My Non-Herp Pets

Jazzmine
My family's miniature poodle.  We got her in July of 1998, and she was our first dog. She is so smart... poodles are amazingly talented.  We do not have to worry about her running away, because she is so attached to us, that she doesn't want to go anywhere without one of us around.  When we take her outside, we don't need a leash because she will always come when we call or follow us.  She has no interest in wandering away.  Warm blooded animals have their benefits. :)

My Herp Family

Xena
She is a female Hypomelanistic banded motley corn snake.  She was sold as 'normal', but as she aged, she definitely took on those  unusual characteristics.  Xena is the corn snake that started this website.  I bought her at a local reptile expo in September of 2000.  She continues to be one of my favorite pets, and I use her when I am presenting to children.  She seems to love them, and I trust that she will never bite them, no matter where she is poked. 

Acadia
This snake is a Charcoal male.  I bought him in September of 2001.  He was such a shy baby, and would try to scare me off by tail rattling.  Hw would always hide in his log or under his bedding, and was never very social.  Gradually he is becoming less afraid, and his disposition has improved greatly.  I have only been bitten by him once, but he was in the mood for food, so I guess I deserved it. 

Einstein
She is the newest addition to my family of corn snakes.  I had obtained a clutch of about 20 Reverse Okeetees, and out of them all, I found Einstein to be one that I was going to keep.  She gets her name from an unusually large ... well, brain!  The top of her head is raised, making her look like she has an enlarged brain; we shall see if it makes her smarter than other corn snakes!  She was born in October of 2004.

Spike
Spike is a Sunglow phase Bearded Dragon.  He technically belongs to my brother, but lives in my room.  My brother never handled him much when he was young, so he used to be one of the most unsocial Beardies I had ever seen... but now that I have taken it upon myself to handle him more, he seems to absolutely love the attention.

Webby
Webby is a female Blue-Webbed Gliding treefrog.  I bought her at the 2005 May reptile show in NC, for 10$.  She is larger than the greys, but they all live together.  Her webbed feet have beautiful blue webbing.  She doesn't mind the handling, and is quite laid back.  I am planning to redo the cage when I get back from school, so that it will be more "flyer friendly" and she will have lots of things to jump around on.

Big Guy
Big Guy is a female gray tree frog (yes, contrary to the name) my mom found in the ground one day from gardening. I have had her in captivity since 1998 I believe. She is beginning to have clouded lenses because of her age, and I have to hand feed her. She is very eager for food, because every time she senses movement she jumps at it. If I move outside the tank, she will leap for some tidbit she thinks is there. Big Guy is the largest gray tree frog that I have had; she is about twice the size of Grayboy (about 2 inches long, and about the same wide, ^_~).
 

Scar Face
Scar Face was the unfortunate victim of an ill-conceived outdoor habitat. My brother had built a screen cage for his Veiled Chameleon, Frank. But this 6-foot cage would not fit in the house. We decided to house gray tree frogs in it. We caught about 8 total and kept them in it. However we noticed that their noses started to become raw and red. So we decided to let them go, but we needed to rehabilitate Scar Face because his nose looked pretty bad. We never got around to letting him back out into the wild, but I think he likes being fed until he can't eat anymore.




New Guy
As I get older I just get less creative with names, don't I? Haha... anyway I acquired New Guy during a pass through my living room one night in 2003 I believe. I was about to go to bed and I saw something dark on the floor of the living room. I turned on the lights and there was a pretty sorry looking dehydrated gray tree frog. I took him in and now he's as fat as the rest of them.




 

Previous Pets

Simon and Paula
Simon and Paula were Madagascar Hissing cockroaches.  They lived with me in my dorm room, since I am not allowed any reptiles.  I named one Simon because of the game "Simon Says," since he talks (hisses).  The other I named Paula because... well, I don't really know.  The hissing cockroaches are really nice pets... low maintenance and small.  They live under my desk in a plastic cage with aspen bedding.  Paula died with an egg sac inside her... when I dissected her it looked as if her whole inside was replaced with that egg sac.  Weird.

Bub
I bought this beautiful Beta fish during December of 2004.  His fins are unusually shaped, which is why I picked him.  You can see how they are flayed, with fingers on each ray.  He did not like dorm life.... Bub only lived about a week.

