Because straight lines are boring ❤️

Dakota's hobbies: Snaking, climbing, digging, hiding.

The Shining Serpent.
Many people are fascinated, but also fearful. Snakes have always played a special role for humans. The fear of snakes is innate, babies as young as six months react with stress to snake motifs. It is assumed that this has evolutionary reasons. It makes sense to spot a snake early, as some species are dangerous. Nevertheless, in ancient cultures primarily positive meanings have developed. The snake embodies knowledge and wisdom not only in ancient Greece, Rome or India, but also in Inca mythology and many more. The role as protector and as a connection between the worlds is also found again and again. It is a highly symbolic animal, godlike or with divine attributes. I can well imagine that this inborn fear has contributed significantly to the myth-making. You see this wondrous animal and you automatically feel something. "Where does this feeling come from?" In the past there was no concept of evolution and no scientific connection to instincts as it is possible to understand today. Of course, coupled with the obvious characteristics (kills rodents, legless, skins in one piece) this certainly captures the imagination. We deal with our environment, how we perceive and evaluate it. We recognize patterns and make assumptions. Inevitably we intervene and have to be aware of the consequences in order not to end up harming ourselves. Snakes are important, so are our instincts. But whoever kills a snake takes on a force stronger than oneself. Be it nature, be it God. Only a part of all snake species can be dangerous to humans, but almost any rodent can make you seriously ill. We are somewhere between monkeys playing with sticks and trees growing on our ruins. Snakes have been around for at least 167 million years. Humility.

I guess you could say Dakota is a bit of a mouse-etarian!🐁

Instagram recently doesn't work that good. As always when they implement new features. I just found this capture too cute but couldn't upload it as wanted... but here it is 🤍

Loki and Berenike and a golden pot of zophobas. While Loki easily catches her meal, Berenike seems to be a bit confused. She doesn't hunt but walks around looking for something. She's actually looking for prey. You can see the same hunting behavior in my post # 330, which you can also find on my website megagroundsloth.de by searching for "lunatic gila monster".
There I also explain the social behavior. Berenike doesn't like fighting and she can hear the other zophobas outside. So she prefers to look for them. In the middle of the video you can "see" Nameless catching a worm from the left. She slowly sneaked to the pot and waited for a good moment. She twitched with tension. When I finished the recording, she was startled and gone in a flash. Arsinoë just climbs around in the background.

Dakota enjoying the ☀️ after having two mice the night before. 😋

Loki runs outside in her pajamas as soon as she hears that an isopod is in the neighborhood.🤍

A reptile that hugs you is only looking for your warmth or tries to eat you.

Kleptothermy, theft of warmth, is a form of thermoregulation. It occurs in a wide variety of animal species, including human. For example when we cuddle up because it's cold.

Reptiles* cannot create body heat themselves. Their metabolism is dependent on external heat sources.

When your reptile hugs it body against you, it certainly feels safe. But it doesn't do it out of affection, but because you are warm.

It's still a nice feeling.

You should always keep in mind, that it's better for the animal not to take it out of the terrarium.

My leopard geckos are about to winter rest. I initiate a near-natural rest at a temperature of around 12°C.
It's important to get an accurate picture of the animals health beforehand. This includes taking fecal samples, scanning the body for abnormalities and assessing the strength of the animal.

*From a cladistic point of view, which is the scientific standard today, the reptiles as a monophyletic taxon, i.e. as a natural (complete) descent group (Reptilia as clade), should at least also contain the birds, which are warm-blooded.

Banana Joe, as fit as twenty years ago. Only better looking. 💪

To photograph a lizard, you have to think like a lizard, move like a lizard...

Here I sneaked up on a sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) 🦎🌞

He clearly wanted to be seen.💚 Males turn bright green during the spring mating season - from April to June - and brown again in the late summer.🤎