Yeah, definitely illegal on the possum front, good call. Raccoons and possums are both extremely attractive as pets, but it’s not good for them or for you.
As for frilled lizards, I have to admit I know very little about keeping lizards. I’m a snake and amphibian care person. If there’s anything inherently wrong with keeping them as pets, I don’t know.
The big thing I can imagine being a problem is space; they need pretty big, specifically-filled vivariums to thrive.
It’s a lot to take on for a first pet. I would suggest getting a simpler, more “first-time” friendly lizard to start. Learn about lizard care, and then eventually move up to more complicated reptiles. Geckos and Bearded Dragons require research too, but it’s much easier to find accessible, reliable information on their care.
I know when your heart is set on a specific animal, it can be disappointing to wait to get it, but take a page from my book. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than a red-eyed tree frog. I finally got one without knowing much about its care, and it quickly died.
Had I waited, and had my parents waited, we could have owned a long-lived, healthy frog.
So yeah. That’s my suggestion. Start Smaller. But if your SET on it, reach out to frilled lizard owners online. i’m sure there are forums and blogs about them. Talk to those people. I really don’t know anything about them.
Small fuzzy animals and, to a slightly lesser extent, dogs and cats are more my area but I’ll reblog this to @petcareawareness and see if anyone has anything to offer.
Does anyone have any helpful information on frilled lizards?
Frilled lizards get over 2 feet long and need a lot of space to climb. You’re looking at an enclosure at least 5 feet long and 6 feet tall, minimum. They also need a lot of live insects as their food. Yes, you can keep them healthy in captivity, but you basically need a zoo exhibit to manage it. That’s going to be extremely expensive. Also, they only flare their frill when extremely stressed, so you shouldn’t be seeing them flare.
May I suggest dart frogs, if you want a striking herp pet? They require plenty of research, but can be kept in an enclosure only a couple feet square with no problems. They’re tiny, will happily live and breed in a well-structured, planted enclosure that size. They’re hands-off pets, but gorgeous, and can be fed flightless fruit flies that you grow in jars.
If you want a lizard, bearded dragons. Big and calm, so great for handling. Enclosure needs to be 3 feet long by 2 feet deep/wide for happiest pet, but that’s a lot smaller than a frilled lizard enclosure, and they’re much easier to keep. They eat live insects and various fruits and veggies.
Crested geckos are neat, can live in a smaller enclosure than a bearded dragon (2 feet tall and a bit less wide is fine), can have their enclosures planted beautifully, and can be fed a prepared diet that includes no live insects. Not so good for handling, too jumpy, but pretty and fairly large.
Leopard geckos can live in an enclosure about as large as a crested’s, but on its side, and are great for handling. Live insects as food.
Do your research, whatever you pick! As much research as your brain can hold. There are lots of good lizard options, and lots that are smaller than a frilled lizard.
I suggest going to a reptile show/convention and looking around, see what gets your attention. Do /not/ buy based on impulse or only advice from the seller, just use the show as a showroom of sorts. Go in, look for something you like, take pictures and notes on the name, ask for some advice, and go home to do your research. I don’t know one off the top of my head, but there’s probably a lizard common in the hobby (you want common, it means available captive-bred) that resembles a frilled dragon.
A store-bought bag of topsoil, a roll of landscaping fabric, or a bag of cedar chips doesn’t go very far if you have a large garden or a very limited budget. Here are some ways to create the materials you need for a beautiful, organic, productive garden, by both re-directing household waste, and foraging in your local area. I use a lot of these tricks in my garden to make it almost completely free for me to continue growing new things, and expanding the workable area every year!
For soil
Save your food scraps to create a rich compost for growing veggies and amending your soil. There are numerous options for every size of dwelling and yard. Small space solutions such as Bokashi and vermicompost work indoors and don’t produce bad smells, so you can keep them underneath the sink.Worm towers, compost heaps, and outdoor compost binsare a great solution if you have more space. The more you add, the more rich, nutritious material you can make for your garden. I like composting because it means I don’t have gross smelly garbage bags to deal with, because food waste is diverted. It seems like a lot of work at first, but it actually saves time, money, and transportation.
There are three things that are essential for plant growth. These are nitrogen for leaves and vegetation (N), phosphorus for roots and shoots (P), and potassium for water movement, flowering, and fruiting (K). Commercial fertilisers will give the relative concentrations of each of these compounds with and “NPK” rating. Plants like tomatoes also need calcium to produce healthy fruit. You can create amendments for your garden and soil at home so that you do not have to purchase fertiliser.
Human urine contains 12% nitrogen, and it’s sterile. Dilute before adding directly to plants.
Legumes such as beans, clover, peanuts, and alfalfa fix inorganic nitrogen into the soil with mycorrhizal organisms and nodules on their root systems. Plant these crops every few years in rotation with others to renew the soil organically.
