*SoBs*

I went to sleep at 5am this morning and woke up at 9am from an indescribable excruciating pain (well ok I just described it). My stomach was hurting so badly that it was unbearable. I have a high pain tolerance for intense pain; but low pain tolerance for things like being pinched or lightly slapped. Yuh I know it's weird. Anyway this was intense pain and I was almost in tears so it was really that bad. I laid there for about an hour before I went to the toilet (had the runs) and then puked about three times before I was back on the bed cringing from pain and more pain. I had prac at 2:00pm and all I could think about was wanting to make that prac on time, without pain of course (oh my I've changed). Okay... well I'm in too much pain and lack energy to finish this post so see youz later. :(

The Blonde Gets Thumbs Up

Okay, so results show the blonde is better. However, looks like I'll be emo for a while until the colour fades out. Thanks for the feedback, and you're totally gorgeous too *wink* (yes you know who you are). <3

Thanks for everyone being so loverly towards me losing my quails. Although I'm having a glorious time raking in the sympathy, as bad as it sounds I'm not too phased by the loss of them as I stopped bonding with them as soon as the first one died (otherwise being me I would be bawling my eyes out every day). I'm thinking about adopting my quails out as I want them to get the proper care that they deserve. I've just been way too busy to set up a proper coup. :(

For the couple of people who sent me messages I promise I'll get back to yous tonight. I'm running late (what's new) lol. >__<

eBaying Enclosures

It is official. I have uploaded my enclosures onto eBay. Due to the sudden loss of the use of one of the rooms I have had to cut down on space quite a bit.

Here are the links!

Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2

More enclosures/items coming soon...

Quail Update

Okay I hear you all whinging that you're sick of my face so I won't be posting any more soon, so here is the update on my quails. Unfortunately there is bad news on top of bad news but there is light at the end of the tunnel. For the first week I had the baby quails in a tub on top of a heat cord with a heat lamp on top. I monitored the temperature and due to a faulty thermometer I couldn't tell whether it was actually 38 degrees celcius like I wanted it or 45 degrees at the hot end. When it was reading 45 degrees c the baby quails were still hunched up underneath it. I do know that babies need a higher temperature but I'm sure they would have let themselves cook. I'm sure quails cooked this way aren't edible. :(

After burning a hole in my arm from quick contact with the heat lamp, I dislodged it and only used the heat cord. I would have kept the quails inside for another two weeks if it wasn't for the fact that heated chic starter absolutely stank of a truckload of stale cooked cheese. In the meantime I had lost about 3-4 babies due to being weaklings. Sad to say the two with splayed legs passed as well. Over the next few weeks a few drowned and a few knew they had learned everything the world had to give and decided to move on. The bad news is, due to the inability to provide proper housing and temperature, I am now left with only a few quails. I wish I could glorify the situation but I can't be bothered. I'll probably edit the post tomorrow to make me sound... kinder. :)

Face Off

So my last post has inspired me to look through this year's hair changes. I have previously (and currently still) justifies the style changes due to respect and love for our customers, yet perhaps I am very well in denial. Anyway, it has been proven so. Whilst they talk to me about their medications, some women who have been thinking about changing their style never hesitates to ask me how I got my colour. Being Asian is a good indication that whatever colour on my head apart from black (although my natural hair colour is brown to golden at the tips, go figure) is not natural lol, and when they hear that I always dye & cut my hair myself, most ask for tips which I am more than happy to give as I love sharing (some and most things) and in some cases I get to sell a few hair dyes as an add-on product. +1 point to me!

The reddish brown phase:


The phase that took a few months to achieve:


The non-fringed mature phase:

Sympathy Please

Due to a mishap in hair dyeing (literally hair dying), I have unfortunately been mildly classified as an emo. I can probably still pass up as a teenager? :D I used to hate it when people checked my ID but as you get older perceptions do change. I still remember dad telling me that one day I'll appreciate looking young and now I concur. I remember a few years back when I walked by my dad's side as he was watching TV and he sighed and said, "oh these kids sure grow up to be 18 sooner than you think." and mum calmly said, "I'm pretty sure she's 23 now." Looking back even further, if I followed my old man's memory and stayed in primary school as long as he believed I was in, I probably am just graduating from high school this year. Man, gotta love them.

