Remarkable
reptiles, amphibians and other Animals |
It has been quite awhile since the last update on our Remarkable Reptiles, Amphibians, and other Animals. We have both really exciting and very sad updates from the last year with our amazing animals. AllistarAllistar is still our little star of the room. Every person who comes into our room notices how beautiful and big she is. This year, she continued to be a loving bearded dragon who enjoys sitting on anyone’s lap while they are working or just hanging out. We believe that she is done growing now and she continues to be a pleasantly plump little animal. He favorite insect to eat right now is butter worms. Her choice of insects changes every couple of weeks it seems. We are still trying to get her to eat more vegetables and fruits, but we think she is a little bit too spoiled and enjoys all the insects that she is offered. Our goal for Allistar is to get her diet to be 80% vegetables and fruits and 20% insects within the next year. She recently laid her second clutch of eggs. Her first clutch had about 21 eggs in it and this time she laid 40 small eggs. She is doing well now and will continue to receive soaks throughout the week where she can drink plenty of water and also plenty of insects with calcium, vitamins, and minerals to replenish her system. She is 4 years old now and we can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. AESOPIt is with truly deep sadness that we share that our wonderful and sweet chameleon Aesop passed away on September 27, 2021. He was a very loved little chameleon that was always on the small side. Although we tried numerous times to help him be healthy, he was unfortunately never the healthiest of creatures. We became more aware of this when Apollo grew to be almost double Aesop’s size and ate more consistently. For months, we would spoon feed him a mixture of vegetables and insects with Pedialyte, calcium, vitamins, and minerals and we thought that he was finally breaking through the struggle. He was finally eating consistently by himself but on that day, he was not doing well anymore. We were able to hold him and make sure he knew that he was cared for as he passed away. We will always remember our first chameleon who would hang out on our shoulders and watch us as we worked. APOLLO
Apollo is a very strong and big chameleon. He continues to be a little bit feisty, but we still enjoy watching him as he explores his 5 ft. enclosure. He has a corner in the enclosure that is very obviously his favorite spot to hang out and sleep. He has also really figured out his water fountain and he can be found there several times throughout the day. Apollo has shed a few times throughout the year, but we think that he is finally done growing. Our focus now is to ensure that he has the vitamins and minerals that he needs as well as the food that will continue to help him stay healthy. Right now, his favorite insects to eat are hornworms. It is so interesting to see his eyes follow his target before his tongue darts out to get it. Apollo is now 3 ½ years old and we have enjoyed watching all the changes throughout his life so far. We are excited to see what Apollo will do in the future. ATLASAtlas has some new and improved enclosure updates. Atlas now has a larger water area to swim in with a filter that does not seem to bother him or her. We still are not sure if Atlas is a boy or girl. There is space for Atlas to burrow into substrate and a hide that Atlas likes to spend most of its time in. the Atlas enjoys eating waxworms and mini mealworms most of the time. We never really get to see Atlas eat. However, we do know that Atlas is a healthy frog that has plenty of energy to swim and jump around on land. It is crazy to think that Atlas will be 4 years old in a little bit over a month. It has been great to watch as Atlas grew from a tadpole into a big healthy frog. NEW ADDITIONSWe added 2 new animals to our 21 CCLC animal family. These new additions are funny little creatures, that have both a cuddly side and a pokey side. These new additions are hedgehogs, and it has been so fun to watch them both as they grow and become even more lovable. AZALEAWe brought Azalea home on May 13, 2021. She is a Salt and Pepper African Pygmy hedgehog. This is the most common type of hedgehog that is seen as a pet. Azalea came to use as a 9-week-old baby and has grown so much in the last year. She is very active and loves to spend time in her ball or on the wheel. She eats a combination of fruits, vegetables, eggs, cat food, hedgehog food, and insects. Her favorite treat is waxworms. She takes some time to warm up to people, but once she is comfortable, she likes to run around and explore. AZARIOAzario is our latest addition to the 21 CCLC animal family. We think he is a brown pinto African Pygmy hedgehog. He has lighter colors than Azalea with a few beautiful patches of white quills. He joined us on September 22, 2021. He was already 6 months old at the time, but we wanted to provide him with a fun and caring home. He enjoys the same diet as Azalea. He eats fruits, vegetables, eggs, cat food, hedgehog food, and insects. His favorite treat to eat is wet cat food. He loves the chicken flavor. Azario likes to run on his wheel all night long and only takes breaks to eat some more food and drink some water. He is pretty quiet during the day. He is a little bit more shy than Azalea but continues to get better every day. We are excited to see how friendly both Azalea and Azario become.
