Our Daily Journal
"Dear Diary: I met the CUTEST boy today! His name is Camillo! I already know a lot about him. He usually has a pretty dark brown complexion, but he can be green, too! Also, his favorite food is crickets. *And just between you and me, he's REALLY good at doing push ups O:-) tee hee hee*"
06-02-02: Sorry about not updating it in a while. My dad and I were on a Father/Son thing this weekend. I left Cammy and Dezzy in the care of my mom. She just sprayed the cage daily, and that was that. However, three days was too much for two dozen crickets. They apparently died of disease. They had gone to the bathroom all over the place and apparently poisoned themselves. I lost somewhere between 5-10 crickets. The ones that are in perfect health have been put in the cage. They've been hiding in the mushroom thing. I had covered up the holes that the stupid company put in there, but I missed a couple. About 5 live crickets were in there; two were dead. On a lighter note, Cammy and Dezzy are getting along a lot better that before. Instead of one being green and one being brown, they're both green. Well, it seems that crickets have been disappearing again, so I'll have to check again. Wish me luck. Nicknole out.
06-03-02: Dezzy shed her skin today. I walked in this morning and looked in. There seemed to be a lot of light shining right next to Dezzy. It was just the skin. An hour or two later, it was all gone. Either she was hungry, or they just don't make those skin sheddings like they used to. That's probably why the crickets have been dropping like flies; Dezzy's been pigging out to get ready to use all those nutrients. Anyway, there are still two or three crickets in the cage, so I don't think I'll need to worry about them for a day or two. It's pretty hot today *it got up to 90 F in the cage w/ the light on!*, so I turned the light on and just left the hood on top of the cage. The light shone in through the screen. The temperature got down to about 80-85, and it's now 76. Cammy is sleeping between two leaves. Dezzy is most likely sleeping; I just have no idea where she is. She's hiding somewhere. My mom couldn't find her when she came up earlier, either. She always has been good at hiding; the second day of living in the Nursery, Cara and I couldn't find her, until we realized she was between two leaves, which were like pages in a book. Anyway, Cammy is sleeping so SHHHHH! *whispers* G'night. Nicknole out.
6/05/02: Yesterday, we bought a bunch of crickets. Three dozen, to be exact. My mom talked me into it, so that we wouldn't have to come back as quickly. I put in five crickets, and Dezzy went right for one. However, the ones in the little cage *where the crickets are* started dying. For some reason, the crickets were eating each others' dung. This would lead to them contracting some sort of disease and dying. I lost about five crickets that way. Fortunately, I cleaned out all the cages today and thus got rid of most of the cricket dung. However, I had nowhere to put the anoles while I cleaned The Nursery. So, I got out the 20-gallon cage in the basement *hereby known as The Shatterbox* and cleaned it out. I put some old decorations in there, but Dezzy still didn't like it. Cammy got used to it pretty quickly, and actually just hung out on the wooden cave. I put the three crickets *the ones in The Nursery* into The Shatterbox with the anoles. While I was removing the duct tape from the carpet *it seals it so the crickets don't escape under there* I found two crickets attached to the tape. One was dead. The other was thought to be dead at first, but then started breathing and moving, so I pulled on its leg, trying to get it off. This resulted in its leg being lost. So I maneuvered the tape around so the cricket could escape. Well, its attached leg was now bent in a way that left it paralyzed, so to speak. So I placed it on a leaf with a piece of food in its face. It just stayed there, eating. I knew it wouldn't drown, because insects breathe with their abdomen. However, Desdemona ended up eating him tonight. I have a new invention. Since I'm low on money, I can't buy the Big Dripper, which creates a steady drip of water. Instead, I poked holes in a Ziploc bag that drips water onto a leaf. Same principle, cheaper and less complicated idea. The anoles are pretty happy right now. They're asleep. I'm going to start decorating The Shatterbox as soon as my debts are paid off. It will be another anole home; at least, until The Tree gets here. I've been sending e-mails to Erica, asking if she's alright. She hasn't answered any of them, so I hope she's just out of the house. I don't just see her as the holder of The Tree; she's a friend of mine. Oh, well. Things will work out okay in the end. BTW, I wanna write this in before I forget. The crickets are enjoying the clear plastic cage. I put two pieces of food in the center of the cage, and they surrounded them. Each piece of food turned into a tavern for them. Lol. Well, it's time to say good night. Nicknole out.
