Thursday, February 9, 2012

Are these animals safe with Cats in a situation like this?

September 5, 2010 by  
Filed under Concrete Bird Baths

You have a rectangular (20 meters width and 22 meters length) backyard all caged in tough steel mesh. The cage is 6.2 meters tall along the whole backyard. The whole middle is grass and the sides are clay and dark sand, this is the garden area and seperated from the grass with beautiful bricks. It will be 1.5 meter thick on all parts.

The plant life is as amazon themed as possible in a situation like this. There will be a lot of nut trees and fruit trees, all plants that have fruits/nuts/vegies will be in one area. There will b ea lot of trees and very few flowers. The HUGE amount of trees will bring so much cover for the birds from the cats. Before cats can even get close to climbing the tree the bird will quickly fly into another. It has more of a rainforest feel as well. Some plant fruits/etc. Include grapes, macadaimia, orange, walnut, mango, etc. These trees will be the trees that the following bird will feed on and live inside.

There will also be a pond, it will be stuck to the back left side of the backyard. The pond will have no concrete or anything. It will just have a liner and soft, large and beautiful pebbles of colors from clay brown, marble white, dark black and gray covering the bottom. All walls will be on a 60 degrees angle, so that the walls don’t collapse. The pond will be rectangular and 10 meters width and 12 meters length. There will also be two levels, one that is 1.2 meters and at the deep end it will be 2.6 meters and one that is 40 centimeters and 60 centimeters on the deep end. The pond will have a gradual slope to the deep end. There will also be a cave on the deep end, which will be 1 meter deep and a 1.5 meter diameter. There will be 3 entrances and all large enough for a full grown man to easily fit into. This means the deepest point in the pond will be 3.6 meters deep. The shallow level will of course will be on the outsides, this will also help people that have fallen in climb out (I have a dog but no children under 14). There will a part that is extremely shallow, which is on the opposite corner to a waterfall, about 4 centimeters deep and square. It will be square and about 70 centimeters by 70 centimeters for the birds and ferrets to bath in rarely away from predator fish. 

In the liners will be lots of small holes cut to put plants in. The pebbles will also cover the plants so the fish don’t uproot it. There will be A LOT of plants (most Amazonian and as tough as possible) and more being in the deep end. All of these plants can help keep the water much warmer and cleaner. 

There will also be a water fall on the deep end of the pond, the middle of the water fall will be at the corner of the deep end, it will expand to the sides of the deep end, going towards the other two corners of the pond, but it won’t go all the way, as you can tell the water fall will be quite large, about 8-9 meters long and in a < shape. Water will come down all across the water fall, the water fall will also be a stream to incourage the water to come down all across the water fall, it will have to keep getting shorter as it gets further to incourage the water to go all over the water fall. The whole water fall will be going down hill on both sides. It will also be sticking out a bit so you can sit on the inside of the water that is falling and look outside at the whole pond. I will be about 2 meters tall at the tallest part. There will also be plants planted in the shallow stream. The waterfall will be built in the garden as the waterfall is on the deep end and the deep end is on the inside of the pond. 

On the outside of the pond there will be beautiful bricks (identical to the ones of the garden), 2 stacked on top of each other, this goes all the way around the pond. Between the first brick and the second brick there will be a gap (only in the ones that join the garden), this gap will let all the over flowing water come out from the sides and them go into the garden. The pond will be under the sun for about 5 hours. The average weather is around 16 in my area year round.

In the pond there will be 3 pumps all at different points supplying water to 3 filters which are inside of the waterfall. There will also be a strong skimmer as there are lots of overhead trees. There will be a heater making the pond a constant 24 degrees celcius.

There will also be a decking/pergola part which won’t be part of the square backyard. To exit into a front yard you will have to go through 2 doors, the exit that leads to the front yard is on the opposite aide of the house to the decking and pergola 

The animals:

4 Hyacinth Macaw (2 of each sex)
4 Blue and Gold Macaw (2 of each sex)
2 Toco Toucan (1 of each sex)
2 Keel-Billed Toucan (1 of each sex)

4 Silver Arowana (at least 1 of each sex)
2 Redtail Catfish (1 of each sex)
8 Koi (2 of each variety, 1 of each sex)
30 Freshwater Angelfish (at least 5 of each sex)
100 White Cloud Mountain Minnow (at least 20 of each sex)
200 Amazonia
n Glass Shrimp (at least 50 of each sex)

1 Labrador Retriever (male)
2 Savannah Cat (1 of each sex)
2 Maine Coone Cat (1 of each sex)
2 Ferret (1 of each sex)  

So my question really is can (all birds, all bird young/egg, Koi (1 meter), Silver Arowana (1.2 meter), Redtail Catfish (1.5 meter)) survive with these cats in a place like this?

