kiyakotari: (gecko)
Waldere died this morning, just before feeding time. He had a seizure. It was very fast. He had not had any symptoms of illness before the seizure - active, eating normally, had a good shed about three days ago. I described the event to the vet, and he said it sounds like he had a stroke or aneurysm.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with his body. I don't have a garden to bury him in. Public park is probably a no-go. As a gecko he's much larger than the baby anoles were, so I can't really sneak him into one of the planters in front of my apartment building.
kiyakotari: (Default)
It's been a while since I've posted anything! I've been pretty busy, but am currently snowed-in on a day off from work, and have some time.

In news, on December 26th I was unexpectedly landed with a new family member. It's a long story, but this is one of the three cats that belonged to Jae and Steph back when we used to share an apartment. I've always adored her, and when she needed a new home the day after Christmas, I took her in (and with only a couple of hours of advance notice, too). She's adapting well to the new environment - although the introductions did mean lots of hissing and growling and general cat unhappiness in my little one-bedroom apartment for a while there. She and MingMing have now settled into a mutual avoidance routine, for the most part, with only the occasional "Oh, yeah, I'm not happy you're here," hiss for the sake of appearances. Both have lived in multiple-cat homes before, so I have no doubt that they will eventually warm up to one another enough to cuddle up together.

Anyhow, without further delay, I present Kamikaze, also known as "Kami." (Previously known as "Dizzy," a name that I've always hated, and which she seemed quite happy to abandon - she responded to "Kami" without any hesitation.)


More under the link, as well as some of MingMing, and a single shot of Waldere. )
kiyakotari: (gecko)
The last of the fertile eggs just hatched (the other three that were in there went brown and wrinkly, which means they either weren't fertile, or something was wrong with them).

I kinda' suspect this baby lizard isn't going to live out the night, though. Something seems to be wrong with it. The other one was immediately active, if a bit uncoordinated. This one is flopping around and can't seem to straighten its spine. =/

EDIT: Yeah, new baby didn't last long. Definitely some kind of birth (hatching?) defect.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
TinyLizard died early this morning, shortly after I got home from work. It had seemed pretty energetic last night before I left, but when I got home it was not moving at the bottom of the terrarium, and would only blink at me. It died shortly after.

This is sad, but not terribly surprising. Captive-bred anoles do not have a good survival rate.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Just a quick shot of TinyLizard being tiny and cute on my finger. Under a cut because it's fairly wide.

Look, TinyLizard is posturing at the camera! Isn't it cute? )
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Here are some shots of other pets. ^___^

Enkidu, the Hyla cinerea (American green tree frog) that lives with Gilgamesh and Manimekalai in the large "anole terrarium." They get along beautifully - that is to say, the anoles and the frog totally ignore each other.


Two more under here. )
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Expect a lot more of these if this little nubbin' makes it. Which is still up in the air. Feeding it has been difficult thus far (it's refusing everything I've tried). I'm hoping that will pass, and that it will start eating soon. There's not much information about raising these guys in captivity, as most people don't bother (it's nearly impossible to find captive bred anoles) because they're so common in their range in the wild, and so easy to catch if you even kind of know what you're doing.

I did find this, though:

For the first few days he will be living off of the egg nutrients. They will start to feed after about 3 days. Fruit flies usually are good but some just have different tastes. If he wont eat the flightless fruit flies then try buying some "pinhead" or hatchling crickets these are tiny as well and can be found at most pet stores carrying crickets. Remember to look at them before buying them they should be no bigger then the space between his little eye balls. The baby should be in the same exact setup as the parents just different container. So same UV same heat, same humidity, and vitamin supplements food dust etc. After feeding about 15 minutes make sure you remove all live food because it can and will bite at the hatchling's toes. Baby food is a good option just remember that fruits are treats and chicken is a better one then banana or other fruit. Only feed a little bit of this and only if he is still ignoring insects. If he isn't eating because you are watching then take a sheet or towel and wrap up his enclosure and take a corner to peek through so hopefully he doesn't see you and watch him to see if he eats. It might take some time so be patient. Good luck.

Hopefully that's correct, and I don't need to worry about the not eating unless it continues through Friday and into Saturday.

TinyLizard with a US nickel.


TinyLizard on my finger.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
(Ironic that this should happen right after I posted about my vague, hormone-induced desire to pop out the next link in my evolutionary chain.)

I woke up and found that one of my anole eggs had hatched! I was starting to think they weren't fertile, because they've all just been going wrinkly and dark and hardening. BABY LIZARD IS TINY!!