For phosphorus
Human urine is also a great source of phosphorous and trace amounts of potassium.
Many plants are particular about what the soil pH should be.
To make soil more acidic: add oak leaves, pine needles, leaf mulch, urine, coffee grounds or sphagnum.
To make soil more alkaline: add wood ash, shell, or bone.
Mulch
Mulch is decomposing organic matter that adds nutrition to the soil, while simultaneously keeping out weed growth and retaining moisture. It also attracts worms, fungi and other beneficial creatures to your soil. Free sources of mulch include:
Leaves
Garden waste
Grass clippings
Straw (often straw bales are given away after being used for decoration in the fall. You can also plant vegetables directly in straw bales using a technique called straw bale gardening).
Wood chips (if you can borrow a wood chipper after you’ve collected some wood you can have attractive wood mulch for free)
When mulch isn’t enough to keep the weeds down, many people opt for landscaping fabric. It can be quite expensive and inorganic-looking. Free solutions that both attract worms and can be replaced in small segments as they break down include:
Newspaper*
Cardboard*
Egg cartons*
Printer paper, looseleaf, etc. in thick layers*
*try to make sure you are using paper that has vegetable-based dyes, so you aren’t leeching toxins into the soil.
Soil density/drainage
If your soil is compacted and you have plants that require low levels of water, or excellent drainage, add sand. I don’t recommend stealing it from the beach, but ask around and you’d be surprised at how easy it is to get for free. Sawdust also improves drainage. Adding organic matter and mulch encourages worms, who also till and aerate compacted soil.
If the area still needs drainage, dig a hole and fill it with bricks or rocks to create a “dry well”
For drainage in pots, add crushed bricks,terra cotta pot fragments, packing peanuts, small stones, marbles, orsand to the bottom under the soil layer. I find these in construction sites, on craigslist, or at flea markets.
Pots and growing containers
If you have space, raised beds are a great no-dig way to establish growing space. If you are pressed for space (like working on a balcony) there are many cheap or free options for container gardens.
Creating raised beds allows you to build up the soil without digging. Free ways to do this include using rocks or lumber (like my DIY “lasagna garden” made with the sheet composting technique), using the “wattle“ method with sticks and posts you have found, using discarded straw bales, old bricks,paving stones,cinder blocks or really anything else you have lying around.
Hugelkutur raised beds, which fix carbon and provide drainage, can be made by stacking sticks and untreated wood, and then piling soil or compost over it. (Thanks milos-garden)
Rubber tire gardens retain heat in the night and allow for great drainage. They can also be painted in fun ways.
Herb spirals (here is mine: 1, 2, 3) can be built with stones, bricks, and other found materials.
I often use old cooking pots, barbecues, teapots, or other found objects as planters.
If you can track down peat moss, cement, and vermiculite, you can make an easy Hypertufa planter in whatever shape you would like, provided you have a form in which it can dry.
Paving often requires a foundation of sand or another stable and well-drained substrate, and a covering of stones, bricks, or other weatherproof elements. Slowly collect stones over time, or free paving stone fragments to create a mosaic-type walkway. Often people give these things away on craigslist. I made a patio and fireplace out of free salvaged bricks, for example.
Save seeds from foods you like from the grocery store: consider growing peanuts, ginger, garlic, peppers, or a walnut tree: all of these and more can be planted from store-bought produce.
Learn to take cuttings. There is a tonne of info on the web about basic cutting propagation, layering, (like I do with rhododendrons) air layering, and numerous other techniques to take clones of plants you like. This saves going to a nursery and shelling out big bucks for all the variety you want.
For cuttings, willow tea and honey are great rooting hormones/antiseptics/anti-fungal agents, which can save you $40 if you were thinking of buying commercial rooting hormone.
I hope this helps you build your garden outside of the usual capitalist channels! It can be a cheap or free hobby if you are willing to think outside the box, and maybe put up with things that don’t look as clean or crisp as a hardware store catalogue.
If you have any further ideas, please add them! The more information the better.
You wake up with two small lumps on your back, just around your shoulder blades. Your friend has a similar dilemma, however, theirs are on their forehead, and look like zits. Small horns protrude from theirs, while feathers come from yours.
Within a month, you have large, white, dove wings, while your friend has long, curly horns. Turns out, you’re an angel, they’re a demon, and you’re supposed to fight. But you both’d rather just go see a movie.
“We just, like, really bonded over growing mysterious additional appendages,” the angel tries to explain to the Heavenly Agent that comes to ask why they are not in the process of thwarting their enemy. “And, like, she’s not really doing anything evil? Besides, you know,” the angel continues, almost under her breath, “being hella cute.”
