#nyc snakes

[futurebird]

It's spring time in New York City!

It's spring time in New York City! Yesterday it felt as if the whole city had come alive. Tulips and daffodils bloom, the moss on the old stone wall caught droplets of morning due. On my way to the bus stop in the South Bronx I encountered a DeKay's brown snake on the sidewalk near the park, the cute little snake was sunning itself after a long winter underground.

Gently, I picked her up (I had a look at the tail and I think it is a female) and moved her to a nice warm rock away from foot traffic. This is the first snake I've ever seen in NYC and it's my favorite species!

I’ve wanted to have a Dekay’s brown snake a a pet forever— I think a terrarium with Storeria dekayi and carpenter ants would be amazing— but if she now lives in the park I can go see her there.  Even better. She eat snails, slugs and worms and lord knows we have those over by that wall. I suspect there is one of NYC’s many secret buried streams and brooks under the wall in the park. It’s so moist all of the time.   Some of the local teens on their way to school and stopped to admire the snake. They were a little scared at first "oh no she's got a snake!" but I was able to tell them a little about the snake and how they are harmless and a sign that our little local park is doing well ecologically. 

Later this same day I was walking down Park Ave. down on the upper east when out of the corner of my eye I spied an ant queen. I can always tell ant queens by the way they walk... or rather waddle. Looks like Prenolepis imparis, or the American winter ant. She was hustling along the side walk as if on her way to the Chanel store. Now she’s in one of my luxury ant condos— (but don’t tell her I’ve moved her out to the Bronx.)     

I fed her a drop of sugar water which she accepted, now she is in my ant drawer snug in her test tube. I will post updates about this queen, and if she makes it. Over on Mastodon I asked for help naming her and we decided to call her "Ethel." I've never kept this species before, so I'm reading about their needs.

Ethel is cute & round, settling in to her "Luxery ant condo" (It's a test tube.) She enjoyed a little sugar water, now she's in the darkness of the ant drawer. She looks very well-fed, so I think there is a good chance she will lay lots of eggs.

In four or five days I'll check on her again. Sometimes new queens just die. So, many don't like to name a queen until she has her first workers. But I'm cheering for this little urban ant.

[restingcorpse]

[nobrashfestivity]

Unknown, Graffiti Lower East Side Manhattan, 1991 Photographer: Barbara J. Anello

[11oh1]

[whereserpentswalk]

Saw this guy at pride yesterday! What a wonderful creature.

[disease]

"LISA LYON" | NYC, 1982 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE [gelatin silver print | 15 1/5 × 15 1/5"]

[jmdbjk]

Bangtan weekly report

Jungkook:

The surprise mini-concert in Times Square made up for what the Today Show lacked and also birthed "Times Square Jungkook" in tight black pants. The circle is circling back around (thank god). Watch it here.

This is just a narrow view of the hordes of people who showed up:

Bless his heart, he had no idea he would become a meme just by being happy. The pure joy... I love it:

And Kookie at Barnes & Noble amazed they had BTS debut album. Looks like they had every album in stock. Watch the IG reel here.

And his excellent interview with Zane Lowe that took place on the 19th floor of the HYBE building that BTS and BigHit built. Watch it here.

Jimin and Taehyung aka Vmin:

Nothing says the holidays like an egg and a tangerine especially at 2 a.m. in the middle of the night... "just because."

RM:

...asks THE most important fashun question in the history of fashun... snake socks, is it a fashun Do or Don't?

I'd say mostly a big fat don't at $850 a pair.

(This is more eccentric than Kookie's toe socks.)

BTS:

Yet to Come Busan concert on Amazon Prime with new edits AND ENGLISH SUBS and including (FINALLY) HD close ups of Jimin singing his parts in Butterfly:

Those are our four who are still on the loose. I'm sure in about five minutes someone will drop something else. Never a dull moment around here lately.

[witchrealms]

(x)

[evilponds]

top reason i can never get married is that i cant keep track of a fucking ring. i wore two to this party and well who knows where they are now. i dont

[peopleinpassing]

dancing in your light, wherever it goes i follow

eve modeling for me

[derseprinceoftbd]

I went to the nature center in Inwood Hill Park today!

I saw turtles in both a dry terrarium and an aquarium (some of them were chilling *in* the water; do they just hold their breath?) and this big, blue crayfish, and I got to pet a corn snake! Her name is Pumpkin! I haven't pet a snake in like nine years!

And guess who I met!

I had a really fun time and it was really nostalgic too so I feel happy like a kid!

EEEEEEEE!!!!!

[futurebird]

The hidden brook

In the park near my home there is a great outcropping of rock. A cliff in miniture. It's about 20 foot high, and too perilous to climb. It's encrusted with lichen and trees emerge from the wider cracks.

This isn't so unusual in NYC. When a parcel of land remains "undeveloped" (by people) it's often because it's too uneven and rocky to permit construction. The bedrock that anchors skyscrapers is exposed to the elements and becomes a wonderful habitat for all manner of creatures.

These little rocky cliffs often have hidden streams. Many of the small rivers and streams of NYC have been covered by roads, sealed underground. A river, even a tiny one is a pernicious thing, water is powerful and wants to travel the path of least resistance. You can't just fill in a stream, you must seal it underground. This is what happened to the little river that ran along side the rocky cliff in the park.

The retaining wall sweats with moisture and moss because of the hidden water.

The water keeps the plant life lush and the snails and slugs abundant near this rock. So that's how it's able to be a home for little snakes. I've only noticed all of these things since meeting one of the residents of the rock pits a few days ago. I'm excited to observe this little ecosystem more in the coming months.

Tomorrow I think I will go out early so I can remove some of the trash from the slope. It's a really special place.

Do you have any little islands of diversity in your town?

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

Hey Megumi?

You always seem to get angry at Kisho a lot if he did something bad. Do you hate him or something?

@chunibyo-x-sorcerer

"Huh? Do I..woah woah, I don't hate him." He said glaring at the anon but he calms down to sigh, looking to the side.

"I mean, yes I tend to get angry with him for dumb things but..I don't hate him. I Just get worried about him. Like the others I care about him but I don't want to make it seem like I hate him." he grumbled to cross his arms.

"I feel bad for yelling at him but I know It sucked. I just....I tend to get angry from time to time...but not where I wanna make it worse but I think I have." he sighed. Now he felt bad for even doing that.

[missacensnakelover]

The Gangreen Gang in a hot tub in New York City enjoying super fancy milkshakes here!

Made by me! (x)

[grusik]

Swords and Hand, New York, NY Street art in New York, New York by Niko Lopresti (left) and Colleen Kornish (right). by Robby Virus

[daisys-buckley]

Is Rachel soft launching her Broadway debut rn??