Behold, the Reptarium!

Since I completed the Reptarium in August and the boys have been happily living in it for several months now, I thought it was time to post some pictures of the results.

The Reptarium is 260 gallons and measures about 30"x30"x70". I bought the black mesh sleeve with zipper door, but decided not to buy the set of black PVC poles that make up the standard Rept frame. I bought the white PVC pipes and fittings from a hardware stores and constructed the frame myself. I did make a plan before I began this project, but for the most part I ended up winging it.

You can see several of the products I've previously reviewed, like the Stealth Wheels, Suggie Gym products, and Rodent Runway pieces. On the floor is several layers of fleece which I vacuum with a dustbuster and/or replace as needed.

Overall, the switch from a traditional cage to the Reptarium has been pretty smooth. It was an adjustment for me, North, and Nocturne, but I know it was a change for the better.

He Was Loved

Very early last Saturday at around 2am, I lost a very special hermit crab. His name was Bikini and the short time he spent in my care was not enough to save him from the severe neglect and abuse he endured at a local Petsmart store.

I bought Bikini as a mercy purchase at 2pm on Friday afternoon. I immediately took him home and set up a isolation tank for him with moist moss, an undertank heater, and salt water. He barely had the strength to move and couldn't support his own weight, so I held him upright in the shallow dish of water as he drank. Bikini wasn't able to dip his little pincher in the honey dish and bring it up to his mouth to feed himself. Instead, I cradled him in my hand and placed a toothpick dipped in honey up to his mouth so he could taste it. Shortly afterward, I was still holding Bikini when he collapsed and died.

Bikini suffered a slow, horrible death because he wasn't provided with the very basics he needed survive. He was probably at least a decade old when he was collected from the wild and put up for sale as a "disposable pet". The staff at Petsmart had no interest in providing him with the proper care and neither did the vets at Banfield, whose office is inside the store and only 30 feet away from the hermit crab tank.

I loved Bikini in the hours he was with me and I continue to love him even though he is gone. He deserved so much more than I was able to give him.

Etsy Treasury: Glider Stuff

I just made a Treasury over at Etsy with lots of fun stuff relating to sugar gliders. It will only be up until 11:19pm on Thursday, 10/16.

Tonight the gliders get their nails trimmed and me and the Dustbuster will be on a seek & destroy mission to eliminate all the tiny poops hidden around the playroom. Tomorrow I'll be using the blue fleece I got to sew new covers for all the Suggie Gym toys and I'll probably make a couple new pouches while I'm at it.

I'm going to work on revamping my peanut butter/molasses/oatmeal dog biscuit recipe over the course of the next week so the dogs will get to do a lot of taste testing. I'd like to replace the peanut butter in the recipe with a different type of nut, but I'm not sure what kind yet. I'll give the food processor a good workout by trying to make my own walnut butter for one batch and I'd also like to see if the Red Mill hazelnut meal would result in a decent biscuit. My gut says the walnut would be better because the strong taste would stand up better to the molasses in the recipe and walnuts would add omega-3s and antioxidants.

Hermit Crab Supper: carrot salad with egg

Ingredients: shredded carrot, scrambled egg yolks,

crushed egg shells, chopped dates, honey, olive oil