skull and spider enthusiast//check out @voooorheestaurus sun moon & rising
201 posts
Latest Posts by leafyfern - Page 7
Little squeak
(Source)
look at my baby! Her name is khaleesi and she's a butter (aka lesser) pastel ball python, she's a big girl at 2 1/2 years old and 1536 grams! She's truly a sweetheart and she's my baby
Monty rested his little head in my hand and my heart almost exploded. 💚😭
Finished sticker design!! I ordered them and theyre set to arrive between .. next week and a day before one of my tabling events😅
Here is a list of ball python morphs with issues
Spider, Wobble Woma, Wobble Hidden Gene Woma, Wobble Champagne, Wobble Super Sable, Wobble Powerball, Wobble Sable x Spider, Difficult to hatch, severe wobble Champagne x Hidden Gene Woma, Severe wobble Champagne x Spider, Lethal Pearl, Normally Lethal Super Champagne, Lethal Super Spider, Lethal Desert(not to be confused with desert ghost), Female fertility issues Caramel Albino, Kinking and female sub-fertility Super Cinnamon/Super Black Pastel, Duckbill & rare kinking Super Lesser Platinum/Super Butter(not applied to super mojaves or lesser/mojaves), Bug eyes Lesser Platinum x Piedbald, Small Eyes Morphs that for some reason people confuse for morphs with issues, but DONT actually have issues. (I.E. the morphs listed below are often said to have issues by newer keepers because they are easily confused with problem morphs. They do not have any issues) Pinstripe (Gets confused with spider) Bamboo (Gets confused with woma/spider etc) Enchi (Gets confused with woma or spider) Lesser/mojave BEL (Gets confused with super lessers) Hypo (any strain) (Gets confused with caramel albino?) Super stripe (Not even sure what this one gets confused with honestly) G-stripe (Same with this, no idea)
Can i be completely honest?
I wasnt sure the display enclosures I built were the best choice. Even though i am pro enrichment and larger enclosures, i had my doubts that a ball python would use all that space.
The behavior im seeing is so awesome though. Like Khaleesi, who is 6-7 years old now, raised and bred entirely in a typical rack system for most of her life, is a very different snake. She would hide pretty much exclusively, even in my larger tubs. If you check the past posts- i believe i excitedly posted a photoset seeing her out for the first time ever a few months back. That alone was amazing to me. Now, my mind is blown. Youve seen the pictures, but im not sure you know how proud of her i am.
Look at that. Confidently chilling up top where the hotspot is about 95.
Part of me wasnt going to put her in a display. Not because ball pythons do poorly in large enclosures, but because i was certain she wouldnt use the space, whereas the animals i raised with enrichment would put it to better use. It sounds funny but i was scared i would find out animals treated like breeder would never take advantage of enrichment and thusly would not “need” it. That would make all of my efforts pointless.
Despite all that, I intuitively felt that she needed to be in the first completely finished display enclosure.
You can see, that was the right choice and she has expanded her behaviors.
I see her out and about, but shes also more confident. For example:
She started to periscope when the door was closed, and i was able to open the door and snap this picture without having her shirk away in fear or immediately seek a hiding spot to escape.
Watching her and the other females use their enclosures to perform different behaviors has encouraged me again.
And now, when i get responses like this:
I can smirk and laugh, because my animals are healthier.
Oh i also saw Asteria and Prometheus mating out in the open 🤷♀️
Be a friend to snakes
If you’re interested in getting one of these as a sticker, patch, or pin, reblog to let me know!! I can also draw your snake in; message me for details :)
Goblincore:
-dirt
-nature
-moss
-bugs, spiders, and worms
-collecting useless stuff
-being comfy and not letting anyone judge you
Dragoncore:
-gold
-gems
-crystals
-silver
-metals
-lizards
-being lazy
Crowcore:
-dark colors
-anything remotely shiny
-screaming
-active and hyper
-sharing your shinies with your friends
Cottagecore:
-warm and cozy
-calming colors
-cookies and baked goods
-tea and hot chocolate
-anything made of wood
-FROGS!!
