This evening we met in a different location - the Nature Center was having a big meeting that took our usual space. When Michelle arrived, she had a critter carrier with two Red Eyed Leaf Frogs. They were so cute, a wonderful color. How about those eyes! How about those *toes*? Amazing.
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The meeting was standing room only, but I think that was because there weren't as many chairs as in our usual place. The first snakes I saw were these lovely young Ball Pythons. They'd been to a meeting before, some months ago when they were little. They've grown nicely. The young man who brought them also had a beautiful Carpet Python.
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We spent the first part of the meeting discussing the recent news story about exotic venomous snakes being sold at the Jackson County Flea Market. We agree that a little of that goes a long way, there will be repercussions and we will not like them. It seems we should make some statement condemning such activities.
Our guest speaker was Joe from Carolina Specialty Pets, the pet store we visited last fall. He brought with him a good number of exotic animals, mostly not herps!
First he showed us Blue Tongue Skinks. These are from Australia. One was very hissy, we could hear him complaining from across the room!
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Next was a Tarantula.
Then a Black Widow. It was quite a surprise for me to see Joe reaching into the container and getting the spider out like that, and letting it run around on the table. He was not concerned that he would be bitten, explaining to us that they are not aggressive. I've heard this before, but it was odd to see it in action. :)
More Tarantulas.
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Here is a Tarantula shed. The spider turns onto its back and crawls out through a "trapdoor" in its ... belly. The holes there are leg holes.
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Next we see an Emperor Scorpion. They're *big*! It never offered to sting, even though it was picked up and turned over so we could see its "feelers" that grow underneath. They are very sensitive to vibration. The scorpion touches the ground with them and can feel prey or predators coming. The males have longer feelers.
Here is a Scorpion shed. The scorpion crawls out of its skin/shell through this flap on the top. This shed is from a female Emperor Scorpion.
Vietnamese Centipede. One pair of legs for each segment. The creature was more than 6 inches long and it zipped around its cage looking for the entrance to its lair. As soon as it found the place to dig, in it went.
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An African Flower Mantid. Little thing less than two inches long. It is not full grown. When adult the tail end will not be curled up like that, it will have to lie flat because of the wings.
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Here is an arboreal Pink Toed Tarantula. It builds this web and it can jump from branch to branch without breaking itself. (Other tarantulas, if they fall, may break their exoskeleton and then dessicate and die. If the break is not too bad and caught soon enough, it can be repaired with Liquid Nails. The things you can learn at herp club are rather amazing.... :)
Littlest Herper admires a tarantula.
Here is Scott and Teri's precious HogNose Snake. I love that little face, and the pattern is wonderful.
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The owner of the young Ball Pythons showed us a neat trick - PVC pipe, regular old plumbing pipe, can be heated with a small propane torch. The pipe will scorch, turning nicely wood brown in irregular patterns. While the pipe is hot and soft it can be grasped and twisted and bent, making it look almost exactly like wood. Cool it with running water to set the shape.