Oh You Melt Me <3

Awww how sweet. People actually read my blog. It used to be person (meaning solely me) who gave a damn about my blabbering hence my lack of motivation. Whoever you/s are ooxx. :)

Have moved the animals around quite a bit, and are selling off some beautiful quality enclosures during the next few days *wink*. If you're looking for a nice enclosure let me know and I'll post it on here first before eBay, otherwise I'll post the link to eBay when they're up. :D

Another Mistake :(

I was wondering why the baby quail count was 3 and still 3, so I had a quick look around and found at least 5 in the water trough! The metal separating the trough from the incubating area is permanently shaped slightly upwards (from use before) and the quails had fallen in. I don't know how I could have missed that. I have since removed the damp quails and placed them onto the wire. They should be on wire or at least something they can grasped onto for the first 24 hrs whilst they're still in the incubator for their legs to grow properly or could lead to complications like weak or splayed legs etc. Lucky I found them soon enough as the trough that they fell into contained some water (luckily not deep enough to drown them).

Kowabanga

Recently I have gotten quite used to (though admittedly I still get small frights) when I hear a "bang" coming from my snake enclosures. The first time was quite scary actually as the sound isn't exactly minute. This is due to the jungles maneuvering around the enclosure at night, as they do, though they all love latching onto the sliding glass lock whilst they hang onto the rod in the middle, and when they don't hold on properly they fall to the ground (not that far) causing a "bang". I really have to look into sanding the rod soon.

Hatched!!!!

OMG my baby quails are hatching as we speak! Since removing the auto-turner I have moved them from the workroom downstairs to the lounge room upstairs. I can hear them going "eek eek eek". They look so cute, like little Chocobos (for all you Final Fantasy players). I tried taking piccies through the viewing panel but the reflection was too great. I've been told that it's best not to open the incubator for the first 24 hours (I presume to limit drafts), so all I did was lift the lid slightly to quickly take a few piccies. One turned out relatively okay but quite foggy from the high humidity. Yippees! Anyone want a couple for cute pets? As these are my first hatch I don't think I'm quite ready for these ones to be snake food.

Another Test

I then thought perhaps it was due to the hygrometer standing straight on top of the wire which the eggs aren't (they are still on takeaway lids), so I placed the hygrometer on top of one of the lids along with the eggs where the measurement should be taken, and humidity seems to have dropped considerably, but since I had the lid opened I'll have to wait a while till I take a proper reading.

Update: 2:46AM- Temp, Humidity both perfect at 37.5 degrees C and 70% RH. :D I noticed one egg which seems to have pipped (??? hopefully...) or accidentally cracked somehow.

Unfortunate Readings

I have three thermometers but only one hydrometer. I always check and recheck my therms but since I only had the one hydrometer I had to trust what it told me. I started pondering about its accuracy when I saw condensation forming on the plastic panels of my hovabator, which meant it couldn't be only 55% when at 60% nearly no condensation were witnessed. Then I remembered that the body of the thermometer itself had a measuring device so I popped it into the hovabator, and the humidity came out at HH% which gave me a shock. This means that it was above 90% which it couldn't read, so I've been busy removing water with a turkey baster. EEEK! I hope they're okay! T___T Now I'm hoping that the hygrometer itself isn't accurate....

Humidity Problem

For some reason, ever since I removed the auto-turner the humidity won't go past 55%. I thought it may be caused by the egg lying too deep into the 750mL take away containers so I replaced the containers with takeaway lids, and so far the humidity is sitting at 54%. I have filled all the water troughs and even added a container of water. I'm going to put a blankie around the hovabator to trap moisture and see if that helps. Don't see why humidity is so hard to raise since it was happily sitting at around 60% before. Hmm... I'm wondering if it could be the plastic (container/lid) that is actually blocking the water. I've removed one of the lids to free up some room and see what happens.

Quick update 8:52PM- Humidity at 59%
11:40PM- Humidity dropped back down to 54% *sobs* (I removed the blankie because it was insulating the incubator at a steady 38.2 degrees. Since the wrong temperature is more deadly than humidity, I sacrificed the blankie. Temp now sitting on 37.8)

Quail Eggs on THE 14 days!

So I have been incubating these eggs for 14 days now using an auto-turn hovabator monitoring temperatures at 37.5 +- 0.3 degrees (more like +-0.5 though) and humidity around 60%, with the addition of a thermal sink (consisting of a 1 litre plastic bottle and paper tape). I do have piccies but they are still in the camera. Now since it is on 14 days, I took them off the auto-turner and placed them in takeaway containers so that they aren't lying directly on the wire which is wet. The temperature will be kept around the same with an optimum humidity at 70%. It is currently sitting on 66%. Now we wait 3 days. I am ready for none to hatch though due to:

• Mailed eggs
• Inexperience (though all temperatures have been monitored carefully, so I have really done it to the books, I guess postmortems will tell what could be wrong. hehe sounds like I'm already making excuses for myself)
• On a few occasions the auto-turner didn't turn as it should due to the thermometer obstructing the passage, and/or the plastic bottle pulling away from the tape nesting warmly against one of the egg containers immobilizing the whole mechanism, though I have made sure the eggs have been at least turned more than twice properly each day (which is the amount recommended for manual turning).

