IJust after I delivered my neice to art class, I was trying to figure out what to do with my nephew for the next 2 hours. I hadn't left the school where her class is held when I ran into a friend who was getting the low-down on the "animal-guy" down the hall. There was an animal show and we could come if we wanted to - sure!
MY nephew (and I) saw and patted the following animals: 8-inch hog-nosed snake, pygmy hedgehog, blue-tongued skink, 5.5 foot balinese python, 5 month alligator, bunny, box turtle, chinchilla, ferret. Who am I forgeting?
My nephew was great! The handler was surprised that such a youngun (2.3 years) was so good with the critters.
Crikey! Another croc hunter in the making.
heehee.... he loves the wiggle episode with the croc hunter.
Quote:8-inch hog-nosed snake
what on earth.....?! hog-nosed? eight inch nose or an 8 inch snake?
Hog-nose snakes are small snakes who live in sandy environments (I think it was sand). They dig burrows for shelter and protection. Their noses are hard and sort of pointy to aid in digging. But, their noses are small - the whole snake was about 8".
They have been known to reach a length of 9" when extremely excited.
Here's a couple of pictures. The first is a picture of the snake.... the second is it's defensive pose - playing dead. Open mouth, tongue hanging out.... dead. Heehee.
It even looks bloody down by the tail, cool.
The sand in the mouth is a really nice touch.
What does he do with it when he... resurrects? Spit it out or just swallow the stuff?
dunno. I should see if this one was fighting before he 'died' or whether they all have this type of camoflage.
Quote:It also has some very interesting behaviors. If the eyespots don't scare off a predator, this snake tries playing dead. First, it will flip over onto its back, wiggle around like it's in pain, and then it regurgitates (barfs). Yuck! It then "dies," by laying very still in hopes that the attacker will go away.
Lovely! I'd guess that the discoloration, which appears in most of the pictures I've looked at, is also an 'arrow' to the reproductive bits.
It had a slightly longer than average bunny tail, average bunny ears, and khalua and cream coloring. And, it DID NOT smoke.
my computer crashed and thought i lost all my stuff but a friend of mine got it back for me - genius!! okay that made me more than smile...
Getting, on my Good Earth tea bag, a quote that is absolutely perfect for today:
Quote:Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.
- George Bernard Shaw
(Brooke, that snow is something, huh? Is it sticking where you are? Here it's only lasting on the ground for a few seconds, but awfully pretty on its way down...)
Getting a Superior on my clarinet solo. (!!!)
Then seeing that the library is having their book sale next Saturday instead of the Saturday after that when I'll be out of town. Yessss.
a silly quote worth thinking about:-
"don't forget to shut the door behind you , or you will not be able to open it when you return"
sozobe wrote:
(Brooke, that snow is something, huh? Is it sticking where you are? Here it's only lasting on the ground for a few seconds, but awfully pretty on its way down...)
Oh Soz......yes it was beautiful!! I never saw such big flakes. We didn't get near as much as expected. I dunno, maybe we'll get more tonight. It stuck to the ground enough to cover it, but alot of it melted I think.
Good day to curl up with a hot cup of cocoa and watch mother nature work her beauty. 