Nala the illusive

I am often asked about my cat.  Well yes, we have an adorable gray tabby.  Her name is Nala.  She came to us 14 1/2 years ago.  Her beginnings were kind of tragic, like a lot of our family additions.  She was found on one of my mom's friends property in a bag with her sister in a pond.  They were left to be drown there.  Nala got out but her sister sadly succumbed.  So Nala spent approximately the first 8 weeks of her life living in nature.  She must of come back to the bag frequently, because that is where she was found.  She has always been illusive.  She likes to pet herself on your hand.  When she is done, she usually yells at you and then kills your hand.  It is very important not to pull your hand away, or she will just dig her claws and teeth in deeper in order to kill you even more.  With that said, she has a very spontaneous sensitive side.  She loves her wet food and being brushed.  She can't get enough treats and enjoys spitting and hissing at Bing.  

Photographing her is a challenge.  She is always moving and very rarely is in good lighting.

So just like the chickens and Quailly, photos are blurry. K~

The Farms

Keeping micro farms is not extremely easy.  It's is not terribly hard either. There is a lot of sifting.  I guess it might take a discerning eye.  I have to keep a close look out for the teeny tiny little worms.

Meal worms

The "gross stage".  This stage is where the icky stuff goes.  The obvious dead and the molting.

OH BOY!! wow a hole what 10?

 

Once the worms grow up they hit the pupa stage and then hatch out as

small black beetles that then lay the eggs that hatch into the worms.

Super worms: the same as meal worms, just bigger and grosser.

Super worms

When they curl, they are ready to turn into a pupa

Super worm pupa

When the "leg looking things on the pupa" turn brown, they are very close to turn into a beetle.

When the pupa becomes a beetle, they are often white and brown or brown.

Very quickly they turn black.

These beetles are very clingy.  When ever I have to clean them

or remove the dead, I usually have to have David near by to catch

any that get out.  These beetles are icky.

Crickets: Well these are just a mess.  Hatching, not hatching, Living not living.  Some day!

And there you have it.  3 farms.  k~

58 animals... is that too many?

A couple of days ago I took the time to count my animals.  I do this every now and again because it fluctuates over the year.  58 was the number plus 3 micro farms.  This of course does not include my family of 3 children and my husband  :). I don't have them all pictured some are hard to get on camera, but I have some pictured below.  Now if you read my blog or talked to me recently you know Medusa (pictured below) has passed away, but I still have one snake and her name is Mazey.  So Medusa is representing her.  Then Mama, Studio, Buff, Quailly, Quailly, Nancy 2,  Francis,  Buff, Perdi,  Lizzy, Jupiter, and Bing.  Sam helped me take some of the pictures.  It does take a while to care for all of these precious lives, it's what I do.

So if I were to list them all it would be as follows:

2 African clawed frogs
1 large feeder gold fish
2 anoles
2 long tailed grass lizards
1 corn snake
2 bearded dragons
2 tortoises
2 box turtles
2 fresh water parrot fish
1 hamster
2 bunnies
1 cat
1 dog
1 quail
3 chickens
7 water turtles
12 (or so) small fish
3 large feeder fish
8 brown goldfish (outdoor ponds)
4 bullhead (outdoor pond)
Cricket farm
Meal worm farm
Super warm farm

Phew.  That was overwhelming just to write.  I have quite a system down and my sister is the only other one that has it down.  Sam is catching on.  Now onto the plants... oh later on that I'm exhausted. k~