NARBC Spring 2014!

Confession time: The reason I've not been updating as much is simply because I've been using my other Gmail account more. Having both switchable at the ready is nice. Never fear; more entries are coming, and they'll be juicier and meatier than ever before!

This entry focuses on North American Reptile Breeders' Convention (NARBC) Spring 2014 (Mar 15-6). I love these - there's so much cool stuff to take photos of! These went on my Twitter (@kurokarasu), so some people got a live feed of this entry as it was being made. ;) Most things are way out of my price range, but there are also some really great bargains that remind one how expensive pet stores can be. You'll also see a lot of species that one would not ordinarily see, like...

...yes, that's a hognose (H. nasicus). They're really cool, little rear-fanged snakes that are only mildly venomous. Nobody has ever died from a hognose bite; the worst that's happened is an allergic reaction. I've complained about how hard they are to get in IL before, but all one really needs is a permit.

So, how can these people even touch poison dart frogs? Captive-bred poison dart frogs aren't poisonous. The poison needs a few things before it can activate: bacteria on the frog, UV light, and a certain species of insect. We can take that last one away, at least, meaning that these frogs are OK to handle. Still, wash your hands after handling. These are mostly display frogs, anyways.

Someone on my Twitter commented that these ball pythons (P. regius) were on the pricey side. Um...no, not for ball python morphs, they are not. Here are a few non-slashed (or very slightly discounted) ball python morphs for your gawking pleasure:

Yes, I deliberately took photos of acid trips for you. Bear in mind that your regular ball pythons (usually "loser males") can be purchased for 30-50 bucks from a reptile specialty store.

A leucistic rainbow boa! A shame it looks almost like every other white snake on the market. If there was any of the species' namesake iridescence in these guys, the light was not showing it well.

This is a legless lizard. It was hard to get a good look at its eyes, but several other features made me believe it anyways. I'd like to think someone at a reptile convention would correct the owner if he was BS'ing us.

Hypo Burms! One of them was sold as I was walking around. People acted like they were having trouble getting rid of them. Given the abundance of laws surrounding giant snakes, I understand why.

I absolutely love dwarf reticulated pythons! This picture also happens to be for science; I'm working on a paper concerning what makes for a good domesticated animal, and dwarf retics are actually a really good candidate for a domesticated snake. I asked if they retained their legendary intelligence (by snake standards) even when dwarfs; the seller said yes. Regardless, it was amazing to hold one of these beauties.

Finally, my own acquisition: A GFP axolotl! This little guy (or girl, we don't know) glows green under black light, just like a GloFish. His/her working name is "Fran," short for both "Frankenstein" and "Francesca/Francisco"- we aren't sure, yet. Once the little salamander grows a bit, the males get bulges near the base of the tail. We shall see! 

Creature Feature: Corn Snakes!

Remember when I said I had experience handling reptiles? Well...

These are all my hatchling corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus; formerly Elaphe guttata). All of the above eggs hatched except for one, which unfortunately could not get out of its shell. They're rather neat little snakes, and one of the more common ones in the pet trade. It's totally worth doing an entry about them, if only because most people won't know what a corn snake is at a glance.

Corn snakes are mid-sized colubrids from the eastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Florida. Like many snakes, they eat rodents. They are red, orange, and black, with speckled bellies that give corns Despite being called "red rat snakes," they are actually closely related to kingsnakes - one of the most beneficial snakes around, even according to people who hate snakes. They are also quite beautiful, even without a paintjob like my albino hatchies.

BEAUTIFUL normal from Ian's Vivarium!

Hey, speaking of paintjobs, you might notice that the wild-type ("normal") babies I hatched don't quite look like the awesome specimen above. That's because corn snakes exhibit something called "ontogenic color change." In laymen's terms, that means that they change color when they get older. It carries over into other morphs (color phases) too, so one really has to be patient to see what the adults will look like. Those drab normal babies will become bright red and orange in no time; that's part of the fun of corn snakes!

While ball python people have scores of morphs to mess with (the list is terrifying), corn snakes have a plethora of hybrids. "Jungle corns" are used to describe any mix between a corn snake and a kingsnake, and there are a lot of kingsnakes to choose from. One of the most common crosses, however, is with Emoryi's rat snake, leading to what are called "creamsicle" corns. It's almost as if, while insane breeding of ball pythons might narrow the gene pool to the point of being undesirable, the corn snake gene pool is expanding by incorporating other species. Dogs and cats, all over again. I can guarantee that we'll make a blue or green corn snake before a blue ball python, in any case.

