate compost, but I never had any infestations of any kind.
Back to today: I've been living with four other people and we're all eating largely vegan (one of us isn't and that's why I'm saying largely, but I digress), so we're putting about 2 to 3 5Litre buckets of green every week. Our pile is massive!!!!!
This morning I went to my box (made of pallets) to shake it around for the weekly shake and I found it had food fallen from the sides. Too much than usual which I found odd. Then after looking around a bit I see tunnels and a little rat jumps out and legs it.
Our theories are that the rat made himself a borrow because it's been extremely cold the last couple of days and would need a hot place. Is there any other explanation for this? Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
I'm going to reduce the amount of food waste I put into the compost to prevent it from growing too much during these winter months when it doesn't compost fast just in case
Thanks for any help
EDIT: There were too many comments to individually reply to, so I'll do it through here. Thanks for all the advice. Putting food waste into a tumbler until it is not longer food and I can put it in my pile is a good idea. It is the least destructive. Being vegan myself, I want to respect the lives of local animals, so getting an outdoor cat is not an option. That and the fact that I don't want to add myself (through the kitty) to the growing demand of meat which inflicts so much needless cruelty and loss of biodiversity globally. There is also a high population of red kites and foxes where I live, so they can maintain the order without me needing to do anything damaging to the lives of the mice and rats
I know my compost has attracted a rat because of the cold and increased food waste, so I'm going to put way more leaves (I have a whole batch waiting to be used) and only add one bucket worth of compost every month, while leaving the rest for the local council's food waste pick-up collection service, so that nitrogen won't be wasted in landfill. At least I'll do that until it gets hot enough for my food waste to compost fucken quickly
this is my second rodent quiz rules are simple just chose if you think the animal shown is a rodent or not https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOPheyE3XYUDg-mx7sFHZgkVQP3knesIWH6zdkpoIlsveKkw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Results will be posted next weekend
This was something a friend of mine in animal rescue posted and I'm sharing it here in hopes of greater reach. This is the third poisoned owl that she knows of in Sugarhouse in the last several months. It was sent to the Wildlife Rehab in Ogden, but unfortunately did not make it.
When you put out poison to try to take care of rodent problems, owls are poisoned when they eat them. The poison leaches calcium from their bones and damages their kidneys. Please look at other options than poison when trying to control any rodent problems you might have!
https://preview.redd.it/gnbqhi0sxdb61.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ffef56449f4c87682084502b69217210358fe79
All you have to do is decide if the animal in the picture is a rodent or not
Not accepting responses anymore but don't worry the results will be out by Saturday.
