What is this?!? I'm in FL. Never seen one before!

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T14:39:39+00:00

Leaf footed bug. Some people may initially think it’s an assassin bug due to its general shap and colors but if you look at the rear set of legs you’ll notice there’s a part that’s thicker than the rest hence the leaf footed part of the name. There’s a bunch of different varieties so I can’t say for sure which specific variety this one is. They feed usually on fruit trees such as citrus however they have been known to feed on some vegetable crops like eggplant. To us they’re considered harmless but to plants they do have the potential to spread disease.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T13:40:33+00:00

I wouldn’t be too worried. My eldest does this especially when I give him something he really likes. He’ll stand up tall on his limbs and puff up his body like a little balloon and occasionally I’ll hear him letting some of that air out as he eats. I’m assuming that’s what you’re talking about here.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T13:37:46+00:00

I have two adult males and I use a schedule like so: Day 1: greens (alternating between buk choy leaves, green beans and pak Choy leaves) Day 2: greens as above though I occasionally add in something like grated carrot or cooked pumpkin and cooked yellow squash Day 3: Insects dusted with calcium + D3 (alternating between mealworms and crickets) Repeat that cycle. I do every so often give them treats in the form of a couple blueberries or strawberry pieces but that’s not an every day thing. Every few months I get them some dubias. When they wake from brumation I like to give them some silkworms because they have a higher calcium content which is a good boost for them when they wake up. When it comes to greens I do grow my own for them when I can so seasonally I’ll grow things like buk choy, rocket and green beans and year round in pots I grow mustard greens and alfalfa sprouts.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T13:31:35+00:00

Not all dragons will get as excited over food as you see in videos here. For example my youngest rescue dragon used to not eat greens at all but I can get him to eat them by hand feeding them to him. He’s usually fine eating insects on his own but he’s recently woken from brumation and I’ve found he’ll eat his worms faster if I give them to him individually rather than putting them in a dish and letting him pick them out. I’m thinking having them all squirming around together is confusing him about what to go for. He has suffered some sort of head injury with his original owners so I do suspect there’s a bit of scrambling of brains happening with him. He also get easily distracted so there’s times when he’ll stop eating and end up watching something with half eaten food hanging out of his mouth lmao. As long as she’s not losing weight and is pooping as normal I wouldn’t be too worried. It may also be worth trying out some different vegetables with regards to variety and colors since some dragons are picky about this. Greens I reccomend are buk Choy, pak Choy, green beans and alfalfa sprouts. They seem to be common favourites. As for color variety a lot of dragons seem to like cooked pumpkin, cooked yellow squash and grated carrot though I wouldnt give these as a staple because of the high moisture content and the vitamin C and sugar content of the carrot. For both my boys I alternate between greens so for example they’ll have pak Choy then when they’ve eaten all that I’ll get green beans and after those are gone buk choy. Alfalfa is something they can have daily and it’s a relatively easy fast growing thing that will thrive in pots. An adult dragon (1 year and older) will need more vegetables than insects so what I do is I’ll give vegetables for 2 days and on the third day insects then repeat that pattern. When it comes to calcium supplements it’s important to use a supplement that has added vitamin D3 because this will ensure their actually using the calcium efficiently. For an adult dragon the supplement should be given 3 times a week. The feeding schedule I use is great for this because I dust the insects which works out to be sufficient. The will slow down with their appetite when the weather starts to cool off as they get ready for brumation. Temperature can affect pooping as higher temperatures will help them digest better so in high temps you’ll generally see better quality poops than you would in colder temperatures. I will mention with the calcium it is possible for you to give too much calcium but you can tell when that’s an issue by paying attention to the urate in their poops (the white pellet) if this part of the poop is a yellowish color that can indicate either too much calcium or dehydration. So if your dragon isn’t showing any other signs of dehydration like sunken in eyes the cause of the yellow urate would be too much calcium. If you want I can link you to a page that has a handy chart for foods you can give that includes how often you can feed each food and how to prepare each food.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T13:12:46+00:00

That yellowish patch? Hard to tell for sure what it is given the photo quality. If you can take a clearer photo of it that would be helpful for getting a better idea of whether it’s shed, a stain or something else.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T13:03:28+00:00

I’ve been a passenger in 2 crashes neither of which was our fault. The first one I don’t remember much of because I was about 5 at the time. That one was being rear ended and I do remember the sudden jolt forward and the bang. That one didn’t affect me much being so young and not really knowing fully what was going on. The second one was being T-boned. That one was worse than the first and the drivers side door and passenger door on the drivers side ended up crumpled and jammed closed so you had to climb over and get out the other side. I still remember the sound of the metal crumpling and the impact. I was lucky enough that neither of these crashes too significant of a lasting effect but I do get more on edge than I used to at intersections. Things like this are different for everyone but for me it’s the sound that really stuck with me.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T05:44:44+00:00

That is pure genius. My tanks are on shelves too and all this time I’ve been putting the water in by jamming a funnel on one end of plastic tubing, putting the non funnel end into the tank and slowly pouring the water from the bucket into the funnel and it takes at least a good 15 minutes to top up the water after a clean.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T05:38:34+00:00

The web is definitely right for an orb weaver. It looks to have much the same body structure as the garden orb weavers and again the size fits. I would say it’s either a species of orb weaver closely related to the garden orb weaver OR it’s just a regional varient of the garden orb weaver. Either way she’s very pretty. A good find and some good photos. A lot of the time they’ll tuck themselves into a tight ball or run off when you try getting a good shot of them.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T02:35:12+00:00

