#indoorcomposting

[unclelanny]

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My pet worms. 🪱💩 #vermicompost #vermicomposting #compost #indoorcomposting #zerowastelifestyle #zerowaste #unique #worm #worms #wormcastings #wormfarm #veganlife #vegan #interestingthings #veganlifestyle #petworm #redwiggler #sustainability #organic #vermiculture #permaculture #livingsoil #urbangarden #urbanagriculture (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYUAAUhIWTD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[zerowastehomestead]

Natural Pet Food - Part Deux: The veggie edition

I was so excited about making raw food for our kitties that I started exploring options for getting our other pets off of pelleted food as well.  What pets you ask?  Why our little rabbits are on the docket today (though a lot of it applies to our red footed tortoise Harriet and our green cheeked conure Jasper.)   Now I’m not a veterinarian and I definitely encourage you to explore the exact diets each of your animals need and what foods they cannot tolerate, but you’re doing that already I’m sure. Inspired by websites like this one discussing natural rabbit diets, I switched our bunns to a natural diet of unlimited timothy hay (alfalfa hay isn’t great for them so make sure you get timothy), and a mix of vegetable chop made out of assorted fruits and vegetables I happen to have on hand or that are on sale at our local grocery store.  Your goal is to aim for at least 3 different types of leafy greens per day, at a quantity of at least 2 cups per rabbit, a cup in the morning and a cup at night.  You’ll also want to take care to feed calcium rich greens in moderation (like spinach, swiss chard, etc) in order to avoid issues like kidney stones. 

For this first batch I chopped up some celery, carrots and romaine lettuce.  The rabbits went crazy.  I supplement this with whatever food scraps I have after making meals as these guys are champion composters. (I only chopped this up because I also intended to feed it to our smaller mouthed critters, the tortoise and the conure.  If you just have rabbits, no need to chop.)

Beatrice & Dante, our mini rex bunnies, are going absolutely mad about their new diet they love it so much! This chop also has been getting shared between our tortoise and conure as they both benefit immensely from fresh vegetables and fruit.  Our conure’s diet is supplemented with a multi-vitamin and quality seed mix and our red food tortoise gets a small quantity of protein once a week (like hardboiled egg or unseasoned chicken meat) and an occasional addition of calcium supplement.  However, the majority of all of their food will be made out of fresh chop and I feel so happy to be moving them all towards a more natural diet. ** Certain veggies and fruits are not great for some animals.  Onions, garlic, scallions, potatoes, avocados, chocolate, fruit seeds and pits (to name some) should not be fed to rabbits, tortoises or conures.  Be sure to do your research before introducing new foods to your fur (or feathered or scaled) babies.**