Baby Beardie Update

Over the past three days, the final three eggs of the first clutch have hatched. In all, we had 16 hatchlings, 15 of which are healthy. We had one that had some problems getting out of the egg and survived only a couple of days.

Here's a good picture to show scale:

At the other end of the spectrum, here is a picture of my niece holding Moiraine, the full-grown Mama-Dragon:

And the same neice with one of the hatchlings:

Our fifteen survivors are all doing great! They are eating fruit, veggies, and softened dry pellets, as well as improving their cricket hunting skills. They're also displaying some classic bearded dragon social behavior: Stacking!

They also tend to fight over the peak warm spots on the branch. Eventually, they all get comfortable.

Yesterday, we had one working on coming out of his shell all day. (This isn't unusual. We'd see them pipping when we got up in the morning, but they wouldn't come out of their shells until after we'd gone to bed that night.) For this particular dragon, we'll call him/her "Fifteen," I went to the reptile room around midnight and saw this:

You can see the "umbilical cord" in this picture. It's where the nutrition from the egg yolk enters the dragon's stomach to be metabolized. After they're hatched, they have a small wound there for a few days.

This is where he ended up after getting out and running off. (Those are the eggs from the second clutch--we'll have as many as a dozen hatchlings from that clutch in roughly a month.) I think it's kind of cool that in these pictures, he is next to actual bearded dragon eggs so you can see how much he had to be curled up to fit inside.

I pulled Fifteen out of the incubator and put him in the tank with the others. True to form, I got a lot of baby-beardie-attitude. (I'm extremely proud of this picture, by the way. It's probably the best photo I've taken of anything, ever.)

But after several minutes of trying to scare me away (to see how convincing he was, please refer to the first pictures on this post), he realized that the human being wasn't all that harmful, and we shared a moment before he joined the rest of his siblings. I don't know which one he is now.

So that's our dragon news! Thanks for sharing this adventure with us!

Baby Dragons!

So here are our little Christmas dragons! They started hatching on December 22. You can see some of their heads poking out of the shells in these pictures.

They come out and have quite the attitude. This one had been out for about an hour when I started trying to take some photos with my hand in them for scale. This is how he responded:

The pictures are blurry, but they sure do make me laugh! He started chasing my camera around. Luckily, Al was in the room and I made him grab our other camera to get it on film. (The cat was telling me he needed to be fed.)

These are the pictures I got. Again, blurry but funny!

By the way, the little guy sleeping next to him is fine. He's just sleeping on the under-tank heater and soaking in all the warmth.

Eventually, they mellow out and do some cute things. In the next picture, the branch he's perched on is about as big as my pinky finger:

The food plate in the next two pictures is about four inches in diameter:

These little guys are so stinking cute. If they stayed this size, I'd want to keep them! As it is, we're looking for homes for them. In a pet store, $60 per dragon is reasonable--sometimes they're on sale for $50-$55. We're asking $40 for one or $70 for a pair. If anyone out there knows of anyone who's interested, put us in touch! We want these guys to be well cared for, so we're more than willing to answer any questions, offer advice, whatever.

Because I'm a bit of a purist...

So yesterday was the day...Mama Mia out on dvd! I found it interesting that I was pretty much the only one in my group of friends who went into the movie already knowing the words to the songs. I realize that ABBA was finishing up their career while I was busy discovering my hands and feet, but I still managed to find my way to ABBA Gold and then beyond.

I've made it a bit of a quest to introduce my ignorant friends to the real deal, because even though the Mama Mia soundtrack is a lot of fun, it's still just a bunch of covers, and there's a lot of ABBA still out there to be discovered. So enjoy some originals (and one you may not have heard before):

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

Honey, Honey (with some killer choreography!)

Knowing Me, Knowing You

Our Last Summer

Take a Chance on Me

And if you're still a sucker for covers, you just can't beat Erasure. There's a soft spot in my heart for these guys, since during high school, they were my first introduction to ABBA.

