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My grandma would be in love with your frogs. She is a nuts about them. Thought I would share.:DI will have to show her that soon.

I was showing everyone the pic you posted in my blog of our new girl. :biggrin2:
 
She looks like she's getting ready to shed, which is a good sign because it means she's putting on weight and growing! She's been much more enthusiastic about prey, though she still sometimes pauses just short of actually striking. Today I gave her a f/t pinkie to add some fat to that tail of hers, and she did eat that with enthusiasm. I'm done with classes this week and while I do have couple of busy weeks ahead of me I'm certain she can go to her new home soon :D

I got a ton of great pics of Brindam today and intend on posting them when I get home. I'm having a very bad/upsetting day, so Steve is going to whisk me away to a state park for some photography before I lose my mind. Ample picspam later, I assure you!
 
That is awesome!

Can't wait for all the pictures and have a great day. Relax and enjoy yourself.
 
Today started out as a steaming pile of doodie. However, it was a beautiful sunny day, and sitting outside with Brindam reading Best Friends Magazine (an instant pick-me-up) was the perfect persctription to cure the blues. I was delighted because Brindam generally ignores me or hunkers down looking miserable, but today she actually was coming right up to me asking to be petted. So I got a lot of pics of her!

menbrin.jpg

Coming close for pets

briny1.jpg

What are you doing in here?

briny2.jpg

I mean it, what are you doing in here?

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Showing off a more sleek physique; her stomach used to be so big that it dragged on the ground even when sitting up like this.

I also got a funny pic of her that I'll be posting in the Photo Philes section.

Brindam wasn't the only one cheering me up; Steve said sitting around my house being miserable was totally unacceptable, and took me to the local part to net stream critters and take photos. Yes, anything removed for photos was put back precisely where we found it. Here's some pics!

fishies.jpg

Cute little stream fishies! I can't tell if these are two species or if there is dimorphism/juvenilles going on. We saw at least four species of fish, including mottled sculpin (my favorite!), though we couldn't catch one for a photo.

helgramine.jpg

Huuuuge helgramite - had to be close to 3." They're such freaky beasts, look at those jaws! This stream had great macroinvertebrate diversity - lots of different larvae, crayfish, etc. Steve caught a really big cray but my camera wasn't near by and she was berried up (gravid, basically) so we didn't want to keep her out of the water.

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Salamander larvae. We saw a ton of these as well as northern dusky salamanders. We only caught one though - they're FAST.

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Flowers in the park

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An ant on a dandelion

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Close-up. Kinda poor quality, but I love how you can see the pollen on his abdomen.
 
A few pages back, I mentioned a frog named Fetus who has been struggling quite a lot over the ~ 2 years I've had him. He's had numerous health complications since I got him, including chytrid, a heavy parasite load, and some kind of nutrient absorption or retention issue. He would go through periods of anorexia and weakness, where I'd need to offer intensive nutritional therapy to get him back on his feet. I am very sad to report that within the past week, after his most recent recovery, he sharply declined. He passed away yesterday. Needless to say I'm very upset about the whole thing.

I'm bringing him in for a necropsy. I need to know what was so very wrong with this poor frog that my best efforts were unable to sustain him. I talked to my vet during his last bought of illness and one thought she had, which we'll be investigating, relates to a theory on chytrid. One of the two main theories on how chytrid kills frogs is that the pathological changes to the skin observed in diseased animals results in a loss of electrolytes and easier entry of bacterial infections. Even though he recovered from chytrid, it's possible his skin did not. Hopefully the necro will give some answers, as I could really use closure on this one :(
 
My fiance is currently sick - probably with whatever I have - and I stopped my the store to buy him gatorade after taking a final exam that I arrived late to due to road work and probably failed. My day was already going lousy so of course they lacked his gatorade. Then, on the way out of the store, I saw a tail and light gray rump that I THOUGHT belonged to a wayward baby opossum sticking out from under a garbage can. I began to carefully withdraw it by the base of its tail only to be faced with a SUPER angry feral (domesticated) rat which proceeded to work some kind of contortionist black magic and catch the side of my hand with its teeth before I could realize my error and let go of its tail. I still had the cage I'd set up for Buckley's transport in my car so I whisked the rat inside, only to find on the ride home that it could get out - which of course resulted in me being bitten again while going about 70 on the highway as I tried to keep the little beast contained. We're now home safe, though I don't know what exactly to do from here since I generally do not foster rats.

