Other Animals

Everyone knows what a Lego block is. They’re almost essential learning toy pieces that many of us have grown up with (and continue to grow up with). As the base of older users aged, the need for the acquisition of base pieces and specialty pieces have helped fuel the growth of Lego stores throughout the

Webinar: Avian Vet Insider—The Lighter Side of Treating a Pet That Can Talk Back! Date: Friday, September 17, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for a FREE, live, interactive webinar hosted by Laura Doering, former editor of Bird Talk magazine and Birds USA magazine. Our

photo by Barbara Klump/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior You know your bird is smart. You’ve seen it in action so many times. Often with that, you can watch their well-thought-out mischief occurring. This is especially true when a bird wants something that is not readily available to them. And as we have learned in

Dumeril’s boas (Acrantophis dumerili) are some of the most beautifully patterned, reasonably sized, and well-tempered snakes on Earth. That said, they are not that common as pets compared to other boas like the common boa, ball pythons, corn snakes, hognose snakes, or even reticulated pythons, blood pythons, or carpet pythons. Why not? What is the

Glossy Black Cockatoo pair by Credit Eleanor Sobey Parrots are under threat around the world for many reasons. Some are directly caused by humans through poaching or habitat destruction. Natural disasters such as hurricanes and fires can also pose serious threats; some might even argue that humans have had a hand in those also. In

photo courtesy Barn Hill Preserve Aging is an ongoing event that follows every living creature. Humans can live up to an age of 120 or slightly more, although not many have enjoyed that boast. Many creatures often live a lifespan that is significantly less than a human. One kind of creature that can live to

Fig. 1: Athena enjoying chard I’ve written a bit before about our Grey’s diets, and the ways in which we try to introduce new foods. What I haven’t really discussed is just how picky at least my birds can be when it comes to food choices! I’m sure that this behavior derives from eating patterns

Poison dart frogs are stinking rad, and the dyeing poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) is one of the the largest, easiest to keep, most widely available, and beautiful of them all. They are available in a wide range of color and pattern localities from Josh’s Frogs. Tincs are amazing! But are they a good pet?

Apparently, snakes and mole lizards (amphisbaenians) are not lizards. Why not? I have absolutely no idea! Let’s take a closer look at the squamate reptiles to see if we can get to the bottom of this mystery. You’ve never seen me this angry! #clintsreptiles #standingupforsnakes #clintexplains ==== “Real Lanthanotus borneensis” by Chien C. Lee, Wild

Webinar: Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Release: Wildlife Rehabilitation of the Parrots of Southern California Date: Friday, August 27, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for a FREE, live, interactive webinar hosted by Laura Doering, former editor of Bird Talk magazine and Birds USA magazine. Our special

Webinar: The Grey Way: Time to Travel: Bird Sitter, Boarding or Hitting the Road? with Lisa Bono, CPBC Date: Friday, August 13, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for a FREE, live interactive webinar! Lisa Bono, CPBC, owner and operator of The Platinum Parrot and

Mockingbird feather, photo by James Henderson It can be said that our world is interpreted through the art that we create. How we understand ourselves, how we perceive events and locations, and how we love other things are all represented in a million ways via our art. The traditional brushstroke of colors in paintings often

Virginia Rose enjoying birding. Photo: Mike Fernandez/Audubon Even though birds are background to our everyday lives, they do factor in much more significantly than we think they do. These days, we are more attuned to the reality of birds – their noise, their beauty, and their existence. Some birds are plentiful. Some birds have a

Fire belly toads (which are actually frogs) are one of the most popular and beautiful frogs available today. But does that mean that they are good pets? Is the fire-bellied toad the best pet amphibian for you? Let’s find out! #firebellytoad #firebelliedtoad #clintsreptiles ==== Gloves: https://amzn.to/3dSdtXF Enclosure: https://amzn.to/2HeBQPk Enclosure Lid: https://amzn.to/2YW5miC Enclosure Clips: https://amzn.to/2Z9iwcr Water

Tortoises can make great pets, but are tortoises the best pet that you can get? Clint makes the case that the tortoise is the best pet reptile. Do you agree? #tortoise #clintsreptiles #pettortoise ==== Clint is a professional biologist and educator, but above all, Clint LOVES reptiles and he loves to share that love with

Image by Makalu from Pixabay Much has been written about the need to help threatened bird species overcome the disruption of their patterns. Some birds have lived near extinction while others have gone extinct in the wild. Birds have instinctively grown accustomed to a set of “rules” that help them to exist and to mate

