Small Pet Mills, Pests, and Wildlife Tips

Ga-Maleven

This journal will be going over small animal mills, how to handle “pest” animals in your home, and how to help/care for wildlife in your area.

Small pet mills are the same as kitten and puppy mills only for small animals such as rabbits, hamsters, rats, mice, lizards, snakes, chinchillas, birds, parrots, etc. They are bred in small cages, receive little to no medical care, no love, and live in their own waste. Going insane, becoming very sick, and dying is common. Pet stores, such as PetSmart and Petco receive their small animals from these mills still, despite now only doing cat and dog rescue. These animals are shipped across the country from the mills to be sold in stores, many not making the trip. And when they are sold in the stores the employees do not do any checks on the person buying the animals. As someone who worked at PetSmart for 3 years I can personally confirm the hard push employees were given to sell as many of these animals as possible with no regard to who was getting them. Many of the animals were returned very sick and few made it. It is the same for puppies from puppymills and breeders sold to whoever just for profit, and they are abused or dumped.

Only rescue your pets. Shelters and small animal rescues are full of not just dogs and cats, but rabbits, birds, hamsters, snakes, and other animals. Petfinder.com is a terrific site to use to find your next pet. It shows results for the type of pet you are looking for from shelters and rescues across the country, ensuring you get a pet that best fits your personality and needs, and also saving a life.

While pests in the house, such as mice and rats, are annoying, remember that they are simply trying to find a safe place to live and food. Never buy traps or poison for them. Traps that kill, such as glue traps, are a slow, painful way to die. And poison is not always an immediate death. Many poisoned rodents end up being eaten by owls, hawks, cats, foxes, and other predators who also end up dying. The humane and best option are humane traps that catch the animals, but do not harm them. Large humane traps can be bought or rented from stores such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, even some supplies stores that sell items for horses, feeding deer, etc. have them. You can also purchase all kinds of humane traps from Amazon.com, such as this mouse trap which I have used personally. Once the animal is caught, you can drive them to a wooded area and release them safely into the wild. If they are larger, such as raccoons, calling animal control or a local wildlife rehabilitator/rescue might be better to ensure your safety.

The best way to stop an infestation is to prevent it. Spraying peppermint oil around your house can keep rodents away since the smell is so strong it hurts their little noses so they go elsewhere. It also is a natural bug repellent. Some plants, such as catnip, also naturally repel insects. Ensure all holes in your house are sealed up, and check often to ensure no new holes have formed. If you have a porch or back deck patio, small animals often will under them. Ensure that they can only get under those and not into your house, or seal them off completely. Keep garbage bins securely closed, and try to keep garbage somewhere where wildlife can’t get to it, such as garages, tool sheds, or ensure your trashcan has a secure closing lid.

If you feed wildlife, especially animals who might try to get into your house, try feeding them a distance from your house. You can also create basic housing out of plastic containers, dogs houses, or build them yourself to encourage raccoons and other animals to live in those rather than your own house. Some links on making those are below.

Don’t ever panic or attack an animal for getting into your house. They are more scared of you than you are of them. Open windows, doors, and use something like a shield to chase them back outside if you can. If not, call animal control to remove them. And remember to not disrupt the natural prey and predator ratio in your area. The predators will handle the prey animals and help ensure not too many rats, mice, and other animals get into your house.

Swimming pools pose a significant danger to wildlife. Small animals, such as frogs, chipmunks, even foxes, can fall inside and have a hard time getting out. Always keep your pool covered when not in use. You can also purchase this device to ensure the small animals have a chance to climb out. Even family pets, such as dogs and cats, can get stuck in them and drown. Always be watchful, cover the pool, and have safe guards such as that device up.

Windows can be quite dangerous to bird. When the glass is clear, birds can’t tell if there’s something there or not, and end up flying into it. Many birds have died this way, if not from hitting the glass, from the fall. Tinting windows, putting up blinds, even handing silhouette “chimes” help ensure birds are aware that something is there so they do not make the mistake of hitting it.

Fishing is cruel because not only do humans not need to eat animals, but fish feel pain as we do, suffer, and are sentient. Fishing only harms them, is unnecessary, and simply cruel. On top of this, fishing lines and hooks left behind can harm other animals, such as birds, turtles, other fish, and other marine life. Birds can get fishing line wrapped around their beaks or wings, keeping them from being able to eat or fly. Turtles and other animals can suffer similar fates of fishing line wrapping tightly around a limb, a hook tearing into their body, or even accidentally consuming it when it’s attached to another animal.

Bread should never be given to birds for it drains them of nutrients, essentially starving them to death. Instead, chopped grapes, cantaloupe, melon, carrots, celery, and leafy greens should only be fed to them.

Wildlife bridges are bridges specially build for wildlife to cross highways and other roads safely. While they do not exist in the United States as of yet, other countries have built them and the incidents of wildlife being struck by cars has significantly reduced. Encouraging more of these be built and built in more parts of the world will help save thousands of lives. Not just of the animals being hit, but also of humans who die in such incidences. Here is one in the Netherlands.

When finding lost baby animals, such as birds, there are many different things to do. I won’t go over them here but will provide links to tips below. Depending on the lost baby animal you find, you may or may not be able to handle it on your own. Just remember that some baby animals may not be able to be taken into rehabilitation depending on where you are, so you may have to keep things secret in order to save that animal. Sadly, laws are ridiculous in how they view non-human animals, so smuggling a baby deer into another state so she can go to a rescue may be necessary since some states would rather have them killed. I have dealt with such a situation myself (Sadly, the little deer didn’t survive. Her mother had died giving birth, some friends found her and took her in, but she passed away at the rehabilitation center).

Honeybees and other bees species are dying out. Help them by providing native flowers in your garden and water dishes filled with marbles. This allows them to sit on the marbles and drink without drowning.

Overall, respect the wildlife, do not hunt animals, do what you can to cause as little destruction to nature as you can, and be mindful that you are not the only one living on this planet.