I've been eyeing the Thrive 40 gallon Front Double Door Opening Terrarium Desert Essentials Kit for a while now. The enclosure is the same one that Vrtra came to us in--way too small for an adult beardie, but perfect for leopard geckos. Cookie inherited Vrtra's, and we've been thinking it would be nice to upgrade Cheeto to one, too.
I finally got the incentive to pull the trigger yesterday. They've had them on sale for $174.99 for several weeks now, but when I went to place this week's reptile food order I saw that RetailMeNot had a 20% cash back offer for PetSmart. Almost enough to persuade me to order... but then PetSmart had a banner advertising 2k points for every $20 spent on their site. 2k points equals $5 in savings on a future purchase... $40 back total on just the terrarium kit, plus another $35 coming back in cash from RetailMeNot. Can't beat that!
We moved Cheeto in last night, and I peeked in this morning to find him giving it a sploot of approval while basking. 🥰
I stopped at the pet store this morning to pick up more bedding for the rabbit...
Long story short, we now have a giant day gecko. Oops. 😅
I was reminded of the existence of our paper wasp colony last night when I was closing the gate to the backyard and one of the workers buzzed my face.
How'd I forget they're there? Good question, especially considering how they've completely outdone themselves with the nest this year. They might look a little scary but it's easy to coexist peacefully with them just by giving them space, and they provide some useful benefits by eating caterpillars and beetle larvae.
In just a few weeks most of these wasps will die off, leaving the queen to hibernate for the winter and start a new nest in the spring.
The lizards love the heat.
The humans, not so much... so when our A/C started making noises like it was going to start and then not starting, the lizards got quite a show of me running around like a headless chicken trying to do some basic troubleshooting.
Vrtra and Waffle weren't too fussed about the whole process, and took it in stride when troubleshooting crossed into "turning off all the breakers to see if the thermostat has a battery or not because it ain't coming off the wall easily and I'd rather not break it." Cheeto, on the other hand, was highly concerned that the light suddenly went away hours before it was supposed to do so.
I'd resigned myself to having to call the landlord about it tomorrow when all the basic stuff like turning off breakers and hitting reset buttons failed to work, but then it kicked on normally again this evening. Beats me what its deal is. 🤷♀️
I deep cleaned the bug bins on Wednesday. Although Cheeto is typically crepuscular and most active around dusk and dawn, he was VERY interested in what I was doing and spent most of the day sitting out in the open on his log so he could supervise (and make sure I didn't forget that he REALLY likes bugs 😂).
This is the face of the lizard who had the pesky fly that was aggravating me for breakfast. He may have only three legs, but he doesn't let that slow him down when it comes to hunting. I didn't even have time to get my phone ready to record it before he'd caught the little menace. 😂
The biggest downside of having a pet bunny is that we aren't supposed to have a pet bunny.
It's a good thing our state requires a decent amount of advance notice before landlords can come around for inspections, so we can make arrangements for Miss Flufferbun to have a sleepover with her favorite doggy friend at my mother-in-law's place. 😁
I was worried that moving Vrtra downstairs would stress him out, but he's taken it completely in stride. He seems to really be enjoying having more things to watch during the day. Not only that, but we've seen some really good improvements in how much contact he tolerates. Now he'll actually let us pet his beard a bit without puffing up or going into the defensive flapjack pose. 😁
Did you know that beardies can throw tantrums?
We began the process of moving Cheeto and Waffle's enclosures Saturday afternoon. The first step was to move Waffle to his playpen so we could safely remove his rocks and substrate... and he wasn't having any of it. He'll usually sit quietly and observe what's going on around him, but this time he was climbing the sides of the pen and doing everything he could to get out and get back into the middle of things.
He chilled right out as soon as I let him out, and hopped back into the enclosure to check out the renovations. 😂
I was going to make a post about how we finally got the replacement part for the reptile rack after ten and a half weeks, but then I refilled Ed's water dish and poured a little on top of his ledges and he just kind of bailed headfirst off his branch and into the puddle and just hung there like this as he drank his fill.
We visited my parents last week, and their cat was feeling surprisingly more social than normal. His name is Meow, and he just showed up at their window one day about 12 years ago. Pretty impressive considering there are no other houses within several miles of my parents' place and it was all just open desert at the time.
My daughter stumbled on this adorable little desert horned lizard in my parents' backyard. The sun had just gone down and it looked like he just made himself comfortable and started drifting off to sleep right where he was, much like the beardies do. This is only the second one I've ever seen in the area, so it was a fantastic treat.
I joke about Divine Beast Vah Noodlesnoot going bump in the night fairly often. Usually it's because she's thumping around her enclosure... tonight she managed to slide one of the doors open a few inches, squeeze out, and went off to explore the living room. I caught her slithering up to Ed's enclosure after she knocked some of the cricket supplies over.
Home Depot should have the showcase lock I just ordered ready for pickup fairly early tomorrow morning. 😆
The deed is done!
Well... mostly. My car has all new wheel cylinders, brake shoes and hardware, and drums as well because the old ones had just half a millimeter of wear left on them. I was hoping to just have them turned but I'd forgotten that they were the originals; we just had them turned the last time we did the rear brakes, and it was the front rotors we replaced that time. I really can't complain about getting nearly 185k miles out of them!