Here's hoping he/she/it survives the night, because I have to go to work and can't stay here to care for it. Not that there's much I could do, anyway. It's probably best that I'm not going to be fluttering around making "BABY LIZARD, BABY LIZARD" noises at it while it tries to sleep. I guess they've got about a 30-40% survival rate in captivity.

First thing in the morning, I have to swing by the PetCo and get a vial of flightless fruit flies. Even my tiniest crickets (just under 1/4" long) appear to be too large for this little dude(tte?), as I don't have any proper pinheads.

UPDATE 23:45 - Pictures! I have pictures!

As you can see, its head is almost comically large in comparison to its body. It's also WAY too small to determine the gender yet. The body is about an inch long from snout to the tips of the rear toes, and the tail is about another inch and a half from base to tip. Tiny, TINY baby anole!

EGG II

Aug. 15th, 2010 09:43 am
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Found a second egg in the terrarium this morning, about an hour and a half after the lizards woke up for the day. I started looking for it after Manimekalai suddenly went from plump to considerably less so. It has been safely and carefully moved to the incubation container. It was properly buried (unlike the first one) and shows all the signs of being a fertile egg. I have high hopes.

Manimekalai looks so funny right after laying an egg. XD Her tummy is nice and chubby like usual, but she's got this deflated area right in front of her back legs. Stupidly cute.

The first egg has proven to be infertile, as I expected. I'm not particularly surprised by this. It shrank and became wrinkly, and then started to grow mold. I did dissect it, just to be sure and because I'm a freak, and there was nothing inside but solidified (rotten) albumen, with no signs that it ever contained a viable embryo.

In other news, one of the American green tree frogs I added to the terrarium is doing very, very well. The other one appears fine, but is losing weight. As far as I can tell, he's not eating nearly as much as he should. I am fretting over him.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Here's Waldere with Zsuzsa and a sleeping Jisszhurat (his head is not permanent at this point). I had him out of his terrarium to check him over (we're still working on the "handling" thing, though he's the tamest gecko I've ever seen), and he leapt from my shoulder to the sofa, where I had the dolls set up to take some photos (Zsuzsa just got a new faceup). He started to climb Zsuzsa - I think he thought her braids were vines. I managed to snap two pictures before he bolted and I had to abandon the camera to go lizard hunting, and this was the one that was closest to being in focus.

EGG!!! @_@

Jul. 31st, 2010 08:11 am
kiyakotari: (gecko)
I came home from work this morning and discovered an anole egg in the terrarium! Manimekalai must have lain it sometime while I was asleep yesterday evening, and I didn't see it until now. Thankfully the American green tree frogs I got yesterday (they were FINALLY in stock at the pet store, and I snagged the only two they had) for the anole (and now frog) terrarium didn't mess with it.

The egg has been safely and carefully marked, transferred to a separate plastic container with moist substrate in it, and placed back in the terrarium for incubation. I'm honestly not sure if it's fertile or not - it was on the surface of the substrate, which can be an indication of an infertile egg. But the Vermiculite I ordered for incubation purposes hasn't arrived yet, so it's possible that's why she didn't bury it very well (substrate in the terrarium isn't quite deep enough for that - the Vermiculite container would be deeper).

Lick!!

Jul. 29th, 2010 08:07 am
kiyakotari: (gecko)


I'm such a dork.

Tongue FTW

Jul. 28th, 2010 05:37 pm
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Is this not the cutest damn thing ever? (Lucky shot on my part - that tongue is fast!)

Pet Spam

Jul. 24th, 2010 10:45 am
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Title is fairly self-explanatory, I think.

Waldere on the glass wall of his terrarium. (He's not missing toes on his left front foot, they're just folded under.)

Bunch of large pet pictures under the cut. )
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Well, Manimekalai and Gilgamesh are officially getting along now (which is good - if he started trying to eat her again, I was going to have to get yet another terrarium in order to separate them).

I caught them mating today, on the basking ledge. <_< Unintentionally interrupted them, actually, as Manimekalai is rather skittish and disengaged and fled into the foliage as soon as I leaned down to check on them, much to Gilgamesh's apparent discontent. ^_^;; He's since taken to following her around like a lovestruck puppy (or a horn-dog, not sure which would be more appropriate).
kiyakotari: (gecko)
As promised, here are some pictures of Waldere, my new Malaysian Golden Gecko. I'm fairly certain he's male (if not, I guess his name will change to Kundalakesi, but for now we're gonna' go with the male one), though these guys aren't quite as easy to sex as some of the other gecko species. He's a bit skittish, but much more friendly than the anoles are. Once on my hand, he seems content to just sit there and check out his surroundings, whereas the anoles will freak out when I have to remove them from their terrariums for cleaning and the like.

