Bohemian Waxwing

we had a Bohemian waxwing in our garden the other day. not your usual garden bird, in fact they tend to only enter gardens in the winter when food is scarce. unfortunately i didn't manage to see it but Dunk did, he said it was hopping out in the grass near the house. they are known for often having 2 nests that they return to. they were originally thought to have come from Bohemia somewhere in the far east. 

cool looking birds aren't they?

New Caledonian Crested Gecko

This is my favorite reptile, they are brilliant little creatures. i actually have one of these tattooed onto my ankle. 

they are arboreal geckos from the rain forest of New caledonia near New zealand. 

Their toes and tail are covered tiny little hair called satea, each of those hairs of divided into hundreds of even tinier hairs, these help the geckos so climb vertical surfaces and even sometimes on the ceiling. 

These geckos also have webbing on their legs and digits which allows them to jump long distances. 

They have heir like projections from just above their eyes which appear like eye lashes. however they have no eye lids, instead they have a transparent scale over their eye which keeps it moist. they then lip their eyes to remove debris. 

They are one of the few species of gecko that are omnivorous. 

They were thought extinct until after a tropical storm in 1994, they are now protected by CITES (convention on the international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna).

I love these geckos because they are so lovely creatures. they come in so many different colors and they feel like they're swayed. just before they just or walk their digits bend backwards, like they're  double jointed. i'd love to keep one of these but they're hard to find in the pet trade as it's illegal to take them from the wild.

Lemur Love

One of my favorite animals are ring tailed lemurs. Just some pics i've taken over the last few years.

Moments after the birth of 2 baby ring tailed lemurs that i witnessed. it was very interesting watching her eat the after birth. a strange time for them to be born as normally lemurs give birth at night. 

The baby lemurs again. for the first 2 weeks of life the babies cling to their mother's chest. after that they are cared for by the whole troop, carrier around on their backs.

A ring tailed lemur in Marwel zoo licking the wall. not exactly sure why she's doing this, possibly a mineral need or maybe it just tastes nice.

Hand feeding ring tails. they love grapes, this was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

Up close to a ring tailed lemur in Cotswold wildlife park. they have a walk through enclosure, normally lemurs wouldn't get this close but this one was used to people.

Crocodile eggs.

ok i found out this really interesting fact about Nile crocodiles the other day when we were discussing reptile breeding and thought i'd just share it with everyone. 

Nile crocodiles lay their eggs in nests along the bank of the river Nile. now when a crocodile egg is laid the embryo inside has no gender. their gender is determined later by the temperature of the neck. so if the egg are laid in a very warm or very cool nest the eggs will be female and if the temperature is in the middle they will be male. mother crocodiles know this so they will choose where they want to lay their their eggs depending on whether they want boys or girls. this means if their population is low on females a female will lay her eggs in a very warm nest and they'll get some more girls. how cool is that? they can regulate their own population. 

now if only humans could do than!!

The Pets

The family's pats. all of then except krox live with me.

Hazel my fancy rat. 

Scarlet my fancy rat.

Bellatrix (or Trixxy for short) my desert king snake. 

Holly the very hairy cat. 

my brother's blue tongues skink, Krox.

James Tiberious Kirk (or Kirk for short) my brother's (jacob) leopard gecko.

Lorelai my sister's (mirinda) gerbil

college

Here's just a few pictures of animals from college. 

the crested gecko on my hand. (my favorite animal)

the tiny ginger kittens.

Annie with Tamone the meerkat. 

this is Mia our 12 foot Burmese python, out for a walk (well slither technically). 

the evil cannibalistic bunny and her kitten. 

me with the green budgie. 

  

Little Tom with a pair of royal pythons.

this is a sugar glider that moved it's head at the wrong moment.

this is one of the Savannah monitor lizards.

this is Big Tom with a western hog nose snake.

Start

hi

ok i've started this blog to share my passion for animals with the world. i am an i'm an care student and i live and breath for animals. they are my work and my life. i will be leaving for a 2 week study tour to borneo in may. once i've finished this course i want to become a zoo keeper and travel the world doing endangered species conservation in the wild.