Cattle

Posts Tagged ‘fresh’

If you are looking at chicken coops for sale one of the first things you will realize is how many different kinds are available. But which one you actually choose to install in your garden is dependent on how much space you have in it and the number of chickens you want to keep.

It is important that the chicken coop you select for your garden is one that will ensure that it provides the hens with ample protection both from predators and the weather. The happier and healthier your chickens are the more likely they are to lay good quality eggs for you. Below we offer some pointers to help you with selecting the right chicken coop for sale for you.

Point 1 – If space is limited for your coop then rather than going for a traditional ground based one opt for those that are above ground. As well as meaning you won’t need to have much space to place it on, it provides better protection for your chickens against predators such as rats.

Point 2 – You must ensure that the coop allows for ample amounts of fresh air to circulate through the coop during the day and at night. This will ensure that the levels of ammonia and moisture in it don’t become too great otherwise it will have a serious effect on the health of your chickens. As well as causing damage to your chickens health excess moisture and ammonia can lead to the chickens laying poor quality eggs. Also as the majority of chicken coops for sale are made from timber they may rot easily if the ammonia and moisture builds up within it.

Leopard geckos are lucky in that there are relatively few health issues which tend to affect them. However, tail loss is one of these issues. Dropping their tail is a defense mechanism which enables leopard geckos to escape from predators, though it can cause some problems.

A gecko will grow a new tail if they lose theirs, though the tail which they grow back won’t usually look much like the tail they have lost; it tends to be a different shape and is often white rather than its original color. Of course, a gecko doesn’t worry too much about its looks, though you might prefer the way your pet looks with their original tail!

However, the way your pet leopard gecko’s new tail looks isn’t the real problem. The problem is that losing their tail can make your pet less healthy – a gecko which has lost their tail will be stressed and weakened and more susceptible to disease.

If your pet should lose their tail, they’ll need special care to keep them in good health and prevent infection from setting in as their tail grows back. You may want to keep the injured gecko in a different tank (if you currently house your leopard gecko with others). Make sure that the tank is kept very warm; in fact, any time your gecko is sick you should increase the temperature of their tank. They should have plenty of fresh water and food available while they heal as well.

Shedding is another thing which can pose a health hazard to your leopard gecko. Some of these animals have difficulty shedding for a variety of reasons. It may be too cool inside the tank, the humidity level may be too low, they may have a vitamin deficiency (usually it’s more vitamin A that they need) or even be infested with parasites. This is rare, but a leopard gecko with parasites won’t shed. You can check for parasites by looking carefully at their skin, especially between their toes.

If your leopard gecko is unable to shed for too long they can become sick. Rather than letting things get to this point, make sure to properly care for your pet to prevent these problems from occurring in the first place.

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Guinea pigs are one of the most popular household pets, next to dogs and cats.  These fluffy little creatures require very little care and take up hardly any space.  Given proper care and nutrition, they can live for many years and we can form quite an attachment to them.  A proper diet that mimics as closely as possible is the best way to insure that your pet guinea pig lives out all his years in good health.

Guinea pigs have diets in nature that are extremely high in fiber.  This fiber is essential to the proper workings of a guinea pig’s intestines and digestive system.  They require both fiber that is indigestible, that helps move the digestive process along as well as digestible fiber for nutrition.  The proportions should be near equal in ratio, so it’s important to feed the guinea pig the right mix of the two foods in order to avoid problems.

The best and easiest way to ensure that your pet is getting the proper nutrition is to feed them a high quality pellet specifically designed for guinea pigs.  These animals cannot produce their own vitamin C and therefore they require supplements.  Specifically designed guinea pig food allows for this through supplementation.  These pellets are a mix of a wide variety of plants, seeds and vegetables.

The pellets alone provide satisfactory nutrition, but you are free to spice up the diet with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables..  Carrots, lettuce and broccoli are good choices and help provide additional nutrition as well as variety.  Guinea pigs can eat almost any vegetable so don’t be afraid to experiment with different things.  Fruits are also a welcome treat for guinea pigs.  Strawberries, melon and apples are some of their favorites.    Some form of hard to chew food should be given since the pigs need to grind down their constantly growing teeth. A fresh supply of hay will help with this, round out the diet and keep the animal healthy.  Uneaten food should be removed from the cage before it begins to decompose and become a health risk.

Processed human foods should be avoided.  Even cereals that are mostly grain contain fillers and sugar which will not be good for the animal.  Just like humans, guinea pigs will quickly develop an affinity for these types of junk foods and will forego eating the healthy food they are given.

Last of all, fresh drinking water should always be on hand.  A high fiber diet requires a lot of water to digest.  Follow these healthy diet tips and enjoy your guinea pig’s company for many years.

