Monday, August 27, 2007

Ooooo...you so nasty!

We have our very own Spiderus living on the front porch. You can only know who Spiderus is if you have little kids who watch Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends. I couldn't find a picture of the cartoon Spiderus.

Spiderus

Looks like Mary's spider.


At least someone is using the marsh

My mini-marsh, like every thing else, is bone dry. And cracked open. And sad. But at least some butterflies are enjoying the massive patch of goldenrod growing there.

I had a very nice, long belly-laugh tonight.
Some background: We have not had good luck with pet snails in the girls' fishtanks. Geoff went to the pet store a few weeks ago and bought some cheap little snails, and we decided that if we couldn't keep these guys alive, we would give up on the snails.
Wellllllll...
While putting the girls to bed tonight, I noticed some spots on the inside of Lorelei's fishtank. Oh, man, now what? ! A weird type of algae or creeping water fungus?
Nope. Baby snails. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Geoff bought a pregnant snail.

Baby snail

This is a macro shot of one. Some are no more than minuscule dots, and the largest ones are about half the size of a BB.

Another baby snail

Such tiny perfection. I counted 56 such tiny perfections in Lorelei's tank. And that's not counting the two egg sacks hiding behind the filter.
I laughed some more.

Henry and two baby snails

Henry the Betta was interested in the little flashing light on my camera.
See the two babies? They are cute.
I laughed a little bit more.

Then we put Isabelle to bed, and as I was feeding Cuter, her Betta, I noticed some spots on the inside of the tank. Yep. That snail had babies, too. I laughed again. I was so tickled...every other snail we have added to the tanks has died within a few days. And now, we have a few hundred immaculately conceived snails. I have some research to do...how does a snail give birth 2 weeks after being removed from the company of other snails? Do they keep the "stuff" inside themselves until they are ready to lay eggs? Eewww.
I have to see if these snails are a native species, because if they aren't releasable, say in the fountain/bird bath, I have to dispose of them. Eewww.

Speaking of long-awaited births....the Cincinnati Zoo's female Indian Rhino Nikki, is due to give birth the week of Christmas this year.
Nikki’s pregnancy is not only the first successful artificially inseminated pregnancy in the endangered Indian rhino, but also the first pregnancy produced in any rhino species using frozen-thawed sperm. Sperm was collected from a male Indian rhino named Himal, living at The Wilds in southeastern Ohio, near Bill and Julie's neck of the woods..
Not to diminish the huge news of this scientific breakthrough, but I had to ask myself:
How do you collect sperm from a male rhino?
Smirking Hooper knows:

Ever seen a dog smirk before

"That's a no-brainer. You give him a few back copies of National Geographic and he knocks on the door when he's done."

7 comments:

LauraHinNJ said...

You're too much, Susan!

I have snails in my pond. No idea where they come from, really. Must be the plants I buy.

If they're small enough, they squish easily.

;-)

entoto said...

Oh yeah, we are SOOO snail rich. They keep a clean tank.

Tell me more about Hooper. I see some chalk-eyed husky, what else?

Kathi said...

Not to burst Hooper's bubble, but I suspect that you anesthetize your rhino and collect your sample via electro-ejaculation. Please don't ask for a description of this process - I don't want Susan to lose her PG rating.

Very pretty spider! Congrats on your bonus snails.

~Kathi

Mary said...

I have snails in the pond but I never thought of having snails in a fish tank! Only YOU!

Cool spider! (just like mine). She folded up her web for a day or two but now she's back.

That shop of Hooper is clever, Susan. Those last two lines made me choke on water!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

You are too funny! We had a zillion of those snails in a beta tank and before we knew knew it they were too thick to see through the tank! It was really cool to watch them grow in that gooey egg blob (I actually am a scientist by training...really!) but we had to thin the herd so to speak.
That picture of Hooper is hysterical! He has a very human expression, all-knowing and a bit of superiority! Scorn too!

Cathy said...

You make me laugh. Do they keep that 'stuff' inside them . . . . :0D

And to heck with the G rating - inquiring minds want to know. My answer to your query is 'very very carefully.

I've got to get to Cincinnati this winter. How neat is that - a little Indian rhino. Awwwwwww.

I'm trying to be cool about spiders , but I'd be giving this one a wide berth.

That pix of the snail with the fish in the background is great.

NatureWoman said...

LOL Susan!! You're cracking me up! I can just hear you laughing over the snails!!