I only just realized that I never got around to posting the second half of my Reptile Expo photos. You're all probably cringing now and wishing I'd have left it forgotten, but I must share the reptile goodness!
One woman had the most amazing collection of adult tarantulas I've seen so far. It's a bummer the cover had so much glare, they really were amazing creatures.
I've told myself no more pets while in my apartment. The ones I've got now have a lot of growing to do, which will require their taking up more space in the very-near future. Eventually I'd love to get more snakes, they're amazing pets, but money and space constraints stop me. I hope you enjoyed these photos, even though I know most of you aren't big on reptiles and whatnot.
I hope all you Americans are having a Happy Thanksgiving and a good week for everybody else! Cheers!
It seems forever ago that I went to Toronto for the Reptile Expo. Yet not so long ago either, because one of the snakes I brought home still hasn't eaten. Ugh, finicky eaters! And I was totally not expecting to get trouble from the boa, either. Anywho! This will be a critters-only post, so if you don't like reptiles, feel free to skip this one.
To start things off, here I am with Brian Barczyk from BHB Reptiles/SnakeBytes TV. He and his wife, along with their team, work together to breed tens of thousands of snakes every year. Crazy impressive! I felt like I was meeting a celebrity heh. If you're curious about the expo, here's SnakeBytes' video on it. It really gives you a good feel for it.
Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. That snake above is selling for $2200. And that's actually a conservative price in the reptile business when it comes to exotic morphs and rare species. It's not unheard of for breeders to spend in excess of forty thousand dollars on one snake. Although that's usually for extremely new morphs, or new-to-pet-trade species. It's all about cornering the market and having something before everyone else.
This is probably the chillest little lizard ever. If I could reincarnate as something else in another life, I would want to come back as a chill lizard, because just look how chill he is. Speaking of chill lizards... A monitor lizard is having some lazy snuggle time with its owner below. Monitor snuggles! I adore these big lizards (of which the one above is a baby), and hope to someday own a Savannah Monitor in particular, but they get BIG and require a lot of room. Notice her tail hanging down by his ankles? Big lizard!
These little tortoises were absolutely adorable. About palm-sized, they were sitting in this tub on the edge of the table and I was giving them my aw-little-tortoise-goo-goo-eyes when this kid popped out of nowhere and started poking the left tortoise's head. I immediately had him stop and told him, tortoises are delicate, you can't just poke them like that. (Not to mention one tortoise like this is worth about $300, if not more)
Parents, teach your kids not to poke things, you never know when that thing might bite back... or be incredibly expensive and easy to kill. Just sayin'. And while on the subject of kids and tortoises...
As I was taking this photo, the boy asked his dad if they could take the tortoise home. I guess this was probably one of many requests for a creature by this point because the father replied in the most exhausted tone, "We really don't need a giant turtle..." Even though, you know, it's a tortoise.
If anything I mentioned here has you curious, feel free to ask some reptile/tarantula/snake/lizard/expo related questions and I'll answer them in the second Expo post. I hope you're all having a groovy Wednesday. Cheers!
Time for the other half of my zoo photos. Once again, this post has zilch to do with fashion or clothes. Although I'm actually in one (kind of two) of these photos this time around. To the zoo!
I would just like to say this now: marmosets are ADORABLE. I mean, look at that itty bitty fuzzy thing! I'm not a big primate fan but marmosets totally have a place in my critter-loving heart.
For some reason, this burrowing owl decided he was going to nap on this wagon wheel instead of actually being in his burrow. But he was cute so his weirdness was awwwright with me. Also, those penguins up there were total camera hogs.
Yes. That is me petting a shark! Awesome? Awesome! And for those of you wondering what a shark feels like... it's like petting wet sandpaper. I also got to hand-feed the stingrays, which was pretty freaky. They were so smooth and silky compared to the sharks, too.
I had a great time at the zoo and I am SO glad I went, even if I did go on my own. And even if I did manage to get lost within the zoo but yet not get lost in the craziness that is Toronto. (I am still proud of myself for driving on those 400's highways all by myself sans GPS or even a map.) I hope you're all having a great week so far. Cheers!
I went to the Toronto Zoo back in mid-September, and I am finally posting some of the photos! This post will have pretty much zero to do with fashion or anything else except animals so... unless you really like beasties, feel free to skip this one. Everybody else... let's carry on!
It was an absolutely perfect day for me to hit up the zoo. Sunny, just warm enough to be comfortable with a nice light breeze. Plus it was an off-season Friday so things were pretty mellow, just the way I like 'em.
Are not pygmy hippoes just the cutest little things? If I were a zillionaire, I would totally have a pet pygmy hippo, for sure.
I skipped out on the animals from North America just because of time limitations (besides, I've seen moose and bears in the wild, big deal) but I was pretty bummed at not getting to see a snow leopard. I got turned around somewhere between the kangaroos and the ibex and spent about 45 minutes lost and bewildered. I had gone completely the wrong way and it was too late to go back by the time I figured out where I was. A zoo map does you no good if you do not know where you are on the map!
I just love this photo of the giraffe. I'd seen them do the weird spread-front-leg lean before, but this was new. It actually came up quite close to the edge of its pen... and then screeching children frightened it away. If I could come back as any animal, it'd totally be a giraffe.
I've got more photos from my zoo trip to share with you, but I'll post them separately. Plus you can expect two posts about my visit to the Reptile Expo that same weekend too. I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!
I was visiting my parents over Labour Day weekend and we decided to make a small day trip up to Temagami to climb the fire tower there. We stopped at a lot of the scenic rest areas and little trading posts that litter the highway along the way and I found plenty to amuse myself.
Skunk fur mitts, anyone? I swear, if I'd have had the $175 to spare, I'd have bought those puppies. I have a peculiar fascination and adoration for strange furs, skunk in particular. It's actually quite soft and there's no icky smell at all. Or how about a hand-carved moose statue? Everybody needs one of those...
My other fascination with mushrooms (come on, mushrooms are adorable) tends to have me falling behind the group whenever I go into the forest. I'm always taking another photo of some sort of fungi or other.
The fire tower was supposed to be a money-making endeavor for the town, but the buildings at its base were closed and we learned from a local that it had been so the entire summer season. A shame that something like this isn't being taken advantage of and enjoyed by more people.
I really don't wear pants, to do anything, even climbing fire towers. My leggings helped protect my decency, and a good thing I had them on. It was so windy up that tower! My dress was flapping about like nobody's business.
The view at the top was fantastic, even if my knees were kinda wobbly by the time I got to the spiral-staircase section of it. I'm not particularly afraid of heights, but I'm not used to them either and it can still make me rather unsteady.
And to think, that when we headed out that morning, it was dark and rainy and cold. It turned into an absolutely beautiful day, warm and sunny. We definitely got lucky! Especially when you consider that it went back to raining cats and dogs on our way home again.
Afterward, we wandered around the town a bit - there really wasn't anything to do, - and decided to go check out a small pond we'd gone to on our first visit years before. I have a memory of walking across the boardwalk through the pond and seeing dozens of turtles everywhere.
Clearly, the place hasn't been maintained as the boardwalk had collapsed and beavers had incorporated a chunk of it into their dam. It's amazing how much nature can do in a few years. I actually find it comforting that our mark on this planet is so easily broken down.
It was a lovely weekend, and a nice way to end the summer months. I'll leave you with this last photo, one I took at a rest stop on my drive back to Ottawa. Oh Northern Ontario, how you capture my heart! Cheers everyone!
