|
Jonathan's Jungle
News from
October
- December 2008
22nd
December 2008
Many apologies to my
regular News page checkers for the lack of updates
during December, I truly don't know where the time
has gone! I would like to take this
opportunity to wish you all a very
Merry Christmas
and a wonderful start to 2009 as well!
I can't
believe that nearly a year has gone by since I
reported here on the birth of my daughter Kaitlyn
last Christmas eve, as 2008 seems to have passed by
more quickly than any other year I can remember in
my life so far! It has been a fantastic first
full year in business for Jonathan's Jungle Roadshow
during which my animals and I have met thousands of
lovely people at schools, colleges & preschools as
well as at parties, fetes and countless other
special events!
Thank
you to each and every one of you for enabling me to
have the best job in the world, I really appreciate
your custom and support and will look forward to
seeing many of you again in the coming year! I
have acquired many new animals during the latter
part of 2008 so please check out the
Meet the Animals
page to see some of the fantastic new additions to
my collection who you could meet during our next
visit, with a few extras to be added in the New
Year as well...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25th November 2008
I acquired a new animal today and it is another
about which I am very excited! This beautiful
creature is a spiny tailed or
ridge-tailed monitor, a small species of monitor
lizard from northern and north-western Australia.
For lots more pictures and
information about this most gorgeous of animals
please click here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since my last update,
Boaz the Boa constrictor has
shed his skin again and it came off in one complete
piece without any damage at all! You can see
from the picture below just how large Boaz is, I am
about 5'9" or 175cm to give an idea of scale!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whilst not being 'new'
animals to my collection, in the sense that I have
not only just received them, I also have a couple of
other new animals on my website as of today.
This is because they were bought as babies and are
only just now large enough to consider taking out
with me as part of my jungle roadshow! The
first of these is a remarkable species of praying
mantis commonly known as the
long-necked praying
mantis, click on the name to find out more!
As you can see from the
picture below, these mantids were truly tiny when I
first bought them back in July!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other 'new' species is
a fantastic species of Vietnamese stick insect which
does not have a common name but whose scientific
name is
Pharnacia jianfenglingensis
which I'm sure you'll agree is quite
a mouthful! At present they are still not
fully grown despite already being quite large as you
can see here!:
When I first received these
in July 2008 they were far smaller and also a
different colour as you can see below. Quite a
number of species of stick insects go through huge
colour and pattern changes during their life cycle
which adds to the fascination of keeping them!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12th November 2008
As promised yesterday, here
are just a few pictures of some of my most recently
hatched baby crested
geckos! They are all beautiful and as you
can see below they are very varied in both pattern
and colours already, but these will change a lot
during their lives!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whilst I had my camera out
taking these pictures this evening I decided to have
a close look at how my other pregnant
imperial scorpion was
doing and took a few photographs of her too!
Her body is hugely swollen as she could be carrying
up to 25 or even more baby scorpions inside her
which, based on her size, could be due to arrive
sometime soon... Watch this space for more baby news
as and when it happens!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11th
November 2008
I acquired another
beautiful new snake at the weekend, and this one is
the first of its kind which I have ever kept.
It is a species commonly known as a
blood python due
simply to the rich red/orange colouration which they
often have as adults. This one was only
hatched in August 2008 but is already very
attractive indeed and feeding especially well!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As well as this new snake I
have also introduced my two
baby Boa constrictors
to each other, and they now share a vivarium.
These two snakes are actually siblings, and within a
few minutes of being in together they seemed to have
decided to have a bit of a cuddle as I found them
intertwined with each other, it looked really cute
so I thought I would share it here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the past two weeks I
have had my last crested gecko babies for 2008
hatch! In total I have hatched 23 babies
this year and am expecting many more than 30 next
year as I now have three breeding groups, each with one male
and two females. Like all the others, these
last few babies have been really beautiful and I
will post some pictures of them tomorrow.......
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24th
October 2008
This morning I was
delighted to find that Ruby the
Mexican red knee tarantula had moulted again!
