Post Pictures of your Pets: 2017 Edition

[Gredival]

Kitten tax

[Fiye]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-h...grXL0dK5o5GrXe

edit: i've never tried to post my own video, so let me know if there's a better way to do this.

Youtube is pretty click and drag and you can set things to not be listed and on their own account.

[mallister]

Youtube is pretty click and drag and you can set things to not be listed and on their own account.

...i think i went through this exact thing the first time i posted video of her. it's been a minute, and i'm a dumbass. thank you!

also holy shit gred that is an adorable kitten.

[mallister]

was able to find some live crayfish at one of the asian markets today. i have always wanted to try live crayfish (she'd have nothing to do with pre-killed, i've tried several times). so i picked up the three smallest but still feistiest ones and let them chill in the refugium for a bit while i prepped tortoise food.
she came out to see what was up, so i put one in the cage. she of course ran when i opened the door and hid under the basking area. the crayfish backed under a log and dug himself in. i got the tongs out and clicked them to try to get her attention, and try to dig the crayfish back out. my mistake, i nearly got bit. she dug him out herself and proceeded to annihilate it.
i got the camera out, the video is for crayfish #2. she gets real shy when i stand there with the camera, she's not a fan.
crayfish #3 was a bit of a struggle; she really, really seems to like them so she ate it while it was mauled but still alive. she threw it up, tore the top of its thorax and head off, and ate it, then apparently didn't like how it sat in her gullet so threw it up again, pulverized it methodically, and finally swallowed it. then she spent five minutes searching out the lost head/thorax, and ate that too.
so, all in all it was a hit. didn't like the regurgitation, that's actually the first time i've ever had a monitor vomit before. she seems no worse for the wear, but i'll keep an eye out just in case.

[mallister]

well, she laid eggs again. 12 this time, over about two weeks or so. the first two were normal, egg-looking, the rest were slugs. next go-round, i will send any live looking ones to my friend's incubator just to see. it'd be cool to be the first to document parthenogenesis in this species. it's not likely but...it's not impossible. shit's annoying though, she refuses to use the nest box (i don't know what i'm doing wrong there) and keeps dropping them in the water. the slugs keep getting sucked into my filter and clogging up the lines.

i fed her two days in a row since she's recovering body weight after laying. i'm going to get her some more shrimp this week. she came out of the cage on her own last night, and i was able to get her to walk back in on her own too. the damage to her tail from that skin infection is largely healed; she'll likely have scarring there for several years though.

[Salodin]

I didn't know they laid unfertilized eggs on the regular. I feel like that would be something I was aware of lol.

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[mallister]

Reproductive complications/nesting issues are the number one killer of adult female monitors.

Iguanas too. It's real common.

[Salodin]

Being female sucks in this timeline lmao

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[zoobernut]

It happens a lot with chickens too. Healthy adult chickens will drop dead randomly because they get egg bound or another chicken bumps them slightly too hard when they are just about to lay and breaks the egg inside them. We had a red eared slider before and she lay eggs spontaneously only a couple times. Could never figure out what prompted her to lay eggs and none were ever viable.

Your monitor is beautiful though. Is she friendly with you? Can you pet her and stuff?

[mallister]

She is slowly coming around. I can usually stroke under her chin, but on top of the head is right out. She is very shy, and its typical for this species. She will probably never calm down completely, but I can tong feed her, and can lead her out of the enclosure, and get her to go back in on her own. That's a huge deal. We are hoping the captive bred offspring will be less flighty, there is usually a noticeable difference in temperament.

[Salodin]

Since were here I'll drop a mini update.

The rat colony is chugging along. The enclosure is 100% completed now, with auto drip water and hopper functioning with no problems. Each bin can comfortably house 2 adult females, with their litters, and I'm currently using 2 of 3 bins. With this setup I only have to change the water weekly, and the food hoppers last 3-4 days depending on how big the liters are. I lost count of what litter I'm on cause honestly that's less important now than my overall numbers and averages, and frankly those are no bueno.

I'm losing about 50% of my litters to sudden rodent death syndrome (new phrase, pay me to use it), and they're either stillborn or the mama doesnt realize whats shes doing and literally just suffocates them by laying on them. I was hoping to only have 2 females with 1 male to keep sustained numbers to feed my snakes, but I bumped it up to 4 females and even then I cant reliably keep up. It doesnt help that new mamas have small litters, so losing half of what's already a small litter is rough. I'm considering just feeding off the male and getting some new genes in the colony to maybe help, but hes honestly the best, most docile rat out of them all and I just cant bring myself to do it =(. No lie, out of all the rats hes the only one that let's me pick him up no fuss and move him around as needed. I'm sure its cause he lives like a king in a concubine but still, he has been teaching the youngins to be good and non-chewers lol.

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[mallister]

Lol, I used to hate feeding live rats because they are so chill. I dont feed live anymore at all, it's just too dangerous, my python wants super jumbo big ass rats but she's a little over eager and is really derp.

[Salodin]

Halloween Edition

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[Shenrien]

I've had this lil guy for 4 months now

This was around 9 weeks old



and recent

[Mythe_Seraph]

Freaking adorable dogs. The Halloween pups and the new baby.

[Astylla]

Jager ( black kitty) bringing me his favorite crinkle from when he was a kitten over 5 years ago , Corona perched on my simba pillow , and Jager and Guinness passed out in comas this morning while I slept.

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[Salodin]

Neighborhood outdoor cat broke open my rat cages and had a field day. Killed 3 overnight monday, left the guts for me to clean up. I secured and modified the cages to save the last 5 rats, came out this morning and the cat did it again, but the opening that was made was so small he only got one rat from the number of guys on the floor this time.

That said, 3 rats must have escaped from the hole cause now I only got 1 rat left. Fuck my life...

If I ever find this cat so help me god...I think I know who owns it and if I catch it on video tonight trying to get the last rat imma fucking go john wick on this thing. I love cats but I have no sympathy for outdoor cats in a town drowning in feral cats breaking into my property. Plenty of shelters in the area willing to take another little shit, and I'm not convinced I'm willing to drive the extra 15min to leave it at a non kill shelter >_<

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[Tokitoki]

Electrify the cages.
Catch on video.
Post to forums.

[Salodin]

The same youtube videos that gave me ideas on how to build my enclosures also recommended electrified rat traps for me, so...I'll think about it? Lmao

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[mallister]

Feral cats and the people that let them run are garbage.