06/12/02: Well, it's been a while since I've typed here. Well, first of all, I got some crickets. Three died of eating dung. The rest are fine, except for some legless victims. However, I have important news. You may notice on the homepage that the title for Dezzy's page is now "Dezzy (Cara's Anole!) (1M*)." Well, Caranole and I were mistakenly informed that a white stripe on an adult anole meant that the anole was a female. That is not true. That means that it is a Southern Green Anole. Well, I've been thinking it over and have finally decided that Dezzy is not a girl. I placed Cammy back in the cage, and he has been happier ever since. Caranole and I will be searching for a female anole soon. We will go to Petsmart, pick out an anole, and have it stay in the cage with Dezzy for a while. If they get along, we will keep her. If the new anole turns out to be a male, we will exchange him for a new anole. We will keep doing this until we get a female. Hopefully, this won't be long. I want Cammy to have a girlfriend. Dezzy, too. Well, since they are now living apart, Caranole has volunteered to house Dezzy in her house. That is very good, because the Nursery is not a good place to keep an adult anole for an extended length of time. Mainly because he doesn't have a good light source. Cammy has a lamp with the 60 watt bulb aiming toward one end of the cage, but that's all. He needs something more. Dezzy is living it up in the Shatterbox. He has his BiLight 2 with its day- and night-lights. *sigh* I'm gonna miss Dezzy. Oh, well. Dezzy is Caranole's anole, and should be with her thus. Well, a blanket over Cammy's cage will have to do for now. It will keep heat in, and an exposed corner will suffice for ventilation. However, if you want to do this at home, only use this system for emergency situations. If you can afford a new light system, get it. It may come in handy someday. Well, I'm gonna go to bed, just like those two guys did. This is Nicknole signing out.
6/13/02: About a week and a half ago, I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a large bouquet of plastic leaves for $3 and some red clay from Hobby Lobby. Why, you ask? Why, to make a tree for the Shatterbox! First of all, I spread out the leaves. Then, I took the clay and molded it around the "stem" of the leaves so it became a trunk-like base. Today, I took out the fake plant that had been in there and replaced it with my new sapling. Ever since it has been in there, Dezzy has loved it. It's very dense, like a tree, and has many, many, MANY leaves to climb on. After a while, I realized that there was no way of keeping Cammy warm inside his cage. He was a constant light brown. No matter what I did, nothing worked. Also, he wasn't looking to healthy. He was definitely eating *I found both the crickets I put in yesterday--but as stools!*, but his stomach was sucked in. Finally, I got fed up with it and placed Cammy in the Shatterbox on the opposite side of the cage of Dezzy. I know they are both males, but I'd rather have tension than cold. It seems to work well. They each stay on their own sides of the cage, and there's no fighting. They're each green in their own part of the cage. Cammy is green and looking better. If a fight breaks out, Cammy will run away and escape into the maze of leaves *and trust me, he will run; Dezzy flashed his humongous dewlap at him earlier this week, and he ran faster than I'd ever seen him run; he's a lover, not a fighter ;)*. Still, I'm going to check on him every day. If there is a major fight in which injuries occur, they will be separated immediately. Until then, they seem to be okay. Last I checked, they were both bright green. Then again, that's probably because they'd fallen asleep and were waiting for the moon to be turned on. But still, they're content for now. I'll put some more crickets in there in the morning, just in case. Oh, cricket count. One dead cricket in the cricket cage. Somehow, I found another dead cricket in the Shatterbox. It was right before I turned the nightlight off, so I'll have to check into it in the morning. Anyway, Nicknole out.
