Things I Learned This Week

[pridecity]

Feel free to add on!

Things I learned this week:

*Cats are easier trained than some dogs (Cassie wanted to beat up Mew and kept raising her paw. I kept saying "Cassie" sternly and she'd stop. Try getting my mutt to listen that well. Lol).

*I broke my bearded dragon Ella by feeding her pinkie mice as a treat. Now every time I stick my hand in the viv, she tries to eat my fingures.

*On the same note, I know know what it feels like to be "love nipped" by an adult bearded dragon. She got my fingers on accident while feeding her said pinkies.

*Bearded dragons jump. Not far, but they do it well enough. I kind of knew that though.

*Hungry Beardies are very determined, especially when they know you have food. No height is too tall to get closer to that food.

*My box turtle is more aquatic than I thought. I've been keeping her in the painted turtle's tank on the land because I had to tear down her cage for a short time while I use the space to house furniture while I rearrange other rooms. She's been there a week and I find her constantly swimming/floating. I know she can get out onto land, so she just likes swimming.

*In addition to this, I learned that turtles are like monkeys. How you ask? Because, like monkeys, if they see they will do. As a WC turtle, my boxie hasn't been the best eater. She would eat only if she was extremely bored or had nothing better to do until I moved her in with the painted. Now she eats great (likes mice too!). The only problem is, now she wants to take most of her food in the water. Lol

*I also now know what it feels like to be bitten by my boxie. She accidentally got the fleshy part of my finger near where it connects to the hand. It hurt far more than when my painted accidentally gets me.

*This week, I learned that my boxie will eat a lot better if I hand feed her. That makes 14 animals I have to hand feed (8 snakes, two turtles, 4 BDs). Thank gosh I have no life. Lol

*I learned that if you hold mealworms under the water for 5 seconds or so, they'll straighten out long enough to feed them to turtles.

*Lastly, this week I learned that I wouldn't trade any of this for anything in the world. I must be crazy.

 

[Susan]

I learned this week that renewing my driver's license was such a pain that I can only pray that I will be able to do it on-line or via the mail in 2019 when I have to do it again. Besides having to

A) take one of the 2 remaining appointments through the end of September that could be made on-line which forced me to take an extended lunch yesterday,

B) spending a week getting all the required documents (certified government-issued birth certificate - hospital issued is no good so many thanks to Mom and the effort she put in to find it in the hundreds of papers she has in her safe, certified marriage license - the one thing I actually had 2 handy copies of as I refused to send any more to credit card companies - they could keep my card under my maiden name, Social Security card or proof of number as on your W2 form - Thank God for that as I couldn't find my card, and 2 additional proof of residence documents, such as a utility bill, voter's card, or again, that handy-dandy W2 form -----I was almost ready to argue that Obama didn't need to provide all this stuff to become President but preferred to get out of there in a reasonable amount of time),

C) the directions provided on-line when I made my appointment showing a quicker, more hassle-free route than going through the center of town were not all that clear and I ended up taking the wrong road that still ended up on the correct road, but north of the place I needed to go instead of south of it. As a result, I turned left like I was supposed to do per the map but figured when I reached the county line that something was amiss and I had better turn around. I was now a bit frantic as my appointment was for 1:30, and the time was now 1:31 with miles to go, and since they specifically told me NOT to be more than 15 minutes early for the appointment, being late must be worse.

Well, I eventually found where I needed to be and actually still had the prior appointment ahead of me. And it turns out that the reason I couldn't make an appointment for any other time was that they were closing that office forever at 5:00PM that day. Their website didn't offer the new location yet as an option (which would have been much better for me as it was only 10 minutes from my work instead of 30 minutes. On the brighter side, the new photo on my license isn't that bad and upon my arrival back at work, everyone was overly glad to have me back as they had trouble managing without me (newer girl still in training had trouble with the x-ray settings on a pregnant Boxer for a puppy count - reassured her that I would have had trouble as well and have also put the cassette in upside down). Oh...7 puppies, possible an 8th hiding behind the poop-filled colon.

 

[Carinata]

*Carpet Python bites hurt, especially on your chin.
*Yellow Anacondas strike without warning and hurt worse that Carpet Pythons.
That about sums up my week.....

