HarryPotter Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Love this thread.... Between the DIY work here, the cars, and the tank itself, I'm following Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Hooray, a tank! Can't wait to see what native offerings you put in it. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Fun weekend! I found blenny heaven just down the hill from our house... A three minute drive and a six minute walk. I built some perches for the chickens... And I replaced all of the lighting in the ohana building with remote control fan/lights to compliment the new air conditioning 4 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Sadly, my underwater camera died so I can't share any snorkeling videos. It looks like it's time to upgrade to a go pro camera so I can share all of this magnificent underwater action we have here. We were snorkeling in close vicinity to a manta ray today, but never quite caught up with it. They move a lot faster than we can. 1 Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Fun pics! Awesome convict tang! Quote Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Man are you living the American Dream or what? Your house is beautiful, it's in Hawaii, my gosh that's my dream anyhow!! :-) Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Alright I'd love to have the ocean sound you have in a sound maker, piping it into my bedroom so I can sleep! What kind of blennies are they? And on a different note, Gertie's last molt. Do you think her lenses will come back? Just appears to be the whole portion underneath w/ lenses and the silvery coating. Unless the lenses are there and it's just the coating not there. She's a pirate for the time being. I've heard of appendages coming back but eyes??? I know nature is amazing so I'm hoping in some way yes. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Alright I'd love to have the ocean sound you have in a sound maker, piping it into my bedroom so I can sleep! What kind of blennies are they? And on a different note, Gertie's last molt. Do you think her lenses will come back? Just appears to be the whole portion underneath w/ lenses and the silvery coating. Unless the lenses are there and it's just the coating not there. She's a pirate for the time being. I've heard of appendages coming back but eyes??? I know nature is amazing so I'm hoping in some way yes. Most of the blennies I see around here are Zebra blennies, but these looked a little different, I'll have to check my books to see what other species we have. As for your little girl, I suspect her eyes will be back to normal after a couple of molts. Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Most of the blennies I see around here are Zebra blennies, but these looked a little different, I'll have to check my books to see what other species we have. As for your little girl, I suspect her eyes will be back to normal after a couple of molts. Thank you. I'm so glad. She was out & about this evening so I had a chance to look at it and it appears a touch better. She was hitting something so I guess she feels alright. Quote Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Those looked like Sargent Majors to me. Maybe they call them convicts where you're from Mr. M??? And I replaced all of the lighting in the ohana building with remote control fan/lights to compliment the new air conditioning My mother n law was there a couple weeks ago and told us it was 100 there, so all that coolness will be welcome...o yeah, you said your place didn't get so hot. But it should be a chill zone with the fans and the mitsubishi or whatever. The chickens have sure grown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 I also got to open up my aquarium gear boxes and dig out an Aqualifter pump, a timer and some air line tubing that I combined it with some drip irrigation line to create a timed rain storm for them. Chameleons don't recognize water bowls as a place to drink from. They lick water off of plants when it rains. We've been using a spray bottle to mist them and the leaves in the cages, but this will provide a more consistent chance to drink throughout the day and make it easier when we go out of town. I'm also looking to upgrade their cages to something a little nicer. Did you catch you chameleon on the island? I've got a Jackson myself. He's got his own thread on here Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Did you catch you chameleon on the island? I've got a Jackson myself. He's got his own thread on here They're both from the island. The male was found in someone's back yard, and the female was rescued while attempting to cross the street. I was given them by a coworker who couldn't keep them any more. They're pretty cool. They both have very funny and different personalities. Neither one likes being handled very much though. 1 Quote Link to comment
pgrVII Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 They're both from the island. The male was found in someone's back yard, and the female was rescued while attempting to cross the street. I was given them by a coworker who couldn't keep them any more. They're pretty cool. They both have very funny and different personalities. Neither one likes being handled very much though. Interesting. Mines still a juvenile he will climb my hand every time it's in there lol. Gotta love the little triceretop with a monkey tail. Nice set up. Quote Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Best. Thread. Ever! Following! 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Hey, I wanted to let you know Gertie's eye is doing better. Looks like it must be regenerating outside covering. I was really nervous there but she's out n' about like normal. 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 Hey, I wanted to let you know Gertie's eye is doing better. Looks like it must be regenerating outside covering. I was really nervous there but she's out n' about like normal. That's awesome to hear! They're pretty adept at repairing/replacing damaged body parts. Lost a major limb? No worries, it's only a temporary setback. 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I could understand limbs but I was truly worried about the eye, you know? 