The perfect pet for Preppers

[Treetop]

guinea pigs!!! bred for 1000s of years as food. It is tasty. It is super tasty. It is very efficient at food to growth conversion, you get a pound of meat per 3 pounds of feed. the ONLY draw back is, thy need vitamin c, one of the few animals. you can provide that lots of easy ways. sprouts of many things, and rose hips, berries, table scraps... whatever... as long as its getting vitamin c, its diet is whatever you have. even most weeds and grasses in your yard. It has higher protein then beef and other common animals, and lower fat, like I said it is tasty by all accounts.

and in war torn parts of africa that recently got turned onto them, it has enabled people who were unable to keep cattle because of the chaos, have a ready supply of meat!!! its easy to conceal, easy to breed out a large population. care is minimal as long as you clean up their cages often enough they dont get sick.

so.....
get two cages, (unless you want to get a bigger set up for later) two or more of each sex in each cage. (unless you want to breed them now, having two is so you know you have back up)

feed them scraps or buy their feed for now, or both..... then if you need to, youve got one of the most efficient animals to feed, and one of the easiest to care for, that happens to be tasty high quality protein..... thats easy to conceal, or breed up a huge population fast.....

[Mossy]

They are also among the few meat animals that can survive on nothing but grass. The other stuff is just extra for them. Watch out, though. They are really cute and make lovable pets. Maybe set aside one or two for pets and keep the rest as "food".

[Treetop]

they DO need vitamin c, but yeah besides that, grass is fine.

[AGCoinHunter]

Kept a few as a kid. Had a male and female and ended up making good money selling the babies back to the pet store. Always seemed to be in demand. Too bad I spent my money on baseball cards instead of coins.

[abe]

Italian Hogs
I have heard of people eating these years ago, but I thought
they were BSing me. Might have to give it a try.
Whats the best way to prepare and cook?

[Mossy]

they DO need vitamin c, but yeah besides that, grass is fine.

To the best of my knowledge _fresh_ grass, _fresh_ broad leaf plants, and properly cured hay have plenty of Vit C. Lot's of broad leaf plants are poison, though, so they cannot be fed random weeds or plants out of the garden.

I wish I'd known this sort of thing back when I had mine, we had lots of wild oats, fox tail, rye, etc around. I sold them off because I was running out of money for feed. (argh) No internet back then.

(edit. Can't feed them mower grass, though.)

[hobo finds]

We have one and he is too cute to eat! They do need Vit C. Some good info here... http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-c.html

[Treetop]

they DO need vitamin c, but yeah besides that, grass is fine.

To the best of my knowledge _fresh_ grass, _fresh_ broad leaf plants, and properly cured hay have plenty of Vit C. Lot's of broad leaf plants are poison, though, so they cannot be fed random weeds or plants out of the garden.

I wish I'd known this sort of thing back when I had mine, we had lots of wild oats, fox tail, rye, etc around. I sold them off because I was running out of money for feed. (argh) No internet back then.

(edit. Can't feed them mower grass, though.)

yeah there are loads of wild sources for vitamin c. It wouldt be hard to meet those needs if you thought of it and planned. But not really grasses alone that im aware of. their might be a more ideal diet, but as long as they have vitamin c from some source, nothing but grass besides that is acceptable.

[Rodebaugh]

Answer: a pet rock. No need to feed or water it.....so there will be more preps to go around when TSHTF.

[Treetop]

Answer: a pet rock. No need to feed or water it.....so there will be more preps to go around when TSHTF.

to each his own, but to me the truly wise will gear up for possible production, rather then consumption alone. Just dont tell the wife or kids you got the new pet, because you want to use it for a micro herd of tasty protein later on.... they might take you for an evaluation.

[Mossy]

they might take you for an evaluation.

or you might as well make a larger doghouse, 'cause that's where you'll be the rest of your life. Maybe someone else can raise them or you can raise them over at a friend's house so you can get them from "the magical back room at the butcher shop".

Mountain beaver (aka "boomers" and "Aplodontia rufa") /might/ work. They are supposed to never get tame or friendly, but are supposed to be tricky to raise. (So were African violets, and now you can find them everywhere.)

[Market Harmony]

Mountain beaver (aka "boomers" and "Aplodontia rufa") /might/ work. They are supposed to never get tame or friendly, but are supposed to be tricky to raise. (So were African violets, and now you can find them everywhere.)

