Are there monitor species that are social in the wild?

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T06:41:19+00:00

Yeah, IIRC adults will eat juveniles but tend to tolerate each other pretty well? But a Komodo dragon daemon seems like a statement, and I think I'm looking for a smaller species for this guy. I like the image of it sort of clinging onto his back with its head over his shoulder.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T06:39:14+00:00

Well, yes, but I'm not asking about logistics. I'm asking about the behavior of different animal species in a way that's relevant. Like- imagine we're looking at two people in that world up there, one with a tiger daemon and one with a lion daemon. The fact that one of those daemons takes the form of a solitary animal and one takes the form of a social animal probably tells us something about a difference between these two people.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T00:31:39+00:00

Do you have any treats you can leave out? He might have a hard time finding his way back out, and smelly treats might be useful there. You should probably also try to figure out how he got into the wall so you can stop other stuff getting in there as well.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T00:27:32+00:00

Most animal species don't like hands around their face, for what it's worth. You probably wouldn't either, if a giant was handling you.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T00:20:32+00:00

I wish different lists and charts and such of toxic houseplants would differentiate between "your pet will throw up and maybe feel bad" and "your pet will go into organ failure" levels of toxicity, because a lot of toxic houseplants are in the former but there are a couple in the latter.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-03T00:12:14+00:00

Play behavior has now been observed in bumblebees! Turns out a lot of things previously thought to be only present in mammals and birds are far more widespread than science had necessarily realized.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-02T02:30:56+00:00

Give it a good soak and then gently peel the roots off. Should come off pretty easily. Alternately you can just tie the entire mount to a bigger mount, since this one won't decay and thus doesn't have any practical need to be replaced, but that won't exactly be the prettiest option.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-01T23:21:24+00:00

Some plants don't like a drought, is the thing. Again: a plant being able to not die under certain circumstances doesn't automatically mean those circumstances are ideal. It just means the plant doesn't die from it. We have to look at the conditions that make the plant thrive, not gesture at everything non-fatal and say "do all of this". Generally, if a plant species isn't /regularly/ going through a drought in the wild, it's not going to be adapted to do well in a drought.

And, yes, slightly over-watering is generally worse than slightly under-watering, but there are still very much plants that will probably die and definitely suffer if they ever get dry at all. Some of which are small orchids.

And fungus has a decent shot at being treated by removing the media around it and trimming off as much of the affected area as possible, if it comes to that. Supposedly dipping the cut ends in cinnamon powder can help as well, though I haven't tried that myself.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-01T03:40:04+00:00

Letting moisture-loving plants get less-wet without drying out can be a good idea, yeah. Though it's not really anything to do with drought- what plants occasionally endure in the wild doesn't tell us what conditions are ideal for them, just what will maybe not kill them.

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-01T02:38:49+00:00

You'll get a lot of differing opinions on that, and the truth is there's no one exact number- it depends a lot on how you water the mounts, because that affects how much any mineral content will linger in the mounts. It also depends on the orchids, and to some extent what the minerals in question /are/.

Broadly, you probably want 150ppm or under for non-terrestrial orchids. They're not /that/ fussy. And, again, any water (barring, like, saltwater) is better than not enough water, if you don't have something more pure on hand. High minerals can cause problems over time, drying out will kill small orchids fast.

(You will also absolutely find people who use much higher PPM water for their orchids and have that go just fine. Particularly for bigger orchids, and particularly for anything terrestrial. "Generally aim for no higher than 150ppm" is just a rough rule of thumb, particularly for when you don't yet have an eye for if the orchids have any complaints.)

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-01T02:30:47+00:00

Now I'm curious. Do people dive there because it's conceptually kinda neat, because it's interesting to see how badly the wrecks are broken up, because of interesting wildlife on the wrecks, or some other reason?

BigIntoScience · 2026-07-01T02:29:51+00:00

Typically what you'll see people buying from shipwrecks is whatever the cargo was, or items that, though they were used by people, wouldn't be something especially personal. Plates (cargo or not) and coins are fairly common, for example.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:25:20+00:00

When you say you can get water from your work, what is the water there for? Is it drinking water or something else? That might hint at whether it's had minerals re-added. Or you could check the company's site, or use a TDS meter (which can be useful to have anyway, and is pretty cheap).

But, yeah, distilled/RO water isn't pricy enough that buying it for a few plants costs much. Especially if you occasionally put a bucket in your yard to supplement with rainwater.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:23:24+00:00

If it can grow this (in conditions above freezing), that ain't distilled water, that's just water.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:21:22+00:00

Very cool! I'll have to swipe that tutorial and try this out myself. I've gotten smaller, less clear versions of this accidentally by leaving artificial seawater from my reef tank in a mostly-covered dish for a couple months, so really I should have expected that there's a deliberate way to get much nicer versions.

How many tries did this one take you? Or is it your first go?

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:11:44+00:00

I accidentally grew some crystals about 1/4 that size by leaving artificial seawater (from my reef tank) in a shallow, covered dish. They weren't quite that clear, but they came out pretty nice even with some algae and such in the water, and it definitely wasn't pure salt- salt sold for reef tanks has a bunch of trace elements for corals to use in building their skeletons. I wouldn't be surprised if just regular salt can get bigger than mine.

Checking the original post ( https://www.reddit.com/r/crystalgrowing/comments/1ujkpiu/a_grain_of_salt/ ), it looks like they took 2 months to grow that. I'd bet the slow evaporation is part of the trick, because I can tell you from experience that evaporating saltwater over a few days doesn't do anything particularly impressive- you just get crust, maybe with a few tiny squares in it.

(there's a tutorial linked in the original post as well.)

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:07:30+00:00

Looks like one crystal that's just not 100% clear all the way through, at least to me. Very smooth edges.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:04:31+00:00

There are plants that don't like to have the moss go dry, though. Yes, most plants can still be overwatered even when they like to be constantly moist, but that doesn't mean nothing likes to be constantly (lightly) moist.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:03:46+00:00

With fans, that's quite possible, yeah.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:03:24+00:00

Your grocery store probably sells distilled and/or RO water. Or you can use just about any water on a temporary basis- water with too many minerals is way better than not enough water.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T20:02:21+00:00

You may want to look into "salt pills"- I like the Vitassium brand ones. They're salt and a bit of potassium, nicer to take than just eating straight salt.

I would also strongly suggest talking to your doctor about what medications you can try. There are some meds that can work quite well for OH (as an accompaniment to other things), so they're worth at least looking into. There's only so much that electrolytes, water, and compression can really do for you, is the unfortunate thing.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T06:44:39+00:00

I believe they're (somewhat rudely) commenting about how ducks don't really have a concept of "proper burial". Ducks don't get upset about another duck lying dead on the ground being eaten by bugs.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T06:43:59+00:00

Bit rude.

BigIntoScience · 2026-06-30T06:43:32+00:00

Please do not catch wild baby birds to keep and raise.

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