MOTW - Jul 15 - Jul 21 2012 - JeffreH

[Heatheranne]

Great post Jeff! Lab work can be very interesting. I enjoyed microbiology. What is it you think you'd like to do for a career? Any plans? (Ugh! I'm afraid of heights too. Lol!).

[JeffreH]

Thank you everyone = ) this MOTW thing is pretty fun. I've gotta say, FrogForum has been one of the most pleasant forums I've ever been a member of. Everyone here is always so friendly and respectful to one another... its very refreshing!

@Blue - It was nice getting to know you as well in your MOTW thread = ) thank you!

@David - I have a few friends who hate dubstep with burning passion and refuse to call it music, but I enjoy it! There is so much great music out there for whatever mood you are in. If I'm feeling kind of rowdy there is always some good rage dubstep, rock, and metal to go with and if I'm feeling chill I've got Dave Matthews, some reggae, and Pretty Lights in my arsenal :3

@Heather - I'm actually pretty held up on what I'd like to do with my future. I'm finishing up my Bachelor's with a couple of classes this coming semester and have no idea what I'd like to pursue on the Graduate level. My original goal as an undergrad was med school, but it was more of an idea placed into my mind growing up and not really something I'm truly passionate about. I've considered getting my PhD and becoming a professor, or maybe I'll just get a Masters and permanently reside at the base where I can have a stable and secure job. Still a lot to think about... A couple of friends are also encouraging me to join the Peace Corps.

I shall tell you all about my herps and buggy friends in my next post when I have a bit more time today. Kittens need their medicine and I need to see my optometrist!

[Jenste]

Take care of those kitties and your eyes! We shall all wait in eager anticipation of your photos! (It's not like we can stalk on FB to see any )

[JeffreH]

I'll be sure to drag out some photos for tomorrow = ) Funny story about those kittens... last night I had a dream that I was in a helicopter...woke up shorlty after to find 4 kittens sleeping on my chest purring conspicuously. Clearly the sounds of the helicopter from my dream was the kittens! I'm really not even that much of a cat person but these little ones are just too much lol. They had pretty bad ear mites, fleas, worms and feline herpes but all are recovering nicely.

Anywho, to Tuesday!

As I alluded to earlier, I do not actually keep any amphibians. I came to FrogForum while researching about Milk Frogs and some Dart Frogs to aid some fellow hobbyists... while browsing I came across a couple of questions about feeder roaches in the feeder forum and the rest is history. I've enjoyed browsing random threads and learning some new information about phibs during my stay, but I'd say 90% of my posts are in the feeder forum, and the rest are likely in the 'other pets' and general discussions to update about reptile related laws in the states.

I've been keeping reptiles seriously as a hobby since about 2000; this is when I purchased my first crested gecko and shortly thereafter a leopard gecko. Always been a bit of a research junkie and began participating in several forums around this time as well. Over the course of the next few years I began adding more Rhacodactylus geckos to my collection and began breeding the R. ciliatus. I continued to breed geckos until just a few years ago and have since sold most of my stock and am down to only 4 geckos at this time. Breeding was an awesome experience, but I found myself lacking a real connection with individual animals to an extent... I had so many cages and lizards to tend to that I couldn't give much personal attention to each individual. I now keep all of my geckos in naturalistic vivaria and I'm finding the smaller scale is much less hectic and enjoyable (for me, at least). Herps are like potato chips ; )

In 2004 I adopted my bearded dragon, Charlie. He taught me a valuable lesson that I thankfully have not had too many problems with... the importance of setting money aside for vet bills. Charlie was mis-diagnosed by the vet when he was a few months old to have coccidea, and after treating him for several months with no improvement, I went in to another office for a second opinion. It turned out he had pinworms and needed a completely new treatment, probiotics, and a special diet. We battled illness for almost 4 months before he finally recovered, with vet bills pushing close to $400. I now save bits of money into an emergency vet fund in preparation for anything that may happen.

In 2006 I picked up my BCI "Hypo" Hog Island Boa, Drake. He was about 3yrs old when I purchased him and he has been an absolute sweetheart since day one. A couple of years later I became exposed to the world of ball pythons and my hobby interests shifted drastically from gecko morphs to python morphs. I purchased several double codominant morphs with intentions to breed, having a total of 12 snakes. My most prized snake in my collection now is the one in my avatar - my little Luna. She is a blue eyed leucistic ball python (BEL) that I received in a trade for a subadult female pewter. I don't plan on breeding my pythons anytime soon, as I'd like to get myself in a more stable environment. I also have no intentions of adding any new animals to my collection until that time, but if the right one comes along I may have to bite = ) The next snake I aim to add to my collection is a T- Albino Blood Python.

Finally, as some of you many know, I enjoy keeping my feeder insects. I've always loved creepy crawlies, and I began breeding a variety of species to keep my animals well fed. I started with mealworms, superworms, and crickets...and moved into breeding silkworms, hornworms, and waxworms. But my true insect passion has manifested itself in keeping Cockroaches! After obtaining my first feeder roaches, I began adding additional species to my collection....even those not meant to be used as feeders, lol. I have an entire rack system devoted to my roaches and feeder insects and I enjoy taking care of them. I'll add pictures of some of the soecies I keep tomorrow.

I think thats about enough for today, don't want to bore anyone = )