That said, however, I still recommend a ball python for the first-time snake owner. There are several reasons for this, and they all come from personal experience. My first corn snake escaped from me and was never found again; likewise, colubrids are generally harder to catch than constrictors, being able to squeeze into a million tiny places. Especially if you have kids who might forget to lock the cage, balls are a better choice. There are millions of unwanted normal males out there for anyone wanting a first snake. Then, color your world with corns.

Shark Week: Pet Sharks?

Some people like menageries. They love having exotic animals that nobody else on the street has, and they happen to show off a lot of them. 

So what if one of those animals happens to be a shark?

It's hard to find a shark that will not get at least ten feet long.  You're looking at a whole room's worth of an aquarium. Oh, and you should have handled saltwater tanks before; the best sharks are in the oceans, and for regular fish, saltwater tanks are hard enough to maintain. How about feeding a shark? They aren't going to take fish flakes. In other words, for pretty much any shark, you're looking at a millionaire's investment.

So, let's say you do have the insane funds to provide for a shark. What types of sharks are good for relative beginners, seeing as some undoubtedly make better pets than others?

Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that there's no "ball python" to the nurse shark's "Burmese." In English: there is no pet shark that the average person can keep on a whim. There are freshwater fish called "sharks," but those are not true sharks. The good news is that there are some sharks that make better pets than others. Don't start with a great white, now.

This handy little site has some details on the best types of "starter" sharks. I'm going to save you all some research and post a little bit more on its recommendations...with pics.

Source. This image is amazing.

Wobbegongs: I want to say that this blog has already done an entry on wobbegong sharks. To my great surprise, these oddball sharks from the waters of the Pacific and Indonesia are some of the best pet sharks for the average, research-loving schmuck. Some wobbegong sharks get only 4.1 feet long, and they have slow metabolisms, needing only to be fed twice a week. Not a bad deal if you want to say you own a shark, but still requires some aquarium knowledge. The tasseled wobbegong (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon) above is one of the better wobbegongs, if a shark suits your fancy. Alas, it looks more like a bunch of seaweed than an actual shark.

Bamboo sharks: Again, these are bottom-dwelling sharks from the Indo-Pacific like wobbegongs, except they look a lot more like miniature sharks. They can "walk" on the bottom of the sea, or your tank, with their surprisingly dextrous fins. The largest species is roughly 4 feet in length. FYI, the shark the wobbegong is eating is a bamboo shark, but here's a better pic of the thing while it's alive.

 

  Epaulette sharks: THESE are so worth their own entry in the future! I'm just looking at a video and being totally charmed by it. The ocelli (big black "eye" spots) above the pectoral fins make these sharks very pleasing to the eye. These are, again, Indo-Pacific bottom-feeders. They can be fed raw shrimp, which is fairly easy to acquire and handle. They are not as small as wobbegongs and Bamboo sharks, however, so please make sure you can handle these slender sharks before taking one home!

Creature Feature: Uromastyx.

So I saw War Horse today. It was amazingly moving, enough so that I spent 80 bucks on a book on the history of Handspring. Those are some awesome horse puppets, and the story is great, too. Go see it, even if you don't normally like theater.

However, it was still winter in Chicago. That means that outside is freaking cold. Quick, I need a desert animal to warm up!

Oho...it's about time we got to this one. Uromastyx lizards are agamids native to northern Africa into the Middle East and India. There are approximately 13 species in the genus. They are wholly herbivorous. Males are larger than brighter than females, FYI. The largest Uromastyx, the Egyptian (U. aegyptia) is almost a yard long.

For those of you curious about the name, "uromastyx" literally means "whiptail" or "scourgetail." No, these guys are not as lesbian as the other whiptails.  They are named for the torture weapon of a tail common to all  Uromastyx species. I think "mace-tail" or "rape-tail "would have suited it better than "whiptail," but to each horny scientist his own. If you don't get that joke...don't think about it too much. Just go with "scourgetail." That sounds like the name of a badass video game boss and you know it. Say it with me: Scourgetail. 

That spiky tail is nothing more or less than a weapon. A threatened Uromastyx will turn towards the enemy with that tail, puffing and hissing open-mouthed all the while. They also sleep with that spiked tail facing out, just in case. Scourgetail indeed.