Fingers crossed though as quail eggs are said to be very hardy. We'll find out soon!

Feeling Yukky >___<

Have been down with...something. Just feel so uncomfortable all over with recurring fever. Lucky I'm on holidays now and won't be back to work till Friday. A quick update on the herps. Been trying to finish my enclosures. It's a slow process but it's getting there! I need more thermometers. :(

Change of Events

Tile lady couldn't arrange child care so couldn't make it this morning, which suited me just fine. Slept till the afternoon *yawns*. This morning got a ding dong from the courier. My frozen rats arrived with something that I've been keenly awaiting for! Will post piccies later. :D

Tick Tock...

I'm having my tiles professionally cleaned around 9 AM today. It's past 5 AM and I'm still here brooding dark rings around my eyes. I don't think this is going to go down well.

Beware of Snakes

Just saw on The Insider that Will Smith & his wife lost one of their dogs (an Alaskan Malamute which happens to be my favourite breed) to a rattlesnake bite (more correctly 3 bites). The famous Caesar Millan, aka the Dog Whisperer who is also a long term friend of theirs helped train the rest of their dogs to be aware of rattlesnakes and to stay clear when they're in close proximity of one. I'd love to train my puppy to stay away from my snakes. She's almost identical to an oversized rat.

My Poor Rat :(

Pinky :D
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

My poor rat just vomited in two places. I found out the usual way, wet foot test (arghhh). I don't understand why of all places she had to do it in my bedroom. :(

Cleaning the carpet in the middle of the night seems to have become my specialty as she's not fully toilet trained yet. These days it seems like her training is progressing backwards. Damn you tiny pea brain *sobs*.

Shopping List

Some things I'd like to have/need:

• Hygrometer
• Snake hook
• NEC T10 light tubes
• Another twin probe thermometer to double check
  

N. Amyae

N. Amyae
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

Still too early to tell the sex of my baby Amyae. Wanna take a guess? :)

Terrible lighting + after I domestically violated my camera the last time it hasn't been able to focus properly. :(

Introducing My Quails

Here's my two pairs of gorgeous quails. Having kept a pair of lovebirds in my room before, I was quite put off having any type of birds for the rest of my life. They were messy, extremely loud, and have I mentioned they were horrendously loud? Anyway, I suddenly had the urge (as I do) to start breeding chickens for eggs as eggs around here are just not fresh enough. So, taking into account that I have very limited space, I opted for small chicky variations such as bantams. Then I decided on silkies because I've always loved their comical look. Then after some googling, I decided to go even smaller, resulting in the decision to start keeping and breeding quails. That way, I can satisfy the hunger of both my snakes, my beardies (the occasional eggs) and myself. Thanks to my impulsive personality, I wasted no time in accidentally going into a pet store and accidentally purchasing two pairs of quails without much thought. I didn't even have a setup ready, or any idea how to keep them properly (apart from my limited knowledge gained during my search for the right type of chickens). So everything was irresponsibly done after they arrived home.

Quite thrilled with the fact that their calls are actually not annoying as that was my main concern. If kept indoors, the smell will eventually get to you, so I moved them to the balcony, where I can't smell them even with the lid completely opened. Initially I was worried about the temperature being too low outside, but they've proven to be quite hardy little things. They do eat a lot and spoil their water quickly so in that sense they're not totally zero to maintain.

Arghhhh-vabator

I've been trying to set up my two hovabators for a while now. As it's my first time using an incubator I wanted it to be as perfect as possible (coz I'm sure something else will go wrong). One is a still air model for reptile eggs, and the other is a fan forced model for quail eggs. I'm having problems stabilizing the still air at 29 degrees. I have them both in my enclosed work room downstairs which has limited draft and temperature fluctuation. I've just tried the "turn knob and remove dust from wafer" technique so lets see how we go. Optimally I'd like to achieve this:

• Still air model: 29 degrees celcius
• Fan forced model: 37.5 +- 0.5 degrees celcius, 60% humidity

As I'm quite new to the prospects of dealing with humidity, it's slightly overwhelming. :(

Found a few good links for quail incubation tips. Here's one.

