Roo And The Zoo

Just a weird fish nerd and her animals.

[peach-foxgloves]

No one ever tell me anything bad about the person who runs this account.

the person who runs this account, Katie Gouldin, is an evolutionary biologist who has an EXCELLENT podcast called Creature Feature which compares and contrasts the weird behaviors of man and beast! she is super cute and funny too!

[lavender-lily]

oh thank GOD

[andypantsx3]

just want to add i love how much she hates elon

[yeahokayillreblogthat]

yeah okay ill reblog that

[baddywronglegs]

She is also credited by the Audubon society with coining the word “birb”

[thlpp]

Do not disturb, please. I'm changing, and would like some privacy.

Sunny wasn't amused when I checked on him this morning.

[thunderremix8]

How did a boy with no shoulders perfect the 'over the shoulder' look?

[thlpp]

I know, right?

[candoia-aspera]

1. Popcorn, Sundust het Hypo female.

2. Churro, Extreme Okeetee Tessera het Amel male.

3. (Currently unnamed) Peppermint het scaleless, possibly het Anery.

Please note that most of the decent-ish pictures I have of my snakes currently are from quarantine, they were not confined to paper towel lined tubs forever. 

[candoia-aspera]

So life kidnapped me for a short while.

2021 was easily the biggest emotional rollercoaster I’ve ever had, from one very near death experience to the buying of our house.

Things have settled in, I’m in a new job that’s perfect for me and we’re slowly working on getting the house the way we want it.

As for the pets, Valtiel continues to be healthy and active. Apart from slightly buggy looking eyes (in my opinion anyway) and a slow growth rate he has no other major health problems which I’m thankful for.

He’s also no longer the only snake in the house.

There are three new corns: Popcorn, Churro and a nameless noodle.

There are two beeps: Trefor and Morana.

There is a pair of Stuart’s Milksnakes, also unnamed though they have been nicknamed Mr and Mrs Stinky bc they are musky lil bastards.

There is a BCI named Striga, who currently hates my guts and is extremely spicy, but I’m hoping with regular handling she’ll at least cool off a little. Eventually.

There is also another BCI on the way in a few week’s time who is considerably less furious. We still have axolotls and goldfish, as well as african dwarf frogs and an assortment of medaka.

And best of all, we have a trio of rat boys who joined the family in August.

Also, there are a lot more bugs. Like, a LOT more.

[caong]

So after years of joking about not being dead when I came back from a hiatus, my hubris finally caught up with me and I actually almost died lmao

spent almost a month in the hospital, got diagnosed with a chronic illness

oh and we got the house we were trying to buy so hooray for us

i’m on a buttload of medication, still having lots of tests done and will need a minor surgery, but other than that i’m doing okay

it’s been a lot to take in over a short space of time but things are finally getting back on track and i’m sure i will be here more often soon to annoy you all :V

[candoia-aspera]

An Actual Update

So like I said in my post a couple months back, we moved.

To the tune of nearly 500 miles and across a border.

We’re in a good little rental, somewhere I can keep the goldies outdoors in a heated pond. But as you’d expect, not everybody got to make the 500 mile trip with us. Most of the larger fish went to my parents to live out their lives in the pond, as did the non-keeper goldfish fry.

Paprika, Jelly Tot and two of the axolotls did not survive the move. It was pretty devastating, but luckily all but one of the keeper fry made it and there’s one in particular who is pretty much a clone of Pap, so at least she lives on through the fry.

Valtiel made it up safely and is now in a nice big viv that I’m slowly transitioning to a bioactive.

Magic, Scraggly and Bumfluff all made it, and Scraggly has GROWN. Food disappears when thrown into Bumfluff’s house so I’m assuming he’s still alive.

I had to give up my Old Worlds. I was very upset about that, my H. mac was a total sweetheart :(

All the ADFs and guppies made it, as did my very ancient Emerald Betta, Grumpy. He passed away just a few days ago, but he was nearly  and not from a great home so it was expected.

Ocha lived for 4 whole months after maturing, so I was happy with that. I’ve since had a mantis mature, and one more is very close to maturing so in the spring I’ll be eyeing up new nymphs.

And to no-one’s surprise, all the snails made it up happy and healthy and have since given me 86 new snails to care for.

So a very mixed bag, but we’re getting there and looking for an actual property of our own, which is super exciting stuff. I’LL BE ABLE TO HAVE AN ACTUAL CUSTOM BUILT POND AND A FISH ROOM!

[iworkatapetstore]

[nemfrog]

A few types of goldfish. The goldfish pool. 1935. Catalogue.

Internet Archive

[candoia-aspera]

Alive, but a bit to the North.

I didn’t intend to go radio silent on this blog, but circumstances were stressful and shitty thanks to the ‘Rona, so moving turned into a big damn mess.

And then when we got here, there were always more important things to get sorted than the social media stuff, so it kind of fell by the wayside for a few months.

But we made it! We’re in Scotland now; not without losses, but I’ve got my temporary ponds all set up and all the animals that made the journey with us are doing well.

[candoia-aspera]

Ocha matured! Looks like a male to me, but this is my first time maturing this species so if anyone more experienced wants to weigh in, please do. Either way they ended up with a beautiful silvery grey colouration that I absolutely love.

The adult molt is always such a bittersweet experience. It feels great to know that you kept your bug happy and healthy enough to get them all the way here, but it’s also the beginning of the end.

For now, Ocha is getting some fancy new digs to go with the fancy new look, and plenty of congratulatory snacks.

[candoia-aspera]

13/06/20 vs 10/07/20 - 1.8l ice cream tub vs 8l bowl.

The 28 keepers are down to 24 - two deaths, one who developed floating issues and gradually worsened. One is indoors being treated for tail damage at the moment and is not in the second picture.

We’ve now got a much better picture of the colour spread. The 11 older fry are uniformly baby bronze except for one particular fish - the larger red and white fish with black freckling on the mouth and tail. That was the “panda” I talked about in the previous fry post, and as I suspected, the black quickly faded.

All of the 13 younger fish are calico. I have absolutely no idea who the parents are, but some are looking a bit Rum Cake-y. Jelly Tot is the only other telescope eyed goldfish in the group, so unless the spawn is RC/JT, I doubt there will be any in the fry. They’ve coloured up beautifully and I’m definitely developing some favourites in the bunch!

The whole lot were moved into their own pop-up pool the other week and have since exploded in growth. Aside from the month difference in age, they are all raised in the exact same conditions and have the same diet.

[onenicebugperday]

Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus), L6 Female Photos by Frupus

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

I want... tall corgi

[beagleshep]

I do not want tall corgi!

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

I was thinking taller but hey, slap a tail on it and I'll take it

[creekfiend]

Yes tall corgi

[bonefarm]

team tall corgi.

[babyanimalgifs]

This praying mantis standing its ground 

(via)

[dustflier-deactivated20210913]

The thing about this that absolutely kills me is the person operating the excavator is gently trying to shoo the mantis away with the giant machine and the mantis is still trying to pick a fight with it

[scarletandgreyexotics]

He’s almost 7 ft long, and as sweet as he is lovely! 

Saturn, 2016 Cave-Dwelling Rat snake (Orthriophis t. ridleyi)

[kuttithevangu]

Would you like a dog? What kind of dog would you like? We have 500 pit bulls or a chihuahua with fatal stomach cancer

[betta-every-day]

Sorting out the ramshorn snails!