Uromastyx lizards, or mastigures, have a few more tricks besides that tail. Most of their time is spent underground, making them hard to find. They change color, darkening themselves while basking. Also, these are desert lizards; that means they get most of the water from the food they eat.

Mastigures are uncommon in the exotic pet trade. Although they have been difficult to keep in the past, people's knowledge has improved. The Mali Uromastyx is the best captive scourgetail. They are now common enough that most exotics shops (i.e. reptile stores that aren't Petco) will know what you're talking about. Though accessible, they do have some advanced care requirements; please, be smart and do your research if you think they're neat.

Creature Feature: Rose-ringed Parakeet.

As Black Friday edges ever closer, be on the lookout for "robo-pets." These are cute, often remote-controlled amusements that will sate one's interest for a while, but generally get boring fast. They never quite have the thrill of a real animal; alas, moms generally will not buy their kids real tigers and cheetahs.



Wait a sec. That's a real bird?

Yep. He's a ringnecked, or rose-ringed, parakeet (Psittacula krameri). Specifically, he's most likely an Indian Ringneck Parakeet (P. krameri manillensis), the most common in the trade. These parrots are native to a small little ribbon in Africa and a much larger proportion of India, hence the name. There are several subspecies in this relatively wide range, which is only getting wider with time.

Unlike many common pet parrots, female and male rose-ringed parakeets are easy to tell apart: the male has a ring and the female doesn't. This is only visible in adult birds, however. Both make equally good pets, although it's usually said that male birds will talk more readily. For your convenience, they come in many colors, including blue, green, yellow (lutino) and albino. That said, please don't get one without doing your research; parrots are fairly high-maintenance as far as pets go.

Ringnecks are probably the oldest species of domesticated parrot. They go back to at least 200 B.C., when Indian religious leaders began keeping them for their ability to mimic human speech. The Greeks and Romans were also fond of the various ringnecks, meaning that keeping them goes back even farther in India. The ringnecks became even more popular in the 1920's, when birdkeepers started to breed them for the bright color palette seen above. Of course, the birds' intelligent, charming temperament helped in maintaining their popularity.

That said, this popularity has yielded an expected, yet still somehow surprising, result: Feral parrots. Everywhere. The U.S., Japan, South Africa (which isn't too far from home, really), Italy, and the war-torn Middle East all have thriving feral parrot populations. Even Australia has these guys. These birds are that hardy and adaptive to human "disturbances," plus they get so much yummy bird seed in those feeders. One wouldn't expect to see them in the U.K., but there ya go. India's revenge on the Brits is cute and feathery. No word on anything Hitchcock would write, though.

They still seem to be conspiring against us...

Ethics Week: The Exotic Pet Trade.

(WARNING: Long article is LONG.) 

"The exotic pet trade is the most profitable trade after drugs." While true, this statement aligns something debateably bad with something almost definitely bad. Although, yes, a lot of exotic pet owners do not know what they're doing, the knowledge about the care of  exotic animals is now more accessible than ever. Exotic pets, including fish, birds, and reptiles, are usually available in shops in the developed world; people tend to worry more about large snakes, wolves, and big cats being handled by people without adequate resources.

That said, a warning: Beware of Stampy.

For those of you who do not know the earlier episodes of The Simpsons, Stampy was Bart's former pet elephant. Stampy was won from KBBL radio thanks to a lucky phone call. The prize was supposed to be a thousand dollars, but Bart insisted on picking the African elephant - a joke prize - over the actual money. The radio station was forced to acknowledge the deal, and managed to send the family a full-grown African elephant, whom Bart christened "Stampy." The end result was an animal that the family could not afford to keep and was certainly not happy in suburbia. Luckily, Springfield happened to have an elephant sanctuary. Stampy, now a partially-tame elephant, was then referenced on at least two separate occasions in subsequent episodes.

Bart and Stampy's situation is a legit exotic pet lover's worst nightmare: a giant animal kept in horrible conditions without any research done beforehand. Indeed, a lot of pets are bought on impulse without any forethought whatsoever. In the case of exotic pets, this mistake can be quite damaging. The owners of such pets are lucky if they can find a shelter willing to take exotic animals. For convenience, I will refer to people in this situation as "Stampies."

The exotic pet trade has been going on since time immemorial. For ages, kings and emperors had things called "menageries" - collections of animals so extensive that they were basically private zoos. The first official menagerie supposedly started with Charlemagne in the 8th century, although cheetahs and other 'exotics' had been kept as royal pets long before that. The aristocratic menagerie later evolved into the modern zoo.