Lay All Your Love On Me

Take a Chance on Me

Fullers Field at Velour!

Thursday night, Jeff's band played at Velour in Provo. Al and Valerie and I drove up to see them play. They didn't win, but they did a great job and we had a very fun night! Enjoy the bootlegged video.

"Let's Get Crazy"

"Current"

"Star Wars Interlude"

"Open Your Eyes"

"More to Come Along"

"Keep Swingin'"

"Take On Me"

An Early Christmas Present for Al

Meet Acheron!

(We're pronouncing it the British way, with the "ch" making a "sh" sound).

He's a pastel ball python. Al is overjoyed. I'm getting used to him, but I think we'll end up good friends.

Not a Good Week for Books

Last Wednesday, the UPS guy delivered a package containing two picture books and a hardcover novel. Trillian and Thursday decided it was a chew toy and demolished the box and everything inside. It was only $26 in reading material, but the picture books were supposed to be for my Creative Writing class today, and the ones I reordered don't get here until tomorrow. They spent some time crated for that stunt.

On Thursday, Val returned three books which I put in my trunk. Al and I went through a car wash and apparently, my trunk leaks. His Turkey Bowl clothes were saturated and the books, although protected somewhat, are still water damaged. Fortunately, I'm not too sad about Breaking Dawn because it was coming apart anyway and I don't really think it's that much of a keepsake. I also need a new copy of Bloodsucking Fiends because mine was already toast before the "car wash incident." The GOOD news was that our camera, which was also in the trunk, wasn't even a little bit damp. That would have REALLY sucked.

Then, on Sunday, I was reading American Shaolin at the table and enjoying a glass of water. I left both on the table when I left for brunch and errands and when I came home, the glass of water had spilled all over the book. I guess Bear was thirsty and knocked the glass over while trying to fit his big fat head into it. Seriously, there's a water dish five feet away. That book spent some time in the oven at 200 degrees since I wanted to read it soon.

So what is the universe trying to tell me?

Probably to keep the dogs inside on Friday, when my $100 collector's edition of Tales of Beedle the Bard is due to arrive from Amazon, and to always finish my water.

Thanksgiving Day Fun!

Thanksgiving is always such a busy day, but I guess it could be even busier. I'm glad that I only have to cook a little bit in order to get ready for the festivities! Al and I made our much-loved sweet potatoes, which are really like dessert. We also brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with almond cream cheese icing, vanilla almond truffles, peanut brittle, and cranberry sauce--everything homemade, I'll have you know. We started shopping and getting things ready on Monday, so by my day off on Wednesday, I didn't have a ton left to do.

Thursday morning, we woke up at about 7am to be at the annual Chili's Turkey Bowl, a flag football game that has been going on for about nine years now. Al was excited to play because he's been going to the gym and is in the best shape for any Turkey Bowl thus far. Then, the weather was gorgeous! I'm usually in two shirts, a hoodie, a coat, and a blanket, and I'm still freezing. This year, I was in a t-shirt and hoodie and was perfectly comfortable. Unfortunately, Al hurt his back while working on the sprinkler system a week ago and wasn't in peak performance mode. He did get in to play a little bit. Meanwhile, me and the two dogs and Valerie and her one dog were on the sidelines visiting and trying to keep the animals under control. Trillian decided to pick up an old game she hasn't played since she was about five months old--dog-leash-tug-of-war. She nearly chewed a hole through her leash. Then Thursday picked up on the idea, too. One of Al's employees brought her family and kids love Thursday, so for a while, I had a pretty decent dog-sitter for one dog. (Actually, they loved Trillian, too, but I'm pretty sure any one of them and Trill weigh roughly the same and since Trillian can drag me around...)

