Animals

Freyja

Freyja is our Pug/Brittney mix. We adopted her in 2018 and since then she has made herself an important part of our family. She loves going to the park, being chased, and eating. She was Catt’s first experience with training and knows over twenty tricks, including, shake, play dead, spin, roll over, and stand. She still has a lot of anxiety from her previous life, but has been making steady progress in learning to overcome it.

We adopted Freyja through the Dane county humane society (Wisconsin). DCHS takes in a lot of dogs from down South, primarily kill shelters in Alabama. DCHS received Freyja from Alabama. Through genetic testing, we discovered that Freyja’s Pug father and a sister live fairly close to us in Wisconsin. What a coincidence, Wisconsin to Alabama and back to Wisconsin.

Nanna

Nanna the Huskey mix is the most boisterous member of the family. We adopted her in December 2022. This energetic not-quite-a-puppy is curious of the world and loves to play. She loves chasing anything that moves: squirrels, balls, Freyja. If she had her way, she would spend the whole day outside.

Kahless

Kahless is our most social/friendly snake, he loves being handled and climbing in people’s clothes. Picked up at the Fall 2022 Tinley Park Reptile Expo at three months old. Since then, this little red-sided garter snake has been a reliable eater and continues to grow both in size and personality. He is a very curious snake who loves exploring new things and climbing. With this curiosity comes cleverness. This trouble maker has figured out how to open several past enclosures, but luckily comes back when he gets hungry.

Penne

Like Kahless, Penne, the albino checkered garter snake, was picked up at the Fall 2022 Tinley Park Reptile Expo as a baby. She has a huge appetite and a personality to match.

The Chickens

We currently have four hens in our flock: Roti the Plymouth Rock, Erza the Silver-lace Wyandotte, and Sunny and Alex the Gold-Lace Wyandottes. We received all four of them through the mail in 2022 when they were two days old. They are well socialized and, with the exception of Erza, seek attention and pets from the humans around them. They all have very distinct personalities. Alex is the sassy one who enjoys pulling on loose hair and pecking at people when they lean in, Erza is the shy one who prefers to watch people from a distance, Sunny is the sweetheart who always wants to be with someone else whether it is one of her chicken friends or her humans, and Roti is the perfect one who wins the heart of anyone who meets her, even the other chickens are protective of her.

Smudge

Smudge came from Josh’s Frogs in 2022 and seems to have settled into his new home well. He is set up in a bioactive enclosure with lots of substrate to burrow around in. Like many frogs Smudge’s belly is bigger than his brain and he will attempt to consume anything he sees, hand and food alike.

Twiggy

This passive little guy was our first gargoyle gecko. He is very passive and loves to just sit on our shoulders while we go about our business. He is not interested in exploring, hunting, or anything, but will protest when you try to put him back in his house.

Twiggy was purchased at the Janesville Wisconsin Reptile Show in March of 2023. Despite being so passive he more than doubled his weight in the first year (8g to 18g). The only time Twiggy ever tried to bite me was at his unboxing. He was certainly pretty stressed. Lucky for me he was too small to cause ant damage. I was impressed with how much force his little mouth could manage.

Maple

We were fairly confident Miss Maple was a female gargoyle gecko when we purchased and named her, but we were wrong – the gender part. It is very difficult to determine gender in gargoyles before they reach sexual maturity.

Maple is very very food motivated. He is our only gecko who will check out his food dish while its being placed. When he is actively hunting crickets we learned not to get our fingers anywhere in striking range. He isn’t aggressive toward us. Just food aggressive.

Maple was purchased along with Popcorn at Janesville Wisconsin Reptile Show in October of 2023. Maple has already tripled his weight in 10 months (8g vs. 27g).

Popcorn

Popcorn has a real sweetheart personality. She has never attempted to bite. Not even by accident when hunting crickets. She is very curious and adventuresome. Her idea of a good time is climbing to the highest point of whatever she is on (such as my head), and observing. She will often stare at the overhead lights for hours or chill and watch television with us.

Popcorn was purchased at the Janesville Wisconsin Reptile Show in October of 2023 from a vendor along with Maple. Popcorn clearly had had a difficult shed as evidenced by a couple minor kinks in her tail and some messed up toes. My heart went out to her. I knew I could treat her better and got a good discount on her purchase. Honestly, it took very little effort for the tail kinks to fade. Catt did some physical therapy and tail strengthening exercises for a week and gradually the tail mended/straightened. I monitored her first three sheds to make sure there wasn’t something atypical going on, but they were normal requiring no intervention. She is still a bit clumsy due to irreparable toe damage. ***

*** Getting preachy here: Breeders, if you want to breed animals for profit, which I’m sure is Popcorn’s history, then treat your little guys with attention and care. For one, they are living creatures in your care. Second, if your critters are sick and damaged then people either will not buy them or you will need to heavily discount them.

Buyers, I strongly recommend buying from people who value the animals as animals and not just for profit. Their animals will usually be healthier and will often have a better temperament. Vendors who care about their animals may be able to tell you about the parents and show pictures, they will be able to answer husbandry questions or questions about the animal, and they may ask you questions to make sure the animals are going to a good home. Plus, you can pay attention to eccentricities. For instance, I met a vendor who hand feeds all the geckos in his care and he demonstrated this by dipping his hand into a container where the gecko immediately crawled into his hand. WOW!

Sappho, Phoebe, and The Girls

Haku

Clyde

Clyde the Giant Whip Scorpion/Vinegaroon was picked up in 2022 from the same expo as Penne and Kahless. Like Smudge, she likes to burrow around her enclosure and is in a bioactive substrate. She is quick to investigate any changes to her enclosure and is a fearsome hunter of mealworms/darkling beetles. Clyde is pretty territorial of her home, so is not very handleable and will make an impressive threat display as soon as anyone enters her tank.

Millipedes

We have three chocolate millipedes, two males and a female, set up in a bioactive enclosure. While they do also spend a majority of their time burrowing, they do regularly come up to the surface to search for food and explore. They are also much more handleable than many smaller species. While they can and will release toxins when they feel threatened, it is not very potent and as they become more used to handling they are less prone to release it. Some of them also seem to enjoy being handled, voluntarily crawling onto offered hands and sometimes refusing to let go.

Isopods

Catt has been collecting and keeping isopods since 2020 and has amassed a decent collection. These isopods are both set up in bioactive enclosures and are used in establishing new ones to contain macrofauna. The species currently being kept are: Armadillidium vulgare (wild type, Japanese magic potion, American magic potion, and A. magic potion X wild type mix), Porcellio dilatatus “Giant Canyons,” Armadillidium maculatum (zebra, spotted, high-white), Armadillidium klugii (Montenegro, pudding), Cubaris “panda king,”Armadillo officinalis (Spain), Porcellio laevis (dairy cow), Trachelipus rathkii “Dwarf white.” If you are interested in obtaining some isopods of your own feel free to check Catt’s Etsy or reach out to us.

Mealworms

Catt has been operating a few mealworm farms as feeder insects for Clyde, Smudge, and occasionally the chickens. These farms are very effective both as a food source and as a way to dispose of kitchen waste and leftovers from the snakes.

Springtails

Catt has been maintaining a springtail culture since 2020. These springtails are used as a cleanup crew in various bioactive set ups, eating any mold, waste, or leftover food.

Crickets

Brian has been working toward a thriving cricket colony since Spring of 2024. As of Summer 2024, the colony is still alive, but the overall population is slowly decreasing. Fine tuning is commencing.