Yahoo Lifestyle Choosing A Family Pet
Getting ready to welcome a new, fuzzy family member? As well as providing companionship and love, pets are great for teaching responsibility and respect for all of Mother Nature’s creatures. But, like humans, animals can have an eco impact. Here’s how to minimise your pet’s…
Size matters
As a general rule, the smaller the pet, the smaller its eco foot… er, pawprint. Tinier critters eat less, create less waste and generally require fewer bits and bobs for their upkeep. And as a bonus, this usually means they’re cheaper and easier to care for!
Fish, birds, mice and hermit crabs are all good small pets. If one of these takes your family’s fancy, try sourcing a second-hand abode (perhaps a friend has an old aquarium in her garage or a neighbour has put a birdcage out for the local council clean up).
Give your kid worms
… The good kind, that is! As well as being fun, pets can be functional – and worms are a perfect example of this. You can by a worm farm (ones made from recycled plastic are ideal) or even find instructions online to cobble together your own from recycled materials such as old jumpers and polystyrene fruit boxes. Fill your farm with red or tiger compost worms from your local nursery.
Put your littlie in charge of feeding her new wiggly friends about once a week. They’ll chow down on most fruit and vegie bits (except citrus, chilli, onion and garlic) and other food scraps, making them a fantastic help in diverting waste from landfill.
The ‘juice’ worms produce is awesome for the garden or vegie patch. Your tyke can help you collect it, dilute it one part to 10 parts water and splash it about. Nourishing worm castings are also great for adding to garden soil.
Get clucky!
Chickens, believe it or not, make fantastic pets. They’re friendly and full of personality and, if your littlie is gentle and loving with them, most chooks enjoy soft pats and cuddles. Chinese Silkies are very docile and Pekins and Houdans also make great pets.
Your child will love helping feed her feathered friends (who’ll eat a range of scraps, from fruit and veg to bread, meat and fish) and have a ball collecting their eggs and helping cook with them.
You don’t need a sprawling yard to keep chickens, but you should have at least two or three of them so they don’t get lonely. The coop will need to allow, at the very least, one square metre of space for each and you should let the chooks roam freely as often as you can.
A couple of things to note: first, check with your council before getting chickens, as there may be rules and regulations for keeping them. Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics notes that baby chicks can carry salmonella bacteria, which can make littlies sick.
For this reason, chickens are perhaps best suited to older preschoolers (five and over) and after she’s touched them – or any other pet, for that matter – you should encourage your child to wash her hands well with warm, soapy water.
