Saturday, July 23, 2011
My Bearded Dragon Quiz
Here is a moderately difficult test I created to see what people really know about one of the most common lizards in the pet trade today. If you own a bearded dragon or are looking into purchasing one, I encourage you to take this test! The questions range from general information about the different species of bearded dragon, to diet, and common health problems.
The password to enter (if it even asks) is: scuttlebug
http://www.gotoquiz.com/the_bearded_dragon_1
The password to enter (if it even asks) is: scuttlebug
http://www.gotoquiz.com/the_bearded_dragon_1
Friday, July 22, 2011
Visiting Mt. Diablo
Thought I would share a spring vs. summer picture of a tree and hillside at Mt. Diablo Park. Also a picture of a terrified little Sceloporus occidentalis I caught "Western Fence Lizard" or "Blue-Belly."
Here is the beautiful hillside along the "frog pond" trail coming from the curry point trail-head. This is a picture taken during springtime, all of the hills were lush and covered in California Poppies and other flowers.
This is the same shot, but during our 2011 summer this year. All the flowers are gone! Awwww.
This is the startled fence lizard I caught basking on the side of an oak tree. So nice of him to pose for a quick photo shoot!
Mt. Diablo is a wonderful place to hike and camp, plenty of diverse wildlife too! Be careful of rattlesnakes though, I don't see them too often but they're hiding in plain sight all over the trails!
Here is the beautiful hillside along the "frog pond" trail coming from the curry point trail-head. This is a picture taken during springtime, all of the hills were lush and covered in California Poppies and other flowers.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
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).
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).
There's Something in the Water...
A few days ago, I got some very sad news. A call came in from Florida early one morning from Bobby Hill, my tegu breeder. He told me that he had lost over 800 eggs during incubation, apparently the chemicals being used to treat the water there had been changed without notice and had harmed the incubating babies. Bobby was deeply apologetic and told me that I could have my deposit back. After thinking for a second, I decided to keep my deposit down and wait until next year's clutches arrived...
Let me tell you, this was hard for me! I'm not a very patient person, and I had everything (down to food) purchased for this little tegu baby I was expecting to hatch any day now.
Here is my reasoning... Bobby has been there for any and every question I threw at him. If I sent him an email, I got an immediate response. When I was uneasy about a purchase, he phoned me personally and talked me through everything, giving me information to do my own research and make my own decisions. When I was first decided on buying a tegu, I was unsure about giving $75 to some random person via paypal, to turn around and wait 6 months before giving him another $75. AND THEN waiting even longer for them to ship at 3 weeks of age... So Bobby asked permission to call me and tell me about his business, introduce himself, and point me in the direction of hundreds of people who have bought animals from him in the past (www.TeguTalk.com).
I found that everyone I talked to had a very high opinion of Bobby, and the animals he bred. I looked at all of the youtube videos he had uploaded on the Varnyard channel and felt very confident that he wasn't a scammer!
After I put my initial $75 deposit down on March 16th, I waited until the eggs were laid, and then for them to hatch. When things seemed like they were taking forever, I got the phone call with the bad news. Though I was bummed out, I felt a new and even greater respect for Bobby Hill. For a week, he contacted every individual on his order list personally, and spoke with them about the accident and the options.
Though a part of me REALLY wanted a baby 'gu, I couldn't push myself to deny Bobby my business. something had happened that was beyond his control, why punish him for an accident? Especially after he had been so kind!
I am realizing that the world desperately needs more people like Bobby. He was honest, sincere, and a wonderful person to talk to. I'm afraid to say that anyone else in his position would have merely sent out a mass-email stating the bad news, they wouldn't bother contacting all 800+ people!
Thank you Bobby Hill, for being such an honest person! I can't wait until the babies arrive next year!!!
Let me tell you, this was hard for me! I'm not a very patient person, and I had everything (down to food) purchased for this little tegu baby I was expecting to hatch any day now.
Here is my reasoning... Bobby has been there for any and every question I threw at him. If I sent him an email, I got an immediate response. When I was uneasy about a purchase, he phoned me personally and talked me through everything, giving me information to do my own research and make my own decisions. When I was first decided on buying a tegu, I was unsure about giving $75 to some random person via paypal, to turn around and wait 6 months before giving him another $75. AND THEN waiting even longer for them to ship at 3 weeks of age... So Bobby asked permission to call me and tell me about his business, introduce himself, and point me in the direction of hundreds of people who have bought animals from him in the past (www.TeguTalk.com).
I found that everyone I talked to had a very high opinion of Bobby, and the animals he bred. I looked at all of the youtube videos he had uploaded on the Varnyard channel and felt very confident that he wasn't a scammer!
After I put my initial $75 deposit down on March 16th, I waited until the eggs were laid, and then for them to hatch. When things seemed like they were taking forever, I got the phone call with the bad news. Though I was bummed out, I felt a new and even greater respect for Bobby Hill. For a week, he contacted every individual on his order list personally, and spoke with them about the accident and the options.
Though a part of me REALLY wanted a baby 'gu, I couldn't push myself to deny Bobby my business. something had happened that was beyond his control, why punish him for an accident? Especially after he had been so kind!
I am realizing that the world desperately needs more people like Bobby. He was honest, sincere, and a wonderful person to talk to. I'm afraid to say that anyone else in his position would have merely sent out a mass-email stating the bad news, they wouldn't bother contacting all 800+ people!
Thank you Bobby Hill, for being such an honest person! I can't wait until the babies arrive next year!!!
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