This part of the website is dedicated to keeping everyone updated on the classroom pets.
Kip, Bindi, & Kade are Leopard Geckos. Here are 5 facts about leopard geckos:
- Leopard geckos live as long as 20 years
- Leopard geckos can grow as long as 10 inches (25 cm) in length
- In the wild, leopard geckos live in the desert and are nocturnal
- Unlike other geckos, the leopard gecko doesn’t have sticky hands, so he can’t climb walls and other vertical surfaces like the many of his relatives
- The leopard gecko is one of only a few gecko species that has distinct outer ears and eyelids
Kip's Gallery of Photos
Photo Updates 3/29/2020
Kip loves James. He runs out of his hide when he hears James' voice. He also gives James lizard hugs on the back of his neck.
April 16, 2020: Kip went through a whole body shed. He walked out of his leg shed like they were gloves while in his bathtub. Afterwards he fell asleep on his rock with his head propped up on his water bowl.
Videos of Kip
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Bindi's Gallery of Photos
Bindi came home from Pet Supplies Plus in Clarksburg, WV thanks to a teacher grant called "Pets in the Classroom." Bindi is approximately 4-6 weeks old. We won't know if Bindi is a girl or boy for several more months.
Bindi's new habitat! Bindi is much smaller than Kip who is an adult gecko. Bindi also barks and hisses when you try to pick him up. It will be several weeks before he's completely comfortable in his new habitat.
Bindi grows up!
Videos of Bindi
Bindi's 1st catch in his new habitat. We waited until day 2 to give Bindi his first crickets and meal worms. We found out that Bindi wags his tail right before he pounces on his prey. Bindi gets 3 crickets and 3 meal worms a day.
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Kade's Gallery of Photos
Klaus is an Axolotl. Here are 5 facts about axolotls:
- The axolotl is a kind of amphibian, specifically a salamander, that does not metamorphose naturally. Axolotls, however, keep their gills and continue living in the water as adults. Their gills are their most recognizable trait because they look like wispy feathers.
- Axolotls average 23 cm (9 in.) in length. They vary in color from pinkish to brownish green, and often appear to be smiling because of the shape of their mouth.
- In the wild, axolotls are only found in one lake outside Mexico City, called Lake Xochimilco.
- They will eat just about anything they can catch, including fish, worms, mollusks, and even insects on the surface of the water. They are preyed upon by perch and tilapia, both of which are invasive species, as well as birds.
- Axolotls can also be found in research laboratories. They are studied because, like other salamanders, the axolotl has the extraordinary ability to regrow missing body parts. That means that if an axolotl loses a leg or a tail, it will regrow, including the bones, muscle, and skin. They can also regrow organs, something scientists hope they can apply to humans one day.
Klaus' Gallery of Photos
Videos of Klaus
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Lucy is a Red Eared Slider. Here are 5 facts about red eared sliders:
- The sex of the Red-eared Slider is determined by the temperature during development
- Red-eared Sliders live around ponds and can swim well underwater.
- Pond sliders communicate with touch and vibrations.
- A baby turtle will become a boy or girl depending on the temperature within the nest. Pond slider eggs that are incubated at temperatures between 22 and 27 degrees Celsius become only males, while eggs that are incubated at warmer temperatures become females.
- Red-eared Sliders feed mainly on plants and small animals, such as crickets, fish, crayfish, snails, tadpoles, worms, aquatic insects and aquatic plants. Turtles don't have teeth, but instead have horny ridges that have little sharp groves, like a serrated knife on their upper and lower jaws.
Lucy's Gallery of Photos
Videos of Lucy
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Classroom Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp. Here are 5 facts about freshwater aquarium shrimp:
- There are many aquarium shrimp types. Some species of shrimp are cleaners, such as Lysmata amboinensis. This species of shrimp “dances” to attract fish by waving their antennae around. They then go into the fish’s open mouth to clean off bloodsucking parasites.
- Shrimps are scavengers and spend most of their time in the wild eating anything that’s fallen down to the bottom of the water bed. They are opportunistic omnivores, which means they will eat both plants and animals, whether they are dead or alive.
- Unlike most fish, which either lay eggs or retain eggs inside the body to give live birth, shrimps carry their eggs on the underside of their body. A shrimp carrying eggs is known as a berried shrimp.