Source.

Oh, gods...old zoos sucked. If you have ever seen the old, old pictures of animals in cages just barely big enough to fit them, that is exactly what they were like. Zoo exhibits now are actually quite nice compared to the boxes animals used to be stuck with. I'm not saying that all tigers should be kept in captivity, but eventually, that may be all we have. We might as well give them a good home while their old habitat is being destroyed.

Exotics can be seen as nature's last refuge. The Spix's macaw and scimitar-horned oryx come to mind; both of these species are now extinct in the wild, and are being bred in captivity so that they may be reintroduced once their habitats recover. Although the initial intent may have been for pets or sport, the result remains positive. If there are any Spix's macaws left, they number less than 50, if not 0. 71 (the number of Spix's in captivity) is a bigger number than 0.

The counterargument is that the exotics trade encourages capture from the wild; while this may be true in the initial phases, as time goes on, people will eventually prefer animals that are slightly socialized to be around humans, come free of parasites, and will overall be cheaper than going into the wild and catching them. The main issue is always habitat destruction, but who's to say that exotic pets can't be spokes-animals?

The exotic pet trade has been around for a long time. Things have gotten better, not worse, with that time. (Individual cases vary; on the whole, things have gotten better.) A lot of the exotic animals that you'll find in zoos have been bred in captivity. Thanks to how long it's been going on and, with improvements in technology, potential exotic pet owners can now become educated. There's a chance to go, "How much will this elephant really cost me?" before buying it. Should one go forward with getting an exotic, parasites and other issues with wild-caught specimens will be less of a burden.  Stampies are now easily preventable.  If that is not a good thing, I don't know what is.

Another thing that many people against the exotic pet trade don't realize is that Stampies occur regardless of the legality of the pet. There is always someone who will buy a big dog to make themselves feel tougher, only to realize that they got more than they bargained for. Siamese cats are very loud and can keep people up in the middle of the night, but don't they look so cute as kittens? That's why purebreds in particular wind up in shelters. People get too relaxed and don't do research. Don't think you can handle a Great Dane just because it's a dog, and hey, you've got a friend with dogs.

From www.dogbreed.info.com

The examples above stem from ignorance, just like most of the reports of Burms and retics escaping on the news. The main difference is that there are plenty of people willing to take in a Great Dane or Siamese, and a lot fewer people willing to handle a giant snake. People abandon dogs and let dogs escape all the time; does it ever make the news? Not usually. We've just grown that accustomed to dogs.

Another thing that tends to come up regarding the pet trade is the possibility of invasive species. The worst animal invasions do not come from the exotic pet trade at all.  Any introduction of any foreign species can be devastating to an ecology, regardless of intent. Nobody wanted to bring Japanese beetles into the U.S., or Brown Tree Snakes into Guam; they got there by accident. Rabbits and cats are pretty much domesticated, yet they wreak havoc in Australia and did the same thing in Hawaii. Although not necessary invasive, cows are unintentionally the most environmentally-destructive animals in the world; rainforests die just so that Mickey D's can sell hamburgers, and cows produce methane, one of the leading greenhouse gases. Whether an animal is 'exotic' or not doesn't mean a darn thing. Humans will touch almost anything in nature. If you really want to protect a place's ecology, ban humans.

This is not to say that the trade should go completely unregulated. Rather, if exotic legislation was based on rationale instead of fear of the strange, we would see a lot less of it. Places like Hawaii and Australia naturally have a lot more laws than other areas; domestic animals and stowaways have already wreaked havoc on the ecosystems there. Florida has issues not only because of the ecology being perfect for giant snakes like the Burmese python, but also because the Miami airport cannot handle exotic imports very well. The Lizard King has more details on the politics therein if you feel inclined to research them. Point is, they actually have reasons for the laws as opposed to, say, a nationwide ban on all pythons. Yes, that almost passed.



Even then, some creatures that could be considered 'exotic' are now almost in the realm of normalcy. Ball pythons and parakeets (budgies) come to mind. In states where they are legal, ferrets are now recognized as a sort of 'domestic exotic' (nobody knows where pet ferrets came from, but at the same time, not everybody has one and they aren't legal everywhere).  More and more species formerly called 'exotic' are now common sights. I'm going to go out on a limb and call this man-made biodiversity a good thing; more options means more learning opportunities, and more chances to connect with the big, wide world that people tend to take for granted. 

