News From The Mews

Our tree frog tends to be a little shy. Or maybe he just seems that way because tree frogs are mostly nocturnal. He spends most days resting at the top edge of his habitat and comes down at night to jump in his water bath or eat a meal.  We leave a few mealworms in a dish overnight for him to snack on. Sometimes he decides not to eat and I scoop the leftovers back up in the morning. One day this week, I was surprised to see that one of the mealworms had transformed.  The frog's leftovers: a mealworm (top) and a pupa (bottom). Mealworms are the larval phase of a Darkling Beetle. Just like butterflies, these beetles have a four-stage life cycle. Larvae (or caterpillars, in the case of butterflies) emerge from eggs. Next is the pupa, more commonly known as the chrysalis phase in butterflies. This is the cozy cocoon where the insect transforms their body and crawls out as an adult beetle or butterfly. Darkling beetle lifecycle (uen.org) The frog's leftover mealworm had become a pu...

When I checked on Aldo to see if he was enjoying his meal, he hunched over and drooped his wings so I couldn't see the mouse clutched in his talons. This behavior, called mantling, is common in hungry raptors trying to hide their food from predators that might want to steal it. Aldo didn't realize that I was looking forward to my peanut butter sandwich for lunch and had no interest in snagging his mouse.  Once I stepped away, I could see his shadow proving that he went back to his meal: 

This may look like a simple photo of a snake. But this scene means so much more to me. I don't just see a snake here; I see a happy snake.   I'm not an expert in snake body language or emotions. I can't claim to know what Emory is thinking or feeling here. But what I can see is a snake stretched out under her heat lamp, looking out into the world. This is a snake that is relaxed and observing the activity around her, not running away from it.  It seems so often that Emory spends most of her time curled up tightly under one of her caves. At the sight of any movement, she usually recoils back to her safe hide. The snake in this photo seems comparatively calm, feeling safe enough to spread out and watch me take the photo. She looks just about as happy as a snake can look, in my opinion!