Frogs, Frogs, Frogs!

I have frogs coming out of my ears!

I finally have three Cryptophyllobates azureiventris in my hands, as well as some lovely green legged lamasi froglets. I have two more vivaria in progress for the new species, but it has been a slow process. I finally cut enough glass for one tank, and all I'm waiting for is a miraculous windfall of money so I can afford all the lovely plants that are necessary for making a tank worth of putting $50 frogs in.

Some pics of my project:



How awesome does it look to have three tanks neatly in a row? It's froggy feng shui!



This is the current interior of the tank to the right. For the price of a 10 gallon tank ($9.99), polyurethane foam ($6), gorilla glue ($12), and coconut fibers ($3), you too can build yourself a Taj Mahal of froggy bliss.



And this is why I do it. Imagine having a teeny tiny frog (smaller than your thumbnail!) this beautiful in your dining room. Suddenly all the fly cultures you must devotedly make are completely worth it.

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs!

I have frogs coming out of my ears!

I finally have three Cryptophyllobates azureiventris in my hands, as well as some lovely green legged lamasi froglets. I have two more vivaria in progress for the new species, but it has been a slow process. I finally cut enough glass for one tank, and all I'm waiting for is a miraculous windfall of money so I can afford all the lovely plants that are necessary for making a tank worth of putting $50 frogs in.

Some pics of my project:



How awesome does it look to have three tanks neatly in a row? It's froggy feng shui!



This is the current interior of the tank to the right. For the price of a 10 gallon tank ($9.99), polyurethane foam ($6), gorilla glue ($12), and coconut fibers ($3), you too can build yourself a Taj Mahal of froggy bliss.



And this is why I do it. Imagine having a teeny tiny frog (smaller than your thumbnail!) this beautiful in your dining room. Suddenly all the fly cultures you must devotedly make are completely worth it.

Contrary to Popular Belief...

I'm not dead!

In fact, Val and I are happily settling in to our brand new place. Our first mortgage payment came in a week ago (not due until May! Let's celebrate!) and we're busy getting everything decorated and sorta organized. To try and play catch up, here's the news:

Val has decided to cut back on school a bit and join Airtight Games as a full-time mid-level programmer.

I've applied to Charter Bank as a Operations Specialist. Thanks to Ashley, a past coworker at WaMu, I had an interview with the V.P. on Thursday. Cross your fingers for me!

Val and I got a U-Haul stuck in a random snow storm during our move. We pulled an all-nighter on February 28th-March 1st, once we were able to move our U-Haul out of the snow at 3am. Going to work right after moving everything out of our apartment was hell, considering we didn't get a drop of sleep. We got the $1000 bonus for moving out in one day though. Worth it? Hell yeah!

Finley the froglet died during the move. He burrowed under a pebble smaller than a quarter... when it shifted, the weight of it crushed him. I never thought I'd cry so hard over an amphibian. It's so hard to see something grow up only to see it crushed.

My remaining dart frogs, Petri and Adama, have started courting. I heard my first "Hey Baby" calls on Wednesday. Wish me luck! Maybe I'll have a few more tadpoles to murder. :(

Val and I have been daydreaming about adopting an Italian Greyhound. We've decided to name him Sparta. "This is for SPARTA!!!" Or... "This is SPARTA!" It's all very dramatic. Plus, the Burke Gilman trail is right at our doorstep. It'd be a great place for a pooch!

Hope all is well with you and your own!

The Finley Channel!

After Finley's new front legs popped out, it was time for me to jump into action. I prepared a little morphing tank- I got a long ziploc container and proped it up with a short piece of pipe. I threw in a chunk of prayer plant and put him in it. Do you have any idea how stressful it is to move a living being THAT small and THAT fragile? I almost had a heart attack!



The next morning... He made the final leap. He was standing in the dry side of the tank, with his little front legs stretched out underneath him and his chin proudly aimed at the sky.

So. Stinking. Cute.



His markings are getting brighter and brighter, and his tail is becoming a thing of the past.

And in other news... you know the HUGE thing that we're working on? Well, we're still working on it, and I think I jinxed myself too much by even being an optimist. You will all just have to wait until the pieces fall into place.

LEGS!

Finley HAS LEGS!!!



Got limbs? :D

And I'm not going to jinx myself here... but there might just be a huge metamorphosis for Val and I right around the corner.

Oooh, the mystery!

Update

If I had one word for all the emotions going through me right now, it'd make my life a hell of a lot easier. There's just so much going on, and so much changing that it's a little too much to handle right now.