Pasta :: The Noodle in the middle

Pasta :: Striped Jungle Python
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

Finally took some piccies of Pasta. She's my absolute favourite snake. Extremely placid but feeds like a hawk, and of course, stunningly beautiful. So far she's the only snake using the stick thingy I installed. I think this may be due to the fact that she isn't as heavy weighted as the others so can hold onto it well enough. The others seem to slip off from their weight + the smooth surface. I might sand it a little to give it more grip and see how that goes. :)

New Enclosures

Atlas :: Jungle Python
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

Due to finishing exams and having a good break from work, I made some more enclosures. Isn't the floor boards looking sexy? :)

Trick with the Invisible Crickets

I went to the pet store today as I was nearly out of crickets and wouldn't have enough till my bulk order of crix show up. They seemed to be out of smalls, but "luckily" (just wait) I found a box of smalls on the top shelf, slightly out of sight. Well, out of sight for people my height anyway. When I got home, I set up a nice tub with gut load and cricket gel (no not gel made out of crickets! These are the water crystal thingies that works really well as a water source), then tipped the crix in. Out popped a few, then a few... a few then no more dropped... and when I say a few, I mean really "few". If I sat there for a good few seconds I could easily have counted how many were in the box. They costed me $6.90. It almost seems like I paid $1.00 for each of them. Total Grrrrr.

Eh.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood

My Beardie Houdinied >___<

Today was quite cool but okay for a winter day. I thought it would be lovely if I took my beardies out to sun. I filled up two tubs with luke warm water, placed them outside right by the side of my balcony so they could get some sun and left them to swim for a while. When I came back outside to check on them, one of my bigger girls had disappeared. After a couple of minutes I became frantic (I have a bit of a delayed reaction sometimes) because knowing their great sense of height, she most likely would have jumped off the balcony and pizza-ed right then and there. I crawled down on all fours and searched the grounds but of course she was nowhere to be found. I thought about sticking up fliers all over the estate but I didn't think the people around here would appreciate someone keeping "venomous dragons" in the same vicinity as their house. I came inside, got the keys and was ready to bolt out the door when I saw her happily hanging off one of the screens. She was quite unhappy and was very offended when I tried to calmly coax her off (get off the friggin screen you *beep*). Yes, I've learnt my lesson! Never ever leave your animals unsupervised no matter for how short a time, and never ever trust they can't get out of anything or anywhere (with that being said, I don't think I've blogged about the time I lost three snakies all at once...)! >___<

I turned Comic

I turned Comic
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

Boring photos are a thing of the past. Nowadays, infants and people with half a brain can do extremely cool modifications to their piccies with the right programs. From an aesthetic point of view, the place I chose to insert the watermark cannot be any worst, but I really can't be bothered at the moment.

Preparationz

Due to the possibility that my castelnaui could be gravid, I went out and got a few things today (mostly following Sparticus' suggestions):

Bunnings:

• Peat moss
• Perlite
• Vermiculite (really only needed perlite, but I thought what the heck I'll get some anyway)
  
• Digital thermometer

Campbell's warehouse for business owners:

• Takeaway containers (750mL I think) & Lids (I wasn't sure which ones to get, there were smaller standard ones but I thought these ones would hold eggs of any size)

Betta Electrical:

• Digital scale
  

Crazy Clark's:

• Plastic buckets to put the mosses and lite's in
• 100 Piece Kitchen Container Set $25 (I figured there has to be at least one that's the right size for the laying container)
• Some cheap river rocks to ornament the enclosure

I did find a container within the set that seemed kind of suitable for laying. I'm just not sure it is quite wide enough. The good thing with it is that it already has a hole in the lid (easy access to pour out what ever you're supposed to keep in it). I put a good amount of peat moss in it, wet it down and put it in the enclosure. I coaxed (plucked and planted) my gecko into it to let her know it's there and she sat in it for a fair while. I know she'll find it herself when she's ready to lay but being myself, I couldn't wait.

Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Love this new song by Coldplay. Will be official released on the 17th June. [LINK HERE] :: Crappy quality, but gives you an idea of the song. The real stuff is hot (heard it first on iTune's advertisement via Foxtel).

N. Aspers

N. Aspers
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

One of my favourite pics of my gecko is not actually taken by me. Guppy took the photo when he picked them up from the airport for me a short while ago. Happy to say, the fiesty little bub is growing big and strong. The breeder I got them from sure knows how to breed perfect babies! They were packed and freighted so well too. Kudos to you! :)

Castelnaui: Preggos~ ? :D

My female castelnaui has been religiously sitting under the heat lamp for the past couple of days, and seemed to look fatter everyday, so I flipped her and had a look to see whether she was preggos or not. At this stage it seems like she could be. The male is a hypo, and seems to throw out quite a high proportion of hypos, so it's all very exciting! :)

Southern Leaf-tail Gecko

Southern Leaf-tail Gecko
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

These little (or relatively gigantic) geckos are so humorous. I picked up one out of the takeaway container that they were freighted in to take a piccie and it was just my luck that I had to pick the psycho. It wriggled like a lunatic which I didn't expect as I thought they are generally quite calm as adults. Not wanting to lose this one to the big wide world, I put him into the enclosure and picked up the other one. This one sat on my hand fine, I took some piccies and let my guard down. Then she suddenly went "bwaaaak", took a leap of faith and landed majestically on my laptop. Lunatics.

