Tangerine Gecko Blog

Exciting New Additions from the Pomona Show!

Jan 212011

January has been a crazy month; getting cleaned up after the holidays, pre-reptile-show preparations, post-show cleanup, and preparing for the start of the semester. I am teaching a new course for me (Environmental Science) so this whole spring will be extra busy. I am taking a short break from course prep to post some pictures. My daughter and I made the trip to Pomona January 7-9 to vend at the Reptile Super Show. We had a wonderful time at the show – it’s always so fun to visit with friends and meet new ones! Ramy Guirguis puts on a great show, this is always one of my favorite shows to vend. On Sunday, Andrew Wyatt asked my daughter to pull the winning ticket for the 50/50 raffle to benefit USARK. Too bad she didn’t pick our number, though. Thanks to Ramy for this picture!

I was particularly excited for this show because I was able to pick up my new girl from Heather Wong (Heather’s Herps). She was part of a partial trade that I did with Heather last fall and I’ve been anxious to travel south to pick her up! She is a Crystal ball python (Mojave + Special). I have coveted this morph since I first saw one of Tom Baker’s pictures. Thanks for producing such a sweet girl for me, Heather!

Last year, at this same show, we picked up our first Rhacodactylus leachianus from Philippe De Vosjoli (Giant Geckos). She turned out to be a female, so this year I was in search of a future boyfriend for her. I knew Julie Bergman from Gecko Ranch had a few males, so I sent my daughter on a mission to choose our boy. He is such a little cutie! Our girl was tiny like this last year, I can’t believe how much she has grown this first year! I just love these guys – they are incredibly cool geckos! Thanks, Julie, for helping my daughter choose this wonderful little guy!

I’m already looking forward to the next show and the chance to talk reptiles with everyone!

Veggie Garden is Coming Along!

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Aug 212010

Time for a garden update! This has been an incredibly cold, gray summer, but our veggie garden is doing surprisingly well, if a bit slow. I’ve harvested many zucchini – eleven just on Wednesday! We also got a nice harvest of garlic. I’m growing some new lettuce in that bin now. I am going to make much more effort this year to take advantage of our mild winters and keep things growing throughout the year. I thought I’d take a few pictures of the garden after picking all those zucchini since we were having such a beautiful day! Here’s a shot of the whole garden. Fall Gold raspberries on the left are almost ready!

The tomatoes got a late start and with this weather they are growing very slowly, and the deer keep pruning them, but we might get some tomatoes yet. The Sungold cherries that I started from seed are finally flowering like crazy, but no tomatoes yet. The Green Zebra and Oregon Spring that I bought as fairly large plants in June have some mid-sized tomatoes on them. Dare I hope for full sized tomatoes ripening in my garden?

There are still a couple of volunteer California poppies in with the veggies – I can’t seem to bring myself to rip them all out.

I love to grow lots of different kinds of pumpkins and winter squash to decorate with in the fall. So now there are lots of little pumpkins coming along! I have a few new varieties this year, and I’m noticing several of them are white. Wasn’t I going to try to grow more orange pumpkins this year?

Lots of yummy winter squash coming along, too!

There were many honeybees out working busily among the flowers. A few even stayed still long enough for me to take their pictures! These are my favorite shots of the day!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Ball Python Clutch Number Two!

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Jun 052010

Maggie laid six beautiful eggs for me on May 21! She did not progress through the season in the “textbook” fashion that Delilah did, so I was really nervous about the fertility of her eggs. But here they are, looking just perfect! Maggie is a hypo Mojave. She was bred to the same pinstripe het hypo male as Delilah. This is a super exciting clutch to me because there are eight possibilities that could come from this cross. Statistically, they are all equally likely. With six eggs, I can’t even hatch everything with this one clutch.

Here’s the list of possibilities:
Normal het Hypo
Pinstripe het Hypo
Mojave het Hypo
Hypo
Hypo Mojave
Hypo Pinstripe
Mojave Pinstripe (Jigsaw)
Hypo Mojave Pinstripe (Hypo Jigsaw)

Wow! I can’t wait to see what I end up with!

The Eggs Have Hatched!

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May 162010

A couple months ago, I posted about our first ball python eggs. The time has come and the eggs have hatched! Monday afternoon, my daughter came running down to tell me that one of the eggs had pipped: On Tuesday, a couple more had pipped. They were very shy, hiding in their eggs when I [...]

Florida Wildlife

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Apr 272010

Last month, my daughter and I visited my mother in Naples, Florida for a week. I thought I’d share some of the wildlife pictures that I took. Most of the shorebird pictures are from the beach in Naples. Sometimes dolphins feed along this beach – always fun to watch! Occasionally they get really close & [...]

Our First Ball Python Eggs!

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Apr 052010

This is our first year breeding ball pythons. I have three girls breeding this season: a pied bred to our pinstripe het hypo male, a hypo Mojave bred to the same male, and an albino female bred to an albino pos het pied male. The albino male is pretty small and I have yet to [...]

The Long Awaited Leachie!

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Feb 262010

I have resisted the temptation to get into Rhacodactylus geckos due to space issues – until now. I’ve coveted the huge Rhacodactylus leachianus for a long time. At the Herp World Expo in Pasadena, I held an adult at Philippe De Vosjoli’s table and was hooked! I came home with a book so I could [...]

Anna's Chameleon

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Feb 262010

Chameleon’s have always been on my “someday” list. At the Reptile Super Show in Pomona last month, my daughter and I picked up a little female veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus, at the auction to benefit USARK. We absolutely love her! Anna has named her Leafy. I have been remiss in introducing her anywhere because I [...]

Spring Flowers!

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Feb 262010

When we first moved here, I was obsessed with gardening. Every time my husband would go out of town for any length of time, I’d add a new garden. Back then, I had plenty of time to devote to the garden. But with the addition of family, teaching, and reptiles, I found myself with much [...]

Please Oppose S373!

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Jan 062010

S373 is a bill that, if passed, would ban interstate transport of 9 species of large constrictors. Ostensibly, the purpose of this bill is to protect the Everglades in southern Florida, a wonderful, unique ecosystem. I was lucky enough to visit the Everglades for the first time last spring (pics here). It is home to [...]