Post Pictures of your Pets: 2017 Edition

**mallister** · 2020-07-26 21:27

i got a nestbox camera installed. this thing is amazing. i was able to watch them all day while at work. it's also running me batshit because she still hasn't fucking laid those eggs.

digging:

moar diggin:

exhausted mom:

dude is really fucking eager and needs to stop:

i had to remove the planter and rebuild the tunnel with palm frond bases; i'm surprised it didn't drop on her. she'd dug a 30" tunnel under it.

**mallister** · 2020-08-19 21:50

well, i had about given up. i fished five eggs out of her water filter, three of which were obvious deformed slugs and two of which might have been viable if they hadn't been in the water for 12 hours. i figured she had simply eaten the rest; it's a problem and i've seen her pounce on them in the past as soon as she dropped them. but, i'd never had her actually go through a full and correct nesting cycle before.

my wife convinced me to give the cage one last going over before giving up. i dug up half the soil and was about to quit when i found a filled in burrow. i snaked my arm in and boom, first egg. i kept digging and they just kept coming. seven total and they look pretty decent. i am cautiously hopeful here. i wish i'd have gotten pics of them in the nest cavity, but here they are in the vermiculite:

they are in the incubator now. wish us luck!

**Salodin** · 2020-08-20 01:29

What luck! Man its hard making babies when the animals don't know whats up lol

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**mallister** · 2020-08-20 13:07

well, she knew what she was doing better than i gave her credit for. fucking easter egg hiding champion. the eggs she'd dropped, 3 were bad for sure and there was probably something off about the other two, they just didn't look like actual cancer. slugs are gross, man. the shells are all leathery and distorted.

now begins the six month wait, while trying not to get my hopes up.

**Salodin** · 2020-08-20 14:20

6 month incubation wtf?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**mallister** · 2020-08-20 14:58

yup. six months.

thankfully, even though documentation is poor for this species, monitors are fairly conservative as far as reproduction goes. they all follow very similar patterns for the most part, so while it's scary to start once they get going you at least have a template to follow. there have been great strides taken in the last 10 years or so and species that regularly died in captivity are now being bred regularly (the Prasinus complex of species for instance, and most recently Indicus). We'll know in a couple of weeks if the eggs are viable; they get funky pretty quickly if they go bad. We remain hopeful, but cautious.

**TsingTao** · 2020-08-21 09:26

New kitten in our home! My youngest has been begging for something tiny to snuggle, we finally found this little man at a somewhat nearby shelter. Meet....Mojo.

He alternates between snuggly sleepy mode and crazy turbo play mode. Sleepy is easier to photo, so here's a few of those.

**Salodin** · 2020-08-21 10:01

Oh man he's adorable. So tiny! Did they say how old?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**TsingTao** · 2020-08-21 10:14

Originally Posted by Salodin

Oh man he's adorable. So tiny! Did they say how old?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Six to seven weeks, at a guess. He came in as an abandoned kitten, so the vet wasn't positive.

For the girls in the house he's just sweet, for me it's always go time. When I call his name or he sees me he looks at me, does the 'arch my back and hop around' thing, and prepares for combat. It's just too cute.

**Salodin** · 2020-08-21 10:17

Oh god my heart can't handle those little things at that age, just too dawwwww

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**Melena** · 2020-08-21 10:54

He's adorable. Should post him on /r/illegallysmolcats

**mallister** · 2020-08-21 11:49

That is a cool little dude.

**Astylla** · 2020-09-22 01:22

RIP Corona

You lived a good life of 13 years but fuck this hurts like hell...

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**Corrderio** · 2021-01-12 09:08

For those of you who got cats this may seem like a strange question but how chill are they? I've been debating on adopting but since I have a lot of IT equipment I'm worried they may try to bite through wires/etc.

**Gredival** · 2021-01-12 09:19

Originally Posted by Corrderio

For those of you who got cats this may seem like a strange question but how chill are they? I've been debating on adopting but since I have a lot of IT equipment I'm worried they may try to bite through wires/etc.

It really depends on the cat's personality. Chewing through wires isn't really a big concern like say with rabbits; I'd be more concerned if you get a cat that likes to jump on everything and knock things over.

All kittens tend to be super playful then you don't know what you get after. You may want to adopt an older cat so that you have a better idea what you're going to get. While the shelter isn't the best place for all cats to come out of their shell, the shelter people can usually tell you if a cat is really affectionate, needy, bossy, etc.

**Qalbert** · 2021-01-12 09:26

You can always hit them with a water bottle.

**Corrderio** · 2021-01-12 09:34

I was actually looking through a rescue program. But that's good to know.

Though yeah countertops will be iffy

**Salodin** · 2021-01-12 11:56

What happened to those monitors that were being bred?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

**Gredival** · 2021-01-12 15:21

Originally Posted by Corrderio

I was actually looking through a rescue program. But that's good to know.

Though yeah countertops will be iffy

The way to discourage jumping on countertops is to put things like baking pans on edges so when they jump up it causes something to fall and make a sound which will scare them and make them associate the counter with scary noises.

**mallister** · 2021-01-12 21:14

Originally Posted by Salodin

What happened to those monitors that were being bred?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

well, the batch of eggs in that picture didn't make it but that's not a super surprise. i was never sure how long they were in the inadequately heated substrate before i got them out and i didn't figure they were going to do well.

but, we have a compatible pair, so we let the female recover and put some weight back on and in a couple of months she started showing signs of vitellogenisis again, so we introduced them back together. they started knocking boots pretty much immediately. about a month later, on Dec 6, i got 9 perfect eggs and got them the morning after laying this time. i have lost 7 so far, but the last two look really good and are holding steady. there's a lot to learn with the species still and i have tons to learn personally about incubating monitor eggs in general, but so far, so good. even one making it to term will be an accomplishment at this point.

we will introduce them again soon. the female is voracious and is pounding anything that looks remotely like food. i wanted to give her a break first, because she'll double or triple clutch if i don't control food carefully and that's not great for her long term health.