 

[ceduke]

*Feeding quail eggs to my Indigo snake turns him into a MONSTER! I haven't been able to handle him in days because he's out of control! Striking at my hands, the hook, the sides of the tub, his cave....Tomorrow I'm putting my foot down with him. Today I was too tired, reflexes were a little slow.

 

[atmox]

*Bamboo is though to saw

*Stitches hurt

 

[grankin01]

*Don't get into a pissing match with Rich! It can only end badly ... for you.

 

[pridecity]

Well! We're having some interesting week!

Here's another one that I learned at car shows (with a hearse). People think that they're more clever than they really are and kids have more respect in most cases than adults.

Because of the car being a hearse, I've heard all the jokes and questions...

People are dying to ride in it.
It's the last ride.
Turn it into the Ghostbusters car.
Creepy
Morbid
Do you take it camping?
Is it real?
Do you have a body in it? (Why yes, I just randomly choose a victim and let it get gamey in my fully restored car. I sure hope the police don't notice).

Don't get me wrong, love car shows but people annoy the hell out of me. We get some that think they're so clever for coming up with death/hearse jokes and it's so hard not to roll eyes. Whenever I see someone with a Hummer, I don't ask if it's a screamer too.

Kids tend to ask if they can see the car, especially inside. Adults basically open doors, touch everything and get finger prints on everything. Adults completely ignore the "please don't touch" signs while kids see the signs and mostly abide by them.

Maybe I'm being too cynical.

 

[Stefanie]

I've learned that Bearded Dragons and turtles eat pinkies ..... had no clue!

PS: What's wrong with the question of taking your hearse camping?

 

[Susan]

Well! We're having some interesting week!

Here's another one that I learned at car shows (with a hearse). People think that they're more clever than they really are and kids have more respect in most cases than adults.

Because of the car being a hearse, I've heard all the jokes and questions...

People are dying to ride in it.
It's the last ride.
Turn it into the Ghostbusters car.
Creepy
Morbid
Do you take it camping?
Is it real?
Do you have a body in it? (Why yes, I just randomly choose a victim and let it get gamey in my fully restored car. I sure hope the police don't notice).

Don't get me wrong, love car shows but people annoy the hell out of me. We get some that think they're so clever for coming up with death/hearse jokes and it's so hard not to roll eyes. Whenever I see someone with a Hummer, I don't ask if it's a screamer too.

Kids tend to ask if they can see the car, especially inside. Adults basically open doors, touch everything and get finger prints on everything. Adults completely ignore the "please don't touch" signs while kids see the signs and mostly abide by them.

Maybe I'm being too cynical.

A restored hearse?! That is so cool! My sister-and brother-in-law ran car shows for many years and I had the privilege to go to one. I had never been to anything like that and was overly impressed with all the restored and primped vehicles. I would love to see some photos of your hearse and I'll bet the ride is fantastic (always wanted to ride in one just to compare to other smooth-ride cars - not that I've been in many)! Lots of room in the back for carrying snake containers too!

 

[pridecity]

I just don't see a hearse as a good car for camping. The one I'm talking about is a 1969, so it gets very poor mileage. Maybe a newer one could do better. My problem is that the car was restored to original condition, minus the color, so that it could be an example of the workmanship, not what it could be turned into. I've also heard that speakers should be put into it to make it the ultimate sound system.

I think it is a lot better being original.

 

[Floof]

-Bearded dragons LOVE chicken baby food. Seriously. Stick a spoon full of baby food in Blossom's cage, and she'll charge it with more gusto than any cricket or roach. Makes a great treat, and a GREAT way to disguise "nasty, icky" calcium & vitamin supplements.

-On the same note of "icky" calcium/vitamin supplements, which my four-legged scaly babies hate, Repashy's new "SuperVeggie" all-in-one supplement kicks butt. It smells yummy (like CGD), and the beardies have yet to turn down a salad dusted with it!

-When a snake that weighs more than 200 grams tries to feeding response bite your hand and only kind of misses, don't pull back so it can't latch on. That usually ends with said 200+ gram snake dangling from your hand by one jaw. Which hurts a whole lot more than the bite you were trying to avoid.

