Zoo Mom Science

2009-04-16T10:34:00.002-05:00

What is HR 669?
H.R. 669 stands for House Resolution 669 and is titled "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act". It is a bill currently before Congress that if passed will change the way that the US Government classifies animal species that are not native to the United States. H.R. 669 will make it illegal to breed and sell many animals that are very common in the pet trade.

Why should you care about HR 669?
Anyone with pet fish, birds, reptiles, or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Any company selling product or services for pet fish, birds, reptiles or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Would you be impacted by "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act"?

Virtually all fish in an aquarium are not native to the United States
Most pet birds are species not native to the US
Most reptiles kept as pets are not native to the US
Hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs and ferrets are not native to the US

What can you do to stop HR 669?
Pet owners support the concept of a risk based approach to non-native imports, unfortunately H.R. 669 as drafted does not provide a constructive way forward.

You can help by standing up and making your voice heard. Let your Representative know that you oppose H.R. 669 as drafted and the financial and/or emotional effect it will have on you, or your friends, or your family members if it passes. The link below will allow you to send an email to your Representative in Congress and even give you the option to follow up with a phone call.

Click Here To Say NO To H.R. 669!

The season of spring, weather seems to sing!

2009-03-22T15:17:00.004-05:00

Well, the weather is singing for our reptiles. With the temperatures hitting mid-80's, many are enjoying a bit of natural sunshine. Although we use artificial UV producing light bulbs in our lizard enclosures, nothing compares to the real thing. So they get treated to an hour or two of natural sunlight whenever possible. Vitamin D3 is essential for proper calcium metabolism in reptiles, just as in people. Improper lighting or a deficient diet can lead to calcium deficiency and Metabolic Bone Disease. An independent group ran various tests on a multitude of lights and posted the results here: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ An excellent resource for reptile enthusiasts!

Don't forget about your own Vitamin D needs! For fear of skin cancer or busy lifestyles, people are avoiding the sun and using sunscreen when they do venture outdoors. Doctors are finding folks deficient in Vitamin D and recommend 1,000 IU taken daily as a supplement.

Here she is...Miss America!

2008-04-22T09:41:00.002-05:00

Well, not exactly, but she did have a run down the catwalk. This is Blizzard, our 4yo female Argentine Tegu sporting the fun T-shirt she wore when she won 2nd place in the costume contest at the Orlando Science Center's 2008 Pet Fair. Eat your heart out, Lassie!

Here's Looking at You, Baby!

2008-04-22T09:31:00.002-05:00

Jackie is looking better and progressing nicely! Our little iggy has finished his antibiotics, eats like a horse, enjoys the sunshine, and is behind my computer chair in his cage, looking from his empty food bowl up to me. (OK, buddy, just a minute, Geez!) You can see in the pic that his skin infection has cleared up nicely. He's been shedding almost continuously since I've had him, but I'm sure that is from increased growth as well as part of the healing process. Stats: He's up to 65-70 g from 45 g.

I genuinely hope that this info can help another ig owner one day, as it was difficult for me to find info and pics of this sort of thing when I started with him.

I'm on the Road Again...

2008-03-11T07:52:00.003-05:00

The Road to Recovery, that is! Jackie went to the vet and we have a plan of action. It appears that there is a infection going on, either bacterial, fungal, or both. For that, we were prescribed a topical cream that covers both. He also has antibiotic injections to be given at home. The black areas are likely to be thermal burns and are probably permanently scarred black. Being so weak, he may have a calcium imbalance, so he has a potent oral calcium supplement to help him on his way, along with fluids given in the office, and baby food offered by eyedropper at home. I was certain his tail had dry gangrene at the tip, but our wonderful exotics vet, Dr. Orlando Diaz, found that it is flexible and may be viable. We'll keep an eye on that tail tip! He's not out of the woods, but seems to feel better already. Don't you think he looks better, too?

His treatment plan:
Fortaz injections every three days x 5 doses
Lukewarm diluted Betadine soaks 15-20min twice daily
SSD ointment applied twice daily after mild cleaning
Calcium glubionate twice daily
Maintain hydration through soaking and feeding baby food
Provide proper temps, natural sunlight, good husbandry

Meet Jackie...

2008-03-11T07:26:00.004-05:00

Well, Captain Jack Sparrow...or maybe Jackie O. We're not exactly sure until he gets a bit older. Jackie is a hatchling iguana, a few months old, that was given to us by an owner who was concerned about his worsening skin condition. He was dehydrated-probably from not eating, having too low humidity, and losing moisture from his damaged skin. He is 40g instead of the usual 90-100g for his length-having a systemic infection brings the appetite down. Our plan is to rehabilitate Jack and include him in our presentations at parties and school shows, but probably not until the fall after he has recovered.

