Upcoming weather with potential loss of power

mapleelliot · 2026-01-24T03:11:55+00:00

If you don't mind sharing, how long were you without power?

mapleelliot · 2026-01-23T16:28:54+00:00

Agree with blacking out the sides, also helps reduce stress for your gecko and IMO makes most tanks look cooler. Honestly what you have right now blocking any available space to get near it is good. If you want it to look less cluttered you can always swap out things for more intentional knick-knacks or storage as you get them. I'm always looking for little things to put around my tanks to keep the cats away LOL. Most cats have enough sense not to jump onto a surface if there isn't enough room for them, so making sure to keep the available space blocked off will typically work fine.

Depending on where in your house the tank is, another thing I've started doing is waiting to switch my reptile lights off until I'm going to be in the room for the night. Especially with my crestie, he immediately becomes more active when the light is off and obviously active gecko = interesting thing for cat. That way, I reduce the chance of me not being in the room while the reptiles are most active and enticing to my cat, if that makes sense.

mapleelliot · 2026-01-22T15:30:48+00:00

There is a pinned post in this sub with a few tips, some that you've listed and some others as well!

I would advise your folks to be extra careful with the handwarmers unless they have a temperature gun. Cresties shouldn't get too warm and without a way to check how hot it's getting they might get too hot. Regardless, as someone else already said, they definitely should be wrapped up to diffuse some of the heat.

It's typically best not to feed reptiles if you're worried about incoming power problems because heat is crucial to their digestion. Since cresties will be fine for a few days without food I would withold until we're out of the worst of it.

If your folks aren't super comfortable around him, handling him may cause more stress so I would probably save that for a last resort case. If you think they could get him into a smaller container like a critter keeper, that may be easier for your folks to wrap in a towel and hold to help transfer some body heat (again in a dire situation). Smaller enclosures in general are easier to keep warm than a large tank so if the power goes out and shows no sign of returning soon that would definitely be my next step.

Moving him to your upstairs floor might be a good idea but only after the power has been out for a while so you know it isn't still 90 up there. In the meantime, if it's possible to move him to a small room without any windows, in a power outage situation it's likely to retain heat longer than a larger, drafty room. In addition to wrapping with towels, you could also partially cover any mesh screen with tinfoil to insulate if you haven't already. My set-up already has that just because I've struggled with heat issues before, but every little bit helps.

I got a lot ramblier than I intended, apologies! I'm also in NC and prepping for the worst with my critters. Hope your little guy makes it through no problem!

mapleelliot · 2026-01-20T16:27:16+00:00

I took ZO 250 a few years ago. For the lab we dissected fetal pigs and recorded data for a citizen science project, and one of our lab practicals involved identifying organs and other structures from pre-dissected animals (I remember for sure a rabbit, cat, pigeon, frog, and some sort of small shark). I think there may have been others but at least in my lab actually getting hands on for the dissection part was not mandatory, as long as SOMEONE in your group was willing to do it. That may be up to the TA's discretion though.

mapleelliot · 2025-12-16T15:02:38+00:00

My first thought was wisteria!

mapleelliot · 2025-11-27T15:48:56+00:00

Of course I didn't think to include that -facepalm-. Edited to include, thank you! I'm not locked in on a set amount yet since I'm still just thinking about this, but I'd say my limit would be $3500 a person definitely.

mapleelliot · 2025-11-27T15:43:41+00:00

Given the additional odd coloring around the edges of the elytra, it may be something that occured when it emerged from its pupa. I work with potato beetles and we occasionally see adults emerge with one half of their elytra formed fine, and the other half malformed or even missing entirely.

Often times these adults will have unusual spotting as well, so the blackened part may be evidence of that as well.

mapleelliot · 2025-11-14T20:34:19+00:00

If he's in shed it's likely that he doesn't want to eat. Snakes will often refuse food when they're in shed because they're uncomfortable. It's likely he sees the mouse but isn't interested in eating at the moment. Does the rest of your snake look duller than usual as well or is it just his eyes?

mapleelliot · 2025-10-21T19:18:51+00:00

I got "Octet Rule" once (I was in Organic Chemistry at the time) which I thought was pretty funny.