Am I saying that everybody should have a wolf or tiger? No. Am I saying that nobody should dive into a pet period? Yes. It just so happens that some pets are more 'normal' than others, and it is not uncommon for people to bite off more than they can chew regardless of how normal a pet is. Research something before you buy it, whether it's a cat, dog, steppe runner, or anaconda. (That last one is a horrible idea unless you've been keeping reptiles for at least a decade, by the way.) If there's a law preventing you from keeping something, look into why. No matter how much I advocate Darwin Awards, a happy pet-human relationship is preferable to death.

Results not typical...but very cute.

Creature Feature: Hermit Crabs.

So I'm now back in a little area of Illinois I like to call "Suburban Hell." There are whole strip malls that have died just by being in this suburb. Most tragically, the local magic shop, and several other stores in its little strip, have decided to close shop. Even other suburbanites say my suburb sucks.

That said, here's a critter known for moving: the classic hermit crab.

The name "hermit crab" is a little bit misleading; they are more closely related to squat lobsters and porcelain crabs than 'standard' crabs. They are usually native to tropical regions or completely marine. There are several kinds of hermit crabs (over 1100 species), but they all have one thing in common: As they grow, they need to move into another animal's shell or shelter. 

Unlike most crustaceans, hermit crabs have squishy abdomens.  They are designed such that, as they grow older, they can fit into another animal's shell. When a nearby snail dies, hermit crabs line up to see who can fit in the shell. When that owner gets too big for it, the cycle starts again, and smaller crabs line up to take the abandoned shell. I would hate to see the real estate prices on those shells.

Quick, find it an apartment!

 

Not all hermit crabs live in shells. Some of them inhabit burrows of sea worms.Others prefer coral, sponges, and bivalves to snails. They've been around since the Cretaceous- of course they've evolved to do better than single snail shells.  A few of them deliberately put sea anemones on their shells as a form of home security. Despite the names, hermit crabs can and should live in communities, making housing slightly easier to come by.

Most of you have probably seen land hermit crabs in pet stores. These are terrestrial hermit crabs of the genus Coenobita; I usually see some Ecuadoran hermit crabs around. As hermit crabs grow in popularity, more and more species of this genus are appearing for sale. They used to be thought of as a "throwaway" pet, but can live a surprisingly long time if their rather strict environment is maintained. Now that people are catching on, books and other items for hermit crab care are becoming readily available. They even make little painted shells for your hermit crab to move into.

For those of us who don't have the space or time to manage hermit crabs (they aren't that bad, really), Pokemon has four hermit crabs total. The Slowpoke family is  based off of hermit crabs, with Slowbro outright called "hermit crab" as its title. The other hermit crab family, Dwebble and Crustle, is newer. 

Creature Feature: Neon Tetras.

At the Lit Fair today, one author who wrote a book about shapeshifters and other superpowers got into a convo with me about GloFish. She herself was a bio major at Northwestern, so she got a huge kick out of us now being able to make zebra danios in every color of the rainbow. She thought her son would get a kick out of them, too. Well, whatever it takes to possibly make glowing rats (or snakes!) into pets works, I suppose.

For those of us who aren't so keen on Frankenfish, there are neon tetras. Neon tetras are among the most popular and manageable aquarium fish around, along with being beautiful to boot. Most specimens in the U.S. are imported from Thailand or Hong Kong, but the fish is actually native to South America. This entry is just about the neon tetra Paracheirodon innesi - any other 'neon tetras' don't count, here.

Now, to be fair, neon tetras do not glow like GloFish. They instead have a bright blue, iridescent stripe running along their bodies. This evolved so that other neon tetras can recognize them in the darkwater rivers of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.  The stripe and red marking actually become duller when the fish rests - a neat color-changing trick rarely seen on land. Still, this is probably as close as you're going to get to a 'natural' GloFish, especially if you're on a budget.  Buy a school of them; they'll be happier and more colorful that way.

Neon tetras are omnivorous. While they will do fine on flake food in captivity, some meatier things like brine shrimp are also recommended.  Some special pellet foods even contain supplements to enhance the tetras' natural coloration. Bear in mind that they'll still dull a little when stressed or tired. They may not be what most people think of when they hear "Omnivorous fish," but they won't be happy on fish flakes. They also get along well with other tetras and guppies. (Do your research, as usual.)

