| Our Herps Through The Years |
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| Well, this is Dazzy (pronounced Daisy). Hey, I think I was 7 in this picture with her. She has been around for 13 years now, living on fish and the occasional lizard that the cats drag in. Must be doing something right. She now has what seems to be a tumor growing inside of her, but it doesn't hinder her eating or drinking process at all. My dad actually found her for me while he was out at our new house that was being built. He said she just let him pick her right up. I used to take her in the car with me everywhere. I used to visit the local pet store where she would be fast asleep in one of the knots in my hair. Never bothered her a bit. Update: Dazzy died quietly in April of 2002...after 14 years of being a wonderful family pet. |
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| This is Aquamee (okay, I was horrible with names as a young child). We call him Mee Mee for short. Anyway, when I first got him, he had a hole in his hind leg between the shell and the skin. My mom contacted a reputable turtle person and she told us that it was probably maggots due to the way the turtles are shipped from Florida. Anyhow, after about 2 months of duct tape and cotton balls to suffocate the maggots to get them out....and 34!!! maggots later, Mee Mee was perfectly healthy still. Although I seem to recall having to treat him for a respiratory illness as well. But nowadays he just eats his banana with turtle food stuck to it and swims in his bowl of water. He seems as happy as a turtle can be. |
| This blurry head sticking out from the shavings is actually a different snake from the one above. They are both garter snakes...but this one's name is Oscar. He was my brother's snake but Oscar never took to humans like Dazzy did. ( I came to find out later that these types of snakes NEVER can be tamed...Dazzy was just really weird) So, since Oscar was so unhappy being in a cage, we took him far away from our cats and released him at a very nice pond that was deep in the woods. I doubt that he is still alive today, but I'm sure he has many, many little Oscars running amuck, following in his past. |
| And last reptile, but certainly not least is Serena...once again, my brother's turtle. She lived with us for many years and we had gotten into the routine of allowing her to run around the living room. She escaped one day out the back door that was left cracked for the cats to get in and out of. We really don't know what happened to her once she got outside, whether the dog got her and buried her or if the backhoe that working back there ran her over. I doubt she could have made it long in the wild and especially through a cold winter. I recall one incident where my brother forgot her outside and our golden retriever, Sky, found her after she wandered off and took her to my mom. I hope my brother realizes how horrible he is to pets. In all the years he has never gotten any better. |
| The 80-gallon Red-eared slider habitat: Set up in September of 2002. There are actually five jeuvenile res in this tank. It is filtered with an Eheim Pro 2 series canister with a heating element in the filter itself. I still have 2 un-named turtles, but the smaller 3 are Sasha, Sabine, and Squirt. Definately a joy to have these guys. |
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| This is Shrek's, the bearded dragon's, habitat. It is a 150 gallon (5x2x2 foot) acrylic tank that was given to me. In it are large hunks of granite and play sand for substrate. In case you are wondering about the stand, it is sitting on 3/4 inch plywood and 6 cinder blocks...there is a black sheet thrown over it, making for some nice, hidden cricket storage space underneath the tank. Habitat set-up in March of 2003 |
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| What can I say about Shrek? He's a turd. But an easily lovable one at that. He was hatched on November 23rd, 2002...I look forward to our next 20 years together :0) Beardies do make wonderful pets, and are much easier to house than those 6-foot iguanas. |
| Coming soon: photos of the simple White's tree frog tank....still need a name for the frog. |