R.I.P. Sweetheart

Nephrurus Amyae #1
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

The littlest one of my Amyaes died today. When I got him, he had a sunken head but I thought nothing couldn't be fixed with a bit of love and care. Sad to say, but I was wrong. The other Amyae is doing beautifully, a chubby little thing. As Guppy said, it's just one of those things that happens in nature. Some are born weaker than others. Hard not to beat myself over the loss though. Bye baby. Mummy loves you.

Pretty Herp People

I met the best looking, sweetest couple of people today. They sold me three beautiful enclosures and even helped me settle them into my new (and squashy) environment. I'm starting to really love meeting fellow herpers. Sure are a good looking bunch! :)

Thanks so much for helping me out!

Picked Up New Snakie!

Meeting up with anyone is nerve wracking, just as it was today. However, as soon as I saw my Jungle seller walk up to my car I thought hey, he'd be a cool guy just to hang around with. Always nice to know herp people personally, a nice divergence from the reality of making friends with "nicknames" online. :)

Anyways, so I picked up my new snakie! He's humongous compared to Pasta. Seems like he has a beautiful temperament (fingers crossed though. Me here has no snakie hook yet so if it becomes feisty I'm just gonna have to sacrifice myself to the greater good). Might have to lock his cage though as he looks way too powerful for the sliding glass panels. Needless to say, I'm going to have to conjure up a new enclosure for him as the one I so lovingly prepared doesn't seem big enough.

4yo Proven Breeder Jungle Male

I've sourced out my jungle male and I'll be picking him up in approximately 20 minutes. I've seen a couple of pictures of him. Although he looks quite average for a jungle, if the camera wasn't playing tricks (colours are quite hard to capture) his colours look like it could compliment Pasta's quite well. Plus on top of that he's a proven breeder. Can't complain. :)

Chemistry Blog: Genes versus heat – a reptile sex trigger

Chemistry Blog: Genes versus heat – a reptile sex trigger

To many, the topic of ratio of sex (as in female/male) versus temperature of incubation seems to be more of a spectacle rather than a scientific evaluation. This article delves slightly deeper behind the facts that support this occurrence and points out the issue that "...the current rate of climate warming...could potentially result in heavily skewed sex ratios" (Quinn) which inspires a whole new perspective of what might become an epidemic due to clash of population growth/decrease.

I Ma Tart

I'm such a tart. On the way to pick up my beardies last night (that's right, I adopted more beardies...), I passed by the toll bridge. In the midst of confusion, I realized too late that I was in a lane called e-toll. There were no cars behind me so I wanted to reverse but the lane kindly said "no stopping" so being as intellectual as I was, I didn't, and ran straight through it. Arghhh. I'd like to blame it on the insanely long drive (mind you this was nearing towards midnight when I went on this road trip), and so I guess I will. I was quite worried all the way there and back until I reached the same e-toll gate (god bless), especially since I saw a sign that said something along the lines of "toll invasion is some kind of offense and may be more than $100 or so". I went through to the one where actual humans collected the toll fee and told her with big wet eyes what I did earlier. She was loverly, passed me a card and told me to call QLD Motorways. So this morning I did. I dialed the number and waited for the robot to finish reciting her lines. There was an actual option that said something like, "if you accidentally went through e-toll, press 3", and then the lady answered. If you wanna know what happens when you commit toll invasion, go through one yourself. :( :D

Refleczion

"Arghhhh I'm broked. I'm so broked that I selled my Engrish skills to some exchange stuedant from overseas." - I wish.

No really, my collection is done for this season; with exception to a nice striped jungle male which is a must have. I have his enclosure set up ready for him. All I need is- him. So if you see one lurking around, pass me a message please. :)

Just to note there will be a few more animals flooding in that were purchased pre-this-post just to prove I haven't gone against my words... yet. Let's see how long this lasts before I decide to sell my parents. Aww mummy I love you.

Broad-Banded Sandswimmer Trio

Broad-Banded Sandswimmer Trio
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

I never thought I'd keep any type of skinks, but these lil guys really grabbed my attention. They move so fast, are so colourful, great to watch and readily eats any amount of crickets that you put in front of them. They arrived home on the 22/04/08 (hatched on the 20/02/08). They were so hard to get out of the bag as they really clung onto it and if I was one bit less careful I would have lost all of them to the vastness of the world and I would have never seen them again. They are called sandswimmers because of their habit to "sand-swim". I was told that it would be much more evident when they gain a bit of weight and strength to push themselves under/inside the sand.