Although generally seen as a 'starter fish' for tropical fishkeeping, neon tetras have one nasty disease. It's simply called "Neon Tetra Disease" and is characterized by restlessness, loss of color, cysts, and difficulty swimming. Despite tetras being a very popular fish, there is no cure for the disease.  Since tetras are hard to breed (again, despite their popularity), you will likely have to dispose of all the tetras and buy more from Thailand if they get hit with NTD. Tetras are beautiful fish, but beauty is far from permanent.

Now, That's Just Depressing: Harry Potter Fans and Owls.

It is a proven fact that people will buy pets based on what they see in the movies. It is slightly less provable that Harry Potter fans are insane as a rule - they have not done anything on par with the near-felonies that the Twilight fanbase is notorious for. At least, that was what I thought until this rather unpleasant piece of news hit the internet: 

"Pam Toothill, of the Owlcentre in Corwen, North Wales, said: “Before the films were out I had six owls, now it’s 100. It’s all down to ­Harry Potter.

“People saw ­Harry’s owl in the movies and thought how cute and cuddly they looked. Now they are bored and fed-up with all the work involved looking after an owl.

“They are quite costly to look after. Ideally you need a 20ft aviary, and that costs about £900.

“I know it’s not JK Rowling’s fault, but people didn’t think enough about buying an owl before getting one.

“Owls need enough space to be able to flap their wings five times before landing back on a perch, or they get a chest ­infection.

“But we had one lady who was keeping two owls in her bedside cabinet in her ­bedroom.

“And there was a chap with a ­European Eagle Owl, which has a 5ft wingspan, in his one-­bedroom flat. It’s insane.”

It is perfectly legal to keep an owl and no licence is needed. But anyone caught releasing a captive owl faces six months in jail or a £5,000 fine.

Thirty unwanted barn owls are among the 170 creatures being cared for at the Sanctuary Wildlife Care Centre at Ulgham, near Morpeth, Northumberland.

Owner Kim Olson said: “When people saw Harry Potter loads of them wanted an owl. They’ve kept them in their shed or garage for a bit and now they’ve got bored and they hand them in to us.

“It’s illegal to release an owl into the wild because they would take over from the native wild owls, but obviously a lot of people have ­ignored that law.”

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has pleaded with fans not to follow their hero and keep an owl as a pet.

“If anybody has been influenced by my books to think an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house, I would like to take this opportunity to say as forcefully as I can, ‘you are wrong’,” she has said.

“If your ­owl-mania seeks concrete ­expression, why not sponsor an owl at a bird ­sanctuary where you can visit and know that you have secured him or her a happy, healthy life.”

The Harry Potter owl craze echoes that of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film in the early 1990s, when thousands of ­unwanted pet terrapins were dumped in Britain’s rivers, canals and lakes. "

Source: Mirror.co.uk. 

I honestly did not think people could be this stupid. I can understand impulse-buying a Dalmation after seeing 101 Dalmations, or a clownfish after watching Finding Nemo. Hell, I can understand buying a Burmese python more than what these people did. Owls aren't exactly common pets, nor were they a standard impulse buy like the occasional puppy, fish, or even python until Harry Potter came along. One would think that most people would be aware that owls have a specific diet and require a lot more space than a large parrot. This gives exotic pet owners and Potterheads alike a bad name.

Seriously, guys? J.K. Rowling was not writing a guide for owl husbandry when she wrote the books. The author has spoken against keeping owls like Harry Potter does. If you can't listen to the author's own wishes, what will you listen to?

Freak Week 3.5: Designer Raccoons.

Now, here's where we wander into that .5 territory. There are some things that aren't quite considered domesticated, don't have show standards, but are still considered pets by some people. They are slowly developing breeds whether fans of regular domesticated animals want them to or not.

Looking for something more unusual than a cat or dog? Look no further than designer raccoons:

Yes, people keep raccoons as pets. Someone was bound to do it eventually. After all, they adapt extremely well to human habitation and have been farmed for their fur already. It's not like this is an animal that people do not know about. Everybody in America knows what raccoons are capable of after a single trash raid.

Raccoons actually come in a surprising variety of colors. Some places have white raccoons so tame that they come right up to humans without biting. In captivity, one also sees subtle variations like cinnamon, chocolate and blond. If you were in the market for a red panda, the cinnamon raccoon comes pretty darn close (if a few shades too light).

