2025 Highlights

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Missing

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One morning, the Tiger Salamander was nowhere to be seen in his habitat. I thought it was unusual since his face was always visible at his burrow entrance. I still couldn't see him the next day. Oh well , I thought, salamanders like to dig, so he's probably hiding deep in the substrate. He'll come up when he gets hungry. Days kept passing with no sign of him. I started to get more and more worried. I shone a flashlight down his burrow hole. Nothing. I gently poked my finger around the substrate. No movement.  After a week and a half, I was convinced something terrible had happened. Did he get trapped, starve, or impossibly escape? For what I was convinced was a rescue or recovery mission, I stripped down his habitat and started excavating the substrate as if I were an archaeologist seeking fragile artifacts. After some digging, I lifted the large fern and I felt a leap of relief. There was the tail end of the salamander. He wiggled, telling me he was alive and not pleased a...
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A New Crate

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If you've been following my articles, you may know that little things can delight me. One of those little things tickled my fancy this week when I spotted a few plastic dog kennels at the UCC garage sale.  I began picturing our emergency bird crate at the Museum. The crate sits outside, just in case a fire or other disaster prevents us from entering the building. The emergency crate could help us evacuate one of the birds. Unfortunately our emergency crate was pretty janky. A creative person, long ago, modified this crate to stand upright on the metal door. The old emergency crate. (click for larger image) I've only kept it because it would theoretically hold a bird in an emergency.  When I saw the crates at the UCC sale, I realized we could finally replace it with an affordable, more reliable option. My eyes lit up when I saw this particular crate. It's an old style that I can't find online anymore. The plastic is more sturdy and it has perfectly placed ergonomic hand ...
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Snake Data

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I started recording our snakes' behaviors  in 2023 and invited Museum visitors to contribute their observations while visiting the Curiosity Center. A QR code routes to a form where staff or visitors answer questions about what the snakes are doing. Where is the snake? What is she doing? How does she respond if you move in front of her window? I checked in on the results this week and was pleased to see so many responses, over half of which were submitted by visitors. One commented, "Love this interactive info request!" I'm so happy that this project has given people a new way to interact with our live animals! Not surprisingly, the data pointed to two common reptile characteristics. Both Digger and Emory spent the most time close to their heat lamps, and they both spent most of their time motionless. As ectothermic animals that can't create their own body heat, it makes sense that they spend time in warm places and conserve energy by resting. I also noticed trend...
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