-fall
Farmcore:
-hay bails
-farm animals
-fields
-vegetables
-sunsets
-wheat
-little cats and big dogs
-fall and summer
Dirtcore:
-moss
-anything in nature
-flowers
-grass
-dirt and mud
-amphibious animals
-trees
-cool looking sticks
-wormwormwormworm
Vulture culture:
-bones
-fur
-magic
-herbs
-spices
-october
Meadowcore:
-flowers
-pastel
-fields and meadows
-baby animals
-butterflies
-spring
Honeycore:
-baked goods
-yellow
-bees?
-farms
-sunrises and sunsets
-summer
-honey, duh!
Grandmacore:
-cozy chair/sofa
-baked goods and other sweets
-cottages
-earthy colors
-nice smells
-cats!!
Naturecore:
-plants
-wild animals
-rivers
-rainbows
-flowers
-bugs
Forestcore:
-moss
-mushrooms
-dirt
-trees
-mud
-sticks
-deer
-bears
-racoons
-beetles
-dead leaves
Earthcore:
-nature
-oceans
-skys
-mountains
-waterfalls
-rainforests
-any animal
-plants
-clouds
Witchcore:
-magic
-lizards
-owls
-cats
-bats
-books
-skulls
-herbs and spices
-dark forests
Bogcore:
-swamps
-bogs
-seaweed
-green water
-frogspawn
-frogs and toads
-lilly pads and lillies
-algie
Mosscore:
-moss
-algie
-mushrooms
-green
-dirt
-mud
-bark
Fairycore:
-pastel
-butterflies
-flowers
-magic
-soft animals
-pink
-sparkly stuff
-spring
Techcore:
-gears
-cogs
-wires
-motherboards
-circut boards
-binary code
-cords
Futurecore:
-buldings
-technology
-robots
-cool cars
-screens
-cameras
-black
-decorative lights
Feel free to add more!!!
The Cat has its Heart on the Outside
Available as a fanzine in Swedish with a translation note here.
Not only are these pea-sized treehoppers amazing to look at - they sound like tiny dinosaurs. Scientists have studied their calls by pressing phonograph needles to the leaf stems where the treehoppers are often found. They send chattering, moaning calls through the plant to attract mates and warn other treehoppers about predators. I listened to those noises here and they are INCREDIBLE.
The treehoppers shown here are all members of the true bug family Membracidae. Image credits:
Thorn Mimic Treehopper by Yogendra Joshi Treehopper by H. K. Tang Alchisme grossa courtesy of Robert Oelman Ant-mimicking treehopper (Cyphonia clavata) by Andreas Kay Oak Treehopper (Platycostis vittata) by Matthew Cicanese Oak treehoppers with nymph by Ken-ichi Ueda
gynandromorphism in spiders
a gynandromorph is an organism that exhibits male and female characteristics. bilateral asymmetry can occur wherein one “side” of the animal is female and the other is male, mosaicism can occur wherein the characteristics are distributed in patches. in spiders, this phenomenon can present itself through presence of both testes and overies and split colouration. cases can also occur where, although parts of the spider are clearly male or female, the divisions can be less definite; certain reproductive organs like the palps and epigyne may be very poorly developed or completely absent. these individuals are referred to as intersexes. gynandry and intersexuality can occur in the same individual.
pictured: lampropelma nigerrimum, pamphobeteus sp. mascara, poecilotheria ornata, thyene imperialis.
I brought a friend to biology today and like a good student, she began cleaning herself in the middle of lecture
Cockroaches are highly underrated animals. Madagascar hissers have complex social groups, fascinating communication, and studies suggest that they can even differentiate between individual humans (i.e. they don’t hiss defensively when picked up by someone that they know).
