Sundragons
True BYH Addict
Hi there. New over here, but been on BYC for a while (different username). Here's my intro. This will be long, grab a snack.
It started with tortoises...
We adopted a pair of Sulcata Tortoises a number of years ago as pets for our (then) 2 boys. They were a lot of fun and the boys would spend a lot of time playing with them and socializing them. We kept them in a kid's play pool up on a table in my office where the dogs wouldn't bother them. Over time, they got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until one day, they were simply too large to live in their little pool any more. So, outside they went, into a nice fenced off corner of the yard. They were happy, they were safe, and they could still come out an play whenever the kids wanted to.
Time went by, and our little tortoises continued to grow and thrive. When they were about 8, a family friend asked us if we'd adopt the 2 tortoises they had, who were around the same age as ours (about 7 at the time), because they were downsizing and could not move the torts to their new place. So, 2 became 4. Incredibly, 4 girls. By this point they were all over 50 pounds (22.5kg), and basically there were no predators in our area that were a threat to them, so we gave them full run of our yard and enjoyed their merry, chaotic, destructiveness. See, the thing about Sulcatas is, if they decide they want to go some place, they go. In a straight line. THROUGH whatever is in between them and their destination. Bicycles, yard furniture, BBQ grills, all routinely got rearranged in the yard according to our chelonian decorators' whims that day. It's quite comical to watch your bbq migrate across the yard on the back of a large tortoise, let me tell you. Our human herd had also increased in that time, and 2 boys evolved into 3 boys and a girl. The younger kids also loved our tortoises, and things were good.
A couple more years pass, and during that time we have a few more torts come and go as we'd take in strays and then re-home them. We were down to 3 of our large girls, and happened upon a male via a friend of a friend who was moving into an apartment. He was the same age as our girls, and they quickly became a breeding harem, I guess. The usual things happened, and now we occasionally have a clutch of babies that we sell on as pets. I'm super picky about who adopts my torts, and we do our absolute best to breed responsibly. We actually end up feeding more eggs to the chickens than we let hatch, because it breaks my heart to see Sulcatas abandoned and in shelters.
From there, things got a little... Odd...
Initially, I had no interest in getting chickens, unless they came in a form that I could cook or eat. My wife and kids, on the other hand, wanted to get a few as pets, for eggs, and eventually when the time came, for freezer camp. So, a year or so ago, we started out with a few barred rocks, a small coop, and high hopes. Crazily enough for feed store birds, we managed to get all hens, and for a while things were again, good.
Then the chicken math struck. There are so many cool and colorful breeds, and you have to have them all! And you can't just have one, because it might get picked on or lonely, or even die! Our yard turned into a flurry of flapping fowl, all of which our 2 Aussie Shepherds merrily chased around in a futile attempt to herd them. At one point we were pushing 40 birds, but the AZ summers are cruelly hot, and our losses to the heat and a nasty respiratory infection decimated our flock. Then just before Thanksgiving, a coyote killed a number of the girls as well, so we're down to about 20 right now. A mix of heritage breeds and colorful layers, and watching them in the yard is like having an outdoor fish tank.
That's not where this tale ends though.
Oh no! Around Easter, I'm informed by my wife that she's long wanted a pet rabbit, and that my job was to find her one for Easter...
OK, great! fortunately the local feed store had a bunch in and we went and picked out a gorgeous chinchilla colored Rex doe. Of course, a few days later, she needed a friend, so Craigslist searching delivered us an angora/lionhead mix doe in a tawny yellow color. As I mentioned earlier, Summers in AZ are no place for rabbits who aren't acclimated to the heat, so these girls took up permanent residence in the house. The Rex likes to tease the dogs, and the other one love being a lap bunny. She's bratty though, if you aren't careful she'll eat your shirt. Again, things were good.
...Or so I thought. Come home from work one day and the kids have fallen in love with a Holland Lop the wife found on CL. And he's a pedigreed show bunny, so they can take him to shows and 4H events! So, off to meet this bunny and see what the story is on him. Turns our the owner is a HL breeder and she's run out of room so it's time to move this guy on. He's got a good show pedigree, has won several shows in his class, and is really a nice (if timid) guy. He also came with some friends. The breeder has some fuzzy Holland Lops that aren't able to be shown (fuzzy is a DQ for ARBA judging), and would we be interested in taking them on, getting them cleaned up, and flipping them as pets? My 2 youngest kids (9 and 10 ) are all over it, and we end up taking home 3 HL bucks.
A quick aside. Rabbit Math is as bad, if not worse than chicken math. Rabbits multiply prolifically by themselves, but like chickens, it doesn't seem you can ever have enough. Those first Hollands soon became more hollands, and then one of the other people we got Hollands from showed my wife Netherland Dwarves, and so we had to get some of those as well!
Cages appeared, Feed store runs were measured in truckloads, and the house was officially overrun with assorted critters. We're at the point now where we're looking for acreage to build a real hobby farm on, because there's no way we can stash the pony we ALSO bought this year in our garage.
To sum up, Hi, We're Sundragon Farms. We're based out of the Metro Phoenix Area, and we currently breed Sulcata Tortoises, Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarves, and are working lines of Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and BBS Langshans for availability down the road. I'd blame this all on my wife, but it's too much fun.