Since we just keep right on going after the game, we'd made a list of everything we needed to throw in the car that morning. We managed to not forget anything! We left the game just before 10am, after the Harrisville/Riverdale team had beat Layton twice. The dogs got dropped off at Al's mom's house and we took all the food over to my mom's. Then we turned around and headed back to Al's mom's, but stopped on the way to pick up a couple of white peppermint mochas and the annual christmas ornaments at Starbucks.

We watched some TV and ate Thanksgiving chili and cornbread while having a nice time visiting. Trillian and Thursday ran around with the neighbors' two Jack Russells in the back yard.

At about 2:00, it was time to head over to my mom's for the annual Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Along with our contributions, Ashley debuted her green bean casserole that is simple-but-delicious, Christy brought three wonderful pies, mom made an amazing turkey, as well as the yummy cranberry salad and various vegetables. It was fabulous! I am very grateful to have such an amazing family on both sides, and to live in a country where I can enjoy the luxuries of plenty of food, warm shelter, and so much more. I'm also grateful that even though I wasn't born into this situation, my birth mother was selfless enough to place me into it. I don't know who she is, but every so often, I find myself sending warm-fuzzy-vibes her way because by making one extremely difficult decision, she provided me with so much. (I'm also very grateful that my parents wanted another kid after Jeremy, and I'm sorry I kept wandering off.)

After picking up the dogs, Al and I returned home at about 8:30. I was thankful that I didn't have to go anywhere today, so I am trying to get some of the living-mess cleaned up--you know, those areas that just accumulate stuff because they're where we tend to drop things as a habit? I'm also trying to get some reading done. I currently have four books going... but one I've read before. I feel like I've been so busy lately that I don't really have time to read! It's nice to lay in bed with the dogs and just sink into a good book.

Al was not so fortunate as to have today off. He got to open today and most likely got to deal with a few bruised and battered Black Friday refugees (a crazy tradition in gladiator-style that I have no intention of ever participating in). I know he's looking forward to leftovers when he comes home. I'm pretty sure that we came home with more food than we left with!

So this was a taste of the fun that is to come in just three short weeks! I'm so excited to have everyone coming for Christmas again! I know it's probably a total pain for Ash, Dave, Jill, and Jer to do Christmas away from your own homes, but I love, love, love the idea of everyone being in the same place for the holidays! Thanks for taking the time and money to travel out here to be with us!

And Al would like everyone to know that he would like a pony for Christmas. Mark your lists.

Sorry, Jill, I Had To!

So this text message conversation had us laughing on both sides. I guess it's just another way that technology keeps us together when we're several states apart!

Kenzie: IM @ RR! WRU? (For the texting-impaired, she said, "I'm at Red Robin! Where are you?"

Me: I'm at Al's mom's house. How's Red Robin?

Kenzie: Good. RU having fun?

Me: Yes. What did you order?

Kenzie: Buger. How R U?

Me: I'm doing good since I'm not eating a buger.

Kenzie: LOL we are eating caso.

Me: I've only ever heard of queso. When are we going to read again?

Kenzie: Tomorrow after church.

Me: That's good. I've forgotten what we've been reading because it's been so long. I'll have to go back and remind myself.

Kenzie: Food is here gotta go bye

Me: Ok. Enjoy your buger. I still don't know why you ordered that.

Kenzie: They saw my buger and got one too There hot mama

Me: What?

Kenzie: My bad i just sent what kept popping up EX a buger and got one too There hot mama

Me: What were you trying to say?

Kenzie: This is beyond repair now I didn't mean to send those words they popped up while I was pushing space on mom's phone

It went on, and the general consensus was that it was Jer's fault that those words popped up on Jill's phone when KP pushed the space button.

So be on the lookout for Jill's blog URL to change over to therehotmamascherishedmoments.blogspot.com

We Have Eggs!

Moiraine laid 19 new eggs yesterday. I guess she wanted to give me a birthday present. A couple of them looked unhealthy, so we're keeping a close eye on them. We could very likely have about 30-35 baby beardies with these two clutches, and there is still the possibility that she'll lay a third clutch.

