[LIVING LAB] The Original

I just finished a beautiful walk through the meadow with our friends, Ben and Sasha, who are fellow Bowen Islanders that have been living abroad in Bali for the past five years. Logan wanted to show his buddy, Sasha, our favourite spot for catching snakes - we found many snakes in the tall grass today, as well as, a beautiful snake that was in the midst of shedding it's skin when it met it's death (from the small puncture wounds, we're guessing it was a hawk or owl). We also found a loooonnngggg snake skin that was still intact, but far too delicate for me to collect (darn). Pretty exciting stuff!

I was telling Ben about the research labs we like to set up in our home with the creatures we find. I was just looking to send him a link of the first lab we did, only to find that I had never shared those pictures. So here's some pics of our first ever lab. It was quite something!

This is Wiggles. Wiggles was a very beautiful leaf insect that we were given on a whim one day on the ferry (one of the more odd things we've taken home from the boat, that's for sure). He/she ate blackberry leaves, and was so much fun to watch and hold. We only kept Wiggles for a couple weeks, then passed him/her along to the grade three class at the school. What a cool class pet!

These two frogs we found at Quarry Park near our house. Logan named them George and Harold. Little Harold was missing a leg - we're not sure if he was attacked or born that way. We fed these little guys teensy,tiny crickets. We kept them for a very short time, then returned them to the pond where we found them.

This beautiful salamander, I found on a walk around Kilarney Lake. I surprised Logan with it when I picked him up from school. He was so excited, and right away went home to set up a beautiful habitat for 'Sally'. We had a den for 'her' and a shallow water dish that she liked to curl up in. We kept her for a few weeks, as she was doing very well in our care and was so much fun to watch (I never realized how fast they can move when stocking their prey). Plus, she was a great way to get rid of the slugs in our garden, as that's one of their main staples...and we had a lot for her to dine on.

Last up is 'Slither' - a little baby snake we found in the meadow. We brought the terrarium with us and collected some of the dry dirt from the ditch where they live, along with, tall grasses, some plants and stones. We learned a lot about the different habitats needed for our creatures to survive when setting up this lab. Such a fun way to learn.

We have had a couple more labs since then (more pics here). In fact, there are still tadpoles living on my balcony. They're HUGE...like two inches in size!!!?? Remember these guys...yup those are the tadpoles I'm talking about!