No matter how many times I witness the scene of a
tarantula and its freshly moulted exoskeleton I
still find it absolutely fascinating! Here is
the scene which greeted me on my checking
rounds this morning, with the 'real' Ruby on the
left hand side and her empty moulted exoskeleton on
the right hand side:
For more information about
how the moulting process works please visit the page
dedicated to Rosanna,
my Chile rose tarantula, by clicking on her
name. There you will find a sequence of
photographs showing a tarantula actually going
through the moulting process and it truly is
fascinating. Here is Ruby looking gorgeous
after this morning's moult:
Finally, here
is Ruby's moulted exoskeleton having been removed
from her enclosure. As you can see it looks remarkably like
her but it is nothing more than the empty case or
skin which she previously lived in until last night,
and it is correctly called an exuvium:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21st
October 2008
I acquired several new
animals last weekend following a visit to the UK's
largest annual invertebrate exhibition and trade fair in
London! The most unusual of these is
definitely this first one, which is a
Vinegaroon or Whipscorpion
from the Philippines! I have decided to name
her Malt after the type of vinegar!
Despite her fearsome
appearance Malt is actually quite harmless, unless
you are an insect or other small animal of course! For more pictures and
information about this truly amazing creature click
here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also bought an adult pair
of beautiful
desert
hairy scorpions, which originate from the
deserts of Arizona and California in the southern
USA. These are the largest species of
scorpions in North America and are able to reach
lengths of 15cm. Like
all scorpions they are venomous but the venom of
this species is mild and does not pose a threat to
people, unlike some other desert scorpion species
which I will never keep!
For more pictures and
information about these lovely scorpions please click
here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As well
as the vinegaroon and scorpions I also bought a
beautiful pair of rhinoceros beetles which do not
have a common name but whose scientific name is
Xylotrupes
gideon siamensis which I'm sure you'll agree
is a bit of a mouthful! These are one of the
most common rhinoceros beetles across southeast Asia
and these particular beetles originated in Thailand.
The male has very impressive horns as you can see
below, hence the name rhinoceros beetles!
The
female does not have any horns at all as you can see
in this picture of the two of them together:
For more
pictures and information about these beautiful
beetles please click
here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As well
as this fabulous new selection of invertebrates I
also collected two baby
Boa constrictors which were bred by a friend of
mine in Stoke-on-Trent. We had arranged for me
to collect them on Saturday several weeks ago, and I
had been excitedly waiting for the day to arrive!
They were well worth the wait as they are
absolutely gorgeous as you can see below:
For more
information about these wonderful babies please
click here.
They are certainly a LOT smaller than my other Boa
constrictor, the lovely Boaz as featured below!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16th
October 2008
Boaz the
Boa constrictor has shed his skin this week!
The pictures below clearly show the difference in
his skin colour before and after shedding. The
first picture shows his 'before' colours which are
really dull, and his eyes have a bluish or cloudy
appearance. This is caused by a build-up of
fluid between the old outer skin and the new inner
skin. This fluid helped Boaz to shed his skin
when the time was right, by allowing it to slide off
more easily.
These pictures show the
'after' colours, which as you can see are beautiful
and bright!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of my baby
Imperial scorpions have
moulted again this week and are now looking even
darker and just a little more like their parents.
They are still very small, only about 2-3cm in
length, so have a long way to go before they reach
the 15cm lengths of the adults. They will
become darker in colour each time they moult too
until they are jet black like their parents!
They are now completely
independent from their mother and feeding by
themselves. I caught this one in the act last
night, they are feeding on tiny baby crickets which
I breed myself to ensure that there is always a
steady supply of food for them!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have
continued to have nymphs of my
Haaniella dehaani
stick insects hatch regularly in recent weeks and
was amazed this week to find how much size
difference there was between the newest to hatch and
the ones which hatched in early September, as
reported on 9th September 2008. The larger
nymph in the pictures below can only be a maximum of
six weeks old but has already moulted at least twice
and is looking huge in comparison to the little one
as you can see!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd
October 2008
A lot has happened in the
time since my last update! Firstly
this morning I found that Emilia, my beautiful
Mexican redleg tarantula,
had moulted overnight. I had known this was
going to happen some time soon as her colouration
had become quite drab recently, a sure sign of
getting ready to moult, but even when I know that a
tarantula is going to moult it still takes me by
surprise to see what looks like two tarantulas in
their enclosure!