We're taking good care of her and getting her a lot of protein and water/nutrient-rich veggies. Female bearded dragons tend to stop eating 2-3 days before laying eggs, and they spend a lot more energy than usual during those days with all the digging, so you can imagine how famished she is!

The first clutch has been incubating for just over 30 days. At the low temperature we're using, they should hatch after a 70-85 day incubation period, so we're expecting the first hatchlings in late December at the earliest. (Incubating them lower and longer results in more laid-back dragons.)

Last Chance for Magazines!

Our fundraiser ends after tomorrow! If you'd like to help us send our super-duper students on some awesome field trips, please buy or renew a magazine subscription through our fundraiser! (If you're renewing, when you order the subscription, you will check a box that it is a renewal. Be sure to order under the name and address that the magazine currently has for you.)

website: www.gaschoolstore.com
Northridge school ID #: 1216571.

You can enter my name as the student name. If you ordered any and left the student name blank, please let me know which subscriptions were yours so that my advisory class gets credit for them. (We're having a competition between classes.)

Take a look! There are pretty good prices for some really great magazines!

Who I Will Support Tomorrow

"Anyone capable of getting himself elected president should on no account be allowed to do the job." Words of wisdom from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Sometimes it takes quirky British humour/science fiction from a now-dead-guy to put things into perspective.

I'm voting Obama tomorrow. Then I'm going to Starbucks. I'm announcing this because, as a traditionally Republican state, my vote in Utah probably won't actually have any sort of impact on whether or not he gets elected.

I don't agree with Sean Hannity that Obama is working to deny us our freedom. And I highly doubt that his first order of business will be to deny Good Ol' Mr. H his constitutional right of freedom of expression, take him off the air, and turn Hannity into the William Wallace of the "conservative underground, the conservative resistance."

Sure, Obama has some "radical" ideas about the way things are being run. One of these "radical" ideas is to overhaul the No Child Left Behind law. Right now, a school can be considering a failing school because one of the 50 checkboxes is not checked. One year, Clearfield failed because only 93% (instead of 95%) of their math students took the test. All of the other boxes were checked. The average score was above the passing mark. CHS scored a 98% for their annual yearly progress. Do you know what the public heard? "Clearfield failed. School on probation. Funding yanked." This is a system that wants us to treat every child the same regardless of disabilities and requires us to teach all students. And when these schools have problems with this, like getting their tenth grade special education students to the same level as their nondisabled friends, they are punished. Yet this same system, when a bunch of banks (who actually get to choose their business practices, their customers, and who they lend money to) started going under, this same system threw money at them. And these same CEOs who ran these companies into the ground were originally going to be keeping their very large salaries.

McCain wants to pay teachers based on test scores--so I, who don't get to choose my students, am held responsible for the scores of all of them, even the ones whose parents don't have any interest in their education and enable them in their skipping of class on a regular basis. If I have trouble teaching these students, my $35,000 a year (with three years experience and a master's degree) will be slashed. He wants to throw more money into the private school forum instead of using it to help me do my job in public education. He wants to simply "tweak" the NCLB.

Honestly, I do love my job. I love it because it is exhilarating to watch my students thrive. I love it because it is academically stimulating. I love it because of the discussions and thoughts that fly around when we really latch on to an issue. And I'm a good teacher. I'm not full of myself. I'm a good teacher because I try hard. I read the research. I implement researched teaching strategies and best practices. I base my curriculum on what my students have shown me they don't know through formal and formative assessments. Luckily, I still have some freedom as to how I go about passing these skills on to my students.