Sadly, this being finals week, this was probably the LEAST unpleasant part of my day.

Pics later.
 
Oh wow you sure had a more interesting day than I did...though probably not so fun. Are you going to try and tame that rat? I bet that would require LOTS of work...
 
Umm wow.:shock:
 
I'm trying to assess if she's legitimately vicious, or if she was simply very frightened. She's very dirty but not skinny so I don't think she's been on her own for long. My guess is that she either escaped or was deliberately released from a pet store in the plaza. I'm giving her tonight to calm down before I even START evaluating her temperament. She's very pretty, which I guess isa perk if she turns out to be adoptable with some work; nice markings.
 
:DTo bad I can't convince Rob rats would make a nice pet.

I posted in my blog about a recent encounter with some people and it was a pain to listen to them talk but I talked them out of a bearded dragon. I just hope I gave enough info for the leopard gecko they have. I came home a took out Jax because I felt so bad for the one they have.:(

Oh we are going to call the newgirlIsadora Charlotte aka Charlie.
 
I am sorry to hear about your frog.

And wow..I don't think I could ever grab a feral rat.

I also am going to post something in my blog right after this I would like your opinion on :)
 
o your keepin the feral rat?
 
So sorry to hear about Fetus.

Good luck with the rat!

I love your pictures of the stream critters. Really makes me miss where I use to live - we had a pond right across from the house and I use to love spending time out there catching stuff from the pond.
 
Brenda, I'd prefer to NOT keep the rat as I do not believe in keeping them solitary if it's at all avoidable. My hope is that she can be socialized and placed in a home with other rats :)

Here's pics of the wee beast:
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rat1.jpg

Steve is bringing over a big cage for her later which I will outfit with enrichment items so she can start getting exercise. I find that a well entertained and well exercised animals is ALWAYS easier to socialize.

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And my battle scars :p
 
Steve and I went for a hike and to do some photography today. He's been a bit blue lately, and I asked what would make him happy, and he said he wanted to see turtles. We went to a local pond and saw only one, so we went to a Buddhist monastary, which has a big natural pond that's been converted into a Koi pond. Unfortunately, there's also a BIG issue with people letting loose exotic fish, turtles, fowl, etc. on the property.

We saw a big snapping turtle, some painteds, etc. but also several red eared sliders - non-native in this area. We also saw three dead turtles, two RES and one we couldn't identify but it sure didn't look native. After some photography, as we were headed back to the car, I spotted a turtle on a log who had all of his legs & head tucked in. I went closer to check it out and OYE. Red ear slider with a HORRIFIC biltateral eye infection.

He looked extremely underweight and the infection was very severe - I mean massively swollen, red, oozing with pus, the whole nine yards. Invasive or no, I'm not leaving a turtle in that condition to slowly die of infection. So, Steve and I took it home. We soaked it in an electrolyte bath and it drank, which is good, and I began treating the eyes.

One eye is gone. The eye socket was just completely PACKED with pus, and the eyelids were actually decayed and fell off when I applied gentle pressure to try expressing the pus. The other eye is still there but VERY ulcerated; I withdrew the large plug of pus and could see the eye below it. Both eyes have been flushed and medicated, and he's currently downstairs in a makeshift set-up with a pile of finely chopped krill, fish, yam, and greens. We're waiting to hear back from a turtle vet and a turtle rehabber on nutritional support and hydration, as I'm worried he won't eat on his own. I've only had to rehab one turtle before and it wasn't nearly this sick.

I'm hoping if he survives he'll be able to go to a sanctuary or something. My main concern, beyond the emaciation and probably dehydration, is that he's already down one eye and the other is badly damaged. This makes me worry about his survival prospects even we can clear up the infection, as I don't know how well a blind turtle fairs even in captivity. Time will tell I suppose.

Cross all your crossables for this poor turtle. He looks like he's had a bad life. His shell is "off" in shape and he has evidence of old scale rot - he's completely pocked all over. He was then dumped in this lake where he's nearly been killed by an eye infection, all because he dared to be a red ear slider in an exotic pet trade where his kind is sold cheaply to unqualified individuals.
 
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