Dan and Jen's Animal Friends

He Signs His Name with a Capital "S"

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:27:11 PDT

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Just an average day in the life of a beardie...

R.I.P. Godzilla Bearded Dragon (2005-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:17:42 PDT

Zilla started limping in July 2008 and it took three visits to the vet and >$700 before they found the tumor in his right arm. Towards the end, he could still get around on his own but would only barely use that arm to balance. Godzilla died on April 15, 2009 and we still miss him very much. Rest in peace, sweet Zilla. You will be missed.

Another Day Another Anoint

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:53:54 PDT

Spike had his 5th birthday this August and he's still doing great. He definitely shows signs of old age but we're so happy our first baby is still so healthy and happy.

He looks ferocious here but he's just excitedly anointing the carpet...

R.I.P. Ferra Ferret (2002-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:53:25 PDT

Ferra died on April 13, 2009. She was a sweet, old ferret and had lived a great life but it was still so sad to see her go.
Rest in peace little Weasel; you will be missed.

Peacock Babies

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:58:02 PDT

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Here's a video that we got while we were up in Duluth at the Lake Superior Zoo. This wasn't an exhibit though; these guys were just walking around the park. Lots of fun.

R.I.P. Clerra Ferret (2002-2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:16:22 PDT

Clerra died on Wednesday night.
She had lymphoma, and probably an adrenal tumor. Jen and I miss her very much, and we're both very sad, but Ferra seems to be getting along just fine.

Rest in peace little Weasel; you will be missed.

Once again, now it's personal!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:17:42 PDT

Unless you are in serious denial or unfamiliar with the data that has been recorded, you know that the planet is experiencing a worldwide climate shift, and all of the science points towards human causes and responsibility. The last direct effect that climate change was when that poor little hedgie lost his spikes and almost died.
Now it's the poor little beardies that face the trauma.

Scientific American has an article on a study being done in Australia on Bearded Dragons. The results show that increased temperature while beardies are developing inside the egg results in changing of sex.

Between temperatures of 22 degrees C (72 degrees F) and 32 degrees C (90 degrees F), the eggs hatched an equivalent number of males and females. But once temperatures climbed above 34 degrees C (93 degrees F), the majority of hatchlings were female.
...
At high temperatures, only two males were born out of 35 eggs that hatched. Furthermore, 17 would-be males had been transformed by heat into females.

So what does this mean? Basically this study shows that prolonged exposure to above-average temperatures during prenatal development will affect a Bearded Dragon's sex if they are male. Application? If the Earth's climate continues to increase, beardies will lose sexual diversity in the wild and will face some serious endangerment issues.

Let's all stop for a minute and hope for Godzilla's sake that this doesn't happen. Godzilla's not actually in any danger. He lives in a controlled environment, he's already hatched, and he's not making baby lizards, but I'm sure that he'd be sad to find out that some of his wild siblings are affected by global warming.

Repost: This is a repost from Reeding and Writing.

Walk for Animals 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:17:42 PDT

It's almost here...
the 2007 AHS Walk for Animals!

If you've never been there, or you need a refresher, just watch this (AHS Walk 2006). It's a great time, and it's so much fun. They have free food -- vegetarian options of course -- and the best part is that you are supporting the Animal Humane Society.

If you live in Minnesota, come on down.
You can expect to see both of us there again.
The mystery is who will we bring --
Spike? The Weasels? Zilla?

Anointing of the Spike: Part 3 "The Sh*t-eating Grin"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:17:26 PDT

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So this is the final installation
of the "Anointing of the Spike" series.
As the title hints, Spike does a nasty little thing.
You have to see it to believe it.

These three videos were supposed to be posted in 3 days, but I got so busy with school and work that it spanned 3 weeks. I also started a new blog: Reeding and Writing.
-Dan

Anointing of the Spike: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:54:50 PST

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This is round 2 of Spike's anointing.
He did all of this in one 10 minute period.
As gross as it looks, it's kinda cool to think about how
different animals evolve different mechanisms for survival.
Enjoy the gooey goodness and rolling hog-hilarity.

We should also mention that Jen smelled Spike after his anointing fit, and she said that it smelled like curdled milk.

Anointing of the Spike: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 21:55:37 PST

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This is a video of Spike anointing.
It's one of those unique things that hedgies do.
It's so funny when he does it because his belly looks crazy.

The screenshot is green because Dan changed the theme
on the computer, so the windows look a little different.
A little change in scenery is nice from time to time.

Now it's personal!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:02:47 PST

I just saw this story today. This is very sad,
and I thought it was bad when the flowers were blooming.
Luckily for us, Spike doesn't hibernate -- he also lives indoors.
I think it's time to stop fighting climate change efforts
because your pastor votes republican.

If not for the entire world,
at least for the hedgies?