It started with tortoises...
We adopted a pair of Sulcata Tortoises a number of years ago as pets for our (then) 2 boys. They were a lot of fun and the boys would spend a lot of time playing with them and socializing them. We kept them in a kid's play pool up on a table in my office where the dogs wouldn't bother them. Over time, they got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until one day, they were simply too large to live in their little pool any more. So, outside they went, into a nice fenced off corner of the yard. They were happy, they were safe, and they could still come out an play whenever the kids wanted to.
Time went by, and our little tortoises continued to grow and thrive. When they were about 8, a family friend asked us if we'd adopt the 2 tortoises they had, who were around the same age as ours (about 7 at the time), because they were downsizing and could not move the torts to their new place. So, 2 became 4. Incredibly, 4 girls. By this point they were all over 50 pounds (22.5kg), and basically there were no predators in our area that were a threat to them, so we gave them full run of our yard and enjoyed their merry, chaotic, destructiveness. See, the thing about Sulcatas is, if they decide they want to go some place, they go. In a straight line. THROUGH whatever is in between them and their destination. Bicycles, yard furniture, BBQ grills, all routinely got rearranged in the yard according to our chelonian decorators' whims that day. It's quite comical to watch your bbq migrate across the yard on the back of a large tortoise, let me tell you. Our human herd had also increased in that time, and 2 boys evolved into 3 boys and a girl. The younger kids also loved our tortoises, and things were good.
A couple more years pass, and during that time we have a few more torts come and go as we'd take in strays and then re-home them. We were down to 3 of our large girls, and happened upon a male via a friend of a friend who was moving into an apartment. He was the same age as our girls, and they quickly became a breeding harem, I guess. The usual things happened, and now we occasionally have a clutch of babies that we sell on as pets. I'm super picky about who adopts my torts, and we do our absolute best to breed responsibly. We actually end up feeding more eggs to the chickens than we let hatch, because it breaks my heart to see Sulcatas abandoned and in shelters.
From there, things got a little... Odd...
Initially, I had no interest in getting chickens, unless they came in a form that I could cook or eat. My wife and kids, on the other hand, wanted to get a few as pets, for eggs, and eventually when the time came, for freezer camp. So, a year or so ago, we started out with a few barred rocks, a small coop, and high hopes. Crazily enough for feed store birds, we managed to get all hens, and for a while things were again, good.
Then the chicken math struck. There are so many cool and colorful breeds, and you have to have them all! And you can't just have one, because it might get picked on or lonely, or even die! Our yard turned into a flurry of flapping fowl, all of which our 2 Aussie Shepherds merrily chased around in a futile attempt to herd them. At one point we were pushing 40 birds, but the AZ summers are cruelly hot, and our losses to the heat and a nasty respiratory infection decimated our flock. Then just before Thanksgiving, a coyote killed a number of the girls as well, so we're down to about 20 right now. A mix of heritage breeds and colorful layers, and watching them in the yard is like having an outdoor fish tank.
That's not where this tale ends though.
Oh no! Around Easter, I'm informed by my wife that she's long wanted a pet rabbit, and that my job was to find her one for Easter...
OK, great! fortunately the local feed store had a bunch in and we went and picked out a gorgeous chinchilla colored Rex doe. Of course, a few days later, she needed a friend, so Craigslist searching delivered us an angora/lionhead mix doe in a tawny yellow color. As I mentioned earlier, Summers in AZ are no place for rabbits who aren't acclimated to the heat, so these girls took up permanent residence in the house. The Rex likes to tease the dogs, and the other one love being a lap bunny. She's bratty though, if you aren't careful she'll eat your shirt. Again, things were good.
...Or so I thought. Come home from work one day and the kids have fallen in love with a Holland Lop the wife found on CL. And he's a pedigreed show bunny, so they can take him to shows and 4H events! So, off to meet this bunny and see what the story is on him. Turns our the owner is a HL breeder and she's run out of room so it's time to move this guy on. He's got a good show pedigree, has won several shows in his class, and is really a nice (if timid) guy. He also came with some friends. The breeder has some fuzzy Holland Lops that aren't able to be shown (fuzzy is a DQ for ARBA judging), and would we be interested in taking them on, getting them cleaned up, and flipping them as pets? My 2 youngest kids (9 and 10 ) are all over it, and we end up taking home 3 HL bucks.
A quick aside. Rabbit Math is as bad, if not worse than chicken math. Rabbits multiply prolifically by themselves, but like chickens, it doesn't seem you can ever have enough. Those first Hollands soon became more hollands, and then one of the other people we got Hollands from showed my wife Netherland Dwarves, and so we had to get some of those as well!
Cages appeared, Feed store runs were measured in truckloads, and the house was officially overrun with assorted critters. We're at the point now where we're looking for acreage to build a real hobby farm on, because there's no way we can stash the pony we ALSO bought this year in our garage.
To sum up, Hi, We're Sundragon Farms. We're based out of the Metro Phoenix Area, and we currently breed Sulcata Tortoises, Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarves, and are working lines of Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and BBS Langshans for availability down the road. I'd blame this all on my wife, but it's too much fun.
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