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Crocodile

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Me, Jima, and Slate the bearded dragon's TV appearance from the other day!

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Comfy cozy

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ARTIE NO!!!!

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They named the bone after Mr. Beast.

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Petco halloween cat wings!

Unfortunately they did get kiboshed from TV- I thought they might be because TV cameras do not like metallic fabrics.

Are you in the Chicagoland area? Will you be up at 8:50 AM on Friday morning? Are you excited about the new How To Train Your Dragon Movie? Do you want to hear me lecture the entire Midwest about proper lizard care and how beardies aren't a fad pet? Do you want to see Nakajima live on television, possibly wearing dragon wings?

If you said yes to any of those, you should turn on Fox 32 Chicago/WFLD-TV at 8:50 AM on June 13. They're interviewing me bc of the new HTTYD movie and want me to come on talking about how lizards are complex animals that can make wonderful pets, but are not always wonderful pets, and how bearded dragons in particular need a lot more care than people give them credit for!

NGL, I'm pretty excited. This will be my third time on TV- I was on Jeopardy a couple years ago and when I was 10 my local Fox-7 interviewed me at a football game (I asked them to make the Wednesday night Star Trek: Voyager rerun come on before 11:00), and I've secretly always wanted to be That Guy who brings the live animal on the tv show.

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GOOD NEWS EVERYONE the local fox affiliate has a livestream! So if you want to see us and you're not in Chicago/you don't have a TV, you should be able to! I think Good Morning Chicago is part of the stream!

Also, this is a Fox Affiliate, not Fox News. I promise I'm not going on Hannity or anything- even if I wanted to (I do not), they wouldn't have me, because I accidentally trained Nakajima to attack clowns on sight.

Are you in the Chicagoland area? Will you be up at 8:50 AM on Friday morning? Are you excited about the new How To Train Your Dragon Movie? Do you want to hear me lecture the entire Midwest about proper lizard care and how beardies aren't a fad pet? Do you want to see Nakajima live on television, possibly wearing dragon wings?

If you said yes to any of those, you should turn on Fox 32 Chicago/WFLD-TV at 8:50 AM on June 13. They're interviewing me bc of the new HTTYD movie and want me to come on talking about how lizards are complex animals that can make wonderful pets, but are not always wonderful pets, and how bearded dragons in particular need a lot more care than people give them credit for!

NGL, I'm pretty excited. This will be my third time on TV- I was on Jeopardy a couple years ago and when I was 10 my local Fox-7 interviewed me at a football game (I asked them to make the Wednesday night Star Trek: Voyager rerun come on before 11:00), and I've secretly always wanted to be That Guy who brings the live animal on the tv show.

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In addition to Jima, the network also really wanted a beardie, so I'm borrowing one of the CHS rescues! This is Slate, and he will be with us tomorrow for the interview and the MSI event!

Are you in the Chicagoland area? Will you be up at 8:50 AM on Friday morning? Are you excited about the new How To Train Your Dragon Movie? Do you want to hear me lecture the entire Midwest about proper lizard care and how beardies aren't a fad pet? Do you want to see Nakajima live on television, possibly wearing dragon wings?

If you said yes to any of those, you should turn on Fox 32 Chicago/WFLD-TV at 8:50 AM on June 13. They're interviewing me bc of the new HTTYD movie and want me to come on talking about how lizards are complex animals that can make wonderful pets, but are not always wonderful pets, and how bearded dragons in particular need a lot more care than people give them credit for!

NGL, I'm pretty excited. This will be my third time on TV- I was on Jeopardy a couple years ago and when I was 10 my local Fox-7 interviewed me at a football game (I asked them to make the Wednesday night Star Trek: Voyager rerun come on before 11:00), and I've secretly always wanted to be That Guy who brings the live animal on the tv show.

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Are you in the Chicagoland area? Will you be up at 8:50 AM on Friday morning? Are you excited about the new How To Train Your Dragon Movie? Do you want to hear me lecture the entire Midwest about proper lizard care and how beardies aren't a fad pet? Do you want to see Nakajima live on television, possibly wearing dragon wings?

If you said yes to any of those, you should turn on Fox 32 Chicago/WFLD-TV at 8:50 AM on June 13. They're interviewing me bc of the new HTTYD movie and want me to come on talking about how lizards are complex animals that can make wonderful pets, but are not always wonderful pets, and how bearded dragons in particular need a lot more care than people give them credit for!