06/17/02: Okay, I might have really good news here. Remember that we've finally decided that Dezzy is DEFINITELY a guy? Well, something happened this afternoon. Y'see, Dezzy was on the center leaf, and Cammy was on the leaf to the right. Dezzy flashed his dewlap, which is at least 3/4 in. in radius. Well, instead of running away *a typical response to a threat when you are tiny compared to the one making the threat*, Cammy jumped onto Dezzy's leaf!!! Who cares, you say? MEEEEE! This is MORE evidence to support the theory that Cammy is a female! Okay, look at the other facts: Dezzy and Cammy REPEATEDLY slept and cooled off together on the same leaf; Dezzy has repeatedly shown his dewlap and crawled on top of Cammy, only to have the latter run away; Dezzy has always seemed dominant of the cage, a rare occurance, even for an older female; they've never fought--EVER *and I mean in which violence breaks out and blood spills*; and this! Seems a little coincidental, dontchathink? If I'm wrong, then they were the most well-behaved males I've ever heard of! Nicknole out.
6/20/02: The other day *June 18*, I found five crickets dead. Yesterday, I found two dead. Today, there was one whose back legs were severely damaged, and so he was only operating on the front legs. He was eaten by the end of the day *I wish those crickets would stop eating each other...* Currently, I have nine crickets left *except for the ones in the cage; those are too hard to find and count* out of the two dozen that I received on Tuesday. Now for the good news. For a while, Cammy was looking pretty slim. This morning, I noticed her lower abdomen was severely shrunk and imploded. When I came back from school, however, she was filled up pretty nicely. So she's okay. Dezzy, of course, is always okay, as he gets what he needs without worry from me. The other day, I took Cammy out of the cage *she was dark brown* and held her for a while. She brightened up immediately, mainly at the prospect of having another chance to get to hide in the room so my mom will come in here one morning and, upon finding her, freak out :-p. I managed to record some of it on tape AND in pictures, but they won't be up for a while. I'm going to focus on finishing the photo gallery sometime. Upon my mom's insistence, I have removed a microwave cart from my room, carried it across the computer room, lifted it above the guest bed *not an easy task; I did this alone*, and set the Shatterbox upon it. The anoles were a bit worried when I lifted their cage, though, as they had been sleeping. They quickly returned to their slumber, though. I'm surprised they can sleep with this cricket. Apparently, I have found a cricket that can chirp. For some reason, most crickets do not have wings, or they are very small. This cricket has full-grown wings. Thus, he can chirp. HE IS ANNOYING!!!. Oh, well. Fortunately, I don't have to be in the same room as the cricket. Caranole is saying that if the cricket doesn't stop chirping, she'll make it stop :-p, because she is sleeping in the guest/computer/lizard room. I doubt either Cammy or Dezzy will manage to catch the little bugger, as it resides on the ceiling during the day and chirps at night. It'd be too much undigestible fiber, anyway. Well, I've got to finish cleaning my room *it's 12:12 AM; oy*, so Nicknole out.
06-22-02: Caranole back again. Today we took Cammy out and held her. We took over forty pics of her, which soon will be featured on our website. (Nick will put a link here later). Cammy climbed all over me. lol. When she was on my back she started to bob her head. She claimed my back as her territory. Since we think Cammy is a girl, and we know Dezzy is a boy, i am preparing to have one of their kids at home. so they better get busy! lol. Later today we are going to Petzmart to look at prices of cages and stuff. I need to compare to get the best deal. When we go to Petzmart, we might take Toby, our dog. Oh we will also be featuring some pictures of us with our anoles later. Once nick gets around to putting it on here. Well i need to go get dressed, me, too haha, so we can go to Petzmart. Peace N' Luv! Caranole peace out.
For May 2002's news, go here.
Want to go back without the help of the stupid "Back" button on your browser that never works because it's a stupid piece of sh- *manager: "Nick, calm down"* Oh, sorry. Anyway, to go back, click your heels one time. *see? We're more energy efficient than Dorothy's stupid shoes! :-p*