- Beginner fishkeepers often think they have dead shrimp lying on the floor of the aquarium. These often aren’t actually dead shrimp; they are the shrimp exoskeletons that the shrimp have shed. An easy way to tell whether it’s a shell or a dead shrimp is that dead shrimp tend to be pinkish in color, whereas a shell will look almost exactly the same as a living aquarium shrimp.
- While their primary mode of moving around is walking, shrimp are actually really good at swimming in the aquarium. This is not the typical type of swimming that we’re used to seeing in fish (because shrimp have no fins), but shrimp are able to move around quickly in the water.
Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Gallery of Photos
Videos of Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp
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Classroom African Dwarf Frogs. Here are 5 facts about African dwarf frogs:
- The African Dwarf Frog is an amphibian, like most other frogs on the planet. However, they are fully aquatic and they don’t get out of the water like other frogs.
- The African Dwarf Frog is a small animal, thus its name. This is mainly the reason why so many people seem to like it in their home aquariums. Most specimens won’t grow larger than 3 inches long.
- These frogs, like most others, are great jumpers. This fact is pretty important, if you just plan to buy the first one for your tank. Why? Because they won’t hesitate to jump out of the aquarium, if given the opportunity.
- The African Dwarf Frog will easily live up to 5 years in your aquarium if you care for it properly. This is great news, if you want something that live stay for a long time in your fish tank.
- If you’re thinking that a frog is a great swimmer all the time, than think again. The African Dwarf Frog is quite a bad swimmer. Yes, it lives in the water, but it likes shallow, slowly moving waters, where it’s easy to swim.
African Dwarf Frog Gallery of Photos
Videos of African Dwarf Frogs
Tadpoles
The tadpoles arrived in our classroom on Monday, March 16, 2020 as a mass of eggs courtesy of Gretchen and Kenny Hibbs. They started hatching on March 17th and by March 19th most of the tadpoles had emerged. Just by looking at them, I'd say we have 200+ tadpoles. There are at least 3 different kinds of tadpoles in all. I'm not sure what kind of frogs they will turn into.
I will try to keep updated pictures and videos of the classroom tadpoles. As of March 23, 2020, they are residing in my house since the school has been locked down.
The tadpoles arrived in our classroom on Monday, March 16, 2020 as a mass of eggs courtesy of Gretchen and Kenny Hibbs. They started hatching on March 17th and by March 19th most of the tadpoles had emerged. Just by looking at them, I'd say we have 200+ tadpoles. There are at least 3 different kinds of tadpoles in all. I'm not sure what kind of frogs they will turn into.
I will try to keep updated pictures and videos of the classroom tadpoles. As of March 23, 2020, they are residing in my house since the school has been locked down.
Images: March 16, 2020
Images March 18, 2020 Courtesy of Dr. Westfall
Images March 20, 2020 ~ Almost all the eggs have hatched
Image March 23, 2020 ~ Bringing the tadpoles home. Dr. Westfall & I thought it was the best decision since the school is on lockdown and being disinfected. I also brought home the African Frog and all the plants from the fish tank.
Video Progressions of the Tadpoles. Date is listed on all my YouTube videos.
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Video: March 23rd - The trip home was slow. It is hard to drive with 5 gallons of water sloshing in your front seat but I did it without losing any water. One problem - I lost the slope to my gravel and I can't fix it without hurting the tadpoles.
Video: March 28th - The tadpoles smell horrible! And I found out that the "little tadpoles" were not tadpoles they were mosquito larvae. So they live on the front porch now. Gretchen Hibbs thinks they are Wood Frog & Bull Frog tadpoles. The Bull Frog tadpoles I've nicknamed "King Tadpole." They are huge!
Video: April 23rd - Today I released the 1st and 2nd frog. Within the next couple of days, I'll be releasing #3 & 4
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Video: April 23rd Current Tank
May 1, 2020 - As of today, I've released 22 frogs into the creek bed beside my house. Here are some pictures from some of my releases.
May 3, 2020 - My daughter and I released 15 more frogs into the creek bed. On May 7th we sent 14 more frogs to be released by my son's girl friend's little brother. These two releases brought the number up to 51 successful releases.
May 14, 2020 - I knew I had more frogs to release, I just didn't know how many. I lifted the rocks up on the shallow end of the tank and found so many that they were stacked on each other. I released 44 frogs in all bring the total number of successful releases up to 95.
The total updated released frogs as of June 2, 2020 is 125.