-Tortoises=not very smart. Especially Sulcatas. If it's in human hands, it must be food, right? Yeah. Sure. While I was trying to give the Redfoot a bit of the vitamin-laced chicken baby food today, both the juvie Sulcatas raced up and tried to eat it for her. The bigger one did the same thing a couple weeks ago, only that time it was a roach nymph. Uuuuhhh... You're supposed to be herbivores, guys!!!
**(Disclaimer: Housing a Redfoot with Sulcatas is not something I condone. I'm pet-sitting the lovely little guys, and only just got the owner's OK to separate... Now working on finding an enclosure--easier said than done! )

-Oh, also learned how to take care of tarantulas. And that Ts are pretty cool. And not all that scary at all. Well, usually, anyway. And that little baby Chaco Golden Knees are adorable when they pounce on their crickets. <3

And the worst thing I learned this week: What snake mites look like! And I have NO idea where the heck they came from, because they were ONLY on the boa (did treat all the snakes), and it's been over a month since the last scaly things came into the house (the turtles&torts). Argh...

Oh well. That gave me the opportunity to also learn this week that the Nix remedy works very well!

 

[Carinata]

-Bearded dragons LOVE chicken baby food. Seriously. Stick a spoon full of baby food in Blossom's cage, and she'll charge it with more gusto than any cricket or roach. Makes a great treat, and a GREAT way to disguise "nasty, icky" calcium & vitamin supplements.

-On the same note of "icky" calcium/vitamin supplements, which my four-legged scaly babies hate, Repashy's new "SuperVeggie" all-in-one supplement kicks butt. It smells yummy (like CGD), and the beardies have yet to turn down a salad dusted with it!

-When a snake that weighs more than 200 grams tries to feeding response bite your hand and only kind of misses, don't pull back so it can't latch on. That usually ends with said 200+ gram snake dangling from your hand by one jaw. Which hurts a whole lot more than the bite you were trying to avoid.

-Tortoises=not very smart. Especially Sulcatas. If it's in human hands, it must be food, right? Yeah. Sure. While I was trying to give the Redfoot a bit of the vitamin-laced chicken baby food today, both the juvie Sulcatas raced up and tried to eat it for her. The bigger one did the same thing a couple weeks ago, only that time it was a roach nymph. Uuuuhhh... You're supposed to be herbivores, guys!!!
**(Disclaimer: Housing a Redfoot with Sulcatas is not something I condone. I'm pet-sitting the lovely little guys, and only just got the owner's OK to separate... Now working on finding an enclosure--easier said than done! )

-Oh, also learned how to take care of tarantulas. And that Ts are pretty cool. And not all that scary at all. Well, usually, anyway. And that little baby Chaco Golden Knees are adorable when they pounce on their crickets. <3

And the worst thing I learned this week: What snake mites look like! And I have NO idea where the heck they came from, because they were ONLY on the boa (did treat all the snakes), and it's been over a month since the last scaly things came into the house (the turtles&torts). Argh...

Oh well. That gave me the opportunity to also learn this week that the Nix remedy works very well!

Nix is awesome! At work when new animals come in they get the NIX, and it works great. I use it on a daily basis!

 

[pridecity]

Love the Nix Mix. I use it on the stupid ants and earwigs coming through the bathroom foundation (toilet leaks about 3 gallons a day from the water supply line; probably need to replace the wax ring thingy).

For the torts, how about going to Wal-Fart and getting a kiddie pool? My boxie usually stays in a larger kiddie pool that was about $15 I think. It's about 4 feet in diameter (I think lol). I know that I saw some smaller ones that might have been 2 feet in diameter this year, but I haven't gotten close enough to actually tell. I can dig up pictures if you'd like to see them.


I also learned another couple things today:

We have fire ants in Colorado. How did I learn this? I was outside with my mutt and she started limping. I had her in my lap and she wouldn't lay still. I finally flipped her over and took a look at her paw. She had a nice fire ant between her toes. I pulled it out and threw it away from us.

I also learned today that the best thing to treat fire ants (for my dog at least) is cortisone cream and Benadryl. Lastly, I learned that my mutt really sucks when on it. She doesn't sleep, but just stares at me. I wanted her to sleep!

 

[Susan]

I also learned another couple things today:

We have fire ants in Colorado. How did I learn this? I was outside with my mutt and she started limping. I had her in my lap and she wouldn't lay still. I finally flipped her over and took a look at her paw. She had a nice fire ant between her toes. I pulled it out and threw it away from us.

I also learned today that the best thing to treat fire ants (for my dog at least) is cortisone cream and Benadryl. Lastly, I learned that my mutt really sucks when on it. She doesn't sleep, but just stares at me. I wanted her to sleep!

