u/StillSea9674

I live in Minnesota US. This guy or gal sits outside on the stoop to my apartment building every night. I haven’t seen one this kind of muted color before so wondering if it’s just natural variation or a species I just haven’t seen before?

My boyfriend managed a dsp and could bring our pup to work with him. For a high energy dog, it was a nice way to get her energy out 😆

I’ve been raising monarchs for years now. I was introduced to it in school in my first grade class and have been doing it every summer into adulthood now. Some years, when I have more time, I’ll get really into it and track stats and raise a bunch. Other years, like now when I’m busy, I’ll only manage a handful.

Anyways I found this caterpillar as an egg at my parents’ house on July 4th. It hatched July 5th and is still a caterpillar. I think it might be making its chrysalis now finally. Is this a bit on the late side or does weather and time of year heavily influence this?

The picture gives it away but I walked by him so many times before he finally decided to pay attention to me calling for him and trilled back 🤦‍♀️

She was white when I got her, but under certain lighting I see every color now so it’s confusing lol

This was a mug my parents gave my grandpa when I was born. My parents had me quite young. It was my first picture, I think I was a day old. Circa late 80’s. My grandparents moved and were downsizing, they gave it to my parents who gave it to me. I think it looks its age 😆

Just some pictures I think are cool that I took hiking near where I live a year or so ago.

I’ll keep this as brief as I can but I tend to ramble. I also am amazed at the amount of cat subreddits and just found this one and wanted to share after lurking 😆

Anyways I’ll just say I’m a pet person and I’ve always wanted a cat. Unfortunately for me I also have asthma, and was a really sick kid. Pet dander was a huge trigger when I was younger, and have had hospital stays from having sleepovers at friends houses that had a cat.

This was a long time ago and luckily for me, over the years, I’ve been able to have dogs and now a cat finally. After 30+ years of waiting I’m able to have one. So a year ago my partner and I started looking at shelters for one. The cat we were interested had quite a story unbeknownst to us.

Koda was seized from owners who lived rurally and had hundreds of cats and dogs. They were charged with multiple counts of animal hoarding, abuse, neglect, and even torture. By the time of the seizure it’s estimated the owners panicked and killed around 200 animals that were unaccounted for. He’s 7 years old and was likely living in a cage, although some cats were also living in sheds. I’m not sure if he’d been living this way his whole life or not. He had a couple surgeries at the shelter before becoming available to adopt. Now he has a permanent head tilt, ataxic gait, and fhv. He’s also missing some teeth. He had a hernia, ear infection and Giardia as well.

I’ve had him over a year now and he’s not nearly as wobbly, and has even been able to jump on the bed by himself! He’s such a character. Super confident and friendly. He’s really a big ham. At first he was very unsure about soft surfaces and would only sleep on cardboard boxes or his cardboard scratcher. After 6 months he’d sleep on the bed next to me but was wary of blankets, so none could be touching him. After 1 whole year he finally started laying on blankets and realized he loved it!

I’m so grateful to be able to have a cat, and so glad it’s him! I’ll include the first picture I got of him, when he we first got home from the shelter.

I am someone who would consider themselves an arachnophobe but doesn’t want to be. I did a ton of research and bought all my supplies and ordered 3 slings about 4 years ago. The slings were a T. Albopilosus, D. Pentaloris, and K. Brunnipes (they were all 1/4” to 1/2”).

The albo molted once with me and died before another molt. I’m not sure why this one passed. I did include water dishes in all my enclosures. The brunnipes molted a few times and died during what I think was the fourth molt. The pentaloris I had for about 3 years and I’m pretty sure matured out male and died of natural causes.

I was a little dejected that I had two early deaths out of the three I had purchased so I didn’t get any more. I’m not sure if it was down to my husbandry or the two that passed just weren’t viable. I did include fake plants/moss, water dishes, cork bark, and deep substrate for burrowing in all my enclosures.

I did enjoy keeping the D. Pentaloris. He webbed a lot, was beautiful, grew quick and ate well, and I saw him often which I liked. I really only had the experience of rehousing him a couple of times.

I have these two enclosures plus a 5 gallon tank currently. I’m wondering what size/species might be a good fit to get some confidence back. Or even any tips in general. I really did like the d. Pentaloris, and think about him often so I want to get back into it.

I’ve been in this hobby for about 10 years now. But my dedication really ebbs and flows. During the winter I tend to lose a couple of my plants due to the extreme dryness of where I live. I get down because of this and lose some interest unfortunately. Usually I get the passion back during the warmer months.

So my collection has really gotten pared down, my largest genus collection has remained anthuriums because they seem to survive the winter the best and then respond the best to extra attention afterwards.

Anyways here’s a few of my anthurium hybrids that I’m extra proud of for rewarding me with some new growth after a repot and some fertilizing 🌱