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Chicks & DucksThroughout the summer of 2021, we were able to experience the process of hatching chicks and ducks. The students in the book study were able to watch as we prepared the incubators, candled the eggs to see the developing chicks and ducks and were even able to observe some of the eggs hatch. The students were able to see how incredibly fast these animals grow in their first weeks as well. At the end of the summer, we sent our wonderful little chicks and ducks to live at homes where they would have plenty of room to roam and explore. Developing
ApolloApollo has been doing well. He is shedding right now so his appetite has gone down. I cleaned and rearranged his cage and he seems to like the new set up a lot. He sleeps right underneath the net and then spends his day laying on the vine that goes through the middle of the cage. He hasn’t been digging as much lately so I take that as a sign that he is more comfortable in his cage. I think that his favorite thing to eat is definitely superworms but he does enjoy a cricket every now and then. AesopAesop has decided that he no longer likes live bugs. I think he is just really spoiled. 😊 If a bug moves in his mouth, he spits it out right away. I have been hand feeding him for a long time now and he seems to really like it. He will occasionally eat the insects that I put in his feeding cup but I think he really likes to wait for me to feed him. I ordered him a water fountain for his enclosure too so I am excited to put that in with him. I have not deep cleaned his enclosure yet but plan to do that really soon. It just takes A LOT of time and I haven’t found time to do it yet. He is doing really well and has definitely gained all the weight he lost back. AllistarJune has been an insane month for our girl Allistar. She has been eating really good and really enjoys her greens. It seems like she prefers collard greens over anything else (including insects). My family and I had quite the surprise on Friday, June 26th. Allistar had been digging in her cage a little more then usual and so I Mrs. A felt her stomach to make sure there were not any eggs. Neither of us could feel anything but to our surprise about an hour later around 10 pm I looked in her cage and she was laying her very first clutch of eggs. We were really lucky that she wasn’t picky about where she laid them because I didn’t have a lay box ready for her. She laid her eggs in the corner and then covered them with the paper towels in the cage. Quite a few broke because of this but that is ok because they were all infertile. We now have a lay box ready to go just in case she lays another clutch. She has been getting spoiled with all the food and treats she wants since then. She is doing great and now we are a 100% sure she is a girl! 😊 Atlas
Here is a slideshow of the animals throughout this year. 😊It has been a year of learning with these little creatures! They have grown and changed so much over the last year. We have built new enclosures, figured out the best diets, researched what plants are best for them and so much more. It has been such a fun journey with these animals so far and I can’t wait to keep learning as they continue to grow.
We brought Allistar and Aesop home on May 31, 2019. My family stayed up until midnight putting together their enclosures. When we were putting them together, I remember thinking these cages are way too big! That was not the case because in a few short months, I was thinking the opposite! These lizards that started out so small grew and grew and grew. I would say the lizards at least doubled in size. We also received Atlas a couple days after bringing Allistar and Aesop home. I didn’t know what to expect with a tadpole but we followed the directions and began watching! After the lizards and tadpole being at our house for a couple weeks, we moved them to the Art room for Summer Rec. So many kids were able to watch them grow throughout the summer! It was hard work because I had to go to the school every single day of the summer (even the weekends) to make sure their lighting was right and to feed them. Chameleons and Bearded Dragons eat A LOT when they are little. When the summer was over, the lizards and tadpole (yes, Atlas was still a tadpole after 3 months) moved into the Empowering Teens Room. Aesop needed a bigger cage and Allistar was fitting perfectly in her cage. Then you guys met them and were so excited! I think I had at least one person ask to hold the lizards every day. In October, I went to Petco and saw this amazing looking chameleon and fell in love! I called Mrs. A and said we need this lizard! She said that it was up to me but it might be too much work. I decided to leave the store without him and tried not to think about him. A few weeks later on October 20th, we went back to Petco and I saw that this little Chameleon was still there and he was getting pretty big compared to all the other ones. I looked at Mrs. A and said “We have too.” He was even half as much as a Piebald Veiled Chameleon usually was. We brought him home that day and set him up in Aesop’s old cage. Atlas finally became a frog in December. All the animals came home