Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in an animal resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment, not just melanin.
A shivering cable slithered out to sweep most of the scattered equipment back into the cupboard, then closed the door halfway. In the back of his mind, Yaatree knew it was pointless to hide, but hunkered down between the bottles with Frenzy anyway. Could a driller look sheepish, or guilty? This one certainly seemed to.
Rumble frowned briefly, but turned towards the door and projected an air of cheery innocence. Anyone who knew Rumble for longer than ten clicks knew better than to believe it, of course.
“Soundwave, while you are always welcome to visit, I must inquire as to why the sudden inspection of my laboratories.” The steady click of Soundwave’s footfalls did not hesitate, but Shockwave’s heavy footfalls stuttered as though he had missed a step.
Spinflask somehow managed to continue looking nervous even with his EM field entirely contained and no visible face, and he kept his alt’s simplistic optical sensors on Soundwave. Shockwave seemed- not angry, clearly, more like- what, flustered? Oh, there had been something about- yes, right, trying to get Soundwave’s attention, but-
Soundwave did not seem to want the attention. Soundwave seemed angry. At what? Did he- did he object to the courtship? Maybe, but- there was something else, there- there was-
The restraints. Soundwave had been a Pit fighter, and not by choice, everyone knew as much. Which would… potentially make any sort of forced employment rather… distasteful, yes?
Spinflask felt the dread in the room and cringed, armor clamping down as far as it would go, but didn’t dare to move. Even when Soundwave touched him. Silently praying to nothing in particular that he hadn’t messed up, Spinflask lowered his shaking winglets in a submissive gesture, hoping those claws weren’t about to curl around to his throat.
They didn’t.
In fact- oh!
Spinflask made an undignified squeaking noise as he was picked up, fear giving way to surprise and confusion, and watched wide-opticed as he got a close-up look at- oh my. At Shockwave being scared speechless. It… would seem he’d picked the right protector, then. Who was now carrying him.
Both servos fluttered awkwardly for a few seconds, then Spinflask carefully settled his servos on Soundwave’s arm, more than willing to just be carried. He flinched at the sound of vials breaking, but- no, no, that was probably for the best, who knew what Shockwave had intended to do with those? And the thud was rather satisfying.
Approximately one molecule of sass stirred to life at the sound of Shockwave being introduced to gravity, and Spinflask dared to glance up at Soundwave’s hidden face, speaking so quietly that it probably wouldn’t have been heard by anyone else. “…well. Even I know this isn’t the- the expression one hopes for when- when courting. Thank you, sir, I-”
How did one express their gratitude in this situation? And- the driller, he’d seemed- oh, but that was definitely the sound of laughter, apparently that situation was… controlled? And as for gratitude, Spinflask unfurled a field shaky with gratitude/relief/awe, then immediately furled it out of existence in case it wasn’t wanted. Not an uncommon trait among tool-mechs of any sort, people didn’t generally want their centrifuge to have an EM field.
A shivering cable slithered out to sweep most of the scattered equipment back into the cupboard, then closed the door halfway. In the back of his mind, Yaatree knew it was pointless to hide, but hunkered down between the bottles with Frenzy anyway. Could a driller look sheepish, or guilty? This one certainly seemed to.
Rumble frowned briefly, but turned towards the door and projected an air of cheery innocence. Anyone who knew Rumble for longer than ten clicks knew better than to believe it, of course.
“Soundwave, while you are always welcome to visit, I must inquire as to why the sudden inspection of my laboratories.” The steady click of Soundwave’s footfalls did not hesitate, but Shockwave’s heavy footfalls stuttered as though he had missed a step.
Spinflask somehow managed to continue looking nervous even with his EM field entirely contained and no visible face, and he kept his alt’s simplistic optical sensors on Soundwave. Shockwave seemed- not angry, clearly, more like- what, flustered? Oh, there had been something about- yes, right, trying to get Soundwave’s attention, but-
Soundwave did not seem to want the attention. Soundwave seemed angry. At what? Did he- did he object to the courtship? Maybe, but- there was something else, there- there was-
The restraints. Soundwave had been a Pit fighter, and not by choice, everyone knew as much. Which would… potentially make any sort of forced employment rather… distasteful, yes?
Spinflask’s alt rack rattled a hiccuping noise as he gathered up all his courage, and he slowly transformed back into his root mode, sitting in that nervous hunch but trying to keep his spine at least moderately straight. He was afraid, clearly, but he made an attempt to meet Soundwave’s optics, despite the trembling of his servos and the clack-rattling noise his rack was still making tucked away in his chassis. Now- how to address this mech? How did one address Soundwave?
“I- ah- hello, Sir. Soundwave. Lord. Your- your preferred honorific.”
There, that covered everything, albeit not gracefully.
“I do not- I-I will be honest, I am afraid to- to remain here. For fear of- mostly of vivisection. If- if you would take me with you rather than- than leaving me here, I can- can absolutely find a way to- to be useful to you. My alt is a-a high-capacity, high-strength centrifuge, I am skilled in most- most aspects of the laboratory chemical sciences, and I learn quick-quickly. If you” another awkward hiccuping noise, and his winglets clacked loudly as the not-currently-assembled lid of his alt tried to clamp down, “-would only- only take me with you, I can promise that I-I will be useful. Please?”
Visibly shivering, he planted his servos on the tabletop and slid forward, turning his protective gesture into an awkward, froglike bow-crouch. “Please. I-I am at- at your mercy, and I would- would rather be at your mercy than- than that of a mech who has none.”
At least two behavioral measures of good welfare increased in captive leopard geckos with every type of enrichment used.
(With the exception of the visual enrichment, which was a mirror that let the geckos see their reflections.)
The Citation: Meredith J. Bashaw, Mallory D. Gibson, Devan M. Schowe, Abigail S. Kucher. Does enrichment improve reptile welfare? Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) respond to five types of environmental enrichment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science: In press, available online 25 August 2016.
The Article: link here! It’s a docdroid link, which is the site I like to use for uploading PDFs. Clicking that link will not start an automatic download, but will open the PDF in your browser instead. It may load funny at first. If it does, give it a moment and then refresh if it doesn’t fix itself!
The Take-Away:
Enrichment is really important for your reptile’s overall wellness!
You can provide enrichment in even a simple tub and plastic hide basic enclosure and your gecko will benefit.
Much of the value of enrichment is based on novelty and variety. Enrichment doesn’t mean just cluttering up the cage or adding more hides! It means adding stuff to do and adding new stuff to do!
Enrichment introduces small changes, not major environmental shake-ups.
Enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated! You can make or buy many simple items that will improve your gecko’s quality of life!
Want to know why? There’s loads of science after the jump!
tl:dr: if you give your geckos stuff to do, they’ll do the stuff and seem to enjoy it.
This applies to all reptiles, though the type of enrichment that’s best will vary between them. Smelly things and things containing food are usually good bets.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 