Carpet Sharks

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:16:11 PST

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(or play wmv version here)

Dan had to give Clerra a bath, so he gave Ferra one too,
and we all know how the weasels act after a bath.
Clerra was sharkin' while Ferra was goofin'.

He's So Slow

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 13:46:00 PST

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(or play wmv version here)

This cute little guy is a Slow Loris.
We met him in Duluth on Dan's Birthday.
He's kinda like a sloth spliced with a monkey.
Jen LOVED him, but it's good that she didn't touch him --
with the toxic saliva and all.

New "Labels"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 10:56:36 PST

So apparently Google has started implementing some "Google Accounts" action in Blogger (they've owned Blogger for a few years). When logging on today, I found a prompt to update my blogs from "Blogger basic" to the new "beta Blogger". I was hesitant to do it, but I found out that all blogger blogs will be required to switch in a few months, so what the hell -- I switched now.

It's really cool though. Just as in Gmail (if you don't know, it's awesome), the posts can be categorized with "Labels". I'm really excited about this because I've always liked the tags that other blogs have and I wanted it. The labels will be on each post, but I am also going to add a list on the sidebar (like the DaJAF archive) so access to the labels will be simple and fast.
Here are the labels so far: Spike, Godzilla, Weasels, At the Zoo, and Wildlife.

--Dan

P.S.- Stay tuned for a good slooooooooooww video.

Splish, Splash, Spike Jumps Back in the Bath

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 07:51:50 PST

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(or play wmv version here)

Spike loves to swim!!
Actually, some times he loves it, and others he hates it.
All we know is once in a while, the little guy needs a wash.

Music: "Splish, Splash" by Bobby Darin

All Formats Are Equal...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:53:53 PST

.mov=.wmv

From now on at Dan and Jen's Animal Friends, we are going to try to post all videos in both Quicktime Movie (.mov) and Windows Media Video (.wmv) format. We know that since Apple and Microsoft art at war with each other, their videos don't play so well on their competitor's machines.
We are also going to go back and convert some of our old favs into .mov's, i.e. Toobin', Dancezilla.
Quicktime format will be posted first, and if life gets hectic like it has been, .mov's will take precedence.

I guess all formats are equal,
but some are more equal than others.

-Dan and Jen

Cute Little Armadillo

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:39:41 PST

Click here to download (or on pic to stream)
(or play WMV version here)

This was on Dan's Birthday.
We went up to Duluth and visited the Lake Superior Zoo.
This cute little armadillo sure acts a lot like Spiker
-- and who doesn't love Bush quotes.

Famous Hedgie

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:43:05 PDT

We love this video,
and so does Spike!

Merry vs. Clerra

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:26:51 PDT

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Here's a cute little vid that Dan got last night at his dad's.
Merry (darker and bigger) was trying to show his alpha
male status to Clerra who wasn't too keen to ablige.
She is the one squealing, but it looked like she was getting
more bites in - especially at the end.

Ferra and Clerra have been with them for a couple of weeks because we are in between homes right now and our apt won't allow ferrets. We are going to be trying to get more videos more consistantly. It's just been hard with the moving, school, and work.
Sorry for the video quality too. It was taken with the iSight in our MacBook, and we're still trying to figure out how to get the most out of iMovie HD.

Spike Ran (So Far Away)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 07:32:42 PDT

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Spike's been doing this a lot lately, and he usually does it
for about an hour. He wakes up and starts running like a madhog.
We think that since he always checks for food after a wheel run,
he thinks he can turn back time to when there was food
in the dish so he can enjoy the Science Diet.

We should also mention that we had to adjust the lighting,
but we didn't adjust the speed at all

Also, sorry we've been MIA for a while. We're trying to
move, and it's been hectic cleaning the house.

Weasel Toobin'

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 21:05:27 PDT

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The weasels were so funny, and Ferra's been acting extra
crazy lately. In case you can't tell, it's a blank CD case.

He Just Likes to Bite

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 03:12:57 PDT

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Spike is such a little cutie. This is how he always drinks.
Sometimes he gets into a groove of licking the water out
for a few seconds, but then he goes right back to biting.

Sorry so blurry; we had to increase the brightness a lot.

Why did the goose family cross the road?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:54:05 PDT

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To get to Grandmother Goose's pond!
This is a little clip from Gosling Week 2006,
and I'm sure it's a scene that we've all seen.

Yes that's Dan by them. He was trying to usher them away
from the road, but when he realized that they were going to
cross no matter what, he assured safe passage.

Swans & Catfish

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:56:14 PDT

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Jen and I met these Trumpeter Swans at the MN Zoo.
They were being fed by some people, and the little catfishes
in the water below them kept trying to steal their grub.

We loved it when the swans would bite the fish.