 

Raccoons are intelligent creatures with dextrous hands. As one breeder put it, you have to child-proof everything. Keep them away from cat food; eating too much commercial pet food can lead to gout in raccoons. They like to play with toys just like people do (but avoid Beanie Babies; the PVC pellets aren't good for them). People say that having a dog is a lot like having a kid; given the intelligence of raccoons, the same advice applies.

No matter how cute they look, raccoons are not without risk. They come with a potentially nasty parasite, Baylisascaris procyonis, which can lead to neurological damage if the latrine of the raccoon is cleaned without breathing protection on. The presence of Toxoplasma in cat feces does not seem to daunt most people, so your mileage may vary.  (Read: Get experience with carnivorid mammals, first.) You may need to get a permit to keep a raccoon, so please check your local laws before purchasing one. Yes, we know they're almost too cute to resist.

Creature Feature: Servals.

When most people think Africa, they think big animals: Lions, elephants, wildebeest, gorillas, occasionally hyenas, and other creatures generally treated as "big game." In spite of this, Africa also has some of the most fascinating smaller animals out there, including meerkats, ball pythons (yes, that was a plug), and, of course, smaller cats.




Servals (Leptailurus serval - also Felis serval) are among Africa's lesser-known felines. They are not big cats (considered "medium-size" -approx. 3 feet long), meaning that, like smaller cats, they can chirp and purr.  They are native to a good portion of Africa, including Tanzania, Angola, and Ethiopia. There are several subspecies, although exactly how many depends on who you ask. They eat any vertebrate small enough to fit in their mouths, although there are some reports of them taking down game as big as gazelle. They are not endangered at all, but that does not make them any less special than the other African big-shots. It's fairly hard to find a zoo with servals in the U.S.

Servals are well-adapted to hunting on the African savannah. They have the longest legs (proportionately) of any feline, allowing them to jump up to 3 meters high and see over tall grasses with ease. Their large, erect ears let them hear the tiny scritchings of small prey, sort of like fennecs. Although mainly nocturnal, you will find several serval pics with excellent lighting.

The serval is definitely not related to Nyancat.

 

Serval coats can fetch a very high price on the black market. They are often sold as young cheetah or leopard pelts. The demand for their fur plus their tendency to sneak into chicken coops (they're smart like foxes!) makes them targets for hunters. As such, servals are rarely seen around populated areas...with one exception.

Look at the rest of the page for your daily dose of cute.

Finally, yes, servals can be kept as pets. If you so desire, you can even breed them with a regular cat and get a hybrid called a Savannah. These were covered briefly in my not-quite-breed week, but here's a refresher: A cat that acts almost like a dog to the point of being leash-trainable, eats raw meat, and is by far the largest domesticated cat breed around. Servals themselves are adept problem solvers and  come in black and white phases, just in case you want to be even MORE different. Even if zoos are a little short on servals, there are plenty around in the U.S. Just know your laws, mmkay?

Creature Feature: Orchid Mantis.

Why, in all of the entries here, have mantids gone unnoticed? There is certainly something bizarre about a bug with 'arms' as its first two legs. Mantis heads make good bases for alien heads. Mantids in general should have been covered here a while back, but for now, we are only looking at the weirdest of the weird. Even mantises have their freak shows.



 That insectoid flower (or floral insect) is an orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus). Like all mantids, it is predatory. Don't let that pink fool you; the orchid mantis will eat any small bugs within its reach. We wish Avatar had one of these, but they are only native to the rainforests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sumatra.

The orchid mantis has some of the best camouflage in the insect world. Its lower legs look almost exactly like flower petals. Its abdomen and eyes have stripes like flowers, too. One could probably stick this mantis into a bouquet of flowers and not notice until the bug flew off. Ladies, hold onto your monocles - that flower's alive!

Image by Luc Viatour at www.Lucnix.be. Go visit him now!

The mantids are not born with this stunning coloration. They start as orange, antlike nymphs. With each shed, they become steadily more colorful. The mantis takes on the coloration of whatever flower becomes its home - usually a papaya or orchid blossom. This leads to a great variety of patterns in mature specimens. There are some theories that climate, rather than just surrounding flora, may have an impact on the insect's final colors. Bear this in mind if you plan on taking one home and breeding it.

