Terry Jenkins

Regarding floating islands: I just read a story yesterday about the huge volcano explosion (in Indonesia?) that caused the "year without a summer" in 1816. It blew lots of big chunks of pumice out onto the sea, which mixed with tree trunks washed to sea by the ensuing tsunamis to form huge floating islands up to 3 miles wide. One landed in India many months later. So, perhaps some pumice to float your island? Some landscape materials companies sell pumice rocks and boulders. Just an idea...

Very interesting and important thread here! I am sorry to say I have not visited for awhile as I have been swallowed up by face book in the last year or so. But I have been looking at many types of ancient rock structures, photographed and shared by face book friends all over the world, and often nobody knows what the structure was for, and ideas about the intended purpose vary widely. I can see now some of us have been puzzling over ancient "air wells". I will be happy to pass the information along. Sadly, my own southern PNW land is rock-free, so in order to put these ideas in practice during the dry summer months, I will have to import rocks.

Hi,  we live in a 24 foot yurt.  We don't have it plumbed, and just use a camp stove, so I don't know if you would consider it an alternative house - more of a tent.  but it is home for now, and will be for several years more until we get our little house built.  You can contact me if you want but I bet there are other folks with more interesting and house like setups in their yurts.  Terry Jenkins "happy_deer_grass@yahoo.com"

Chelle, I hope you take pictures of your rabbit set-up to share when you get it going!

Terry Jenkins

I used to manage a small rescue zoo with lots of resident meat eaters.  For awhile, we raised our own chickens, rodents, and rabbits to supplement their commercial zoo diets. We never had enough so we ended up buying frozen, whole carcass mice, rats, rabbits and quail, and eventually gave up raising them on site.  Yes, we always fed the entire animal including guts and fur or feathers.  For awhile I fed my home cats all raw, and bought bags of mice from the zoo, which they relished.  I had too many dogs and couldn't afford it for them, but with enough commitment you could raise enough meat for your dogs and cats.  Chickens love mice too!  Dogs are easy because they can eat such a wide variety of foods, while cats are finicky and are also obligate carnivores.

I think about it a lot, and now if I get to the point I can't afford or even find good dog and cat food, I'll just feed the dogs mostly plant material supplemented with eggs and wild rodents, and leave the cats "mostly" to their own devices.  We have lots of rabbits, ground squirrels, gophers, voles and mice that are fair game when they get into my dwelling and food garden.  DH and I are eating a vegan diet now.  It's for health, not philosophical reasons, but we do admit it has been a kind of spiritual relief not to "have to" kill and eat animals.  So raising them for dogs and cats would be a little harder to do now as well.

One thing I have never heard about is feeding mealworms or other "bugs" to dogs or cats.  In the wild they will both eat grasshoppers and such.  Anybody know?

Terry Jenkins

Cyara,

Of course it would depend on the individual dog and how it was trained/raised, but two "schools" of dogs come to mind:  First, any breed of Livestock Guardian Dog, perhaps leaning toward a smaller and less active (less inclined to trample rabbits) dog. Second, any breed of Farm Collie or Farm Shepherd (all-around farm dogs).  With either, it would be most helpful to start with a small pup and impress upon it the rabbits are flock and family, to be loved and protected. 

The LGD's are bred to live with the stock full time, to essentially be one of the flock, which would mean the rabbits would need a really large area, unless the LGD had a perimeter area around the smaller rabbit "pastures".  In this case, he or she can't be part of the flock and can't develop the close relationship...  Of our own two LGD's, an Akbash/Pyr and a smaller purebred Pyrenees who are goat dogs, my guess is the Pyr would be a better rabbit dog.  He is a little softer, although I like the personality on our cross better for my own taste.

Farm collies and shepherds are bred to be the farmer's second in command - to keep order on the farm according to your own rules and practices.  They should bond with all resident animals and help keep them contained in their proper places as well as tend to and protect them. In order to do this, they need free range on the farm, and consistent guidance from you. They would not be happy or at their best if confined with the stock around the clock. Breeds that come to mind are English Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, old-fashioned Border Collie, and rough collies.  If you have an exceptional dog of almost any breed they might fill this bill as well, except for the smaller terrier breeds who are just terrors on small stock.

Best to get advice from those who are most knowlegable on the particular breed and situation you have - these are just my own opinions, based only partly in experience. The one dog I had when there were loose rabbits living in my yard was an unknown shepherd type mix originally purchased as a "wolf" but he was no wolf or even a wolf-dog.  He was, however, an exceptional dog! The rabbits were ex-pets dumped in the park adjacent to my yard, and had adapted to their feral life very well.  They came and went from my yard and were more like friends and neighbors than stock, but my dog liked them and considered them part of his clan.

Terry Jenkins

Hello, I am a new member, but have been visiting for awhile.  For some years in the 1980's, I raised meat rabbits in a colony (the "Rabbit Recreation Area") at the small rescue zoo I managed.  It was small, probably only 100 square feet, and on a slope.  We ended up concreting over the soil so we could clean it, but it was nice in that most of the pellets rolled to the bottom.  We had a wooden nest box similar to a hen nest box that could house up to 6 litters at a time, and could be opened up to clean, check bunnies, etc, from outside the pen.  Much nicer than cages, and the rabbits were happy, but sure not ideal.  We used most of the bunnies at a younger age than you would for human consumption, and this system did "produce".  They were fed whole and freshly killed to every carnivore and bird of prey at the zoo at least once per month. We finally stopped because too many volunteers complained of having to care for the cute bunnies only to have to feed them to carnivores the next week... I dreamed of creating a large pasture adjacent to the wolf exhibit where the rabbits might go through a tunnel and self feed the wolves on occasion.  Never did that.  But I love to hear that so many others are pursuing such improved situations for their rabbits, wether "family members" or "meat".

For protection from predators, wouldn't an LGD be a good idea?  I have known many rabbit/dog friendships, so don't know why you couldn't raise a dog to be a rabbit guardian - carefully of course. 

Terry Jenkins