N. Levis

Nephrurus Levis #1
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

This little bub is so light and plump. She came home with the N. Amyaes on the 22/04/08. She was hatched on the 30/03/08 so is still a young lil cookie. Her clutch mate is darker and when compared to her differs in patterning quite a bit.

N. Amyae

Nephrurus Amyae #1
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

On the 22/04/08 a couple of Amyaes came home to mama. They are SO cute. One is slightly bigger and lighter than the other one (hatchie mates). The one in the piccie is the smaller of the two. The bigger Amyae eats quite readily whilst the other dwindles around and seems to mostly eat when no one's watching (rounded tummy so she must be eating). They were both hatched on the 24/02/08.

Pasta & Guppy

On Tuesday (15 April) I picked up my two new Jungles from Guppy. We sat on a bench and I took out the snakes to inspect them. I opened up the first bag and there sat my male jungle- a beautiful little guy sitting in the bottom of this dainty little bag. The second bag was much larger than the first, and it held my female jungle. I was really excited to find that she looked even nicer than she did in the piccies. She has a beautiful clean stripe that runs all the way down the whole length of her. I named the male after Guppy, and named the female Pasta, because of her nice creamy colouring. :) 

The Sweet Pickup

A piccie that Guppy took whilst he was at the airport. We are the bestest friends (fine- I only have one friend), and he's my favouritest person so having been coupled on the package is so sweet! As mentioned in the post before, my new bubs were well packaged and they arrived in great condition. Thanks for a great transaction. I'll definitely be buying more snakies from you in the future (and most of all, thanks Guppy for your hard work)!

Striped Jungle ♀ & Hatchy Jungle ♂

Just got a call from Guppy to say he's picked up my two jungles from Brissie airport (Thanks Guppy! ❤). He had a look at them and says they're beautiful and seems to have a loverly temperament. I can't wait to see them. I was lucky to have got my first jungles off a really knowledgeable breeder. The striped female is 2 & 1/2 yrs old and the male is around 14 weeks old (I think).

Peachy♀

Hypo Coastal♀
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

"How did the transaction go."

"Everything went peachy. :)"

Hello to Peachy, my new hypo coastal female. I picked her up from Surfers yesterday night from an absolutely loverly couple (Happy Birthday to Shona today!!). Peachy is a little over one year old (born Feb 07), had her last feed on April 2nd (refused the last two feeds probably due to shedding soon) and her last shed was 2 months ago. Since she is up for her next shed (though her eyes don't look milky yet), I can't wait to see if she might turn out even lighter than she already is. Her pattern and colouring is so beautiful, and I love her gentle eyes. She's quite hard to take a piccie of though, as she moves around quite a lot and attaches herself to everything. I just spent half an hour trying to detach her from a fake tree that I have out on the veranda. Even though she looks quite pretty in it, I don't think I'll be doing that again!

I'm a Murderer

I'm not terribly religious. I obviously love animals but I'm not some hot-headed super involved animal activist. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm not a humanitarian. If I ever told you that I'm one of these, I'd be a phony. However, I'm against killing animals & insects (not including humans) for easily explainable reasons. Insects- because I'm scared of dead ones. Live ones, I love everything but roaches *screams and runs around*, but I cannot stomach anything that's dead. Apart from this totally acceptable reason, I remember an episode where I had found a stick insect that was dying on my veranda. As I have always loved stickies (especially when I was young), I was devastated and looked after it for 2 days straight and had minimal sleep. These days, I barely have enough capacity to do that even for exams. As insect enthusiasts would know, the sticky was bound for death and there would have been little that I could have done. I think I'm slightly veering off the topic here but the story contributes to why I don't like insects...dead. With animals, I'd just really prefer them alive because they're generally cuter that way. I eat chicken, beef, pork and everything that is okay looking + edible, and no I don't feel bad when I eat them. They were bred for the purpose of food and protein is more than a recommended diet for humans. We are pretty high up in the food chain of most places if you haven't noticed. For anti-dog eaters this brings a whole new issue of "animals bred to eat" but we won't go into that because I am against dog eating, and on the basis of logical argument I'd be quickly labeled a hypocrite, which I am... but that's not very nice thank you. So yuh, I'm a pretty nice person. Anyway the event that triggered this post was minute but still worth mentioning. On my way out from purchasing fuzzies, I tried hard not to run over something that was on the road. It was, as you guessed, a piece of cardboard. It was really hard to veer away from its path and I kept wondering if the cardboard was okay. It was all kinda strange. I've always felt this way about, well things. Keeping in mind that I just went to the pet store to buy mice to feed my snakes, yet I am worried about a piece of cardboard. Somehow though it occurs to me that I may feel a bit differently than other people, I've become used to myself. Anyone out there that feels the same, or sees the world from a different perspective? :)

