Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Christmas Past...Went To The Dogs.

BERLIN - NOVEMBER 27:  A woman dressed as ange...
(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Found a lost post from last Christmas to get you into...errr...out of the Christmas spirit.

They just don’t get it. They don’t understand the amount of work that goes into it for THEM.

Months spent planning and shopping. Weeks spent wrapping and baking. Hours spent obsessing over whether everything is perfect. A night spent sitting up until I’m sure that they are asleep…

And so far today I’ve heard a lot more complaints and whining than thank yous and Merry Christmases….

I’d rather have had the black sweatshirt.
This mount doesn’t have the right screws for this tv, are you sure it said it was for this brand?

I got two matching sweaters (well, it’s not really my fault that my mother and I have the same taste in little girl clothes).

How do you like the tv on the wall? What do I care it’s not mine.

And on and on and on….

Until I retreated to a corner to devil with my little niece, who’s almost three and too little to complain really, and ended up putting my hip out of place while playing airplane with her.

At least my dogs were happy, they loved the new balls, doggy supplements and chews that Santa left for them! My Jack and I have been playing fetch for hours, but he’ll only go after the green ball, he refuses to touch the purple and yellow ones (I thought dogs are color blind?), but his brothers don’t seem to care which color they have, they don’t really play fetch, they act like they’re above it and just run off with the balls, it must be a Pomeranian thing.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, bah humbug-less Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So what was the biggest complaint you heard this year?

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

How to Pick Up a Gecko

English: Leopard gecko example

Picking up your Leopard Gecko is a quite a step in the taming process. You have to be sure that your gecko is ready for this step before you attempt it. If your gecko isn't ready, this could be a very dangerous task. Up until this point, your gecko should have been going through the normal taming process. You've held your hand out and let your gecko climb onto it. You've maybe enticed the gecko to climb onto your hand with food or gentle nudges. But picking up your gecko is a huge step forward.

Before you attempt to pick up the gecko, you should start getting it used to your touch. For a week or two, try gently touching the gecko’s body on the back or sides. Never ever touch the tail. Remember, we don’t want the gecko to drop its tail if startled. The first week, the gecko will probably run away. Once the gecko stops running away, you’re ready to try picking the gecko up.

To pick up the gecko, use you index and middle fingers on one side, and your thumb on the other. Gently brush the gecko to let it know that you are about to touch it. If it doesn’t run, gently squeeze from the sides and pick it up. Don’t go too high. Remember that the gecko still might jump. If it squirms or tries to jump, let it go. Try again another day. If it’s ok, then pick it up and put it in your open hand.

It’s still best to let your gecko climb onto your hand, but this is helpful if you don’t have the time to wait around. It might be helpful if you’re trying to clean the habitat and the gecko isn’t interested in climbing out. Just remember to be careful. You don’t want the gecko to be afraid of you. That will simply set your taming progress back a few weeks.

It’s been nearly 3 months since Artemis came to her new home. I’d have to say that the taming process is pretty much complete now that she allows us to pick her up. Artemis recognizes when anyone comes to the habitat to talk to her. She’ll come out of her cave and climb up on top to greet you. This is presumably because she’s hungry and expects food… but the point is that she does not fear people anymore.
As for an update on her diet, she has been feeding mainly on mealworms lately. She gets crickets now and then as a bit of a change from her regular diet. She is still a very healthy eater with a gigantic appetite. She’s completely healthy and everything is going great!

I want to try to post some more information on a topic here that we haven’t really discussed yet: Breeding. Look for some updates coming soon with more information on breeding. We’re also going to try to remember to get some new photos of Artemis up on here for everyone to see. This should all be coming within the next week or two.