My Cold-Blooded Family

I decided that I need to put the spotlight on the little critters who live with me and have their own section in my refrigerator... Many of the animals I have had over the years were short-term responsibilities that needed a little TLC. While I worked for a couple years at PetSmart, I ran across many people who wanted to get rid of an animal they couldn't take care of. So I acquired turtles big and small who needed injections and had respiratory infections, MBD and calcium deficiencies, etc. I had huge fish left in Ziploc bags in the parking lot because people didn't know what to do with them... I cared for a baby pigeon "Norm" who had been removed from a neighbor's roof until he learned to fly and left on his life's journey (on someone else's roof haha...).

Back to the point! I have cared for dozens of animals, here are those that stay with me and have a special place in my heart.

Mojo: Pyxicephalus adspersus (African Burrowing Frog), native to Africa

Here is Mojo, an adult female Pyxie frog. She weighs about a pound or a little more, and eats EVERYTHING! She has two "teeth" on her bottom jaw and has a very powerful (and painful) bite. I bought her for a senior animal science project in 2009 to see how much she would grow over a period of 3 months. She started out the size of a half dollar, and was nearly the size of a grapefruit when I finished my paper and brought her in to show everyone! She eats crickets, nightcrawler worms, mice, goldfish (and anything else the other animals won't eat). Though she burrows and spends most of her time 4" below the substrate level in her 55 gallon tank, she's all mouth and stomach when there's food around (we call her the "garbage disposal")! At about 2 and a half years old, she has been a wonderful spectacle to admire and I hope she has many more years to come.


Murphy: Varanus exanthematicus (Savannah Monitor Lizard or Bosc's monitor in Europe), native to Africa

Next is Murphy, the Savannah rescue from last September... Dominic bought Murphy for me as a present at the Sacremento Reptile show last year. I wanted a monitor pretty bad, and this one was in dire need of attention- sounds like the perfect one for me right?! So we picked him up with a small tank he was in for $40, and his health has been improving wonderfully ever since. He's a really shy guy, luckily not aggressive at all! He weighs about 8 pounds and eats and assortment of vitamin enriched ground turkey or chicken and hard boiled eggs, mice, crickets and worms. Measuring at over 30", he has grown a foot in length in 10 months! Now housed in a 125 gallon 6' aquarium, he lounges under his basking lamps (125* under these lights!) and swims in his 5 gallon tupperware "pool."
To read more about Murphy's initial condition and to see an older, skinnier picture of him, view my previous posts!

Nessie and Zilla: Pogona Vitticeps (Inland Bearded Dragon), native to Australia

Here we have Nessie (right) and Godzilla (back), a male and female pair I bought in April for Dominic as an "Introduction to Reptiles." Bearded dragons make wonderful pets as long as you house them correctly! Being native to Australia, they need a hot basking temperature and plenty of UV. These "beardies" (as most reptile enthusiasts call them) are mainly insectivores, but will devour a meal like the one shown above if fed fruits and veggies at a young age. In the photo, they are eating a spring mix, with papaya, apple, red bell pepper, button mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, nectarines and asparagus! They each get one "pinky" mouse every week, and calcium dusted crickets every other day. Usually I will put a few waxworms or mealworms on top of their salads if they don't appear interested... It always sparks their attention!

Though they were spooky and skittish at first, handling them only a few times a week, they have warmed up to human contact quite well. They will continue to mellow out as they come to their first year of age, and are expected to live around 15-20 years! These two are a blast to watch -they both have an odd fascination with our ceiling fan- and are so curious about everything! I'm glad to call them a part of my little family.

Big mama, Spot, Tiny, Fred, Barney, Stumpy, The Twins, Rango and Ringo: Bombina orientalis (Oriental Fire-Bellied Toads), native to China, and parts of Korea and Russia

I have acquired all ten of these lovely amphibians solely through adoption. A few of them came to me missing feet or with fungal infections of the skin from a dirty environment or due to sharing an enclosure with red-clawed crabs (bad idea PetSmart!!). At least 4 or 5 of them came from parents whose children lost interest, and didn't want to buy crickets and clean them every week. So now I have 10 of these little 1-1.5" toads living in a 10 gallon aquarium. Here they live socially and chirp or "bark" all day and night, hopping and swimming around their little pond. I love the sounds they make, here is a link to someone who caught the little chirps one tape.

I've heard that these guys live up to 20 years too! Maybe they'll have babies some day when I make a rain-chamber for them? YES! EVEN MORE TOADS! I highly recommend these cute toads to anyone who wants an active low-maintenance pet! However, they are a "look and don't touch" animal, they secrete toxins on their skin that can cause skin irritation (the oils and salts on our skin can harm them too).