One Girl-child, an injured baby squirrel, and a rehabber who couldn’t take him until morning adds up to one memorable night.
I am writing this from my doctor’s office. I am getting my meds adjusted. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, this rough patch will pass. I am keeping my frog consumption realistic, but I am still going to work on some small things. One tiny step forward. I’ve got this.
what’s on the menu for you today?
There is only one witness, and he is a little fuzzy on the events that occurred. I understand. I’m sure it was terrifying.
“He went thataway!”
One minute the sprinkler in Big Al’s lot was merrily chugging along, watering the grass and filling his mud hole. The next, this:
What happened? Where did that third arm go?
I looked for Al to ask him if he had seen the perpetrator because he had been hanging around close by while the sprinkler was running. He was all the way in the front of the exhibit. Hmm. That’s weird.
Hey, Al! Did you happen to see who did this to my sprinkler? I’d like to talk to them!
I took the broken pieces out and threw them away. When I came back, Detective Al was investigating the crime scene.
“Wait, Miss Heather! Wasn’t there a sprinkler right here? I mean, um… Someone laid on it. I do not know who. I had never seen them before in my life! I hope you catch them!”
Unfortunately, the case has gone cold. I wonder if we will ever solve this particular mystery. In the meantime, Big Al asked me if I wouldn’t mind starting a GoFundMe for a new bidet. I’m sure he meant sprinkler.
What? You thought I was kidding? I’m not. Here’s a cute image so people don’t stroke out from seeing a snake in their inbox. If you don’t love snakes, don’t click past the picture of the dog wearing glasses. Consider yourself warned!
Dottie the Therapy Dog is so ready to write her book. It’s a tail-wagging saga of a chicken biscuit.
I got to feed a Green Tree Python yesterday (Morelia viridis, also affectionately known as a Chondro). They’re just so elegant, I took a few pictures. My Twitter friends convinced me to share them.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
Oh, my gosh! Last week was the best week! I had an egg. Well, not me, exactly. One of my Mossy Leaf Tail Geckos (Uroplatus sikorae) at the zoo where I work laid an egg in December, right around my birthday (thanks, little buddy!). This species is from a cooler part of Madagascar, in the rain forest, and putting the egg into our standard incubators at 84 degrees would cook it. 74 degrees is the highest temperature, but finding a spot that stays 74 degrees is tricky. I found a ledge in a building that stayed 76 this winter. The building is made of stone, so the ledge stayed somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-74. Unfortunately, with inexact temps, hatch dates are hard to predict. 90 days is typical. 90 days came and went. I was beginning to give up. And then I got an email from my boss on my day off (of COURSE it was my day off). I almost skipped out on Good Friday activities with my family to go and visit my new hatchling. I didn’t. I did take my camera the next day, though. You’re welcome.
Can you see him? Or her?
Could you see it? There’s a reason they’re called mossy leaf tails.
How about now? SO TINY!
They have a little fringe around their faces so they blend in perfectly. How tiny is it? This tiny:
17mm total length. Impressive.
But how does 17mm translate into real life? How small is this critter?
That’s my thumb it’s sitting on!
This hatching is the first of this species for me. It’s not endangered yet, but is threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture. It isn’t unheard of for a species with stable numbers to be suddenly found to be endangered a couple of years later.
One last shot for posterity.
My forefinger. Check out that expression! the eyes look white, but that’s because the pupils are contracted. At night, they dilate, and those eyes are solid black!
This will be the only time I handle this baby for a long time. Their skin is very thin, and they are easily stressed, but they need to be weighed and measured for our record keeping. How much does he weigh? 1 gram. It would take three of him to equal the weight of a penny.
What exciting things happened for you this week?
I should clarify. It’s the beginning of hatching season. Breeding starts around June for most of our Malagasy dwarf tortoise species. The eggs are laid, they move to the incubator for a month, then they move to a chiller for another month or two, depending on the species.
Funny story. So, a couple of weeks ago, I looked in the incubator and saw this:
Northern Spider Tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides brygooi). Notice that the egg was actually laid at the end of July.
The first hatchling of the year! It was terribly exciting, but Spider Tortoises are notorious for hanging out in the egg for a day or so before emerging, and I was off. I emailed my boss to see how things were going, and he said the hatchling had almost emerged. Yay! The next day, I rushed in, and look! Ta-DA! (you can click on any image to enlarge)
I snapped a few more closeups, and then I took one of the whole box of eggs. Do you see what I see?
Uh, could it be THE WRONG EGG?
I looked again. Indeed, the tiny tortoise hanging out like it was no thing was a different species. My lovely little Northern Spider Tortoise had missed “First Hatchling” status, but more than that, I was worried that something had gone wrong and perhaps I had lost it. The Boss (he really hates when I call him that) recommended spraying the egg heavily. That indicates to the hatchling that it is the rainy season. So I did. And two hours later…
The actual first hatchling was a Common Spider Tortoise (don’t let the word “common” fool you; they’re critically endangered). These two have since been joined by two more Northern Spider Tortoises, and there are two more trays ready to hit the incubator next week. We’re hoping for a great year.
I see things, and I wonder.
Head-tilt. Yeah, that’s really me. Yes, I need a haircut. Thanks for noticing.
This scrod’s got some mad managerial skilz.
If it’s such a highly-evolved fish sandwich, maybe we shouldn’t eat it.
A garden hose is one of the tools I use daily. I have a tip you may not have heard from Lowe’s or The Home Depot.
A hose will work better and have greater water pressure if there is not a 523lb giant tortoise standing on it.
He looks pleased with himself, doesn’t he? It took 15 minutes of scratching his neck to get him to finally move. Every week, Al? Really?
You heard it here first.
Love tortoise and turtles and want to aid in their conservation? Enjoy a glass of wine? Shop here! Each bottle sold raises money for the Turtle Survival Alliance, an organization committed to zero turtle and tortoise extinctions in the 21st century.
Daylight Saving Time? Already?
Nope. I’m going back to bed.
Arakan Forest Turtle. A sibling of this guy. Welcome to the world, little guy.
Life has a way of teaching us what we need to know if only we are paying attention. Some lessons are easy; some we learn have to learn the hard way.
“Hey, little buddy! Let’s play!”
Today, Pixel learned about stinkbugs. Yo, fuzz-face! There’s a reason they’re called that!
“Oh, $%#!”
It looks like she’s learned her lesson.
That was terrible! HORRIBLE! They can’t always be that nasty. Hmmm….I think maybe they only smell bad on Wednesdays.
But I wouldn’t count on it.
Hey, listen. If you entered my drawing for the ebook and grand prize back in November, be sure to check the email you used when you entered. We’re trying to get in touch with the winner. Beth B, are you out there?
Becoming Cliche 