Never heard of "boomers" and "Aplodintia rufa" but if you are talking about women from certain parts of West Virginia, then the rest of your statement makes perfect sense

[Rodebaugh]

Mountain beaver (aka "boomers" and "Aplodontia rufa") /might/ work. They are supposed to never get tame or friendly, but are supposed to be tricky to raise. (So were African violets, and now you can find them everywhere.)

Never heard of "boomers" and "Aplodintia rufa" but if you are talking about women from certain parts of West Virginia, then the rest of your statement makes perfect sense

Indeed! In my youth I tried to no avail to tame the elusive mountain beaver on multiple occasions. Only in my formative years with great wit and a steady hand could I begin to calm the creatures.

[Treetop]

oh come on now... I bring up the utter serious issue of farming a micro herd of rodents, and you guys show up and turn it into a joke!!!!

[glass]

I like fried chicken better

[Rodebaugh]

oh come on now... I bring up the utter serious issue of farming a micro herd of rodents, and you guys show up and turn it into a joke!!!!

I am sorry I just had to respond to MH post. I will starighten up and get serious.

As for micro herds...I think it is an intersting idea. Problem (rather... benifit) with my living situation is there is a Large amount of wild game within my area. Matter of fact WV leads the country in vehicle vs deer accidents. That dosen't stand to reason that this resource couldn't be exhasted.......but it would take several years of intense round the clock hunting.

[Treetop]

well they might go faster then you think if everyone had to hunt, but Im from ohio, with family in WV... Ive been there... there are a ton of deer, but all the ones I saw, and there were tons of the little fellas, werent more then 2-3 times bigger then guinea pigs? or is that just my perspective being used to deer from ohio?

[Rodebaugh]

compaired to the dear in Ohio....yes ours are small. A dressed 150lb deer is a dandy here. Ohio allows the ownership/farming of venison. Therefor (IMO) deer have been selectively bread to produce.... large beautiful racks.... . . .

[abe]

compaired to the dear in Ohio....yes ours are small. A dressed 150lb deer is a dandy here. Ohio allows the ownership/farming of venison. Therefor (IMO) deer have been selectively bread to produce.... large beautiful racks.... . . .

One of the biggest problems we have with deer is so many people come from out of state to hunt here.
The locals are bad enough, but when a certain group from MD show up its the same thing every year.
If it moves they shoot it and when they leave our forests are trashed up horribly.
Small deer is basically all we have left and the only beautiful racks are walking on two legs.

[Kurr]

With all due respect, with the current global situation this makes pefect sense. Within a short time frame, a few years perhaps at most, IMO, You will not be able to safely eat wild game that has fed on un shielded vegetation.

We ALREADY have radioactive food, veggies, fruit, milk and water her INSIDE the US. It will continue to accumulate, and not only in the soil but will collect and condense in animals higher in the food chain. Eating those animals will cause it to condense and collect in us.

Micro herds can be raised inddors in shielded filtered enviroments and fed from indoor greenhouses also shielded and filtered. The deer and squirrels might be glowing in 5 years time.

Plutonium does not occur naturally in nature and is the most toxic substance currently know to man. It has, I think, 16 phases, with just 1 of them having a half life of 24,000 years, and there are MANY elements being created and released from Japan, from multiple sources atm, and they have not got a clue as to how to stop it.

The globalists and elite have been saying for a Looooooong time they need an 80% reductionin human population. over 20 years while they have their massive underground complexes and stocked foodstuffs ( on our dime) this seems to fit their bill for a HUGE population reduction over a 10-20 year period, as well as another control protocal. If they want to, they just raise the radiation alert and every one is MANDATED to stay in their houses. Easier to round folks up, keep track, etc etc.

the pigs make GOOD sense to me. Indoor herds. Rabbits too, but with a lean diet you need to supplement fat our suffer "rabbit starvation" from lack of needed fats.

[Treetop]

With all due respect, with the current global situation this makes pefect sense. Within a short time frame, a few years perhaps at most, IMO, You will not be able to safely eat wild game that has fed on un shielded vegetation.

We ALREADY have radioactive food, veggies, fruit, milk and water her INSIDE the US. It will continue to accumulate, and not only in the soil but will collect and condense in animals higher in the food chain. Eating those animals will cause it to condense and collect in us.

