A Sticky situation.

On a pouring wet afternoon last November, I drove home with a tiny parcel of baby Giant Spiny stick insects on my passenger seat. They were quite an unexpected addition and we fell in love with them instantly. Even as hatchlings they had a fantastic array of colours amongst them, especially the tiny lady pictured here.

Luckily we had some small glass tanks readily available to house the new babies, plus a soaking wet British afternoon makes the perfect time to go bramble hunting!

Of course, they've changed a little since then. Here's the same lady three months later and still growing.Suddenly our small glass tanks appeared to be shrinking. At present we have four large females and five medium sized males plus our resident matriarch, known endearingly as Granny Stick, who comes out to all our Animal Encounter events and is an incredible two years old!  A new tank was in order.

All the stick insects seem happy in their new extended home. Even Granny has given it her seal of approval by ovipositing continually these past few days.

 

This week's project is going to be slightly more involved - creating a suitable new home for our rescued baby Bosc monitor.

Frogs get Mods!

Let the creativity commence! This has to be the most exciting part of any venture. A blank slate with no holds barred! For several days we've been itching to build a new home for one of our lovely White's Tree Frogs, Clarabel.  Despite the name, this somewhat elusive creature is probably a male and has been bullied incessantly by the resident females (so only fair to make his case a priority).

We added Sphagnum moss for humidity and cork bark for climbing, though of course the Bromeliad also provides plenty of nooks and crannies for young Mr. Clarabel to investigate..see photo below! At a later date, more branches will be added to enrich the Viv. Nature provides a wealth of suitable material (provided they are properly sterilised and prepared for vivarium use).

The most important aspect must always be to create a functional environment where the frog will thrive and display natural behaviour.
We chose a fabulous vivid scarlet Bromeliad to provide hiding places and also to enhance the humidity. With such an array of amazing plants available to choose from, (and also being a closet botanist) restraint had to be exercised regarding the hardiness, usefulness and potential toxicity of any choices.

Having said all of that, I now sit typing this nocturnal journal to the backdrop of a small troupe of locusts, (Mr. Clarabel's evening meal), furtively devouring the verdant foliage...
How lucky we were today to get sunshine for these pics!

So now we have our basic environment, complete with correct ranges of temperature (with two thermostatically controlled heat pads; one behind and one beneath) and humidity (between 40-60%), sufficient hiding places, exploratory areas, vantage points for hunting, clean water for drinking and bathing and, of course, one happy frog.

The trouble is, one creative venture is never enough. It's contagious...there's always something left over, a  handful of moss, a vase somewhere, maybe a desperate houseplant? A little outbreak of 'terrarium fever'.

Tomorrow is the Spiny Stick Insect enclosure!

Small World Creations

Some of the Minibeasts are now getting too big for their enclosures!

We are in the process of getting three tanks made for us and so construction of the new habitats should begin on Thursday.

We'll be following the progress of the Stick Insect tanks, Tree frog vivarium and Royal Python vivarium on here.

Once again the summer is upon us . . .

Once again the heat has been nearly unbearable for both us and the animals. Trying to keep the snake room under 35 degrees C has been tricky for the last few weeks.

Luckily we have been very busy so most of the animals have spent most of the time during the extreme weather out and about and have been able to cool off in the evening in their baths.

Our new babies Mibble:

and Bobbi:

have settled in well and are now part of the Chris's Animal Encounter team.

Annie and Clarabel the White's Tree Frogs (named by a Thomas the Tank Engine enthusiast) are also ready to go when we start at Thurleigh Farm Centre on the 1st of August.

Annie:

It's been an incredibly busy year so far but we still have availability for the winter term so if interested please visit our website at www.tropicalencounters.co.uk and see how we can bring your topic alive for the winter.

Too Long . . .

It's been too long since we updated our blog. We've had a hectic year, but the blog has fallen behind.

So what is new for 2013.

We have Degus creating Mayhem and Chinchillas creating more Mayhem than the Degus ever conceived!

Our Mini-beast areas are going well - African Land Snails, Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, Leaf Insects, Stick Insects, Tarantulas, Millipedes, Scorpions.

Our worm farm is also doing fairly well.

A normal Animal Encounter can expect a visit from a selection of the Mini-Beasts and a mix of Leopard Geckos, Royal Pythons, Boa Constrictors, Blue Rats, Degus, Chinchillas and African Pygmy Hedgehogs.

New Arrivals

We have some new babies arrived for 2012.

Charlie the Chinchilla has taken up residence in the office. She loves a good run around the desks - though we don't seem to have 'chin-proofed' the room quite as well as we thought. Edith the rat really doesn't know what to make of this bouncing half squirrel/half rabbit!

Also arrived this month is a baby Boa Constrictor. It's feeding well, but needs a lot more growing and handling before it'll be ready for meeting the public.

We're now just waiting for an African Pygmy Hedgehog - who should be with us in February and hopefully some hand reared owls later in the summer.

January has been a fairly quiet month, which has allowed us to crack down to building the new enclosures. February is much busier - still room for some Birthday Parties at the weekend though!

Winter is on it's way!

The temperature has dropped so now busy insulating all the outdoor enclosures for the winter. The hawks are fine, but some of the outdoor reptile enclosures need constant heat and industrial amounts of bubble wrap! All of the vivariums also have their own personal thermostat and heat source, so noone should get chilly.

We are now on Facebook and I am uploading some pictures and videos onto there as often as I can.

Edith, the oldest rat, is starting to slow down quite considerably now. She is an old girl (well over 2) and has been putting on a bit too much weight recently. Even with her wheel and rope gym she tends to just flop in the wheel and wait for someone to come and play. She comes out every day for excersise and playtime and is investigating the printer as I type this!