OMG SAVE ME

Microwaveable Country Ladle Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup *Viewer Discretion Advised* which in layman's terms...don't read this post if you have a weak stomach! I am the queen of disgusting food. I live on microwaveable food stuffs, packaged foods and oven ready dinners. I am so full of preservatives that I'm sure I'll still be a very beautiful female involuntarily even when I've been dead for more than a century. I once made up a beautiful dinner consisting of fridge-hard rice, hardly defrosted curry, classic fermented japanese beans with wasabi and soy sauce, with everything mixed in raw egg. I survived it. Felt very sick afterwards, but I survived it. I once ate a whole fridge of expired food, coz I was cooking dinner for friends. The only way to find out what was still okay to eat was... well I think the situation is self explanatory. Anyway, now that I have made a point that I'm not afraid of most foods that would make people sick (mentally and physically), I can now save the world from dying. I heated up a pot of Country Ladle Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup, waited an eager 2 minutes and left it sitting in the microwave for one minute like it said on the packaging, took it out, opened up the lid...took a whiff, wasn't impressed (which is exciting for me as I do tend to like disgusting food), stirred it up real good and took a sip. Yup. Tasted like cat vomit. Second sip. Oh yup, definitely cat vomit. Fermented cat vomit. I had Hungry Jacks for lunch.

I'll be spreading the word don't you worry mama. First step. MSN.

Anonymous says: (8:29:48 PM)
what happened?
Vesper says: (8:31:31 PM)
soup tried to kill me
Vesper says: (8:31:37 PM)
ran after me with a knife
Vesper says: (8:31:45 PM)
stabbed me twice, laughed and ran away
Vesper says: (8:32:00 PM)
that would have been a better scenario than what really happened

Take That, Mojo Jo Jo!

Ooh, can't believe I forgot to mention that I named my three snakes! They aren't called A, B & C anymore. Look at the title and the loverly piccie. If you are a true manly man than you woulda figured it out already (no need to mention women, becoz we know everything about super heroes!). Yes, I know whoever's clever enough to read my blog *wink wink* are definitely real man and there's no need for me to reiterate but just for people who might happen to want to be reminded... say hello to Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup! Snakie bubbies, even if you all turn out male, I'm sure you'll make every man jealous by being manpower-graded sexy Powerpuff Girls!

*Squeek* (eat me!)

I noticed that my coasties weren't happy without a proper hide so I did check out some at the pet stores that I went today. I came home without any as I was a cheap ass and thought I could concoct something up that would work just as well. They are in tubs now anyway so having a nice looking hideout (which benefits humans way more than the snake) wouldn't really help make their enclosure into an art gallery. Anyway, one of the snakies seemed a tad flighty and extremely insecure when I tried to feed her out of her tub. I boiled it down to her not having a hide or a dark space to drag the mouse into so I looked around for the quickest alternative. I found the perfect hideout. A Panadeine 100 tabs box. I quickly tipped out the blister packs, sniffed it (I do this with everything before I put them into enclosures to make sure there are no strange chemicals. Might not make sense to some people but it comforts me) and put the new hideout into her enclosure and lo and behold, she climbed right in. I left the fuzzy outside of her enclosure and I didn't have to wait long before she dragged it into her new home. I could always get more medicine packaging from work so replacing will be no problems. This way whenever I change the paper towels from their tubs I could change the hideout too which ensures cleanliness. On a side note, for some reason I defrosted 4 fuzzies instead of 3. I believe I was meant to have one more hatchy, like really soon. :)

Pet Shop Spree

It's Sunday, and I'm entitled to do whatever I like (although I say the same thing almost every day, I genuinely mean it every time). So what's a lady to do when she has some free time? I went on a shopping spree. I visited three pet stores, Coomera Pet Barn, Robina Pet Crazy and Nerang Pet Barn. My route may seem a bit strange to people who are familiar with the Coast, but the reason why I ended in the last two stores were by mere chance. I missed the turn off on the way home and so I ended up in Robina. Conscious or not, I had wanted to visit there for a while now anyway. I recently read on APS forum that Coomera Pet Barn had knowledgeable staff and nice reptiles, and since I haven't been there since maybe 8 years ago, I decided it was about time to revisit. They had quite a few adult spotties and their dragons were well looked after (if not a little chubby) and awfully cute. I was so tempted to bring home a vitticep except for the fact that I had vowed to only buy females or coloured males at the least. He was a normal light grey, and a very pretty dragon at that. At the price of $95 for an advanced juvenile, he was more than worth the price, but I was adamant. Yes I am tempted to go back tomorrow and pick him at from the pet store but I won't...I think. No, really, I won't. I think. Anyway, I did what I was supposed to do today and purchased my ten fuzzies for my striped coastie bubs. I had a look at heat cords and decided that I really should get them from the internet due to the price. However, when I reached Pet Crazy I decided that I really needed it today because I'm feeding my bubs and they'll need proper heating, so I paid retail (yay for good mummyhood). Have just fed my three hatchies, cleaned their tubs (one lil snakie poop sure is stinky), and set the tubs up on top of the heat cord. Have to make sure nothing goes wrong with their first feed with me. Will update. :)

