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. )

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.

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. )

(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!

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.

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. )

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. )

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.

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.