Dogs take a much higher dose of Benadryl than we do, up to 2 mg/lb twice daily, and it doesn't tend to make them drowsy like it does humans. You might get you poor dog sleepy at the high dose, but don't count on it. A few laps of something alcoholic would be a better sleep aid for your dog.

 

[Floof]

Lol, Halley! The whole time I was treating the snakes, my brother was ranting and raving about all the spiders in our basement/family room. He swore up-and-down he'd NEVER go downstairs again. Which doesn't work for me, because he does the laundry. Finally I just stuffed the Nix bottle in his hands and told him to go spray the carpet or something. He still won't go down there without shoes on, though. Wuss. lol

As for the torts, I'm stupid broke right now, and the owner can't pay me back for "extra" supplies until he gets back in the country... I never would have thought having money of my own was harder than mooching on parents, but somehow it is. Haha. I've been putting it off because I should be able to free up a 55 gallon and lights this week, rehoming one of my beardie girls. Much preferable to scrounging up money to spend on the heat lamp, etc... But if that falls through, I may as well suck it up and do the tote thing.

The crazy part is, even though I've done the tote thing a million times for other herps, and the kiddy pool thing for a box turtle, it hadn't crossed my mind ONCE with the torts. I hate that, when your mind goes through all the options... And manages to skip right over the most obvious answer. lol.

 

[pridecity]

My muttbutt seems to be okay today. I keep checking on her, but she's not favoring her foot at them moment. Last night I couldn't get her to even eat candy and she never turns that down. I think she'll live though.

@Taylor: It's rough babysitting and not being able to get the money needed to take care of other people's pets. I understand that completely. I'm planning on replacing my carpet soon and will need to move my animals out because of the sealer I'm putting down. I plan on having the reptiles out for at least a week and am going to help out with the electricity for that time.

I do hope that you're able to figure something out at least.

 

[Floof]

Glad to hear your dog is feeling better.

Yeah, I should be able to get it figured out. I'm managing to afford the produce bill each week, which is saying something for 6 torts, 4 turts, and my 3 beardies combined, LOL, so there's no reason I shouldn't be able to work out $20 for a tote and lamp. We'll see, depends almost solely on whether Buttercup is still here come pay day.

Which reminds me of another thing I learned the past couple weeks. KSL people are even flakier than Craigslist people!!! It drives me INSANE, 90% of the people who inquire about my beardie aren't remotely serious, and the other 10% just flake out at the last minute! Arrrrggghhh! It's happened a dozen times in the last 3 months or so... And yes, I've been trying and failing to sell a healthy young female beardie at a very reasonable price for literally months now. Sob!

 

[The_Thunderer]

Wow... this week has just started... but I've learned a couple of things...

1. The price of an adopted dog - even when they are having a $17.00 special adoption month - is MUCH more than that $17.00... the Vet fees... the med fees... the housing and supply fees... add to that the "intangible fees" such as being awoken at 4:00 AM because he has had enough of a quiet house... and the "got to walk the dog in 100+ degree weather. All in all, we've spent well over $300 this week in monetary fees. LOL.

BUT we KNEW that! Thankfully, my wife was prepared - but neither of us were "prepared" to actually wave goodbye to the cash... and the sleep! HA!

2. That the price of getting a new dog... is WORTH IT! LOL.

 

[Dreamsnake]

I learned how to grill chicken; I've never grilled before last night.

I learned that the car insurance slip in my car is two months out of date. I can't find the new slip so I must drive the offending car to the office to get a new one printed.

But I get to go back to school in a few weeks! This vacation has made me math stupid again.

 

[Irish Eyes (Mrs.Z)]

I learned that, in a small room (8'x10', approximately), there are about 30,000 places where a lost hatchling can hide--and that we've apparently only looked in about 29, 950 or so of them, because we still haven't found my missing Tessera baby :-(.

I've learned that a 16 y/o dog sticks better to painter's tape than a hatchling does--at least, all we've caught so far with it is the dog.

I've learned that said 16 y/o dog loves the taste of flour spread in a thin layer on the floor, and that he'll happily lick the whole floor to get every single speck of it.

I've learned that my husband is kind and good and keeps on trying, but he really just doesn't seem to care about whether or not we find the snake.

I've learned that losing the little guy hurts a whole lot more than you'd think it would, for something that's only been in the world for a few days....