I love my three pet roachlings and would actually highly recommend Madagascar hissing cockroaches as a great low maintenance pet. They are easy to handle, fascinating to watch, and incredibly easy to care for. Plus they only live 2-5 years so they aren’t a hugely long term commitment.
Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, shares a sustainability pro-tip in honor of Earth Day. Instead of wasting leftover pasta water by pouring it down the sink, you can save it, let it cool and use it to water your plants. The starchy H2O will give them a beneficial nutrient boost and help them grow. Just be sure to avoid using cooking water that has been salted or seasoned.
pothos fam 🍃💚
💚 Tumblr!!! You’ve been so kind to me! 💚
I’ve got 10 days left to raise funds for
DRYP - an app that helps you keep plants alive & happy!
This is a little ad I made for the app
out of frustration with the marketing of plants as lifestyle products for rich people with all-white apartments.
YOU TOO CAN HAVE A LOVELY GREEN HOME, I PROMISE! 💚🌱 IT’S NOT JUST FOR GWYNETH PALTROW!
Here again are the basic functions of the app:
And here again are some of the rewards for backing it!
Please signal boost to help me make this app a reality! Thank you! 🌱🌱🌱
“Bettas live in puddles…”
“Well actually bettas live in dirty puddles so even though the water in my .25gal (.9L) is brown and smells like its rotting, its tottally okay to keep my betta in there!”
“All that room for one fish? Bettas live in puddles so no I don’t need that big of a tank”
“Bettas live in puddles their whole lives so its okay to permanently house them in the cup they’re sold in”
No. No. No. No. No.
Bettas live in rice paddy’s. Hundreds upon hundreds of acres of three feet deep water surrounded by roots and leaves and plenty of hunting grounds.
Domestic bettas are bred in large glass jars sometimes. It doesn’t mean you can keep them in the glass jar.
Sure, I can fit in the under the stairs closet and live my whole life there. Oh wait. I’d be miserable. I don’t understand people who take an animal who is completely reliant on you as its soul source of living, and just throw them in a cute little wine glass and ask me why tf their betta isn’t eating/swimming/ living, and then tell me I’m wrong when I say they need at least 5 gals and lots of hiding spots because “they live in puddles”
People ask me why I find myself hopelessly in love with biology and want to major in genetics. Here’s why:
I have this fish tank. A glass box of water I put sand and rocks in. But the point of a fish tank are the things that are alive. I have plants that reach outstretched hands to the light and grow to the barrier between the clear fluid they live in and the clear gas we breathe. In one single leaf so much chemistry takes place, photosynthesis makes ungraspable light into life supporting substance.
And in my fish tank I have a fish. A fish that can be found lifeless in cups in pet stores, but I’ve seen this fish thrive. I’ve seen him change color due to jumping genes. I’ve seen him play in the filter meaning he makes decisions. Something so small exists and lives and makes choices. It baffles me, truly. Such vibrant color that I can only compare to something man made and yet it was nature that did it first.
I see this little world that I have placed on my shelf. Cared for by me; dependent on me. It amazes me the human emotion I have for them, and how far humanity has gone that I can dose the tank and manage it on a delicate scale.
And sometimes I wonder, what if we exist on a glass box on someone’s shelf? One way glass we can’t look out, but if we could, everything would be different? What if we are all a fragment of someone’s novel or a C+ science project? Life is so so amazing, it’s baffling.
One of the best and most imaginative books ever written about science and science communication was “After Man: A Zoology of the Future” (1981), which guessed, based on what we know about the laws of evolution, what the future would look like millions of years from now when humans are extinct.
I would look at this one in the library, and just read it for hours. My favorite is the idea the humble rat would diversify into a thousand species, including huge predators, and that eventually, an island would be settled by flying bats, who then diversify into dozens of roles, including ground-walking echolocation predators.
We humans are awfully keen on pointing out how ridiculous other species’ means of obtaining food are given that our own native hunting strategy is to aggressively power-walk toward our prey until it falls over and dies.