I think they will all the fine together except for the Ferrets (don’t know about the ferrets) because cats are not amazing climbers and most of the trees will be around 4 and above meters so they can never catch the birds, also the birds are all extremely smart. Their  nests will be on the fence were re cats can’t climb, even if they can climb to it yet won’t be able to fit through the best hole, also each nest will have 2 entrances. They will be quite large as well. As for the fish, each grow over a meter, specially the Redtail Catfish, I don’t think the cat would try and catch a fish faster and larger than itself in the water. Also the pond is abs
olutly huge and very deep, the cats can never reach the fish. I won’t care if they eat the small fish. 2 things
I am unsure of are cats and ferret living together in an area like this an if the birds come down to the ground the cats might sneak up on them. 

That was my question, so what so you think? Thanks for reading and answering :)

Also are hedgehogs safe in a place like this.
The space is completly and safely sealed of from local wildlife. All animals can do fine with each other, the cats seem to be the problem.

Something like this will cost around AU $120,00.00 I don’t wan’t the cats wrecking it. Probably won’t buy cats unless it’s 100% safe for all other animals.
Dw about the lab I have had him for two years and kept him with many pets and he wouldn’t hurt a thing. I this is the case I won’t get any cats or ferrets, ohh welll.
Can some more people answer so I can be sure? Thanks :)
About to repost in birds on my frigging iPhone. Phones are re worst web browsing tool.

Comments

3 Responses to “Are these animals safe with Cats in a situation like this?”
  1. susan n says:

    I know little about exotic birds except all birds sleep and all cats hunt. I would not risk it.

    It sounds like you have a great deal of space. Since you have the financial resources to do something like this could you make a separate enclosed area for your cats?

    Perhaps an outdoor living space, attached to the house, for both you and the cats?

    I am a garden designer and what you describe sounds very interesting though I live in Massachusetts and am unfamiliar with tropical plants.

    Something you do need to consider is whether any native wildlife at all can get at any of the vegetation, mainly the fruits. The reason is that birds and other animals can distribute seeds of alien plant species. This can wreak environmental havok.
    I suggest you consult with your state’s native plant society to see if any of your proposed vegetation poses a risk.

    Update: Where are you? Occured to me you aren’t in US.

    I think the dog might be okay with the birds but not all those cats.
    Even if the cats couldn’t catch a bird, they would try and the birds would be under stress. I don’t think it is right to confine birds with predators.

    Also, cats can climb much higher than 4 meters.

    Am hoping some of the bird people see this question.
    In fact, you should re-post in birds.

  2. Rapid Fire says:

    EASY 101 – the cats will love you for all the fresh food that you have provided for them. BLESS YOU. And I can guarantee that you will never have to worry about the cats trying to escape. You just gave a perfect description of CAT HEAVEN.

  3. Suzi Q says:

    Oooh….what fun….It’s a freakin’ large scale terrarium, or something.

    I love these ecological guessing games.

    Here is the end result. The lab and maybe, the Savannahs would survive, though one or both may sustain serious injury. The koi would be ok, as long as you kept feeding them. I don’t know about the rest of the fish.

    Ferrets and cats are hunters. They would have a field day in such an enclosure. They would kill all but the savviest of birds, or small animals – including the hedgehogs.

    The Savannahs would eat the ferrets for a snack and probably kill the Maine Coons – or breed with them. And if you fail to feed the lab – it will eat any surviving cats.

    Good times, I’m sure….but it’s not a very nice experiment.

    Try again.

    You can mix some prey animals in such an enclosure, but not predators and prey when they are species who are supposed to be kept as pets. Your fantasy is highly unethical, the result would be nothing short of a massacre. As pets, you are required to look out for their best interest – not feed them to each other, or put them in danger.

    If you want to experience the wild – go outdoors. Lots of adventure outside. You don’t need to torture captive animals. That’s not nice.

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