These pictures show a before and after effect. Taken the first day I had him (last Saturday), the first two are before bathing, and the last one is after soaking in a warm diluted Betadine bath. Yes, he's tired, stressed, and biting that dish towel! When I searched the Internet for info about dermatitis or other skin disorders in Green Iguanas, there was very little info and no pictures. As we are an education based organization, my hope is that this journal can assist someone else in their iguana journey.

We Won! We Won!

2007-09-12T07:54:00.000-05:00

What did we win? Well, it probably isn't exactly everyone's idea of lottery, but we won a baby Argentine Tegu. They are wonderfully delightful creatures that we use in our educational presentations. He's only 8 inches long and bright green, but soon he'll be 3-4ft and weigh over 6 pounds! We entered an essay contest sponsored by a tegu breeder. The topic was proper care of tegus and the winner would receive a new hatchling for the price of shipping. That was a savings of close to $200 for us. If you would like to read our essay and learn more about tegus, here is the link:
http://www.zoomomscience.com/teguarticle.htm

Our photos show our new hatchling, Kreacher, at three weeks of age, and Blizzard, a 4yo tegu.

Our cup runneth over!

2007-08-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Returning from the Keys (our home away from home), we knew we would have some baby reptiles hatching soon. Sure enough, when I peeked into the incubator, there were 6 baby bearded dragons crawling around and 3 or 4 baby corn snakes coiled around the eggs. Snakes are funny little hatchlings. They slit the egg with their egg tooth, poke their head out, then dart back inside for a day or two until they are quite sure it is safe to come out. Within three days, however, we had 11 new little serpents slithering in little homes of their own (and 19 little dragons). Unfortunately, one did not live beyond the three day mark, but sometimes that happens with animals that have many young. The others are quite healthy, and the coloration is a bright as we expected it would be!

New Projectsssss

2007-08-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Sssimply ssspectacular, our newest breeding project involves corn snakes. The male (left) is a Sunglow from the stock of famous breeder Kathy Love (Cornutopia) and the female (right) is a high red albino similar to the Sunglow in that she has very little white markings.

Congratulations!! It's a...lizard

2007-05-10T07:08:00.000-05:00

Hatching day is here and we're checking the incubator a couple of times each day for new little heads popping out of eggs. The first baby bearded dragon is already out and in a new cage, but three of his friends are still deciding on the best plan of action. Here's a morning shot of the sleeping beauties as well as one shot of the early bird!

Because they are nourished so well by their yolk sac, they may not eat for a couple of days. Then they'll be offered plenty of leafy vegetables, flower petals, and small crickets appropriately named "pinheads". We'll keep them for approximately 4 weeks before finding them happy new homes.

Eggciting News!

2007-04-24T06:19:00.000-05:00

Boo's eggs are incubating nicely at 84 degrees. Interestingly, some had a different appearance this year and were not as white as they usually were. Some seemed to have thin shells, so her diet is being supplemented with a little more calcium than normal and she's getting a little extra sunlight to help her metabolize that calcium. The babies stay inside their protective shells for about 70 days, and are due to hatch May 5th. There is not much for the humans to do at this point except to monitor temperature and humidity levels inside the incubator. Vermiculite is the soft gray bedding for the eggs; useful because it holds water yet allows air to circulate around the eggs. If the eggs start to collapse, it's a sign of water loss. If they swell too much, we leave the lid off of the container for some water to evaporate. As hatching day draws near, the eggs will dimple and collapse a few days before the lizards hatch out. Stay tuned!

Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

2007-04-18T06:24:00.000-05:00

Aren't they beautiful?! Here is our first pair to have a clutch of eggs this year. Mom is in the grass and her name is Boo. Mr. B.D. is on a table posing like a pro. They have been breeding successfully for us for a few years now. Here are some facts about Beardie eggs:

*We must provide the perfect soil for her to lay her eggs. She prefers a 50/50 mix of organic potting soil and the black sandy loam we have here in Central Florida. It must be wet enough to stick together when she tunnels underneath. We fill a 10 gallon aquarium with about 6 inches of the soil and she faithfully digs a tunnel-like hole to safely lay her eggs. She must not be disturbed or she will stop digging. But like a sea turtle, once she begins to lay, she is committed.
*We watch her carefully and remove the eggs before she covers them. She's not very gentle during this process and has smashed some eggs with her pointy nose as she packs the dirt in tight. She usually never notices they are gone and will automatically fill her empty hole!!
*We incubate the eggs at 80-84 degrees in a Styrofoam incubator for approximately 70 days. We are conservative and incubate at lower temperatures, so sometimes our eggs take longer to hatch than the recommended guidelines.

Spring Is In the Air!!