Mickey
My second snow corn snake.  She was named Mickey because she had two spots fused together that created a Mickey Mouse head on her body.  She was about 2 and a half years old when she escaped in 2003, and I have not seen her since.  Mickey was a rather aggressive corn snake... maybe she wanted to see the world?

Marie
Marie was my female Veiled Chameleon. I bought her at my local reptile show in May 2000. I had nice 3x3x3 screen cage I built for her in my room. But, when I was away in the summer of 2004, my brother and my dad became tired of feeding her.  They screened off a bush outside (a HUGE bush) and put her in it so she could "catch her own food" so they didn't have to feed her.  Well, needless to say, when I got back, no one could find her in the bush. So after about two weeks, we uncovered the bush and considered her lost.

Grayboy
Grayboy was a male gray tree frog that I had in my captivity for 10 years (since 1994). I found him while my family was on a trip at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and it was the night before we were going to leave. There was a big rainstorm at the time, and I found him on the garage of the beach house. I wanted to bring him home, so my mom let me put him in a milk jug for the 4-hour ride home. He was my first long-term pet, and I can remember bringing him in for show-and-tell to my second grade class. When I was younger than 10, I would bring him in the shower with me (haha) and he would climb on the walls or sit on the hand bar and let the "rain" pound on him. He would even chirp sometimes! Grayboy was a very calm frog, compared to the other three gray tree frogs I have. He loved to sit on my hand and just go to sleep, with his little feet tucked up under himself. Towards the later years, he would gradually stop chirping when the phone rang (yes, every time the phone rang) and his light gray color dulled as his eyes clouded up. At about 5 or 6 years old I began to hand feed him, because he had trouble hunting because of the clouded lenses. He still would climb and jump, and did so until the end.

Grayboy died, I believe, because of restricted intestines. Late 2003 I noticed he had a prolapsed rectum, and I could not determine why. He still ate, and did not become listless or emaciated, so I continued to feed him. Then, I sadly noticed that one of my long hairs was poking out of his vent. For the life of me I could not figure out how he swallowed a whole hair (it was about a foot long). I watched every day to make sure it was coming out, and eventually I pulled it out myself. His vent got a little better, but a few weeks later I noticed another hair (How did he get a hold of TWO hairs?) I tried removing this one also, but it was stuck. I figured he only had a few weeks to live, because it was most likely cutting off his intestines. However, he lived, ate and pooped for about 3 more months, until Valentines Day 2004 I found him dead in the tank. I was sad, but I had known for a long time that the end was near.
 

Beryl
This was a male anole I purchased at a pet store. Beryl means, "green jewel" in Greek. He passed away in the frog tank... presumably from dehydration. The atmosphere just wasn't right for him. I had never had luck with anoles, though they are said to be an easy creature to care for.
 

Lizzie
This is an Eastern Fence Lizard that I had for a pet when I was about 10 or 11. My brother and I found her in my backyard and kept her as a short-term pet. She was an unusual wild pet, and I say wild pet because we kept finding her over and over again in our yard once we let her go. Lizzie was very comfortable around people, and not skittish like lizards usually are. My brother and I could hold her, we would stick her in our shirt pocket and she would sit there with her arms hanging out. My brother would even have her hang by her back feet from the brim of his hat! She returned for a couple summers, but then disappeared.
 

Slimy Salamander
In the spring of 2001 I had a Slimy Salamander for a pet. I found it under a log in my backyard. It is very rare to find amphibians in my yard other than frogs and toads. I had it in a terrarium with a log hide and mulch bedding for about a month, and then had to let it go because it was too much to keep the tank wet all the time. Also, it ate worms and worms take time to dig up. But it was an experience, and it taught me a lot.
 

Frank
My brother's veiled chameleon, Frank, had a very nasty disposition. He did not like to be held, but he had very appealing colors. We bought him as a baby in May of 2001. We had a 3x3x6 foot cage for him, made with piping and screening. For plants we had a philodendron, ficus, schefflera and a few long sticks. He died early Feb of 2003, because of complications with an impaction. He kept eating the bark on the bottom of his cage, which clogged his intestines. We still can't figure why the heck he did that...
 

