John Reynolds, north central Minnesota, May 26, 2005I’ve been reading your website for information on harvesting bloodworms.  I have a small (7 acres of water) fish farm in north central Minnesota.This season I’ll be raising my first batch of lake sturgeon juveniles and have been looking for food options.  
I see large amounts of bloodworms in my ponds but can’t figure out how to harvest them.  You say that night is the best time to harvest.  Do they get into the water column at night?
Also,  I sell native aquarium fish.  I have longear, orange spotted and pumpkinseed sunfish, hornyhead chubs, redbelly and finescale dace, central mudminnows, bowfin, white sucker, black crappie, smallmouth bass, and walleyes.   This season I hope to add longnose and blacknose dace, logperch, and silver redhorse suckers.  I may also have a limited quantity of freshwater sponge available.
I would appreciate any suggestions you might have on harvesting bloodworms.  I’m considering building a portable “vacuum” that would lift the sediments to the surface and hopefully get the worms to break the surface tension and stay floating.  Thanks,

A:  I’ve always assumed bloodworms enter the water column at night to eat.  However, get out your Mag-Lite and check your ponds at night.  Serche le sang ver, as they say further north.  And look out for the loons.  You probably have glassworms in some of your fish-less ponds also.  I don’t understand how your portable “vacuum” will work, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.  I’d like to get up north and see your fish farm some day.  LA

Sandeep, United Kingdom, May 29, 2005
Hello there. I have just been looking through the guinea pig section on your website and I am utterly appalled about the bad information you are giving out.
1) You don’t even have any information on food. You have only got “treats.”  One cup of vegetables should be given daily. Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C like humans, and so the owner has to provide it through vegetables. Green leafy veggies are the best -- Romaine lettuce, endive, dandelion greens, lamb lettuce, rocket. Take a look at www.guinealynx.com and go to the nutrition link
Nuts should never be given. Guinea pigs are not squirrels! All they need is timothy hay (alfalfa if under 6 months), Oxbow pellets (plain, never mixed as there is a choking hazard) and vegetables.
2) Have you ever heard of the problem of bumblefoot? This is what you get if you house your pigs on a wire floor:
http://www.guinealynx.com/feet.html#pododermatitis
Keeping them on wire is just cruel, having bedding on top is not enough!  Please please please support cubes & coroplast cages. Take a look here for more details www.cavycages.com They are the only way to go.
3) Males need to be separated from their mums at 3 weeks, not 4. This is when they become sexually active. Breeding is wrong, especially inbreeding.
4) Balls SHOULD NEVER be used. Looking at a guinea pig in a ball is just disgraceful. They are not as agile as hamsters -- they can injure their spines and break their legs. Guinea pigs do need daily exercise, like you said, but in a pen. The pen should be at least 15 square feet large. For all information take a look at this website www.gpuk.cjb.net It has all the basic information
For health care --> www.guinealynx.com
For cages --> www.cavycages.com
General --> www.cavyspirit.com
Please can you update the information on your page.
Thank you

I added your comments to my guinea pig page.  I also read the sites you recommended (including yours).  Sorry to be appalling rather than appealing.  I like guinea pigs AND the people who like guinea pigs (even when they call them rodents rather than lagomorphs).  I even like pig herders who don’t like pet stores.  So I added all your links (even the anti-pet store links).
A1:  I prefer the pelleted foods to fresh greens/vegetables/fruits.  Pellets stay uncontaminated longer and the ones with stabilized vitamin C have everything the little wheekers need except water and TLC.  Pellets also help them brux their teeth.  They’re also more convenient and cost efficient.  What you consider food, I consider treats.  Guinea pigs can go out my front door and browse on several treats (weather permitting).  I know several people that like nuts and not all of them are squirrels.  My cockatoo also loves all sorts of nuts.
A2:  Actually, I’ve never seen bumblefoot and hope I never do.  We do not recommend keeping guinea pigs on wire.  Those snap-together cages (especially the one on your site) look pretty good.  I’ll have to check out where to find the parts here in the colonies.
A3:  We find the piglets are sturdier when kept with their mums for 28 days.  We attribute it to the occasional nips of colostrum.  Perhaps 21 days would suffice?  In any event, we won’t buy or sell them under 28 days old.  What’s wrong with breeding?  (This was a rhetorical question.  No reply necessary.)
A4:  Was it James Bond who said:  “Never say never.”  In any event, we rarely put guinea pigs in balls ourselves except on bowling nights. (And never more than one per ball.)  The boars especially seem to enjoy the beer line (and the beer nuts).  I don’t like to leave the little rascals outside in a pen (regardless of size) because I assume that all the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks in my back yard have cooties.  We also have owls and peregrines.  And mosquitos.  And sun.  And you’ll notice they spend a great deal of time in their little hide box regardless of pen size.  LA
PS  I like your drawings.  And thanks for the info.