If we continue to put so much emphasis on testing, and start paying teachers based on their students' scores, we're going to see drill-and-kill classrooms. School will be boring and worthless to both students and teachers. And if it gets to that point, I see myself packing up and leaving because I need a job that is fulfilling. Getting students to open their eyes and think--that's what makes teaching worthwhile in spite of the paltry salary. Preparing them for standardized tests? Boring drudge work. And standardized tests pretty much prove only that we have developed students who know how to choose "C" when guessing and to always choose "all of the above" or "none of the above" when it is an option. Most of what makes education worthwhile, and most of what students take away from their years in the system, cannot be accurately tested in a multiple-choice format.

In all likelihood, if I do end up in another profession, it will be because McCain was elected, he didn't try to fix the education system, my job became tedious and boring, and I was held accountable for factors that are beyond my control while parents were not required to take an interest in their kids' educations. And I'm not alone. If you have kids or are thinking of having kids, you have to consider what schools will be like without an overhaul. And private schools and vouchers aren't the answer. As soon as private schools take government money, they are under government scrutiny--which means standardized testing. Private schools know that. When we fought the voucher issue here in Utah, the majority of private schools said that even if vouchers were available, they wouldn't accept them. And guess what--as a private industry, private schools have the right to turn away government funding.

Education is my issue and Obama is my guy. I don't agree with everything he stands for, but I'd really like to see my job become more meaningful, education become more fairly balanced, schools and teachers become better supported, and more great new teachers enticed into the field rather than repelled away from it.

Egg Update

1. We started with 21 eggs.
2. One got squished shortly after it was laid, and two more were "slugs" (the term for a "dud").
3. The remaining 18 eggs are incubating comfortably in our new Hova-bator at 82.5 degrees and 85-89% humidity.
4. Bearded dragons can lay up to three clutches of eggs from a single mating experience.
5. It has become quite clear that Moiraine is gravid again.
6. We are expecting clutch two within the next week or two.

Battle of the Bands

First, some background info:

Before the program, audience members were instructed not to "mosh, grind, or behave inappropriately." Fair enough; we'd expect nothing less than good, clean fun from a BYU event. Yet, after the first energetic song of the evening, audience members were then instructed to "please don't jump, but be energetic." Um...yah. Apparently, at BYU, even Battle of the Bands is a reverent event. So that's why people are pretty much just standing around in these videos.

This was held in the Smith Fieldhouse...a very large gymnasium with the accoustics you would expect from a very large gymnasium. And the sound guy doesn't hold a candle to Dave, who probably could have made do with very-large-gymnasium accoustics and actually probably has done just that at least once or twice. (Which now concludes my shout-out to my bro-in-law the sound genius.)

Also, I'm on the floor trying to be energetic while keeping my feet firmly planted on the court. This was Mom's first experience with my camera and she apologizes for everything. In fact, if you'd like to return the videos, she saved the receipts. ;) Just kidding, Mom. Thanks for taking these and letting me be in the crowd!

And now on to the show!

Let's Get Crazy: (Pt. 1)

Let's Get Crazy: (Pt. 2)

Current: (Pt. 1)

Current: (Pt. 2)

Open Your Eyes:

Take On Me:

And the Winners Are...

Information is Power...Use It

Since when does having an opinion automatically make a person right?

I will be so glad when this election is over.

All the yelling and name calling. All the buttering up and flat out lies. All the bickering between people when they disagree.

What's so wrong with agreeing with something Obama believes? What's wrong with disagreeing with something McCain believes? Well, here in Utah, both appear to be grave sins.

I don't care what scandalous things either VP candidate has allegedly done. I don't need spam mail "informing" me that Obama is a Muslim terrorist (although I did get a laugh of the one that claimed he was a muslin terrorist). I am aware that McCain is old, and I don't care that he accidentally said "agree" when he meant "disagree" when trying to win over the "racist old people" in Western Pennsylvania. I don't think that makes him stupid, just human. (And the look on his face when he realizes his mistake is priceless.)

