Living in a Toxic World just posted a blog regarding how animals impact the environment. This was something that I was just talking about with Aaron the other day. The conversation went something like this:

Jen: Aaron, you know how I've been working really hard to eliminate a lot of animal products from our diet because of the environmental consequences?
Aaron: Yeah, how could I forget...
Jen: I had a disturbing thought. Maybe I'm just becoming really weird, instead of just kind of weird. ...but, you know, Ra-ra eats commercial cat food. That has meat in it. So, even though us humans are trying to get off the CAFO food... Ra-ra is still eating it.
Aaron: Don't worry, he's only eating the downer cows and sick horses.

I laughed heartily (because I have a screwed up sense of humor like that, and often laugh at inappropriate things), and then started wondering about how I could reduce all of my animals' dependence on commercialized products, just as I'm reducing my family's.

I have three pets, currently.

Lord Kai Ramzeez Ta'Rkais was my very first pet. I had other pets as a child through my parents, but I purchased Kai for my birthday back in 2001 (January 27th, to be exact). He was named for a couple of people I really liked from an online game I played at the time. Kai is a bearded dragon, which is a desert animal from Australia. Beardies are extremely friendly and playful, although I never take Kai out of his tank. Before I had kids and a huge house, I'd let him run around in the living room, but now there are too many places for him to hide and things to eat or hurt him. Beardies do get stressed when their habitat changes, too, so while I'd like to get him a larger tank (he's in a 55 gallon right now), for now he just stays in his. He eats a combination of crickets and lettuce/vegetable mix.





Timothy was purchased when I was pregnant with Nate, in late 2003 or early 2004. Red-eared slider turtles can be found all over the southern United States. He is probably the favorite of people who come to visit, because he eats comets, a type of gold fish, which swim all around the tank. Whenever we are eating dinner, Timothy is trying to as well, and it is highly entertaining to watch. He eats a mixture of lettuce/vegetables, comets, snails, and red wigglers.



Our third pet is Ra-Ra Alexander, our cat. Ra-ra was purchased when Nate was turning a year old as a birthday present. Nate and Sammi both love Ra-ra, and pet him often. The only two words Sammi says? Hi and "mauw," which is her version of meow. Ra-ra is now a fatty mcfatterson cat, although he used to be a cute little fluff ball.





I've had a variety of pets over the years, but I've pawned off most of them (or they've died), and I really don't want any more. I don't know what I will do when the three I have die, because I love them all so incredibly. But I don't want to add to the mix at all.

So, what measures am I taking, you ask? And please, feel free to add any comments on my choices, suggestions or criticisms. I'm still learning, here.

Kai:
Part of my lettuce project of growing lettuce indoor this winter was aimed at feeding Kai and Timothy. I have learned from the project: I need a lot more space to grow any amount of lettuce that would be capable of feeding them; Kai does not like frozen vegetables/lettuce. I had mixed up a blend of veggies and lettuce, shredded them in a food processor, and then frozen them. Timothy (and the comets) love it, but Kai hates it. I would like to grow a huge amount of lettuce this growing season for them, and then I need to learn a way to preserve it for the animals for the winter, or make a larger area to grow lettuce indoors. Any suggestions here?

Kai also eats crickets. I have tried to raise these, but unfortunately I am unable to remember to water them, so they end up shriveling up unused. I think I will try again in a couple years when I have less responsibilities on my plate, or at least less stressful responsibilities. (Does that ever actually happen? Less stress?) Currently I buy them from the local Petsmart in just the right amount for Kai to eat before they kick off.

Lighting and substrate. Kai's last light broke, so I just switched him over to a compact system. He has a compact flourescent-like bulb for his spectrum and another bulb for his heating. They all operate on less than 45watts for about 10-12 hours a day. We put a cover on top of his tank to try to keep the heat in for him. He also has a small undertank heater to try to keep the heat up in his tank. I don't know of any way to reduce these energy costs, although we are moving to more and more renewable energy sources. Kai's substrate is crushed walnut shells. This has been shown to cause impaction in some animals, but he's been living on it for seven years with no problems. I prefer it to the sand because it is renewable, but I haven't researched it, so that may be faulty logic.

Timothy

Timothy eats a variety of foods.

Petsmart has a problem with invasive baby snails growing all over their tanks. They get shipped in with the plants and then take over. We get our snails for free from Petsmart. If someone doesn't come in to take their babies, they throw them away. I also have a small tank set up on the kitchen counter which receives sunlight and that's all (no energy costs whatsoever) with some snails in it. I'm trying to grow some to put in Timothy's tank for eating purposes.

The lettuce project.

Red wigglers. I started my worm composting system with the idea that I'd be able to take the extra (bred in my system) red wigglers from the system to feed to Timothy. I think this is a great idea to help sustainably feed Tim.

Currently, Tim eats comets. Once I get the red wigglers up and running, I'd like to remove comets from the system as much as possible, and only feed them as a treat.

Lighting/substrate/water needs. Timothy has a low wattage light to add some heat to his basking spot and to light up his tank. He also has a water heater to heat the water temperature. He has a gravel substrate which is cleaned, but never removed. (I did have to purchase this recently, as I had removed all the gravel out of his tank to use in a fish tank awhile back. Now I have all that gravel back [the fish died and we didn't replace them] and I don't know what to do with it. I think I'll clean it and line plant pots with it.) The biggest problem with Tim is his water usage. He has carbon filters which need replaced every so many weeks and water is constantly evaporating. Any ideas here?

Eventually, again I've done no research, I thought it would be neat to set up an aquaponics system with Tim to use that water for better reasons. I have no idea if the water would be too strong for plants, since turtles are extremely dirty and give off a lot of ammonia. I need to do research.

Ra-ra

Ra-ra eats commercialized cat food, currently. I just switched his litter over to Yesterday's News from clay litter. He doesn't have many toys, and I don't purchase him new ones. I'd like to see if there is a better way to feed him.

This post got reaaaaally long, eh?

Labels: environment, gardening