2007-04-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

Spring at the Zoo is a noticeable event because a few of the animals become...shall we say...amorous? The Bearded Dragons put on their best black beards, head-bobbing with increased intensity, and the corn snakes grow restless, slithering in their cages continuously. The children who attend our reptile encounters are fascinated with the process of incubation and hatching, always asking questions and wishing we could bring the eggs along for viewing. Since eggs do not travel well, we did the next best thing and decided to bring them to you in the virtual world. This season we will photojournal the experience and update our blog periodically.

2006-12-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic trip to the Florida Keys after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the outdrive on our boat conked out and we were unable to visit the reefs and go snorkeling. We discovered that winter water in the Keys was too cold for us Florida natives anyway and no one swam in the water (except for the heated hotel pool). No matter, we still had a wonderful day at John Pennekamp State Park. Here are some memorable photos. The ones of the girls in the trees are beautiful, but the ibis and sandpipers were just too fun to pass up! Merry Christmas!

Croc Hunter Jr.

2006-10-29T08:57:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist posting this photo of my budding herpetologist. We borrowed a baby alligator for the Winter Park Fall Festival and this was a Kodak moment! The event went well....hundreds of people came by our tent. The snakes were the biggest hit and they did exceptionally well considering they were handled almost continuously for about three hours. Boo is our PR expert and she did her best to pose for pictures and delight the crowd. Sunshine is her friend! Dispelling myths and correcting misinformation is my favorite part, and we were happy to gently inform well-intentioned visitors that pythons are not venomous, the little lizards that live in our yards are not really chameleons, and reptiles do not secrete samonella through their skin. It was so much fun to see the smiles on children's faces as they petted and held the animals. Some of them were unueasy at first, but before long, they cozied up to their scaly buddy. Our guests were not the only ones to have a good time--daughters helped to man the tent and answer questions, and still find time to visit the pumpkin patch and art center.

Crickey....we'll miss you, Steve!

2006-09-07T18:42:00.000-05:00

It is with heavy heart that our family says "Farewell" to the Crocodile Hunter. Steve Irwin stirred something within us when we first saw his television show 5 or 6 years ago. He had such a passionate way of sharing God's creatures that made children (and adults) everywhere feel as enthusiastic as he did about saving their habitats. I appreciated his humor and tenderness that flowed through the TV screen. My daughter (who was in 2nd grade at the time) knew in an instant that she wanted to do the very same thing when she grew up. Well....here we are surrounded by a zoo of reptiles, amphibians, insects, and arachnids with a mission to excite children about the world around them. Using Steve as a classic example, I reminded my girls to follow in his footsteps; find something that you love doing and follow your dreams...By Crickey!

Aww, little babies are so darn cute!!

2006-08-11T07:09:00.000-05:00

When the first little nose peeks out of the shell, the excitement in our home is contagious...

Our only batch of bearded dragons for the year started hatching on August 11. We really didn't expect any babies this year as our dragons didn't mate. An interesting anatomic fact about bearded dragons is that they can mate once and lay fertile eggs for years afterwards. Let's just say they have an amazing storage capacity! :) I'm sure some ladies will agree with me that this would be not a good design for people! As of this writing, we have five adorable little babies, one nose sticking out of an egg, and eight eggs left to go. We also brought back a juvenile dragon that we sold to a friend last year (she's moving), so we're expecting 1,000 crickets to arrive at the "zoo" today!

Our present inventory: 10 bearded dragons (not including eggs), 1 Columbian tegu, 4 snakes, 1 turtle, 2 White's tree frogs, 1 tarantula, 1 scorpion, 1 betta, 1 hermit crab, 2 cats, 1 dog (sing with me...and a partridge in a pear tree).

Our new family members have arrived!

2006-07-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

I love my exotic pets and I've always wanted to expand. On an impulse I went out and bought two new pets. They're cute! They're sort of furry! They're a pair of arachnids! One is a Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula appropriately named Aragog and the other is an Emperor Scorpion named Ceaser. We thought about calling it Nero at first, but the real Roman Emperor was just plain evil and the girls and I couldn't bring ourselves to honor him in any way whatsoever. My daughter was so happy she just hugged my arm and sort of jumped up and down saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I guess it runs in the family. I have just set up their new pet homes and didn't want to disturb them with portraits, so I added clips of what the species look like instead.

I have to say that I am just SO EXCITED!! It's so cool to have a large spider or a ferocious looking scorpion crawling over your hand. These guys do have another purpose besides my own selfish entertainment. They will help educate children at science classes, camps, and workshops. They are also part of a live animal birthday party business here in Orlando. If you have any questions about these fascinating creatures, post them and we'll respond soon.

Science Camp was AWESOME!!

