Because straight lines are boring ❤️

High noon at the waterhole...

🏜️🌵🤠🥤🧃🤠🌵🌞

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!🐁

A Dubia cockroach (Blaptica dubia) that extrudes and retracts the ootheca. But what is it and why does it do that? The egg packets of cockroaches and mantises are called ootheca. The Dubia cockroach is ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs remain in the body until the young are ready to hatch. The extruding of the ootheca occurs because it's the only way to move them from the ovary chamber to the brood chamber.

I keep a small group of cockroaches because they are good food for my animals. The terrarium is set up with an 11 to 15 centimeter high layer of coconut soil, which is piled up like a slope towards the back wall of the terrarium. In the lower area there are branches, leaves and pieces of bark, where the animals stay the most. The upper area stays free, only the feeding bowl is there. I only keep the soil slightly moist in places. These areas are visited by the animals from time to time and also cover their drinking needs. Springtails and microorganisms also live in the soil, which help to keep the terrarium clean. It smells very good like forest floor.

Many startle when they hear the word cockroach. Only about 30 species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. In a normal living situation, there is no need to worry about an infestation by these animals.

Surrounded by what I love, it's the best place there is.😄

Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa)

I used to keep this species as a pet for many years.

They reach a size of about 5 to 8 cm and live up to 5 years. They don't have wings, but they can easily scale smooth glass.

The offspring looks cute. They are so-called nymphs, so they already look very similar to the adults. Only in tiny.

The tiny ones were always great escape artists. Again and again I collected the little adventurers and freed them from fluff.

The adults live in groups and communicate by hissing noises.
There are three different hissing sounds. Both sexes can do the disturbance hiss "F*ck off!".

Only males can make two more sounds: the female-attracting hiss and the aggressive fighting hiss. The males can be recognized by their horns and bushy antennae. There is one in the middle of the second picture.

The females have humps instead of horns.

Females carry their eggs (ootheca) internally, and release the young nymphs only after her offspring have emerged within her. After that, they usually stay close together for some time.

Just my harmless blue eyes.😇
These are two crops of the same photo. Viewed individually, looking at them feels quite different.

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