Did you know that there's only one known material in existence that a gecko's footpads will not stick to? It's Teflon. Their footpads, covered in setae, which are in turn covered in spatulae, use the attractive force of van der Waals interactions to adhere to almost any surface. But they cannot climb Teflon, because it is naturally low in van der Waals interactions. In addition, with a good bond, the attractive forces in the gecko's footpads are strong enough that a gecko can hold up about eight times its own weight using just one toe to adhere to smooth glass. And nocturnal geckos (like the Malaysian Golden) can perceive colors about 350 times more accurately and distinctly than humans!


More under the cut. )
kiyakotari: (gecko)
There is a new denizen in what my parents have taken to referring to as "the menagerie." A beautiful Gekko ulikovskii (also inappropriately known as "Gekko auratus," common name Malaysian Golden Gecko), now resides in the terrarium that was previously Manimekalai's home. I'm still not 100% sure of this new resident's sex, so the name will be Waldere if it's a male and Kundalakesi if it is a female.

Manimekalai has finally been moved in with Gilgamesh, and the two of them seem to be getting along much better (he's not yet attempted to eat her) now that she's grown a bit. Hopefully they'll settle down nicely together - if not, I'll have to get her another terrarium.

Pictures of possibly-Waldere-possibly-Kundalakesi to come soon.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce the newest addition to my household, and the first denizen of my terrarium. This is Gilgamesh, a male Anolis carinolensis, or Green Anole. These little lizards are sometimes mistakenly referred to as "American chameleons," because they can change from bright green to tan, brown, and even a blackish color. However, they are not true chameleons, and the mechanism of the color change is different from that seen in a chameleon.

Although the rule with herps (and most reptiles) is generally to keep different species housed in separate terrariums, all the information I've been able to find indicates that Green Anoles and Rough Green Snakes have the surprising ability to cohabit without running into the usual problems (snake eating lizard, lizard dying of fright-induced-stress, lizard trying to kill snake, etc) that can happen in these situations. In addition, they eat the same foods, and require the same humidity and temperature, as well as sharing other environmental needs. The people I've talked to who keep or have kept Rough Greens (including the nice reptile/herp specialist at the pet store) have all agreed that, in the case of these two species, an exception to the normal isolation rule isn't a problem. Some even suggested it could extend the life of one or both of the pets, but I'm not sure I believe that. These are creatures of pure instinct, all stress/not-stress and response to stimuli. I'm not sure they really have social needs/preferences, or experience loneliness.

Unfortunately, I have not yet managed to get any photos of him when his dewlap is on display. He has been eating crickets just fine, and seems to be adjusting well to his new home.

Terrarium!

Apr. 30th, 2010 04:22 pm
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Spent most of the day helping B&A move stuff around between old apartment, new apartment, and storage unit, but we did have a chance to stop off at one of the local pet stores, and I dropped $270 on the awesome Exo Terra terrarium I wanted (I opted for a full kit, with additional accessories, for an extra $80 - I could have got the terrarium alone online for $120-ish, but then I would have had to pay shipping, and I would have had to purchase most of the supplies it came with anyway, so this was actually cheaper), along with a basket full of various supplies. I still need to get another $100-150 worth of supplies before it's snake-worthy (though the $30 powerstrip with individually time-controlled sockets on it is more to make my life easier than to make the snake more comfortable), but I already knew getting into this that the setup costs were fairly high. Barring complications, the maintenance and caring costs will be much less than these initial ones.

The terrarium is currently sitting on its new table home, all assembled (bar substrate, animal, and bulbs for the lighting system) and pretty.
kiyakotari: (gecko)
Having researched even more in the past few days, I've definitely settled on the larger Exo Terra PT-2607 (18x18x24 inch) terrarium, but I've decided against trying to incorporate live plants into the environment at this point. The humidity and temperature levels for this particular species of snake are rather specific, and I don't want to try to also manage the needs of the plants at the same time. Maybe once I've had it for a year or two, I will be better equipped to balance the requirements of both snake and plant health. For now, though, it will be artificial plants only.

The reptile dealer I've been speaking to is checking the sexes of his Rough Greens today (I want a male) and will be getting back to me.