Freddo Frog, the Non-Melting, Squishy Kind.

Whilst I eagerly pursue my next reptilian conquest (aka gently shopping online for new herps), I came across the Green Tree Frog. I want one. I miss keeping tadpoles as a child. I used to have this thought in my head that tadpoles are extremely rare and when I actually found some (I could only remember two occasions) I was equally extremely lucky. There's a few taddies for sale around the place at the moment and at $2.00 each taddy, I'm really considering the idea of adopting some froggies. However, I'm worried that when they become all grown up their lovely loud croaks will be way too constant and annoying for other occupants of this, well, whole estate. I guess I could adopt them out after they morph and become froggy gentlemen. That is definitely worth considering. What do you think? :)

Random Ramblings

I'm blogging. I'm at work. I'm blogging at work. Anyone see the association here? I'm herped. Have just sold my first medication today (1 second ago) and found out that I'm not feeling rusty in this industry despite having all those days off. Feeling good...but sleepy.

I'm Just a Material Girl in a Material World

I promised myself that I would get a couple of bearded dragons and that would be it. Then I decided I was allowed one snake. ONE snake. So I got three. I was never really into geckos except for thinking barking geckos were cute. Needless to say, on the 28th March I paid for 5 geckos, a trio of southern leaf tailed geckos (Phylluris Platurus) and a pair of barkers (Underwoodisaurus Milli). I still want some bearded dragons and I probably wouldn't cease looking for a pair until I found one, but now I also want a pair of nice adult snakes. I'm internally screaming. Mostly from pleasure and excitement for no reason, some from pure sleepiness and disapproval as I have to work early tomorrow morning, and the rest is a shrill but falsely manageable scream for my bleeding wallet. Roses are red, violets are blue. Herps are pretty, and so are you. Can I please have a discount? :)

Totally Fate

Light Striped Coastal Python Hatchies
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

So it was really hard picking out the bubs yesterday night. Before I forget why I chose them (whom by the way are currently named A, B & C), two were picked because they both crapped on my skirt (to the morbid horror of the seller and the utter amusement of me <-- Yes, I fell in love with them straight after they did that). I had a really hard time picking the third one out of two snakies. One of the two had hazy eyes as she was about to shed. Although I was extremely excited about the prospects of her next shed, I had to quickly make the decision that she had a micrometre more of a break on her stripe than the one I picked because I was literally eaten alive by mozzies (no, I'm not exaggerating at all). I am currently feeling big time the effects of the mozzie bites and boy, am I not pleased.

Aww My First Love Bite

Aww My First Love Bite
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

I got my first snakie love bite yesterday. Sorta felt like two quick pin pricks. I do sew a lot so the nice lil pin touch felt close to home. It was a really exciting experience for me as I can now lamely be included in the group of hardcore snake keepers. Now when they talk about snake bites I can kinda brush my hair back and join in. Possibly something that goes like this - "Yuh, I know what ye all are saying y'know. The other night I got struck on my hand...took me by surprise. I'm really glad I pulled through without any real complications. [insert: head shaking here] Just one of those snake keeping things y'know. You put up with it and have a laugh. " I don't know why I would have to have an accent, but I do and admittedly it does make me sound cooler.

Light Striped Coastal Python Hatchies

Light Striped Coastal Python Hatchies
Originally uploaded by Cotton Bunny

Happy April Fools Day everybody! :)

Today was pretty eventless for me except for the fact that >> I got three new coastal hatchies!! They are seriously beautiful. When I was picking them out from the lot of coasties the breeder had it was just so hard as they all looked amazing. He had two hold backs that I would have loved to get my grubby hands on. They were really light and quite red (fully striped as well). Mine has more of a brown/greenish tinge rather than the reddish colouration but as coasties change colour drastically as they grow older, I guess I'll find out in a year's time. I got striped coastals!!! *jumps up and down* :)