Rehabbing wild birds or taking in unwanted exotics, is expensive, and not tax deductible for us, according to the IRS. So we had to economize as much as possible. Fortunately, Jim can build anything. He built the muse, flight pens and cages to hold my rats. Raptors need meat and buying rats at a pet store was too expensive. We were often given frozen chicks to feed but ultimately we had no choice but to buy a few rats and breed our own. At one point I had over 500 rats and was able to supply other rehabbers. They were very easy to care for once we had designed pens where they were not over crowded and able to breed. They had fresh water and all the dry dog chow they wanted to eat. The rats had to be healthy because they were the source of nourishment for the injured raptors (hawks and owls). The waste dropped through the bottom of the pens and was raked up and composted.
