Meet the Animals: Painted Turtle

Meet Milkshake, our painted turtle! Milkshake is a newer addition to our family. We adopted him from the animal shelter a few months ago. He lives in a large aquarium with several goldfish whom he was a bit overly excited about at first. He quickly realized, however, that they were way too large to fit in his eager mouth. Milkshakes new philosophy on life is, "If you can't have them for dinner, make them your best friends!"

Painted turtles are indigenous to most of the United States. They live in freshwater ponds, rivers and lakes. They are very common, much like their cousins the red eared slider. Painted turtles get their name from the beautiful coloration on their skin. Milkshake has some awesomely gorgeous orange stripes interspaced between his equally handsome green and light yellow markings. His favorite hobbies are sun bathing (well, in his case, that would be basking under his uv light,) eating crickets, turtle pellets, and fresh veggies and, from time to time, chasing after his "best friends" just to make sure they still don't fit in his mouth. :)

Someday we will have an outdoor pond for Milkshake...really the most humane and best way to keep these types of turtles. Until then, we will make sure he is continues to be healthy and happy in his aquarium and can't wait to bring him along on our next Animal Outpost presentation!

Meet the Animals: Fire Bellied Toads!!

These cute little guys are easy to find at most pet stores. A handsome amphibian with brown to green skin and black spots, their most impressive feature, and where their name comes from, is their bright orange belly. You can see a peak of it in the picture below.

These fun little pets live in a terrarium with a few plants and a nice water bowl that they love to hang out in, especially after a meal of some fat, juicy crickets! Amphibians, in general, should not be held a whole lot due to the delicate nature of their skin and the secretions they produce to help keep it moist and healthy and these guys are no different. We handle them infrequently and only when necessary to clean out their cages or to help educate people at presentations.

Fire Bellied Toads are the most entertaining while hunting their favorite meal: bugs! The kids all get a big kick out of watching them hop after a cricket and gulp it down!

These guys have huge first pet potential! All that is really needed to keep them happy and healthy is a 10 gallon aquarium, some pesticide/fertilizer free soil, a few plants and a water dish! They need to eat a handful of crickets a week and they are happy campers!

Of course, the highlight of our toads lives are when they get to help us educate through entertainment at an Animal Outpost presentation! :)

Conner's Birthday Party!

We had lots of fun helping Conner and his friends celebrate his 8th birthday! We brought all the animals out to say "hello" and help teach the kids about what they eat, where they live and how their bodies work. Conner chose to hold Anna-Beth, our resident garter snake, for his special birthday picture with animal wrangler/educator Sebastian.

After the presentation, we invited any kids who were interested up to get a closer look at some of the animals. They even got to watch a few hunt and eat crickets!

Happy Birthday, Conner!! :) Sebastian, me and the animals all had a GREAT time! :)

Meet the animals: Rose Hair Tarantula!

This is Fluffy, our wonderful Rose Hair Tarantula! Her species hails from the deserts of south America, one of the most dry environments on earth. Some people think that tarantulas are dangerous, or aggressive. But Fluffy has never tried to bite or attack anyone, and over all she is the best pet spider anyone could want! Fluffy's main defense is to flick itchy hairs from her abdomen, which can cause swelling and infection. of course, fluffy has never done this to us, and she is a very nice spider. Right now, Fluffy is just a baby, but when she is fully grown she will be up to five inches across! Her hobbies include resting in her cave, digging, spinning webs, and hunting crickets, her favorite food. Her species gets it's name from the beautiful reddish colored hair all over her body. Rose hair Tarantula's are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day and hunt at night. Their reddish hair may help them blend in with the desert terrain at night. Rose hair Tarantula's in captivity may live up to twenty five years old, a lot longer than most spiders. In our opinion, Rose Hair Tarantula's are the best pet spiders you can own, because they are usually docile, are easy to take care of, and are very cool to watch.

Meet the Animals: Ball Python!!

This is Peanut, our wonderful Ball Python. He is a sweet little guy who is always curious! We bought him for m y birthday at a Petsmart after nearly a month of searching on craigslist. The ladies there we very helpful after he refused to eat for two weeks. He looks a little weird in these pictures because he was about to shed. Normally he is much nicer looking! He lives in a nice 50 gallon tall glass aquarium with plenty of room to climb and bask in! He eats frozen pinkie mice once every four days or so. Occasionally we have to force feed him because he is kind of a reluctant feeder, but were hoping he will get the hang of it soon enough. Other than that he is just the most wonderful pet snake anyone could hope for! He has never bitten or acted aggressively against anyone and he is super cute! He loves to hang around in my shirt and generally chill out. He adores being held and is very curious. Sometimes i get him out and put him in my bed. He loves exploring all the nooks and crannies in my bed and is very fun to watch and hold.

In our opinion Ball Pythons are the best snake to have as a pet, being extremely docile, loving to be held, and growing to a very small size, perfect for beginning snake owners! They are also relatively easy to find on craigslist, which is always better than buying one at the store.

Meet the Animals: Garter Snake!

Meet Anna-Beth, the feisty garter snake! If you've ever walked on a trail or path when the sun was bright and shiny, chances are you've seen a snake just like Anna-Beth laying out and catching some rays. Garter snakes are extremely common in our part of the world and seem especially fond of the intense Colorado sunshine. We almost always find one or two on just about every hike we take!

Anna-Beth is probably a full-grown garter snake...they don't get much bigger than this beautiful girl. Although she is very active and curious, she doesn't have an aggressive bone in her scaly body...unless you're a little feeder fish, then your days are numbered! Anna-Beth is fun to hold and loves to slither from one hand to the other. Kids enjoy watching her twitch her tongue as she explores her surroundings. Her favorite past-times include hiding under wood, hunting fish in her water bowl and just chill'n on a Friday night with her peeps. For a snake loving family like ours, Anna-Beth gets all the attention and adoration any garter snake could ever hope for.

Meet the Animals: Leopard Gecko!!

Meet Zappy, our resident Leopard Gecko! Zappy is one healthy, beautiful girl! We acquired the Zapster when her previous owners lost interest in her and needed to find her a new home. Leopard Geckos are neat looking, nocturnal insectivores that, given the right temperature gradient and moisture level for shedding, are pretty easy to keep pets that are plentiful in the pet trade...but please make an effort to find one in need of a new home (from www.craigslist.org or even your local humane society) first!

As you can see from Zappy's spiffy looking markings, Leopard Gecko's received their name from the leopard-like spots that cover their bodies. If you'll notice, too, that Zappy's tale is a bit chubbier than your average lizard. This is because she stores extra fat in her tale to make up for any times when food might be scarce. Zappy doesn't run into this problem at our house where crickets, meal worms and the occasional grasshopper are pretty plentiful in her enclosure so her tale stays pretty darn chubby year-round. We enjoy watching Zappy in her favorite past-time: cricket hunting! She's also pretty amusing to watch lick up water droplets with her cute, pink tongue!