The Brazilian rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria) is widely considered to be one of the most iridescent and beautiful of all snakes. They also have a reputation for being difficult pets to keep alive. Is this reputation warranted? Or is the Brazilian rainbow boa the best pet snake for you? #rainbowboa #brazilianrainbowboa #clintsreptiles ==== Enclosure: https://visionproducts.us/snake-cages.html Water

Reptiles need UVB so that the can uptake calcium from their diets. But what about nocturnal reptiles like crested geckos, leaf-tailed geckos, leopard geckos, and others? Do they need exposure to UVB? Clint takes on this controversial topic to shine some light on the need for UVB. #clintsreptiles #MBD #UVB ==== https://aminoapps.com/c/reptiles/page/item/metabolic-bone-disease-mbd/Yjo3_ornsXI0EYRevLLvwMZwWBjn2QdprXq ==== Clint is

As the famed Lou Reed song goes, “…New York City is the place where…”, it’s easy to recognize that a metropolis the size of NYC can be home to just about anything. And surely, given the city’s lifespan of approximately 368 years, it has seen more than a fair share of interesting sights and happenings.

Webinar: Avian Vet Insider: The Routine Pet Bird Exam Date: Friday, July 16, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for a FREE, live, interactive webinar hosted by Laura Doering, former editor of Bird Talk magazine and Birds USA magazine. Our special guest, Dr. Stephanie Lamb, DVM,

The blue death-feigning beetle is an amazing little insect that is so reasonable to keep that there are few reasons not to have one. Clint and Rus from Aquarimax Pets discuss these amazing little beetles to determine if they are the best pet invertebrate for you! #bluedeathfeigningbeetle #clintsreptiles #petinsect Clint on Aquarimax! Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches:

Our model-rival (M/R) technique is almost always successful in training our parrots to acquire novel labels for objects, actions, attributes, and concepts. (Of course, whether they will subsequently use the labels is a matter of choice: Alex did so constantly, whereas Athena will talk only when absolutely necessary—e.g., when she knows Griffin will get all

Webinar: Avian Bornavirus: Common Signs and Treatments Date: Friday, July 30, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for this very important FREE, live webinar hosted by Laura Doering, former editor of Bird Talk magazine and Birds USA magazine. Our special guest, Susan Orosz Ph.D., DVM,

Russian tortoises (Agrionemys horsfieldii) also known as Horsfield’s tortoises, Afghan tortoises, Central Asian tortoises, four-clawed tortoises, and steppe tortoises, are small tortoises with big personalities. As tortoises go, they are very reasonable pets. But are Russian tortoises good pets? Are they even Russian? And are Russian tortoises the best pet tortoises for you? ==== Vitamin

Back in the early ‘70s, Atari released a simplistic but effective video game named Pong. Just two vertical bars on both sides of the screen and a floating ball moving its sprites from across 720 pixels of screen space. The ball was manipulated by a player (or two) in a competitive bid to earn the

There once was a time when the skies of Rio de Janeiro were filled with the colorful and noisy flight of blue-and-gold macaws. And while their population is indeed decreasing (according to the IUCN assignation for the species), they are listed by the watch organization as Least Concern for their conservation status. But the blue-and-gold

Hyacinth macaws roost in a tree in Brazil’s Pantanal region. Photo courtesy of the Instituto Arara Azul This month we travel to the Pantanal of Brazil, the world’s largest tropical wetland. It is a magical place, an epic ecosystem. Most years, the grasslands flood from torrential rains, and then the water slowly subsides leaving behind

The purportedly simple task called “match-to-sample” seems straightforward and forms the basis of many more advanced types of studies. In the picture to the right, the subject first sees a red and a green circle (a). After a short delay, that screen disappears, and another with only one circle appears (b). After another short delay,

The octopus is without a doubt one of the most fascinating, intelligent and all around amazing animals on the planet. I would not even be surprised to find out that they aren’t from this planet at all, they are like alien lifeforms. But is the octopus a good pet? And is the octopus the best

Webinar: The Grey Way: Time to Travel: Bird Sitter, Boarding or Hitting the Road? with Lisa Bono, CPBC Date: Friday, June 25, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm PDT (double-check your local time with this time zone converter) Join us for a free, live interactive webinar! Lisa Bono, CPBC, owner and operator of The Platinum Parrot and