When you’re the head honcho of a much loved home menagerie, there are certain considerations that come into play. Take meal times, for example. That’s a big one. If you think it’s difficult to introduce new and interesting healthy foods to your own daily diet, you’ve clearly never spent a weekend looking for alternative tasty treats to help cheer up a down and out Bearded Dragon. Likewise, keeping picky chickens fed can be a head scratcher. But there’s more to animal care than just walks and something nice in the food bowl. There’s the small issue of keeping them safe from the outside world … and when you own as many pets as I do, you’re going to need all the help you can get.
Slow Down
Visits from friends and family normally happen on a weekend. There’s a mad rush to tidy the house followed by a last minute dash to find something classy to wear so you can say “Oh this old thing, do you like it? I just threw this on”. Nice. However, unless your guests arrive via the chimney like Santa, they’ll need somewhere to park, and this can spark concern. Look here for customization signs that you can hang in your driveway, warning visitors of a possible tortoise or iguana loose on the lawn. There’s really no quicker way to get a driver’s attention than to present them with a sign proclaiming “Danger: Dragon Crossing”.
Unwanted Traffic Begone
City living is a free for all. People, cars, and abandoned hopes and dreams clutter every available inch of sidewalk and alleyway. Things aren’t much better in more rural settings, as far as parking spaces are concerned, with each home owning 2+ cars and weekend visitors taking up road space like handfuls of hotels strewn across a Monopoly board. The problem is that these passing guests are unlikely to pay much attention to a sign on your garage door warning them that animals are nearby. Worse still, they are super unlikely to check around their car for sleeping pets before setting off. Wouldn’t it be nice if they just didn’t park outside your home at all? You need a reserved parking sign. Not everyone will pay attention, of course, some people are in life to make things difficult for everybody, that can’t be helped. But take the opportunity to erect a RESERVED PARKING sign on your garden fence and you could reduce at least some of the traffic.
Pet Proof the Perimeter
OK, this may sound obvious, but if you’re worried about pets coming into contact with traffic around your home, you’re going to need to pet proof the garden against the possibility of escape. Pets climb. Pets jump. Pets dig. Leave an unattended animal in a garden that hasn’t been pet proofed and within half an hour you’re going to be on the streets calling its name. Think high fences, think a concrete base to any hutches, hen houses or kennels. Think about removing tall objects near fences that could act as a makeshift ladder.