Sandeep, United Kingdom, May 30, 2005
Wow! Thank you for replying quickly :)
And thank you for posting my links, especially my website, lol.
1) There are other things that vegetables provide besides vitamin C, for example calcium. In the wild, guinea pigs don’t get pellets. They eat fresh grass alongside fruits and veggies. I agree with the teeth thing though.  Whenever my pigs are chomping through their pellets, I know their teeth are getting a good work out! Could you tell me where it says that guinea pigs need nuts? I don’t see what they provide them, except for fat.
2) Yup, those C&C cages are brilliant. There is a forum on www.cavycages.com and my username is Piglet. If you need any help with materials, there are lots of friendly people to help you.
3) You bloody well know what’s wrong with breeding. I’ve given far too many lectures on this topic!   21 days would definitely be enough -- inbreeding is the worst thing.
4) Beer line? lol. Like I said, they need proper exercise everyday. If I put about 4 boxes and a tunnel in the pen, they love running from each one to the other. I also put in tennis balls and upside down cups for them to walk around. They have a blast! I understand that you have predators though, I live in London where the scariest animal is probably a worm!
Again, let me just say thank you for taking my information on board. I have to give credit to my brother though for my website, I am hopeless with websites and html!

A:  Nuts provide calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese,  phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, unsaturated fatty acids, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and vitamins A, B₆, and B₁₂.  They also provide entertainment and exercise.  And nuts brux their teeth.  LA

A:  I have kept Amazon sword plants outdoors during the summer.  However, I never even considered wintering them outdoors.  Since they come from the Amazon River, I really doubt they’d stand a chance at 40 degrees.  And those ring heaters just heat the open ring.  The rest of the pond gets colder.  LA

Jeffrey J. Ward, San Francisco, May 30, 2005
Hi!  I have a new pond in my back yard.  It consists of two levels and two waterfalls.  The upper level is about 600 to 700 gallons and up to four feet deep; the lower level is bathtub-sized.  The pond is rock-lined and has vegetation around and in the pond.
Although the pond is in the middle of San Francisco, I think that it might sustain a small frog population.  I was thinking about leopard frogs and Pacific tree frogs.  It would be best to introduce them to the pond as tadpoles so that they are “bonded” to the location.  I would try to introduce a California red-legged frog but they are endangered and probably not available for sale.
Also, I’d like to introduce a few trapdoor snails to help clean up the pond.  Currently the pond contains only plants and goldfish.
Let me know what you think.  Cheers,

A:  I think San Francisco is a great city except for the people sleeping in the doorways downtown and the pigeons.  And your plan to add frog tadpoles sounds great.  During rainy weather your frogs may not stay “bonded” to your pond.  Sounds like a cool pond for plants, goldfish, and frogs.  I have not found that trapdoor snails make much of an impact on ponds -- too small to clean much.  LA

Sellzh, May 30, 2005
Will gold fish work for chilads for a mounth? because thats all i have for now they are doing ok now but what about after like 6 weeks?????

A:  I think you’re asking if goldfish will get along with cichlids for four to six weeks. Yes, if the goldfish are large enough and the cichlids are small enough.  LA