Micro herds can be raised inddors in shielded filtered enviroments and fed from indoor greenhouses also shielded and filtered. The deer and squirrels might be glowing in 5 years time.

Plutonium does not occur naturally in nature and is the most toxic substance currently know to man. It has, I think, 16 phases, with just 1 of them having a half life of 24,000 years, and there are MANY elements being created and released from Japan, from multiple sources atm, and they have not got a clue as to how to stop it.

The globalists and elite have been saying for a Looooooong time they need an 80% reductionin human population. over 20 years while they have their massive underground complexes and stocked foodstuffs ( on our dime) this seems to fit their bill for a HUGE population reduction over a 10-20 year period, as well as another control protocal. If they want to, they just raise the radiation alert and every one is MANDATED to stay in their houses. Easier to round folks up, keep track, etc etc.

the pigs make GOOD sense to me. Indoor herds. Rabbits too, but with a lean diet you need to supplement fat our suffer "rabbit starvation" from lack of needed fats.

heck yeah!!! and its all ready been proven under compromising conditions!!! families in africa in war torn regions who couldnt keep larger animals because of looters, can easily hide and feed atleast a few of these guys, and have some quality protein coming in. Its a VERY healthy meat source....

and I wouldnt do it unless I had to, but their feces is 18 percent protein, and decently balanced, it makes a servicable feed for many other types of animals!!! It is SAFE to do this also by the way... people have done this 1000s of years safely. to each his own, but getting a male and female of these now, might be a better buy then all those metals depending on how things play out..... and if not, youve got a tiny easy to care for pet....

[Mossy]

Micro herds can be raised inddors in shielded filtered enviroments and fed from indoor greenhouses also shielded and filtered. The deer and squirrels might be glowing in 5 years time.
...
the pigs make GOOD sense to me. Indoor herds. Rabbits too, but with a lean diet you need to supplement fat our suffer "rabbit starvation" from lack of needed fats.

Raised rabbits can get fat. Wild rabbits and squirrels get the fat run off them, away from town. A brood doe has to be kept trim as fat makes her infertile.

Plants can be raised using red and blue LED's (pot growers have known this for years), and there was a recent writeup on using them for raising other plants for human consumption. Most human edible plants have a lot of trimmings that get wasted, and those can go to feed the squeekers.

Further reading on the boomers, they only have 2 to 5 young in a single litter a year. Not enough to make raising them as livestock reasonable, unless someone develops a more prolific strain.

[Treetop]

Boomers? do you mean guinea pigs? they are VERY fast to build up a population actually. you could easily breed a more prolific strain as well, because the people who raised them for food, never bothered, theyd let them inbreed or whatever.... just stick them in a single enclosed pace and throw in food. they dont have a single liter a year either. they can conceive another one, before the first one is weened if you wanted or had to. they will do it on their own often enough if you dont block them from doing it.

rabbits can be fed on the same low grade diet and do well, but their quality of meat only seems decent on grains or veggies.... eating the wilder stuff, poduces a wilder leaner animal, even if its not running around.... geuinea pigs on poor feeds, still taste great, according to all Ive read from many sources. including my grandma (well she doesnt know what it was fed probably but she ate it and loved it) Only drawback is they need vitamin c, but you can get that easy enough.

the guinea pig meat is superior to beef and mutton and all the rest, id have to dig out the exact numbers, but rabbit isnt as good as those, so from a efficiency perspective it doesnt compare... to live on rabbits alone you need to eat their bone marrow, preferably sucking it out rather then just cooking it into stew although that helps. according to many survival type books I have. guinea pig alone would actually be better then any standard farm animals all of which are superior to rabbit in this respect.

So in all honesty, i think guinea pigs are far superior to rabbits. also housing is another thing, if you wanted or had to... guinea pigs can stand WAY more cramped quarters then rabbits will tolerate. little to no light is even fine. theres nothing else like it. and if needed... their poo is also a decent feed..... which in these types of scenarios could be a MAJOR bonus.

[Mossy]

Boomers (Aplodintia rufa) are a primitive rodent found in the North American west coast rain forest. They look sort of like a primitive, small, poorly groomed GP with a short tail, and live in shallow tunnels that run just underground or under the trash on the forest floor. Good pelt, dark meat, eat lots of tree seedlings. Wiki has an entry on them.

[Treetop]

probably would need a wetter area then i have from the sound of it. neat though.