Saturday, March 13th, was the "debut" of the Seattle Metro Reptile Expo, and it was great! I couldn't get anything but supplies and some silkworms for Man Ray, but still... Just gawking at all the gorgeous herps was therapeutic. The turn-out was great... There were so many vendors, they had to put some in the hallway outside of the already huge conference room it was being held in. There were so many people even by the time I got there (two or three hours late) that you were lucky to get through a walkway, let alone close to most tables! YES, I view this as a good thing, lol! I also found out there's another Seattle expo (a bigger one) in June... Can't wait!!!
Okay, now you're probably wondering, "What's with the fish and rodents?" Well, on Sunday, I loaded up a 75 gal aquarium, along with its stand and some other "goodies," and made the 2+ hour trip back up to Tacoma--this time to deliver aforementioned stuff to a friend. We'd already been talking, for a couple of weeks, about trading my spare 75 for a few of her non-herp animals... Er, make that, ALL of her non-herp, non-canine animals... And agreed on a trade for some frozen rats for the stand. (As for the goodies--well, let's just say she owes me a blue tongue skink once I can start getting new animals again... wink ) So we took up the stuff, loaded it into her house... And walked out with 3 rats and 2 bettas. Yep! My first rats ever (Sunday being only my second and, when we got home, third times holding live, more-than-a-week-old rats), and my first bettas since the one I had at age 8 committed "suicide." Squeee!!! Yesterday, too, I bought a nice rat cage from someone on Craigslist (for only $50, too--more "squeeee!") and traded a tiny exo-terra terrarium for some aquariums and a heat lamp... Which didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, since the guy didn't understand that "do they hold water?" meant "I want to use them for fish." Oh well. Anyway, I think I've rambled a bit here... lol.
So, without further ado, here are the new additions. Any name ideas?
First, the bettas! Sorry for the crappy pics. Fish don't like to cooperate... lol.
We start with the "blue" betta, in his spiffy new 10 gal (complete with spiffy new filter--just need to get foliage and a heater).
Next up is the "pink" betta, in the largest vase I could find--holds 2 or 3 gallons. Also pretty barren. I'd like to get him in an aquarium soon so he can have a filter, too. For now, he actually seems to be faring better than the blue betta--probably because the vase is smaller, and they both lived in little betta bowls/tiny vases for a year before yesterday night.
And now for the rattie girls...
This first one is a b&w hooded. She's almost a year old, and probably pregnant--the reason my friend originally got into rats was to try saving money by breeding feeders... Well, this is the sole survivor of the feeder breeding, and she's an absolute sweetheart, aside from being a bit skittish.
Originally, I was JUST going to take her, because she was the only one. However, about a week ago, my friend got two more ratties because she could tell the b&w girl was getting terribly depressed being all alone. These are those ratties... Two young red-eyed whites, probably sisters.
And the rattie cage... Also pretty barren... I'm going to see about picking up some nice hammocks and such. I think there was someone on CL selling home-made fleece hammocks... Hm...
And, wa-la! Just like that, my collection has grown from 27 reptiles and 4 dogs to 27 reptiles, 4 dogs, 3 rats, and 2 fish... Talk about a zoo, lol! Again, any name suggestions are welcome and appreciated. I'll post update pics when the tanks and cage are a bit more "filled" with foliage and toys. =)
