Friday, October 17, 2008

Feeding Time

The Fed-Ex man, no woman, showed up today with a package marked live animals. My daughters and I quickly ripped the package open to find our vial of Drosophila melanogaster , the Fruit Fly! Instead of buying costly bugs at the pet store we decided to purchase a kit to start our own fruit fly cultures. In the long run it will save alot of money, it also allows me to continue to geek out on our new geckos. If we continue to keep up with them, we should have an endless supply of Fruit Fly cuisine! Lets just hope none escape.....momma might not like it!

Oh Yeah the Geckos love 'em, juicy...wingless....easy prey!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fall Break and One More Gecko

Well I can't necessarily call it a break. For a father of two is there really such a thing? Today, obviously was my first day of a four day long fall break. No I didn't spend it birding, although the thought continues to cross my mind. Actually I started working on a presentation I will be giving in a few weeks down at South Padre Island,Texas, at the annual Waterbird Society meeting. Talk about being excited! I'm salivating just thinking of the new birds I may see down there. I am also preparing for a week long visit to my home back in Pennsylvania. I'm not likely to see any life birds there, but can't wait to get back to my old stomping grounds once again. I also have a report to wrap up, as well as some papers I have been wanting to finish, and of course more studying that needs to be done....I'll let you know how all of that goes at the end of the weekend.

The "Turkish" or "Mediterranean"Gecko is still alive and doing well. Having found a home in my daughters aquarium, it seems somewhat content. My wife and I can feel at ease for keeping this wild creature for two reasons....1) it's an invasive species and 2) we have taken to describing the whole scenario as a "science project" Call me cruel if you want, but I'd like to see you explain to a three year old as to why "Joe" has to be let go! Not wanting to leave "Joe" all alone in the much too large enclosure I took a late night post at our front door a few nights ago. About a week after we found the first gecko, my wife saw two more. I thought it was only appropriate to find Joe a friend. So finally after a late night studying and checking the front porch my patience paid off at 1:30 am. Now Joe has a friend! For which we have no name. So here is my challenge, think of a name and email it to me. On Sunday the 19th I will announce the winning name, of course I am the sole judge, and I will be sure to let everyone know who it was that came up with it. Cheers....