The only thing left to do is bleed the brakes, but we'll wait on that; monsoon season is here so the afternoon storm should be rolling in soon. My final cost is somewhere around $225 for all the parts we needed, and we saved probably about $1000 doing it ourselves instead of taking it into the shop since it turned out both cylinders were leaking. 😁
Do you delete your less-than-perfect photos right after taking them? I used to, but then I found that there's a whole subreddit dedicated to blurry gecko pictures. Some of them, like the one I'm posting now, aren't *that* bad. Others are downright cursed. 🤣
It's nice to be able to take a break from the expected social media perfection and share a few laughs over the outtakes.
I'm always amused by just how nosy Cookie is. As soon as he hears me doing anything around the house he parks himself in the front of his cave so he can watch. 😆
#Splaturday afternoon and of all the lizards only Vrtra is sorta embracing the spirit of it today. He got a small habitat upgrade yesterday when I swapped out his 75 watt basking bulb for a 150 watt version. If the way he's planted himself directly under it is any indication, he's really enjoying the extra heat. 😁
This is the inside of the leaky brake drum. We took it apart to see if we could confirm that the wheel cylinder is the source of the leak, and it sure seems to be. What a mess, huh?
I'll order the parts today, but it's threatening rain so we won't start working on it until sometime next week. We might need to replace the drums, too, but I'll see if they can be milled first. Worst case looks like we'll spend about $200 on parts and a few hours of labor on the whole job... way better than the $750+ the shop quoted for new shoes, drums, and only one of the wheel cylinders!
I'm generally not afraid of doing my own vehicle maintenance, but if there's one task I absolutely dread it's changing the shoes on my rear drum brakes. All those finicky little parts and springs? Nah, I'm good.
Unfortunately, they do wear down over time and after eight years this set's pretty much done for. I'd resigned myself to taking my car into the shop to have it done cuz I dun wanna... and then I put it off, because it's summer and I've basically only been driving it a few miles a week to the pool and back.
Turns out my procrastination did me a favor in this case. I parked a little differently than I usually do, so I noticed a spot of fluid that would otherwise have been under the car... and sure enough, it seems to be coming from the bottom of one of the drums which probably means that the wheel cylinder is leaking.
Of course, having one wheel cylinder done is going to double the cost for the shop to do the work, so paying less than $100 for the parts to do the brakes and both wheel cylinders and doing it myself is suddenly looking a lot more appealing now... 😅
I had to drop my husband off at work today. My daughter convinced me to stop by the pet store on the way home so we could look at the guinea pigs. I told her we were just going to look and not buy anything, but I still walked out of there with a bag of crickets for the beardies and the geckos.
I don't get them very often these days--they stink, they die far more quickly than dubias, and they tend to be prone to attacking lizards if left in an enclosure--but the lizards enjoy the challenge of hunting hoppy bugs for a change. Here's Vrtra waiting for a few stragglers he couldn't reach to venture out from behind his hide. 😁
Vrtra is experimenting with new sleeping positions this week. He usually falls asleep draped over the top of his hide. Last night he curled up inside of it, and tonight he's settled across the opening. Maybe he's dreaming of being a real dragon with a hoard of gold to guard... 😆
For a very slight change of pace this #TongueOutTuesday, here's a picture of Ed enjoying his lunch. It's*really challenging* to get good pictures of Ed when he's eating. Not only is he skittish, but he's kind of a glutton. As soon as the bugs hit the ground they're g-o-n-e... and if you blink, Ed is, too. 😂
It's fledgling season, which means that we've been treated to an absolute cacophony of squawking courtesy of the local ravens. The whole family was out in the park when I came back from the store, although they scattered when they realized I was watching them... for a few minutes, anyway. One of the fledglings settled on top of a roof and stood there kicking up a fuss until its parent came over and stuffed a bit of food down its gullet. 😆
We spent the afternoon at the lake today. We saw lots of wildlife while we were there, but this encounter with a fence lizard was easily my favorite of the day. She was basking on a rock when we walked up, and didn't seem too bothered by how close my daughter got to her. In fact, she wasn't even perturbed when my daughter started reaching out to poke her... until suddenly she WAS, and then she was outta there. 🤣
Waffle often seems to have trouble deciding if he wants to bask on the cholla branch or on the sandstone pavers... today it seems like he's finally found the perfect compromise to solve his dilemma. 🤣
I'm catching up on some housework now. The noise seems to have woken poor Cookie up; he's been standing there between his cave and his rock with this "Well? Where are the bugs you owe me for this inconvenience?!" expression for the past half hour. 😅
I was leaving the Walmart parking lot this morning when I spotted the first big yellow flowers of the season on one of the prickly pears there. They were so pretty I just had to park and take a photo to share. 😅
Cherries are on sale this week, so both of the beardies got a tasty seasonal treat today. Isn't the combination of cherry juice lipstick and shedding skin eyeshadow fabulous on Vrtra? 😂
Today was a sleepy Sunday. I caught Cookie dozing in the mouth of his cave this afternoon. Isn't that little smile just the cutest thing ever?
Vrtra's really leaning into the spirit of #Splaturday today. He hasn't moved more than a couple of inches away from where he settled in for the night even though it's nearly noon.
@yukimori