But worst of all, I am sick of people telling me how to vote when it is obvious that these people are only voting on what they are told by their siblings, parents, friends, professors, church, voices in their heads, etc. Informed discussions are one thing, but I don't know your siblings, parents, friends, or professors, I don't go to your church, and the voices only talk to you, so I'll keep my own opinion and not feel obligated to simply absorb yours. And unless you can actually have an intelligent, well-supported conversation with me about actual issues, I'm going to tune you out.

Both candidates have websites. Both websites have voting records. Forget everything they've said. Take a look at what they've DONE. Being president is about doing, and what they've done in their careers is indicative of what they WILL DO in office.

And please, stop running around touting your opinion as fact, telling me I'm wrong, or telling me I'm right. I'm informed. Join me.

Want Some Magazines? Please Help!

We're doing a fundraiser for our GSE Academy students. (If you're wondering, GSE stands for Government/Law, Social Services, Education. The students who have chosen this academy are considering careers in these areas and take elective classes geared towards them, like sociology and psychology.)

We want to send them on field trips. Right now we have one planned for the school of the deaf and blind in Ogden, and we also will be sending our Seniors to the state prison. This is the most popular field trip in the school and is always very powerful. Unfortunately, gas prices make field trips extremely expensive.

Our kids are selling magazine subscriptions. (I am, too.) Go to the link below and enter our Northridge school ID #: 1216571.

www.gaschoolstore.com

Most year subscriptions are $20-$40. There are some REALLY popular magazines to choose from--I promise, it's not lame. If you already subscribe to a magazine, ordering a subscription through us will extend your current subscription for one year.

Happy shopping!

We're Expecting!

So Moiraine has been acting somewhat silly lately. She spent a lot of time in her water dish the past couple of weeks. On Friday night, I was watching television online and I noticed she seemed rather lumpy. Look under her arm in this picture. (She's on the left.)
Plus, she was running laps in her tank and digging almost nonstop. These are all indicators of gravidity ("gravid" means "full of eggs"). I put my hand under her belly and was pretty sure that I felt little orbs in there. Al called to tell me he was going to the gym after work and I told him he needed to come home and verify my opinion. We ended up hitting Lowes for nesting materials: A sweater box and some vermiculite. (In the picture above, she has been in her vermiculite and there is some on her head.)

She spent the entire night in the box and continued to dig in there all day Saturday (Oct. 11). I vacuumed at about 5:00pm and still no eggs. At about 6:30, I peeked in and she was busy laying!

She laid 21 eggs, but one got squished. We've rigged an incubator and have a real one coming in about a week or so. We were SO not prepared for this!

The eggs should hatch in 55-85 days. We're incubating them at a lower temperature. This takes longer, but the dragons that are hatched have a better disposition.

Just so you know, this shouldn't have happened this quickly. Usually, to get bearded dragons to breed, you need to simulate the changing of the seasons (known as "brumation") by lowering temperatures and reducing light. It is about a 12 week process. Then, their instinct is to breed. We put these two together on the evening of September 22. Females lay their eggs about a month after this event. So, you can tell that they got right down to business!

We don't know how successful we'll be with this clutch. We weren't expecting her to be gravid, so we were feeding her the regular diet. We do keep them pretty well fed, but we should have been giving her more protein and calcium supplements to help the formation of the eggs. This just helps the shells to be stronger and her to recover more quickly. However, it is likely that she'll lay one or two more clutches from this single breeding experience, so we've improved her diet.

So, does anyone want a beared dragon around January/February?

P.S. Jeff and Ashley came over to a Rock Band Pizza Party just after Moiraine emerged from her box. The subject line was his idea.

Congratulations, Jake and Ashlee!

On Thursday, our good friends Jake and Ashlee got married. Congratulations! Thanks for letting us share your day!

Thursday's New Trick

So Thursday thinks she's a cat. She loves the walnut tree near the driveway. When we come home, she runs down the driveway and jumps in the tree. Just to the right of her head is the knot that she uses to grab onto with her teeth and help pull herself up. She's getting pretty good!
And here she is in action!

