Animals Spieces

Rodents make good pets. Not only are they small and easy to manage, they are also fun to watch and are typically hassle-free. While some people associate rodents with dark, dirty, and scary sewer rats, you’ll find that there are lots of cute and furry rodents that would make perfect companions for people of all ages.

The good thing about rodents is that they are pretty small. This means that you don’t need too much to keep them in your home. Also they are low maintenance. You can put them in their cage, play with them a bit, and leave them some food and they will typically take care of themselves.

Below is a list of the most common rodent pets you might consider for your household pet.

1. Hamsters-hamsters are not very long-lived rodents. They do, however, live an average of two to three years. You will need large enough cages for hamsters since they are very active. They can also be kept single, without the need for cage mates. They’re pretty agreeable especially if you handle them from the time they are very young. They can become grumpy and defensive however, especially if you wake them during the day (they are nocturnal animals).

2. Gerbils – gerbils also live up to three years. They have a furry tail that makes up about half its size. They are also very social rodents so it would be great if you purchase them in pairs. You may want to buy same-sex gerbils however, as they could rapidly procreate if left alone. They have very agreeable temperaments, but you have to refrain from holding them by the tail.

3. Mice-mice are short-lived rodents. They only live for about one to three years. They are also very fun to watch, but due to their skittish nature, they may be very hard to handle out of the cage. They don’t typically need too much room to live in. However, being social creatures, you’ll have to buy them in pairs-just remember to keep them of the same-sex so they don’t procreate uncontrollably.

4. Guinea pigs- guinea pigs are the longest lived of the here mentioned rodents. You could keep a guinea pig for about five years. They are also very gentle in nature, and aren’t averse to handling. The truth is they won’t bite even when agitated. They are pretty big, so you will need to give them enough cage space. They are social creatures, so you’ll need to keep them in pairs. You also have to supply them with an adequate supply of vegetables and vitamin C.

Birds, ladybugs and praying mantises are the gardener’s best friends when it comes to insect control. Birds can be encouraged into the garden by feeding, hanging a birdhouse providing a bird bath or by planting plants that provide berries for them to eat. Ladybugs are now for sale by the pint, quart or gallon. The average-sized garden can get by on a quart or less, as there will be about 25 to 30 thousand bugs per quart. The cost is generally less than five dollars a quart. The average adult ladybug consumes between 40 and 50 aphids a day.

Praying mantis cases are also available and each one hatches up to 400 young. The cost is rather nominal for a case. A few gardeners have reported that this insect disappears rather rapidly from the garden, so you might want to experiment with just a few to begin with. They will eat any insect they can catch. Frogs and lizards can also control pests by eating them. You can make your garden hospitable for your natural allies by keeping a water source – just a dish full – nearby for them and by not wiping out the entire pest population with a pesticide, sending the beneficial elsewhere in search of food. Also, grow plants with small blossoms like sweet alyssum and dill, which attract predatory insects who feed on flowers’ nectar between attacks on pests. Organic pest control is a comprehensive approach instead of a chemical approach. Create a healthy biodiversity so that the insects and microbes will control themselves. Using natural products and building healthy soil is the best long-term treatment for pests. What are the pests you should be looking for?

There are literally hundreds of common garden pests that can attack your plants and threaten the viability of your gardening efforts. We couldn’t possibly address all of them. There are, however, some that occur in more frequency than others. Aphids are probably the most common problem in gardens. Aphids are soft, pear-shaped, and very tiny (1/16 to 3/8 inch long). Two short tubes project backward from the tip of their abdomen.

Aphids have long antennae. Some types of aphids have wings, which are transparent, longer than their body, and held like a roof over their back. Aphids may be green, pink, yellowish, black, or powdery gray. Nymphs resemble adults but are smaller and wingless.  They feed in colonies, so where there’s one, there’s definitely more. Aphid feeding can cause leaves to curl and become deformed. Once this has happened, the aphids are protected from any treatment you give to the plant, so it’s important to attack the problem as soon as possible.  Many species prefer the underside of leaves, so look there first. Ants are usually present where aphids are, so if there are ants in the garden, there are probably aphids as well. Aphids are the ant’s food source, so they will protect that food warding off predators that might threaten them.  To naturally control aphids, first be sure to drench plants with strong sprays of water from a garden hose. Keep your plants as healthy as possible, and spray dormant oil to control over wintering eggs. You can also spray plants with insecticidal soap, summer oil, and homemade garlic sprays. At the end of the book, we’ll have some recipes like this for you to make yourself.

If you will be growing cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower, you could have cabbage loopers. These pests are light green in color with white stripes running down their back. The larvae can reach approximately 11/2 inches long and have three pairs of slender legs near the head and three pairs of larger legs at the rear end. The middle section is legless and is looped when the insect is moving.  The larva is the damaging stage of the cabbage looper. The young larvae feed between the veins on the undersides of leaves. Large larvae make ragged holes in the foliage and move to the center of the plant where feeding generally occurs at the base of the cabbage head. Large loopers can also burrow through three to six layers of tightly wrapped head leaves.  The best way to control cabbage loopers is to handpick the larvae a few times a week. Attract predatory and parasitic insects to the garden with pollen and nectar plants.