Many times it is hard to decide whether to get freshwater aquarium plants or to go with fake plants. It is the same sort of decision you also have to make for your home. Do you want real, live houseplants or artificial plants? Certainly live plants create a more natural environment, and for fish this translates into being more comfortable in their surroundings. Both live and fake plants provide places for fish to hide, which keeps aggressive fish from bullying smaller fish.

Fake or live plants?

The big advantage of fake plants is that they require absolutely no care whatsoever, but in an aquarium they do get covered with algae and need to be consistently cleaned. Even those big algae-eating bottom dwellers don’t like to clean off fake plants. Live freshwater aquarium plants not only look more natural, they help you to keep your fish healthier. They deliver oxygen to the water and take in nitrates, which fish expel. There are also many fish who like to eat plants and unless you have some aggressive plant-eaters, you will only notice some nibbled edges now and then. Stay away from Silver Dollars, as they can destroy an entire underwater garden in a day.

Live plant selection

While live plants require more care and may need some specific lighting changes to grow well, if you get just the right plants they will provide a completely natural habitat for your fish. There are many different types of freshwater aquarium plants and all have different characteristics. For instance, floating plants, as you probably guessed, float on the top of the tank. Rhizomes are horizontal plants and they have roots which act like a runner across the bottom of your tank’s substrate. They have leaves on top but grow horizontally. If you have a small tank they can fill it up pretty fast.

A good example of a floating plant is the floating fern. These plants will thrive with hardly any effort at all on your part. You will need to trim them just like you would prune outside plants. If you don’t they will cover the entire top of the tank and leave you no open water at all. If you are conscientious about trimming, however, they make a nice looking plant for fish to hide underneath. Plants with rhizomes can include anubias, which are good for beginners because they are pretty much indestructible. They don’t need a lot of carbon dioxide like some other plants and a plectostomus can keep them clean of algae.

Java Moss is a very popular aquarium plant. It can grow on the bottom of the tank, or it can attach itself to rocks, driftwood, or other structures. The great thing about java moss is that it doesn’t require special lighting like many other freshwater aquarium plants. And, some fish will lay their eggs in the moss, and this is an especially good characteristic if you want to have more fish.

A few other hardy plants you will want to check out are Cryptocoryne or crypts. They grow slowly and further down in the tank where the lighting is not good for many other kinds of plants. One of the most colorful is the cryptocoryne beckettii, which has the unusual ability to grow underwater and on land. The Amazon sword is one of the most popular freshwater aquarium plants, and it really depends on what you have for fish whether this plant is a success or a failure. It needs lots of light, fertilizer and carbon dioxide to do well.

No matter what you end up choosing for freshwater aquarium plants, the chances are you will be happy with the looks of the habitat they create. The amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your water will determine which ones do well and which ones do not. Just make any necessary adjustments and remember to trim the plants so that you don’t end up with an underwater jungle.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your dog has really bad breath and you’re not even sure why?  You’re certain that your feeding them healthy food and not feeding them any treats or other foods that are sources of bad breath.  Did you ever stop to consider the fact that maybe you’re not brushing your dog’s teeth enough.  This could be the number one cause of bad breath in dogs.  

There are a number of reasons why you should keep up with the task of cleaning your dog’s teeth, and bad doggy breath is certainly at the top of the list.  Sure you enjoy hanging out on the couch watching a movie with your dog right beside you, but not if his breath is so bad that you can’t stand it.  If you start to notice that his breath is bad, then that means that you have failed to keep up with the cleaning of your dogs teeth.  You can also see that your dog needs to have his teeth cleaned by looking at them closely.  You’ll see buildup starting to show towards their gums which is often dark yellow to light green in color.  This is generally what we know as tartar.  

Bad breath is not the only problem associated with not cleaning your teeth properly.  Your dog can also experience forms of gingivitis which is caused by not keeping up with tooth care, as well as a general weakening of the gums that surround the teeth.  In order to prevent this and other types of conditions, you have to keep up with the daily care of your dog’s entire mouth.

So how do you clean your dog’s teeth?  Well it’s actually pretty simple.  The bare minimum tools require is a toothbrush, preferably one that is used for brushing a baby’s teeth.  Since dogs teeth and gums are more sensitive than human teeth, they require a softer brush so they are not scraped or scratched during the process of brushing.  As far as the technique of brushing goes, you can use a similar technique that you would use when brushing your own.  You can dip the toothbrush in a water to provide a more rinsing brush, or if you want to use toothpaste, there are certain types of toothpaste available for dogs that come in all types of flavors.  

Cleaning your dogs teeth should be done on a regular basis in order to keep them as clean as possible and free from any issues such as bad breath, dog gingivitis, or other complications that may arise from not cleaning on a regular basis.  Keeping your dog’s teeth fresh and clean will keep your dog happy and you as well.