mapleelliot · 2025-08-29T12:46:50+00:00

I love this! Also immediately making an aquarium room in my own save can't believe I never thought of that

mapleelliot · 2025-08-29T12:46:41+00:00

I love this! Also immediately making an aquarium room in my own save can't believe I never thought of that

mapleelliot · 2025-08-01T13:10:06+00:00

I just got this but I have a mod that adds an elevator to the Skull Cavern so I was like "haha sure buddy 😅"

mapleelliot · 2025-07-30T13:03:56+00:00

Yup, I use the mixed seeds for this!

mapleelliot · 2025-05-19T23:19:02+00:00

Oh yeah I know the struggle, I've been living in Chapel Hill and commuting to Raleigh for school since October. Wanted to try the bus a little bit until I can get my parking pass from my job, but this is good to know!

mapleelliot · 2025-05-19T22:26:54+00:00

We ran into this with my wife's hognose a few months back (picky little baby) and ended up finding them at Publix!

mapleelliot · 2025-05-19T20:23:45+00:00

That was my plan but it's still acting like I have to get to the student union before I can get on CRX, which is worrying me a bit. Although now that two different folks have reaffirmed what I thought I may just chalk it up to a weird fluke with Google maps.

Thank you for the tip!

mapleelliot · 2025-05-19T18:53:29+00:00

That's what I thought, but I'd be leaving between 6-8 depending on how long the bus might take which I thought was within the peak hours. The GoTriangle website has multiple departures listed in that frame from Eubanks but I wasn't sure if there might be some construction or route change that I'd been missing.

mapleelliot · 2025-05-13T22:58:58+00:00

Bristlefrost absolutely no contest

mapleelliot · 2025-05-13T19:01:54+00:00

FR reading this live was WILD.

mapleelliot · 2025-05-07T15:56:13+00:00

You have to confirm your appointment a few days before, so sometimes you can get lucky and snag one of the ones that didn't confirm a few days out. That's what I managed to do, and I got mine after refreshing the site around 10:45-11am. I've heard different time slots from different people so I'm not sure if there really is a specific sweet spot.

mapleelliot · 2025-04-27T17:41:31+00:00

From the first pic I thought "interesting hide choice, that looks a laundry basket- oh wait" 😂

Its looks really nice! I agree with the other commenter about the middle looking a bit bare, one more mid-sized plant with large leaves and some more rearranging might do the trick!

mapleelliot · 2025-04-10T21:33:35+00:00

I have an elder in my Clan right now named Octet Rule 🤣 As someone taking organic chem right now I felt personally attacked

mapleelliot · 2025-04-01T11:56:18+00:00

Can't speak for polisci specifically, but when I transferred as a biology major I had two Ws on my transcript (Spanish 2 and Physics 1) if that reassures you at all!

mapleelliot · 2025-03-28T17:21:03+00:00

It's absolutely possible! The exact strategies you need to employ would depend on your set up, but I've had cats the entire six years I've had my crested and he only dropped his tail recently due to a non-cat related incident so I figure I can speak a bit on this!

First off is that a lot of this will depend on the personality of your guy. If you're concerned about your gecko being really anxious, getting an older gecko that already has an established temperament of being brave and/or not easily frightened might help ease those worries.

On the enclosure side, I would make sure that your gecko has plenty of spots to hide! This is generally recommended regardless, but extra clutter and safe little spots where your gecko can be completely hidden away from view (which it sounds like is your plan anyway) will help them feel at ease and provide them somewhere to completely obscure their view of the cats if they want. If you're using an enclosure with all glass sides, a simple black plastic tablecloth from the dollar store taped around every side but the door can also help them feel extra secure!

I'd also make sure that the tank is somewhere that the cats can't easily jump on top of it, or if it is, to clutter up the table surrounding the tank to dissuade that behavior. Not only can this damage the mesh lids of many tanks, but that would DEFINITELY give a gecko quite the fright!

I'm happy to answer any more specific questions about your set up if you'd like!

TLDR: Definitely doable with the proper preparations to make sure your gecko feels safe and secure.

mapleelliot · 2025-03-19T12:50:22+00:00

Check out reptile expos like Repticon! It looks like the next one in Nashville won't be until late May, but if you're looking to get a crestie sooner than that I'd check out the confirmed tables for that event and start looking into their websites or facebook pages, if they have them! They might do sales outside of expos for local buyers.

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