“What,” the Agent says. “What was that last part?”
“Nothing,” says the angel unconvincingly. She squints up at the sky and then back to the Agent. “Must have been the wind.”
The Agent wishes that they’d just use heaven-born angels, like in the old days. These earthly messengers are…tedious.
The new angel looks at the Agent guiltlessly and stubbornly doesn’t think about how cute her friend’s butt is in case they can read minds.
Judging by the look one the agent’s face, they can.
————–
“Why aren’t you out there tempting humans?” The Demonic Agent demands of the newly minted demon. They feel their rage growing hotter as they watch her spin again in her desk chair.
“Don’t want to tempt humans,” the demon says. She appear to have been using her new horns as receipt spikes. There’s one for fro-yo for two.
“Then attack your nemesis,” the Demonic Agent tries.
The demon gives them a very dry look. “Go fuck yourself.”
The Demonic Agent wants to cry. “You’ve been given awesome powers, respect, a title, and the duty to do what you ALREADY do– fuck with people. Why. Aren’t. You.”
The demon makes another slow rotation. “Got stuff to think about.”
“What. Stuff?” Asks the Demonic Agent through gritted teeth.
“Nunya,” the demon says.
“What?”
“Nunya fuckin business is what,” the demon says. “Now get outta here, I gotta seduce this chick.”
The demonic Agent feels his hopes rose. “You’re going to tempt a human?”
“I’m thinking more along the lines of a long-term committed relationship with an angel,” the demon says, grinning a sharp grin.
The Demonic Agent buries their face in their hands and wishes demons were less obstinate creatures.
#602.5 – Though Tynamo has a special organ that generates electricity, most of their electrical power is used internally to achieve levitation, leaving only a weak current to be used to attack. As Tynamo age, they are able to generate more electricity, which allows them to pursue prey as individuals rather than relying on group ambush.
#603.5 – Eelektrik who are exposed to powerful surges of electricity can be charged with so much energy that they begin to grow new limbs. These Pokemon have a bottomless appetite and will use their developing arms to latch onto prey and drag them into their underwater dens.
edward nygma not cursing because hes smart is pretty weak because youre missing out on edward using flawless almost Shakespearean insults that hit you where it Really hurts without cursing, and then he turns around and while pridefully walking away he trips over his cane and just shouts “FUCK” as he falls
The idea of common sense really does create a harsh world, where having had the opportunity to learn something is a point of superiority, and having been denied or just plain never given the opportunity is seen as a point of personal failure.
In a world where the idea of “common sense” rules, things seem fair at first. He got mugged there, when everyone knows that’s a dangerous street after dark. She got in a car accident, when everyone knows you have to start slowing down sooner in the snow.
But who is “everyone?” Not them, apparently. Obviously. They didn’t know. And now they’re hurt, or worse. He wasn’t from there. She was from somewhere it didn’t snow. Why didn’t anyone tell them?
We feel safe knowing that the only people who suffer are the people who just “don’t have common sense,” the people who are apparently just plain stupid, because we’re terrified of the truth, which is: bad things can happen to anyone at all, to good people, to you, and they’re more likely to happen to those who didn’t have the right knowledge for the situation, the “common sense” they needed to stay safe.
And this idea of “common sense” targets marginalized groups more than anyone, people who have been continually denied opportunities to learn, or people whose disabilities create hurdles. But anyone can be victim to this groupthink.
How many times have I met someone with apparently “no common sense,” who was raised in an abusive or neglectful household, who has had a developmental disability, or who simply and fairly just hasn’t been in this sort of situation before?
We think of common sense as the most base level of knowledge, as something “everyone,” should know. But I hold firmly that everything, everyone knows, has either been learned, or taught.
A cactus is sharp, obviously don’t touch one. How do I know? I grabbed one in my mom’s garden as a toddler, and we had to remove the needles for hours. Wouldn’t it have been better for me, and for everyone involved, if an adult–before letting me loose in the garden that they knew had sharp plants–had told me “don’t touch that cactus, it will hurt you.” It would have cost them nothing. And sure, maybe I would have anyway, that’s human, to be told and to still have to learn yourself from time to time.
But the point is, nobody blamed me. Nobody looked at me, a child, and thought “what an idiot, everyone knows cacti are full of needles.”
Because I was a child, and they gave me the benefit of the doubt that I hadn’t had the chance to learn yet. And they wished they’d told me instead of letting me get hurt.
So let’s start looking at everyone–not as children–but as beings who just maybe haven’t encountered this yet, haven’t gotten the chance to know yet, or who have been denied it.
Let’s stop labeling people as stupid or not based on what we assume they should already know.
Let’s start teaching each other, when we can, if we can without hurting ourselves.
And we’ll genuinely, truly, make the world a better, safer, more gentle place.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 