with me during Christmas break. They enjoyed their time getting spoiled at my house. Then when we came back, you guys began planning Aesop and Apollo’s new enclosures. You did such a great job researching and building their enclosures. They have so much room and so many places to hide. They love their new enclosures so much. I brought them home again when we stopped going to school for the year. They continue to grow and change. We learned that Allistar is a girl and she continues to eat whatever she is given (especially collard greens). Aesop is getting healthier and healthier as he continues to eat his baby food and insects. Aesop is huge and is eating well and Atlas is probably not even the type of frog that we told he was but is thriving. Every new adventure is interesting and having these animals has definitely been an adventure. We will continue to learn how to improve their lives as they continue to grow and change. This is the last animal blog for the school year. I will post animal updates once a month throughout the summer if you want to see how they are doing! Have a great summer! This week has been interesting! 😊 We found out a lot of information about our animals this week. We found out what Apollo really enjoys. We found out what Aesop doesn't. We found out that we may have been wrong about what type of frog Atlas is. Also, we finally figured out if Allistar is a girl or a boy. This whole experience of having our chameleons, bearded dragon and frog has been a learning process but we wouldn’t change it for the world!ALLISTARAllistar is a GIRL! We are 98% sure that Allistar is a girl which means we will have to be very watchful when it comes to her behavior. I have done a lot of research this week on how you can tell if a bearded dragon needs to lay eggs… We will have to watch to see if she is digging around her enclosure a lot, gaining weight, losing her appetite, and I will have to feel her belly to see if she has eggs. When she does need to lay eggs, we will have to configure a lay box. I will still have to do some research to figure out the best way to do this. Other than finding out her gender, it has been a pretty normal week for Allistar. She is eating well and enjoying all the attention she gets from my family. ATLASWe also have learned some interesting information about Atlas. When we ordered the tadpole kit, the seller said that it would be a Northern Leopard Frog. As Atlas has developed, I have been confused as he has not developed the spots that Northern Leopard Frogs have. I did some research and I believe we actually received a Northern Green Frog. Of course, I am not 100% sure and probably never will be. I included a picture of both the Northern Leopard Frog and the Northern Green Frog to see what you guys think. 😊 Atlas is still eating well and enjoying swimming in his pond. He has started to burrow a little bit more which I believe is because it has gotten a little colder. I am excited to upgrade his enclosure, so he has more room to swim and burrow. 😊 APOLLOApollo has had a good week. He has been eating the baby food and is seeming to be more interested in his worms again. He loves to go from the top to the bottom of his cage several times throughout the day. He digs quite a bit and loves to watch our dogs. Our pug is really interested in him as well and they stare at each other a lot through the cage. The best thing for Apollo this week was definitely the time he spent in the shower. He seems to really love the water. I wanted him to be comfortable so I put a plant in the shower that he could hold on to and it worked really well. It was fun watching him relax and enjoy the water. He continues to be very interesting to watch and learn from. AESOPAesop is doing well. He DOES NOT like showers. He seems really stressed when he is in the shower, so I probably won’t put him in the shower as much as Apollo. I will probably only put him in the shower once a month just to let him get hydrated. He has been eating the baby food really well. I mix the insects in with the baby food so they are getting all the nutrients in the baby food as well as the protein from the insects. They seem to be doing really well and Aesop’s colors just keep getting better. He has been using his cage more. He will crawl on the ground sometimes and then climb to the top throughout the day. It is fun to watch how much he has been moving. I am excited to see how much they change throughout the years. It has been a difficult journey so far learning about these animals but so worth it. They continue to do things every day that make me laugh, worry, and learn. I can’t wait for you guys to be able to see and hold them again!
Our animals are still doing great! Last week was a cleaning week for them. I changed the water for the chameleon cages and made sure the bottom of each cage was clean. I still have to take out all the vines, leaves, etc. and disinfect those too. I will have to do that this week. I also cleaned Allistar’s cage which took a while but needed to be done.
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Apollo watching my every move. :) | Apollo |
Apollo trying to go to sleep.
Atlas
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