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted August 16, 2015 Author Share Posted August 16, 2015 What do computers dream about when they dream about mantis shrimp? These images were made using pictures of Betty fed into Google's DeepDream program. DeepDream is a computer vision program created by Google which uses a convolutional neural network to find and enhance patterns in images via algorithmic pareidolia, thus creating a dreamlike hallucinogenic appearance in the deliberately over-processed images. Science is trippy, wouldn't you say? Speaking of Betty, I recently talked to her caretaker and apparently she's in the middle of a particularly long molt session and has been sequestered for just enough time to make her owner concerned. I'm not too concerned yet. She is getting older and these things can take some time. I remember always thinking it was taking too long, but she always came out eventually. Always more vibrant and amazing than before. 5 Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 What do computers dream about when they dream about mantis shrimp? These images were made using pictures of Betty fed into Google's DeepDream program. DeepDream is a computer vision program created by Google which uses a convolutional neural network to find and enhance patterns in images via algorithmic pareidolia, thus creating a dreamlike hallucinogenic appearance in the deliberately over-processed images. Science is trippy, wouldn't you say? Speaking of Betty, I recently talked to her caretaker and apparently she's in the middle of a particularly long molt session and has been sequestered for just enough time to make her owner concerned. I'm not too concerned yet. She is getting older and these things can take some time. I remember always thinking it was taking too long, but she always came out eventually. Always more vibrant and amazing than before. Pretty sure I saw those exact images back in the mid-eighties.... 3 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 That would make an amazing puzzle. How old is Betty girl now that you're aware? Hope she's ok. If it's helpful let him know mine grew her eye back, it's rejenerating the broken front part. Quote Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Love it! Glad to hear that Annette!! Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Ok, I am delinquent in updating this thread. So much has been going on! Since the last time I posted, we have had a fire, a flood, tropical storm after tropical storm. Our beautiful desert landscape looks a bit like a tropical jungle right now. Here's a video of the recent fire and flood. (Mauka means Mountain in Hawaiian. Makai means Ocean) We witnessed this fire shortly after it started. It was obvious that it started along the side of the Kawaihae road. It was exceptionally frightening at night as we could see the orange glow of the fire just over the hill. Keep in mind that Kawaihae is only 5 minutes from our house. We were preparing to evacuate our dogs, two chameleons, two parrots and eight chickens. We were also planning to cut the lock on the gate for our neighbor's donkey to escape if it came to that. Here's a picture I took with my cell phone at night of the timber logs in Kawaihae burning. There must have been over 200 timber logs lost that night. (Sorry for the potato quality, we were a long way from the fire) This is the glow of the fire from our back lanai: Fortunately the firefighters did an amazing job of keeping the fire away from homes and structures. Pamela made cookies and brownies that she took to the local fire department as a thank you. Speaking of dogs... We now have two. A female standard poodle recently needed to be rehomed and we jumped on the chance to add a female to our existing male, Samson. Meet Delilah. She's a sweet girl who doesn't take any flack from our boy. The two of them enjoy wrestling as you'll see here: What else? We're growing watermelons. I drove the Mini up to Waimea the other day, here's a couple picture on the trip back (With the top down!) The chickens are getting HUGE! Eggs soon! They are such sweethearts. Since it's been getting so hot this summer, I've devised a system to help keep them cool during the day: Check it out! For about $40.00, I have two solar USB fans that will come on any time the sun is shining on the coop! This is the prototype and it worked! Time to set them up in the coop! On a sad note, we lost our male Jackson's chameleon. He developed an infection in his mouth and there are few veterinarians on the island that will see chameleons. From the time the infection developed to the time he passed away was about 5 days. After the second day of seeing the spot in his mouth, we knew something was very wrong and tried to get an appointment to see the veterinarian. They absolutely could not see him for five days and when we explained that we thought the infection was spreading rapidly, they apologized but still could not help us and would not give us antibiotics without seeing him first. Very frustrating. We rush ordered antibiotics from the mainland and hoped for the best. I had been treating the infection spot topically with hydrogen peroxide and betadine, but he didn't make it past the morning of day three. Sadly, the antibiotics arrived that afternoon. Mouth infections are fairly common in chameleons and can get pretty serious pretty quick. Unfortunately we don't have the same level of veterinary care that is available on the mainland. Now we have antibiotics in our pet medicine cabinet for the future. As they are an invasive species, we should have no problem finding another, but we are very sad that we lost him. As far as I can tell, we did everything right for him as far as diet and other parameters go and this was just an minor injury that got infected. Regardless, I ordered some larger cages that the female will move into and I'll get one ready for a new male when we find one that needs rescue. And on an even sadder note, I just found out that Betty, the mantis shrimp that I owned on the mainland did not make it through her last molt. Many tears were shed from both us and her current caretaker. He has done an amazing job of caring for her since we left the mainland and his whole family will miss her very much. We're going to miss you sweet girl. I'll have more upbeat news on my next post! I promise! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I'm so sorry to hear about the chameleon and so very very very sorry to hear about the passing of Betty . She was absolutely gorgeous and such a curious and playful soul from what I could gather by all your YouTube videos. 2 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 OH poor Miss Betty. I just cried, knowing how much I love my own and how much joy and amazement she's given me. I'm glad that you were able to rehome her and my deepest, saddest condolences as I still cry while typing.. She was the best. 2 Quote Link to comment
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