As one might imagine, orchid mantises are uncommon in the exotic pet trade. In captivity, they live almost exclusively on fruit flies. They are docile and can easily be handled. Provide sufficient decor for the mantis to molt and otherwise feel comfortable. Although not for beginners, if you are looking for an exotic insect, this mantis might be up your alley.

Creature Feature: Microgecko.

As much as I love doing impersonal blog posts, sometimes, something cool comes up from real life and bitchslaps me. Then, because I love sharing such experiences, I write a blog post about that weird, obscure thing.

This was one of those things.

 

No, that is not a dish containing three baby geckos. Those are all adult microgeckos. They were only about half the length of my middle finger. Although beautiful, I could not take them home because they cost 350 dollars. That, and if one got out, there would be NO DOUBT AT ALL that it would either die in a vent or get eaten by a cat.

Alas, it was really, really hard to find another pic of that same exact gecko. There are several species of gecko called "microgecko." The name can be a little misleading. The microgeckos I met were particularly tiny 'microgeckos.' Some geckos commonly called microgeckos can get up to four inches long. They aren't quite what I saw, but still pretty small.

So, for now, let's focus on the geckos in the genus Tropiocolotes.  These geckos are all native to Northern Africa and get less than 2 inches in length. Again, that's the adult size.



These little geckos like it hot (80-95 degrees Farenheit). As with rosy boas, they are desert animals, so no humidity required. A small gecko like this eats small prey, so feed them crickets, which are widely available, or very small larval insects. The eggs are also tiny-tiny, able to fit many on a single cent. (Side-note: You know a lizard like this is not commonly kept when the care sheets for it are scattered about.)

I'm out of words to say about this lizard. There's not that much to say, despite them having a fair following. For now, just gawk at the sheer tiny cuteness that they possess.

Forgive my fangirling: かわいいですね〜！

P.S.- I love exotic pet stores. There was no way I could have known about these without the Chicago Reptile House.

Creature Feature: Rosy Boa.

Today, I had a little Twitter chat with Brian of Snakebytes.tv. I was wondering why, of all snakes, he had never really covered the Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata) on his show. Things like sand boas, boa constrictors, and Amazon tree boas got the spotlight one week. Yet the rosy boa, one of the most mellow, sweet snakes that I have ever met, has gone all but untouched by one of the most popular snake shows on the internet.

 

His answer was simple: He never really works with them. That's a damn shame, seeing as rosies are among the easiest snakes in the world to take care of. You don't even need to give them water every day. Don't give them water every day.

Let's back up a little. The Rosy Boa is native to the dry, hot parts of California and Mexico. It is one of two boa species native to the Unites States. It eats rodents and, like most desert boas, is a fairly shy snake. But before I get into how awesome it is to have a Rosy Boa like Eclair, let me make something clear:

"OMG IT'S A BOA! THAT MEANS IT'S GONNA EAT MY KIDS!"

One, you're getting mixed up with pythons. There are no less than three species in the genus Python that grow huge. Not all of them do, but I'll admit that, anacondas not withstanding, boas are a lot smaller in general. Again, aside from anacondas, the red-tail boa is the most common and largest boa  that you will meet.  They get fourteen feet, max. While that may seem pretty long to you, it is not big compared to massive pythons like the twenty-thirty feet of reticulated and Burmese pythons. Boas are also fascinating by default because they bear live young - something that pythons cannot do.

And we boa people LOVE showing it off. Not my pic, BTW.

Two, rosies are really, really docile. They do not resist being handled at all. They are also the slowest snakes in the world, which means that escapees will not get far. They get four feet max and only about as big around as a golf ball. They can swallow mice. That's it.


Albino Rosy Boa II 5-1-08 by ~oOBrieOo on deviantART

They also come in a variety of very appetizing patterns. Seriously. I named my Mexican female Eclair because she looks so strikingly like a dessert. Others have described albino rosies looking like creamsicles. Even the 'mutts,' i.e. rosies of mixed locality, are called "root beers" within the trade.  Just about the only ones that don't look straight out of a frosting tube are the ones that are almost unicolor. All the rest have three stripes that, if bred to look right, can look amazing.

Rosies are awesome beginner snakes. They eat a mouse a week, if that. I was terrified when Eclair did not eat anything for months, but as soon as she got over the normal winter blues, she was fine. They are also easy to breed and come with the bonus of live babies, so they never get egg-bound. The only thing keeping them from being recommended as an ideal starter snake is that they aren't corn snakes or ball pythons.