The
'second' tarantula, the one on the right in the
picture above, is of course not a real tarantula but
is simply Emilia's shed exoskeleton or exuvium.
Those of you who have been checking my website
regularly for a period of time will have seen
several other examples of the tarantula moulting
process, but for anyone who is new to the website
and not familiar with it this is truly one of the
most amazing things you could ever hope to witness
in the natural world!!
I don't
believe I will ever grow tired of seeing the results
of it no matter how many times I see it happen, or
witness scenes like the one above after it has
happened! For a full description and sequence
of photographs taken during the moulting
process of one of my other tarantulas please check
out Rosanna, my Chile rose
tarantula's page, by clicking either on her name or
here.
The
picture below is of the shed exuvium once it has
been 'set', with the legs in fixed positions rather
than the crumpled heap in which the tarantula leaves
it after moulting as seen above! This is
simply done by placing it on a moistened paper towel
in an airtight container overnight, to make it soft
and easy to manipulate, then carefully moving the
legs into position before allowing it to dry again
into the new shape.
It
always amazes me how during the moulting process the
tarantula manages to pull its entire new exoskeleton
free from the exuvium, legs and all, without
damaging the exuvium or indeed its new body!
The way in which it gets its 'new' legs and body out
of the old one is quite amazing. It is
described on Rosanna's page but basically when the
tarantula is on its back and ready to moult it makes
a slit at the front end of its 'head', or
carapace as it is correctly known, which then
pops open allowing the legs, fangs and other body
parts to be pulled free from the exuvium.
The
picture below shows her exuvium with the carapace
removed, and you can clearly see the holes through
which Emilia's legs and other body parts have been
pulled free during the moulting process.
The pictures above also
show how drab and dull Emilia's colours were just
before she moulted. Now that she has a brand
new exoskeleton she is looking rather beautiful as
you can see below, with a lovely black base colour
and gorgeous pinkish-red leg sections!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As well as Emilia I have
had many other animals moult during the past few
weeks. In fact the truth is that with the size
of collection of animals I have here now there are
at least a couple of animals moulting every day, and
if I reported on all of them I would never be away
from my computer! However, even though
moulting is a common occurrence it is rare that I
actually witness it as many of the animals I keep
moult during the night, or when I am out and about
visiting schools and other children's groups!
So I was delighted to catch another young
jungle
nymph moulting this week, especially as she did it
in full view of my camera!!
Like all stick insects,
jungle nymphs moult whilst hanging upside down.
In the wild this would usually mean hanging from a
branch or clump of leaves, but in captivity the
nylon mesh enclosures in which I keep them offer an
excellent surface to grip to whilst moulting!
The picture above clearly
shows that even though the jungle nymph has already
pulled all of its legs out of its old exoskeleton,
the claws of the empty exoskeleton are strong
enough to keep a tight grip on the mesh! This
is because the jungle nymph has made a completely
new exoskeleton or body for itself, so the now-empty
claws of the old one are left behind along with all
the other body parts but remain as sharp and tough
as they ever were!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of
my baby Imperial scorpions
have also now moulted and despite still being tiny
they are now looking much more like scorpions,
rather than the blobs of white jelly with legs which
they resembled in the pictures taken just after
their birth as per the news item dated 9th
September!
Despite
the fact that they still spend most of their time on
their mother's back, they do now occasionally come
down to the ground for an explore as you can see
above! This is how I was able to get the
photographs below - I would never try to remove one
of the babies from their mother's back as she can
still be very defensive of her little ones at this
stage and will try to sting or pinch anything that
moves near to them! Whilst the sting is
venomous it is not usually dangerous to humans, but
having been stung by one of my adults last year I
would not choose to risk it happening again as it
was quite painful!
Aren't
they adorable? At this size the sting is not
even able to break the skin and in fact the babies
are surprisingly calm and docile when being handled
anyway, not even making any attempt to sting as long
as you handle them gently as I always do!
|