NGL, I'm pretty excited. This will be my third time on TV- I was on Jeopardy a couple years ago and when I was 10 my local Fox-7 interviewed me at a football game (I asked them to make the Wednesday night Star Trek: Voyager rerun come on before 11:00), and I've secretly always wanted to be That Guy who brings the live animal on the tv show.

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If you're in the Chicagoland area and you're looking for something fun to do this Friday, MSI's holding its Kickoff to Summer picnic again! It's a really fun all-ages event that will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first time I ever ran a CHS booth solo. Last year it was just me, Jima (at her second-ever major event), and a bunch of biofacts. This year, it's gonna be a bigger event with even more to see and do!

As for what we'll be doing? The CHS will be bringing live reptiles for you to meet. Want to hold a snake? Get lizard kisses? You can do that! There will also be live music and a bunch of other local orgs, including a raptor rescue, the Chicago Mushroom Club, the Chicago Public Libarary, and oodles of other cool stuff. If that sounds rad, join us on the Museum’s front lawn on June 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This outdoor event is free to the public, no ticket required!

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No one:

Still no one:

Me: What if leaf tailed gecko, but the leaf is carnivorous?

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Showing my tegu things she's never seen before

1. A calm corn snake (the ones she knows from herp society never stop wiggling)

2. A garter snake that's using its water dish appropriately (the one she's familiar with tends to use it as a toilet)

3. A tank too boring to look at directly (she did not care in the slightest about this turtle)

4. THE MOST INTERESTING TURTLE IN THE WORLD LEMME SEE LEMME SEE LEMME SEEEEEEEE

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Oh yeah, a sulcata is a one-tortoise wrecking crew. They're a hundred plus pounds of determination and strength, coupled with digging claws that just won't quit. They're the lovechild of a footstool and a bulldozer, powered by grass and without any understanding whatsoever of these things called "walls" and "boundaries."

And there's an important reason for this! Sulcatas are landscape architects on a grand scale. In their native habitat, they dig enormous burrows that are used by lots of species- it's not uncommon to see small mammals and even some big ones use them for shelter. Gopher tortoises' and desert tortoises' burrows are used similarly here in the US, but the difference is size. Sulcatas are the largest mainland tortoises- Galapagos and Aldabra tortoises, which are island tortoises, do get bigger- and they don't understand what drywall and wooden fences are for. They know how to dig and eat and dig some more. And then do some more digging.

If your interest in reptiles comes from the pet hobby, you probably know these guys as sulcata tortoises- but if your interest comes from the zoo world, you're more likely to know them as African spurred tortoises, or African spur thighed tortoises. Bud here is showing off why! See those spurs on his legs? It's theorized that those are to help defend against predators. When a tortoise like this tucks into its shell, the spurs stick out and present an uncomfortable area to bite.

What's interesting to me is that the spurs that they're named after are actually the ones on their hind legs, even though they're much smaller than the big spikes on their front legs, which you can see quite clearly on Bub below:

(Yes, their names are Bub and Bud. They're rescued taken in by a man named Bob, and they came with those names, believe it or not!)

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If your interest in reptiles comes from the pet hobby, you probably know these guys as sulcata tortoises- but if your interest comes from the zoo world, you're more likely to know them as African spurred tortoises, or African spur thighed tortoises. Bud here is showing off why! See those spurs on his legs? It's theorized that those are to help defend against predators. When a tortoise like this tucks into its shell, the spurs stick out and present an uncomfortable area to bite.

What's interesting to me is that the spurs that they're named after are actually the ones on their hind legs, even though they're much smaller than the big spikes on their front legs, which you can see quite clearly on Bub below:

(Yes, their names are Bub and Bud. They're rescued taken in by a man named Bob, and they came with those names, believe it or not!)

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The Jima stickers are in!

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We did a school event today that was amazing. I've never dealt with a better behaved group of kids- I didn't even have to tell the kindergarteners to not touch animal faces. Highlights included finding out that this school has an animal care and respect club, the sixth graders who wanted to talk to me about crochet, and the first graders who ripped up the romaine for the sulcata bc they were worried about him choking. It was our first time working with this school and I think it's the start of a beautiful friendship.

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Oh THATS why there was a band at Garibaldi park this afternoon, I was wondering. Forgot what day it was!

Today is the Day of the Republic (of Italy) and I am meeting my mom and her Italian husband for festivities, which will include bringing the Columbus statue out of storage.