Vaguely disappointing insect exhibition with surprise reptiles

[mothwing]

Crocky and I went to a local insect exhibition today. It was at a tiny community centre around the corner and the poster had promised all manners of exciting large exotic creatures and they charged a rather hefty entrance fee. However, we soon realised in the first room that it was two small and rather dingy rooms and most of the all insect exhibits and also most others were pinned, some already very old and discoloured, and therefore not all that exciting - even though the organisers had clearly attempted to make them look more interesting by arranging them in terrariums. 

The second room was a very pleasant surprise because the organisers had brought their pet reptiles, spiders and myriapods and were showing them to visitors. Espeially the boas and the tortoise petting zoo were a big hit, though was a bit worried for the tortoises in particular. But the owners always watched out for their animals, and especially the teen handling the snakes and spiders seemed to know what he was doing and always made sure that the visitors treated his charges with respect, so I suppose they were fine.  





Dead, but pretty rainbow milkweed locust. 




There was a live one of these beauties, though. 


Oh HAI, fuzzball. 


Crocky being fearless. The other hand belongs to the owner, a teenager who was in charge of taking care of the two constrictors, keeping the visitors from the corn snakes and handling these felt-footed beauties. 


Hi there, elephant beetle. You don't look very alive to me, either. 


Not too sure about you, but your species is not particularly dynamic even if you are alive, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. 


I know, pretties, there are so many people here and your human has to keep shooing other humans away from your tank who knock onto the glass. 


These two millipedes were my favourites by far. Crocky is not convinced they'd make awesome pets, however

I want giant millipedes as pets. Crocky favours the boa we met today, but I think that these tiny plant-detritus eating creatures that don't grow to a length of 6m and don't live on live piglets are infinitely preferable. 

Comments

[gingertart50.livejournal.com]

Tarantulas! Or rather; bird-eating spiders. I love those furry arachnids! I always wanted giant millipedes too, mobile sausages!

I used to own a royal python. They make very good pets, easy feeders, easy to tame and don't get too big to handle. The problem was breeding (or buying) enough rodents to feed it. Plus Mr GT and the dog were both scared of it so it ended up going to someone who owned a vast terrarium and already owned a royal python. The trouble with boas is the eventual size and they seem a bit bad-tempered - I was bitten by one once. I think that was a rainbow boa.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

The snakes food source is actually the main drawback for me. I'm not sure I could cope with feeding pets to other pets, especially since I used to keep rodents myself. Mice aren't guinea pigs and rabbits, but I'm not sure I could stomach that. In Germany it's a legal grey area, anyhow, though, and many snakes live off frozen mice, which I wouldn't have a problem with, weirdly enough.

So, I prefer the millipedes. <3

[cranky--crocus.livejournal.com]

Love the felt-footed beauty! What a cutie-pie.

I love giant millipedes; they're adorable. Boas too, of course, but you make a good point on the length and diet there. :P

I remember when I went to the open day of my high school there was a corn snake out on the table of the main animal science room (often the grooming room) where we were meeting. I stared at it the whole time. At the end the teacher who had been speaking, when others were filing out, turned to me and asked if I was afraid of snakes--and apologised before I answered. (I'm a bit Loony Lovegood when I zone out.) I told her it was quite the opposite, that I loved them, and she let me hold the little one for a while. Made my day!

I picked plant science as my general major while at the high school, but it was mostly because in plant science we got to deal with the subject of wild animals more; animal science majors were more based on domestic creatures.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Corn snakes are much preferable to boas in my opinion, but maybe I'm prejudiced because all corn snakes that I've ever seen seemed extremely active and seemingly curious about their surroundings. Still, the diet-problem would remain and I am not sure if I could feed any pet live -or even frozen- mice. A problem that wouldn't occur with millipedes. <3

I envy you biologists - my colleagues, too. Whenever I sub for a sick bio teacher I get wistful about not choosing that as my subject instead.