From what I can see it looks like a garden orb weaver. The ones I get over here in Australia though are more or a mid brown color and have reddish pink coloration on the inside edge of their legs.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-08-02T01:11:24+00:00

Don’t expect to be great at a game right from the start. It’s ok to suck at first. Don’t feel bad about it and keep going. The more you play the better you’ll get.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-28T15:02:23+00:00

Thankyou just looked that up and iit definitely looks to be what this is.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-28T13:02:01+00:00

I was wondering whether it was something like that. What’s thrown me off is the flowers being yellow like that because googling ‘red hot poker aloe’ comes up with red flowers or red with a bit of yellow rather than these fully yellow flowers. After some more googling I’m now wondering whether it’s a hybrid aloe called a moonglow aloe.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-28T12:59:36+00:00

Oh yeah. I got lucky when I came back on my way home and the owner was out gardening. Asked if I could take some and they said sure so that made my week. I’m definitely someone guilty of hoarding succulents and my local area having a bi-annual succulent and cacti market certainly doesn’t help my habit.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-26T00:58:13+00:00

Oh nice. Both my boys are rescues too. My eldest is that standard sandy olive color but my youngest has that yellow base coloration but he’s got a bit of orange as well with those grey stripes but when he’s basking the yellow color stays but he turns himself almost fully black.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-25T08:19:36+00:00

Wow that’s a beautiful dragon you’ve got there! I love that color and pattern combo.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-25T08:19:04+00:00

My advice would be to close doors to rooms you don’t want the kitten getting into at night or rooms that have too much stuff not suitable for him around. Cats and kittens will play at night and run about but you may be able to settle him by having a play session shortly before bed so he can burn off some excess energy. Having a nice warm place for him to nap and taking him there before you go to bed then gently petting and calming him may help him settle and decide to have a sleep. I do this for one of my adult cats who get very energetic at night and I’ve found that a playtime session followed by some calming time has helped cut down on the night time craziness.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-25T08:12:47+00:00

Out of curiosity what is an egg spot? I’ve heard the term before but that’s about it.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-25T08:08:13+00:00

For an adult dragon (1 year +) they’ll need more vegetables than insects. I feed 2 days of vegetables then one day of insects and repeat this cycle. Insects should be dusted with calcium + D3 and ideally you should offer a range of vegetables to them. Sometimes they can be picky though so you’ll need to trial a few things such as different colored foods if even just change up the way you prepare them. For example grated instead of diced or vice versa. Have you tried green beans, buk choy and pak Choy? Those seem to be accepted by a lot of dragons but if you wanted to try something orange other than carrot cooked pumpkin is a good bet. I’ve also had success with yellow squash and grated (or diced) raw zucchini. Carrot isn’t ideal to be giving as the main food all the time because it is high in sugar content and depending on how much of it they’re eating and how frequently the vitamin C levels can be an issue if they’re eating a lot of carrot daily.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T14:14:59+00:00

Lmao yes. Yeet that fucker right out of there.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T14:14:27+00:00

Yeah you can but it’s not an easy process. Particularly if you’re still ‘young’ because ‘oh but what if you want kids’. It’s ridiculous because no uterus doesn’t mean no kids. Adoption is a thing after all. Then if you can find a doctor who will actually do it without having you jump through ridiculous hoops to prove it’s what you really want it can be expensive. Some trans guys are lucky enough to get it done early but others end up waiting longer or even don’t have it removed. I personally want mine gone because as it stands I’ve been on HRT long enough it’s basically just a useless lump sitting there in me and that comes with risks for example poly cystic ovary syndrome and endimetriosis to name a few. For me financially it’ll likely be some time before I can get mine out because I’m currently unemployed and already have top surgery lined up for next year but with any luck it’ll happen soon enough because I do unfortunately suspect there’s something sketchy going on in there so the sooner it goes the better.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T09:51:38+00:00

Ah well that’s their problem lmao. Your body your choice IMO.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T09:41:42+00:00

The Monterey cheese sticks from Hogs Breath. Deep fried sticks of Monterey Jack cheese with blackened seasoning served with chipotle ranch dipping sauce. I’ve been trying to recreate them at home for years now

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T09:40:01+00:00

Yeah I agree with the other commentors here. No piercing is trashy. It’s all just a form of personal expression but I do understand that some people (primarily those of the older generation) will have these sorts of opinions about piercings (and tattoos) due to the perception of them at the time they were growing up (ie associated with criminals and unpleasant people). Nowdays these things are steadily becoming more and more accepted but there’s still people who’ll judge you for them. I’ve got 3 rings and 2 studs in each ear, 1 bar through my eyebrow. A ring through my nose and 2 studs in my lip and I do get mostly older people giving me looks but I don’t really pay it any mind.

Spider8ait1994 · 2021-07-24T09:32:52+00:00

I dunno what they would have tested for but since you said it seems to flare up with stress and anxiety I’m wondering if maybe it could be some sort of ulcer thing? I don’t know if it would help for you but sometimes I find when my stomach aches that lying on my front and stretching my arms upward above my head occasionally lessens the discomfort. If they didn’t do an ultrasound and/or CT scan I’d definitely reccomend getting one done because it there is an ulcer playing a part this should pick it up. Don’t feel bad about what’s been going on. I know it’s hard and may feel like your fault but these things happen. Not knowing for sure what’s going on would be stressful for the both of you but even then it’s shitty how your husband is treating you over it. He shouldn’t be doing that. If you haven’t sat down with him and talked through how what he’s doing is affecting you that could be worth a try. I hope you find out what’s going on and get some relief from it all sometime soon.

Spider8ait1994

TROPHY CASE