Pets

Axolotl:





A neotenous (perpetual larva) salamander. They are native to only one lake (formerly two) but are bred world-wide as laboratory animals for the study of their regenerative properties and are common in the pet trade. Natural axolotls are mottled brown or black, but captive breeding has produced white, pink albino, and true albino like mine.


African Clawed Frog:





Another albino amphibian. Hilarious looking but quite intelligent, clawed frogs enjoy dirty, standing water and are almost as easy to maintain as a cockroach. This one is female, and a particularly ravenous predator...I've given her tiny fish and she's on them in seconds. She'll also play tug-of-war with long, skinny earthworms. In the 1940's, these frogs were used by doctors as a pregnancy test; females would lay eggs when injected with the urine of a pregnant woman.



Pipa-Pipa (Surinam frog) :







Another fully aquatic frog, this is the famous species who's young live in the flesh of the mother's back. They eat anything, are extremely hardy and can go a great while without food. What's really interesting is how they never, ever move (not even a twitch) until they have to, and this one was accustomed to humans before I ever got it. When lifted from the water, she hangs as limp as a corpse and won't even right herself when put back upside-down. The only indication that she's still alive is when she decides she's uncomfortable every few hours and swims to the other end of her tank. It's awesome.


Rats:





The best mammalian pets. Sanitary, quiet, and extremely affectionate, they combine all the good points of cats and dogs with none of the downsides...except for life-span. Domestic rats usually reach less than two years old.


Emperor Scorpion:





A common "beginner scorpion", but considered the world's largest species. Due to their size and strength, they don't depend on venom to subdue prey and the sting is no more potent than a honeybee. Scorpions are one of the only living things that react to a black light, appearing in vivid neon colors when exposed.


Giant African black millipede:





One of the world's largest terrestrial Arthropods. Millipedes are sluggish, docile herbivores that roll into a spiral when agitated. Many species, including the African black, secrete cyanide as an additional defensive mechanism. My millipede, like the majority of its kind, has an infestation of fast-moving, tick-like mites that are almost impossible to eradicate and cannot survive for very long away from her. There is much debate over the nature of millipede mites; it isn't even known if they are parasites, symbiotes or meaningless hitch-hikers.


Red Trap-door Spider:



This spider constructs a vertical burrow topped with a "trap door" of debris held together with silk. Any insect that draws too close is instantly pulled in and devoured. As I'd otherwise never get to see it, I buried a small jar upside-down within a larger jar to create an "ant farm" effect. Its venom can hospitalize a full-grown man, but I only need to drop the occasional cricket in.



Vinegaroon (whip-scorpion) :



A small arachnid (about an inch and a half) that likes dark, narrow places, especially loose tree bark. Mine ignores most prey and has probably only eaten seven times in two years, but this seems to be adequate for their metabolism. When angered, they squirt acetic acid (the same thing that gives vinegar its smell) from their whip-like tail, but mine lost this appendage to a cricket that evaded him and grew too large before I noticed.


Orange pill-millipede:



Not a pill-bug or woodlouse, but a millipede filling the same evolutionary role. It is only about an inch long, and does well in a small jar of moss with minimal ventilation (humidity is important to them). Usually, these creatures are wild-caught and die within weeks as the transition kills off their intestinal bacteria, but I received mine from a healthy captive colony and she's been doing fine.


Fiery Searcher:



I found this beetle right here in Maryland, but it's only the second I have ever seen in person and the first I have ever seen alive. A photograph can barely capture how vibrant his colors are, but he only rarely emerges from the loose wood and soil of his tank. These beetles prey almost entirely on the larva of other insects, especially caterpillars. They can live for up to three years in their adult stage (highly impressive for a beetle) and defend themselves with an extremely noxious odor.