Greenie, Little Guy, and Little Greenie
These frogs are all Squirrel Tree frogs that I found in my backyard or a neighbor gave to us. They have since died, and only lived a max of 3 years in captivity. They do not last long and do not like to be held, but otherwise, they are great pets. They eat well and make a nice chirp if you get a male. I loved all of them, even if they didn't live long.
 

The Plains Garter Snake
This is the first snake that I have ever had, but I had it during the summer of 2000, and then let it go at the beginning of fall and owning it only for about 3 months. But, nonetheless, I can't ever forget the first snake that I had. It was an Eastern Plains Garter snake and was caught in my backyard. I didn't really name it, I think I called it Mr. Snake (ha ha...). It had a nasty temper, but rarely showed it. The reason that made me let it go was the fact that it would only eat earthworms. It refused to eat fishing worms from the store (is there a difference?) and got angry when I tricked it into eating one. Since it was nearing winter, my worm supply was running out, so I let it go. Then, that September, I got my first corn, Xena. I'm glad I decided to buy a domesticated snake, rather than keep a wild one.

Others:

Fire Belly Frogs
African Clawed Frogs
African Horned Frog
Flying Geckos
Madagascar Gecko
Madagascar Anole
 

Previous Encounters

This group includes animals that I haven't kept as pets, but have caught in a bucket and released. Some of these I fed before I let them go. :)
 

Black Rat Snake
I am the kind of person that will stop for animals in the road.  I will most likely carry them home with me rather than move them to one side of the road, mainly because they will probably try to cross again...
One day I was driving home from school, and as I neared my house, I had to slam on my breaks and swerve to avoid a black rat snake in the road (the road was deserted, thankfully).  I pulled the car over, and got out to investigate the aftermath... the snake was no where on the road.  I looked on the side in the grass, and there he was.  Now, I do not encounter many black rats in my neighborhood, much less get the chance to catch one.  So, I dove after him as he tried to crawl away into the woods... but I grabbed his tail and he was mine.  He was, I think, trying to bite me, but he could not bring his upper body high enough to do so, since I had him by the tail.  I went to my car (still holding him by the tail and dodging the whole way) and found a handkerchief, which I used to grab his head.  I got into the car, and with handkerchiefed snake in one hand, I drove home with the other.   I got home and immediately went to my mom in the kitchen and showed her what I had found... she could hardly believe I actually drove home with it.  I only kept him a couple days, mainly because I was waiting for a warm day to release him on... but it being the fading days of fall, those were few and far between, so I released him after two days.

Northern Water Snake
My brother found a baby Northern Water snake on our driveway and put him in a bucket. Since he was young ( 6 or 8 inches long) we kept him for only a short while, but did get to watch him eat a minnow from our pond.
 

Baby Copperhead
My mom found him while she was gardening... my brother and I caught him (***never do this unless you know what you are doing... and always have an adult around. We used gloves and a stick and did not get within striking distance) and put him in a bucket with leaf litter, despite orders to kill it. I had never seen a baby copperhead up close before, and I really noticed his green tail. He was cute, even though dangerous. Here comes the really amazing part - I warmed up a pinky from my freezer and hung it in front of him with chopsticks. He struck at it, waited for it to "die" and then ate it! I was amazed because it is very hard to get a wild snake to eat dead food. I asked my mom if we could keep him... but I knew she wouldn't let us. Instead of killing him we took him up to a forested area about a mile or two away from people.
 

Worm Snake
I caught a worm snake out in my woods under a board, and my brother is away at camp so I am keeping him until he gets back. We've seen lots of worm snakes before, and they're kind of neat. A worm snake is a small burrowing snake that does not bite when held. When I held it, however, it 'dirtied' all over my hands and I had to wash them immediately. Anyway, they have a tiny head and are pinkish and fast burrowers, so that's probably how it got its name.
 

Others that I won't elaborate upon:

Black Rat Snakes
Box Turtle
American Toads
Five-lined Skinks
Tadpoles
Bullfrogs
Salamanders
Newts
Spring Peepers
 

Photos Page - See some MORE photographs of the animals I have encountered!