Increase of responsibility at work = yay, but more chances to screw up.

Found a really nice condo that Val and I adore. We love it, so of course it'll sell for at least $20k more than the asking price. In other words, we have yet to find a place to live.

I discovered a new hobby that is insanely biology nerdish but too expensive for me to dive into. I have yet to reveal it, but let's just say that a webpage dedicated to the hobby is in the works. I figure I have to balance my life- trivial purse obsession on one end, biology geek at the other.

Due to a thermostat issue, my newest d. ventrimaculatus died. The heat was out of whack and I walked into a sauna. I opened the tank and found him on the floor of the tank, not moving. I saw him open his mouth once and he died right there... It's my first adult frog death, and it was heartwrenching to watch.

On the positive side of the hobby, Finley is growing so, so fast. He's starting to look like a real frog!



Please excuse the over-exposure, but I had to capture his new markings! Note the stripes down his back and the spots on his legs. He's starting to look more and more like an adult!



So, there's the update on my life. Hope all is well with you!

Another Picture of Finley: Round 3!

I was able to get this shot by putting a LED flashlight in a tube and placing Finley's container on top of it. Note the small s-like shapes right behind his head. I'm waiting on confirmation, but I'm going to reach out on a limb (har har) and say that those might be his arms just starting to develop.

Awwwwww....

And in other news:
Mom and I have a shopping date on Saturday!!! YAY!
Val bought an electric guitar and has been playing it nearly non-stop.
My New Year's Resolution has yet to be broken.
We have yet to find a place to live (yup, we lost out on yet another place).
And it looks like it's going to snow (again).

Another Picture of Finley

I love having days off. Nothing like staying home and stressing out about stuff I can't change. We still haven't found a place to live, and are supposed to be out by the end of the month. We might have found a studio apartment to rent in the condo community I adore... It'd be perfect for us to see if we'd actually like to live there for an extended period of time. We're going to check it out right after work tomorrow. Hopefully I'll know by the end of the week if we get it.

Sad news: A few weeks back one of my tadpoles died. I was so devastated I refused to even acknowledge the incident by posting about it. I know it's just one of those things froggers have to get used to- they're such tiny and delicate creatures, it's a miracle humans can keep them alive at all. The good news is that the gentleman who donated the tads forgives me, and has even encouraged me to take another one so I can figure it out before my vents start breeding. I don't know how I feel about it... I'd much rather buy a froglet than watch another tadpole die. Yet at the same time I'm so in love with the one that's left- It would be truly amazing to watch the process again.

So here's Finley and his newly acquired limbs:



And in other news, I'm back on the diet train. I know it's so cliche to make a resolution to lose weight. The thing is, it's the Year of the Boar! Come on now, you can't ignore such blatent irony!

Hope all of you are having a fantastic year thus far!

Green Legged Lamasi Tadpoles: Round 2

Sorry about the blur factor! I just HAD to post a size reference. :)

Tadpoles!

In case any of you want to see them- Tadpole pictures!



Tad #1: A little older, and a bit on the shy side. You can tell that the hind end is filled out more- I really think he's going to have a right leg soon enough!



Tad #2: Younger, and always playing around with the greens in his pond. Everytime I look at him, he's bigger! Why must they grow up so fast?!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So here's the scoop:

Val got a full-time job offer at his company. If he dropped out of school he'd make 2x what I'm pulling in. This is where I kick myself for focusing on biological anthropology, and where I pat myself on the back for landing a damn fine sugar daddy.

I'm still in the mist of condo/manufactured home hunting. The problem with most manufactured homes is that they don't come with land, and if they're not permanently fixed on a concrete base they're considered a vehicle. That's right, by the end of this year I might own a 60' car. I always wanted a stretch limo.

There are a couple of condos in the area that I'd love to get my hands on. One of which is just down the street from Microsoft. The good thing about investing in a condo in that location is in a couple of years I'd be able to sell it and get a nice $30-$50k in my bank account. I've already spent that money- Most of it gets kicked back to my family, another chunk goes into another downpayment for a nicer place, and the remaining into my investment portfolio. Damn it feels good to dream.

I ventured off to a fellow dart-frogger's house this evening to pick up a orphaned vent. While he was there he gave us two green legged lamasi tadpoles. That's right, he GAVE me two tadpoles of a species that was just introduced into the country in 2005. It blows my mind that I have seen species of frogs that are so rare, let alone own two tadpoles of such a species.



The tadpoles are so cute- they have bright yellow eyebrows and yellow lips on dark bodies. They're simply adorable! So here's to hoping that I don't kill the poor little guys...