2006-07-24T07:57:00.000-05:00

All I can say is...what a great group of kids! We had between 40-50 students attend who were between 1st and 6th grade. They were both enthusiastic and polite--a teacher's dream! We covered the seven days of creation, completed a notebook for the students to keep, and had a hands-on activity each day. Some highlights were the Diet Coke and Mentos explosion, plant dissection, and observations of a dissected frog, fish, crayfish, heart, lung, eyeball, and owl pellet. I've included some photos, but the picture of the Diet Coke fountain doesn't do justice to the 20 foot peak we achieved!! There is quite a trick to sticking an entire pack of Mentos into a 2 liter bottle of soda before it erupts up into your face. The first time you do it, you get this feeling of trepidation as you wait for the unknown...the volcano of fizz threatening to dampen your spirits (literally). Now I'm pumped for next summer and more camps!!

Since the camp was in the morning, I had the afternoon free to hike in the Smokey Mountains, drive through Cades Cove, go tubing, horseback riding, and shopping in Gatlinburg. The highlight for lots of people seemed to be spotting a bear in Cades Cove. At the very end of the driving loop, a bear was seen and lines of cars had pulled over while passengers and drivers jumped out searching for the elusive creature. Not to be outdone, I pulled my van over to the side and jumped out with my camera, hopping gingerly on the gravel and looking into the darkened woods. Not a great photographer, my first five pictures were pretty much black except for a few trees caught by the flash. At this point the rangers had arrived and were directing vehicles that had stopped in the middle of the road. Fortunately, I was on the wildlife viewing pullover area and had a few minutes left before we needed to move on as well. Just then, the bear clambered out of the woods and I took my best shot. Now I have my picture of my bear in the Smokey Mountains (even though it really looks like a blackish lump). My husband looked at me and asked, "Why did you want a picture of a bear anyway?" I honestly didn't know. We have so many black bears in Central Florida that are invading neighborhoods that they have lost their charm around here. A dear friend of mine has a video of a mother bear and cubs that were trapped in her backyard earlier this month. But for a science teacher who is passionate about life science, it's always a thrill to see a magnificent creature in his own element!

Microscope Activities

2006-07-07T07:23:00.000-05:00

As the new school year draws near, many parents want to purchase a new microscope for their students. The best microscope for young students is the Brock Magiscope. It is virtually indestructible, portable, and does not require electricity or batteries. In the rare event that a piece is broken, it has a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer. For high school students, a more traditional scope will provide an experience that prepares them for college level science courses.

Consider having each student keep a science journal for drawing pictures of specimens. Let them draw what they see for a few minutes. When they are done, instruct them to look again and draw a little more for a few more minutes. Some may complain, "But I don't see anything else!" Do not engage in a debate, just repeat the instructions to look, study, and draw some more. When they are done, have them repeat the study and drawing exercise for a thrid time. In the beginning, this may truly be difficult for some students. Encourage them to find just one more detail to add. Soon, they will gain confidence and find more details each time they study. They will also realize that you are not asking them to stare and draw indefinitely, but for just a very short period of time.

Cricket Thermometers!

2006-06-19T07:37:00.000-05:00

As I'm typing this entry, I have 500 mealworms and 500 crickets in my house ready to be dinner for our four constantly hungry bearded dragons. The sound is like the great outdoors right here in my home office! We have so many insects in Florida it can look like the ground is crawling away, so we're used to the idea of having bugs around. These guys remind me of a fun project that you can do this summer with your own crickets. (If you don't have a bucket of 500, you can always have your children catch one in the yard or you can buy them at a bait store or pet store for less than a dollar. Be sure they are large enough to chirp!) Count the number of cricket chirps per minute. Subtract 40, divide that number by 4, and then add 50. This should give you an estimate of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. This simple activity can be expanded into a full length science project, too. Practice math by converting Fahrenheit to Celsius; just subtract 32 and then multiply by 5/9. For younger students or for a rough estimation, you can subtract 32 and divide in half, but the answer will be off by a couple of degrees. You could also utilize the scientific method and see how accurate the crickets are compared to a real thermometer. Learn about cold-blooded animals and see if the crickets chirp faster or slower if they are outside or inside the house. Finish up with a picture book like The Very Qiuet Cricket by Eric Carle or a book on tape like The Cricket in Times Square. If you try this project, leave a comment and let me know how it turned out!

Welcome to my new homeschool science blog!

2006-05-13T08:56:00.000-05:00

It is my desire to help homeschooling mothers who struggle with science at home. I will help you seize teachable moments and provide you with tools that can build family relationships while educating your children.

I am in the process of writing science readers and dissection manuals that can be easily used in your homeschool. Please leave a comment and tell me what you would like to see in your science materials.

Meanwhile, I am still teaching science at Circle Christian School and looking to offer private classes as well. In July, I will be in Tennessee conducting a week long science camp near Pigeon Forge. More details to come!