If you find small holes in the leaves of your plants, you may have earwigs. Earwigs are generally dark brown, slender and elongated. They have a pair of “pincers” at the rear of their body and they run more than fly. They have a curved up abdomen and release foul odor when disturbed.   In general, earwigs can be beneficial to your garden, but they can get out of control, so you should use the general spray we’ll give you later in the book. There are a number of ways to control earwigs, but trapping them is probably the best way to eliminate them from your garden.  One way we like is to take a shallow dish and place beer in it. Any beer will do. The earwigs will be attracted to the beer, climb in, drink, and die. You can sift out the dead ones and reuse the beer for trapping again. They are also attracted to corn oil, fish oil, or water and vinegar. You can place these in dishes just like the beer. If the leaves of your plants are finely speckled with yellow spots or a silvery, metallic sheen, you could have thrips. Thrips are very small – about 1/16″ – and difficult to see. There are many varieties of thrips and they are of all different colors. Thrips are best controlled with sprays as we’ve described. You can also spray the plants with soapy water. Lady bugs will eat thrips as well, so attract those lady bugs to your garden!

Tomato hornworms are the largest caterpillars found in this area and can measure up to 4 inches in length. The prominent “horn” on the rear of both gives them their name. Hornworms are often difficult to see because of their protective coloring which is green. Not much for the heat of direct sunlight, they tend to feed on the interior of the plant during the day and are more easily spotted when they move to the outside of the plant at dawn and dusk  Hornworm damage usually begins to occur in midsummer and continues throughout the remainder of the growing season. The size of these garden pests allows them to quickly defoliate tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Occasionally, they may also feed on green fruit. Gardeners are likely to spot the large areas of damage at the top of a plant before they see the culprit.  The best way to control hornworms is to handpick them off your plants. They are especially susceptible to the Bt bacterial spray we described above, so we strongly suggest using this to control your hornworms. Slugs are among the most troublesome pests in the garden. They feed on a variety of living plants and decaying plant matter. On plants they chew irregular holes with smooth edges in leaves and can clip succulent plant parts. They can also chew fruit and young plant bark. 

Because they prefer succulent foliage, they are primarily pests of seedlings, herbaceous plants, and ripening fruit such as strawberries, artichokes, and tomatoes that are close to the ground. However, they will also feed on fruit of some trees, citrus is especially susceptible to damage.  Slugs are nocturnal and come out at night. They slither under rocks and leaves in the day. Holes chomped into leaves and fruits are telltale signs of slug feeding. A more certain sign of slug activity is the silvery trail of dried mucous that these pests leave in their wake. If that’s not sufficiently convincing, go out into the garden at night with a flashlight and surprise them.

Slug control is actually quite easy. They are rather large, so they can be caught by hand and disposed of. This is another garden pest that be caught by setting out a dish of beer. 

While possibly cruel, the most effective way to kill a slug is to sprinkle it with salt. You can trap the slugs by placing a plastic bag in the garden containing two decaying lettuce leaves, 2 cups of bran cereal, and pouring beer over the whole mess. Put the bag out before sundown. In the morning, check to see if the slugs are in there and dispose of them.<
br/>
Prevent slug infestation by removing dead and decaying leaves. This will remove their primary food source. Coffee grounds and egg shells will also keep slugs away. Just place them around the plants you want to protect at ground level.

AYE-AYE.

 The Aye- aye belongs to many unusual animals found in the islands of Madagascar. It obtained its name from its cry which sounds “Aye-aye.” The Aye-aye also belongs to the mammal group of primates like people, monkeys and apes. The animal is believed to have magical powers and can bring about death to the place it appears in. It is considered to be a source of evil, Due to this belief Aye-Aye is mercilessly killed by the people of Madagascar. These mammals are now the rarest mammals on Earth. They are an endangered class because their habitat is disappearing. The exact population is unknown, but their number is assumed to be between 1000 – 2000. They move over very large distances of land almost without rest. Over 80% of their time is spent on tree-tops.

 

When it was discovered in the 18th century by Zoologists, they classified them as squirrels or kangaroos. Finally studies proved them to be primates and they were given a scientific name Daubentoni a Madagascarensis.

 

 

 

The head and body length of the Aye-aye is about 30-37cms. Its tail is about 44-53cms long. It weighs 2.3kgs, and has shaggy black hair. It has five fingered hands with one very long middle finger. All fingers have flat nails.

 

The Aye-aye sleeps in the nest during daytime and keeps awake at night. This means it’s strictly a nocturnal and solitary animal that lives in the dense forests of Madagascar.

 

Their nest is a complex structure of intertwining twigs and leaves. A single nest requires 24 Aye-ayes to construct it. Therefore a new nest is constructed, after very few days.

 

The animals eat insects, larvae and fruits. They use their large bat-like ears to hear the barrowing of larvae that live beneath the barks of trees. Aye-aye also feeds on coconuts.

 

There’s only one species of the aye-aye now living. Although a much larger one lived in

 the past, they are now extinct. This is the reason why many scientists and citizen-

groups are working hard  to save this animal.

 

                      

 

DID YOU KNOW?

 

v        All shrimps born are males, but slowly some develope into females as they mature.

 

v        The giant pacific octopus can squeeze its entire body through a hole which is the size of its beak.

 

v        Penguins generally mate once and produce one egg per year.

 

v        The world camel population is 1,962,700