Eat at Chili's on Monday!

"November 14, 2007 marked the national grand opening of the Chili's Care Center. The Care Center, which will house the major treatment and research programs for brain tumor and bone marrow transplant patients, was made possible by donations from Chili's annual Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign. Create-A-Pepper grew out of a local fundraising campaign for St. Jude in 2002 and became a national campaign in 2004. The campaign offers guests the opportunity to donate to St. Jude by customizing a signature Chili's pepper coloring sheet. Funds raised from the campaign contribute to Chili's 10-year plan to donate $50 million for the construction of the Chili's Care Center." --www.chilis.com

Go eat tomorrow, Monday, September 29. Any Chili's will do, no matter where you are! All locations will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude. Enjoy great food, a fun time, and the satisfaction of doing something good for very small, innocent, cancer patients.

Did I manage to bring a tear to your eye? If not, check out some real St. Jude patient stories at:

http://www.createapepper.com/Donate.aspx

Reptile Expo

Last Sunday, Al and I went to the Wasatch Reptile Expo with his mom and Valerie. We had a lot of fun there and saw some pretty cool animals.

Carlene (who we got Trillian from) was there with some newly hatched rainbow boas (about a month old). This picture isn't great. They look like a beautiful cherry-red suede. Carlene had to move her business, Tropical Encounters, because the rent in her original store space went up. She wasn't able to make it in the new location. Now she's operating online and through her home and is going down to birds only. She was working on selling off all of her reptiles and reptile care products.

Here are some other snakes we saw:

A Bumblebee Ball Python for $1,500:


These big ones weren't for sale, but you can go through a company like Creature Encounters to have a reptile-themed birthday party complete with reptiles and handlers.

A Tiger Reticulated Python (Retics tend to be aggressive):

This Albino Burmese Python's name was Nanners. It is actually small for a Burm:

Here is a Reticulated Python that is small for the breed. This was on display with rescued reptiles.

A Dumeril's Boa--Al used to own one of these (Her name was Xena because these snakes can hold on really tight):

These were the stars of the show--three Goldfinger Ball Pythons. One million for each of the females, but the male is a bargain at only 750,000. These were bred by Black Lotus Reptiles out of Tooelle here in Utah. Right now, these are the only three in existence. It remains to be seen whether or not this was luck or reproducible genetics.

Al's very excited about his ball python plan now. He talked to one of the breeders there and is going to be looking at breeding Mojaves and Cinnamons into the "super" versions of each snake. The super Mojaves are pure white. The super Cinnamons are pure brown. I'm not sure why he didn't take pictures.

Here are some non-snakes. I love the noses on these guys!


And some Chameleons. Sorry I didn't flip this pic:



And the bearded dragons!

There was a vendor there, Rhett's Pets, who had an interesting story. This family has a son with Down Syndrome and they haven't been treated very well by the whole mess that is US health care. They started breeding and selling reptiles to help off-set his medical bills. Check out their webpage:

http://rhettsjourney.blogspot.com/

We stopped by the Reptile Depot area and picked up quite a few supplies for our own bearded dragons. We usually order from them online, so it was nice to not have to pay shipping!

After the expo, we went to the Gateway to eat and shop a little. I made myself a Build-A-Bear for my classroom. Her name is Minerva and she's dressed for Halloween! (The picture was taken at Al's mom's house, after we were done shopping.)

When we got home, we decided it was time to get our two bearded dragons together. They kept a close eye on one another and didn't move very much for the first hour or so.

Moraine is the larger of the two. She's on the left. Rand, the male, who is also smaller, was introduced into her cage. He hid out in the digging pan while she stood very still and stared at him.

Eventually, they both came over to the warm side of the tank and basked.

They're still getting along great. They're doing a lot of the cute Beardie behaviors now that there are two of them, like head bobbing and arm waving.