Yea it's been awhile since I've been online. I've been really busy between working, taking care of pets, and helping dad with chores & cleaning the basement out and stuff.
I wish I was just naturally rich lol. Ah well, I love the job though (aside from my immune system still getting used to being around sick kids lol) and need money. I think I'll just always prefer the 'stay up til 4am playing video games and wake up the next afternoon to draw or go shopping' lifestyle lol. Now its falling asleep around 9pm and getting up for work at 6:30am :-p
Ah well. I have to remind myself that I have summers off now so for 2 1/2 months every year I'll have that old lifestyle back :)

A few updates for now. I have some new critters ^_^
Yes, taking care of pets is probably the only chore I actually love and make sure to have a lot of it hehe. Since the last time anyone's heard from me I have added:
~ 2 more bearded dragons
~ another crested gecko
~ South American Cichlid fish tank

In the future I'll be adding more geckos since the plan is to be a breeder :)

Anyway, for now here is a couple of pictures of the new crested gecko. His name is Charmander.
Deku, my other crestie is doing wonderfully and has grown so much since I got him. Char looks so tiny compared to him now.
Char has very cool, unusual coloring and great patterning.
His normal coloration is olivey-green with orange markings. Then his 'fired up' colorings are very red. He also has a good amount of dalmatian spotting already. Let's all pray this baby turns out to be female cause if her & Deku could breed someday they'd hopefully produce very cool patterened babies!

Regular coloring:


Fired up red (dont mind the shedding on her head)


Dunno how often I'll get a chance to blog but I'll make an attempt to check in now and then. When summer comes and I get to be off work for 2 1/2 months I'll be around *much* more!

Also, probably summertime when I have my days free, I might get a new blog specifically for the gecko progress. If I breed, I'll have a website for crested gecko care, photos, babies available to buy, etc. So I'll probably make a blog for the site to keep a record of progress on everyone. It'll probably be at least another year or so before I have eggs since I just have 2 babies now.

She still doesn't have a name, but my dad adopted a new kitten last night. Since Xenia (our blind kitten) has the upstairs apartment to herself since she needs to be in a less 'cluttered' environment where she can't get hurt, we started thinking about getting her a companion so she isn't so lonely while we are at work during the day.
So, the rescue we adopted Xenia from got in a little 8-week old tortoiseshell kitten who is absolutely precious and needed a home!
So now we have 2 different types of calicos ^_^

She has such a stunning and *extremely* silky, thick coat!








I love the little spots on her back paw-

IMO there are acceptable and there are wrong reasons for animals to die.
i.e. just b/c I would eat a piece of sushi (a fish dying as part of the food chain) doesn't mean it would be OK for me to deliberately kill the fish in my dad's aquarium and throw them in the garbage. Or b/c I know a fox needs to eat rabbits to survive, doesn't mean I also think it's ok to beat a rabbit to death for fun.

So anyway what brings this up is, we had a mouse in the trailer at school today. (the classroom I am currently an assistant in is a special-ed class in a trailer outside the school).
The mouse was noticed by the main teacher b/c she heard noises coming from one of the garbage cans. Inside the can was a little brown mouse.
So... she had to notify the principal, and then the janitors were sent out to take care of it while the students were kept outside.

And by 'take care of it' I mean: 2 grown men with broomsticks came in and literally beat the little mouse to death while it was trapped inside the garbage can.

I offered to let the mouse lose... I actually offered to drive the thing to a park to just let it lose away from school property. But no. They said it could make its way back into the school and that feeling sympathy over vermin was pointless and it had to die.

See, on the other hand, being a reptile person I have no problems with snakes and larger lizards having to eat a mouse for survival.
But, to me, that is the circle of life.
Cruelly beating a mouse to death just to discard it in the dumpster afterwards was, IMO, unnecessary suffering. Especially since it could have easily been let lose elsewhere- and even if an owl or something found it that night it would be a quick death and part of the survival chain in nature rather than dying a long, painful death just to get ground up with old papers.

And it wasn't even like the mouse was lose running around posing a risk to bite a kid and that whacking it with a broom was the easiest/quickest way to keep it from possibly hurting the students.
It was confined in an empty garbage can.
And it took them a while to kill the poor thing... they just kept whacking at it with the broomstick handle for quite a bit before it finally died :-(

Ah well. It upset me, and maybe it shouldn't have. But I don't like to see animals have to suffer needlessly.

Everything's been kinda crappy lately... family member issues, random problems, etc. yay :-/

But at least looking at my smiling little Deku can take my mind off stuff. Pets- whether it's a dog, cat, lizard, fish, etc.- are such positive things to have in life. No matter how bad the day/week/year may be, you always have a little friend who needs you and never has anything negative to say.

I've had my little gecko almost 3 weeks already :)
You can't stay depressed while looking at this face!!!

My new baby seems to be settling in wonderfully. He even ate some of his food last night and I was excited to wake up to find a poop in his tank hehe ^_^ (a lot of times lizards don't eat at first if they are stressed getting used to their new home, so I am very glad he ate the first night here!)
He is such a gorgeous little crestie! I cannot wait to see how his pattern develops over time. He is everything i pictured my perfect crestie to be! I absolutely adore this little guy and I
can't wait to start shopping for his girlfriends someday hehehe....

I took him out of the enclosure for a photo shoot today since he seemed to be doing well.
Since cresties are much more hyper and hard to keep track of than my bearded dragon I am used to taking pics of, I made a little photo box for him I taped some of my white drawing paper inside a cardboard box so I can get nice pics of him outside the cage without him being able to leap away and get lost since he is still so teeny.

So anyway, here are today's new pictures of my little boy
Hope you enjoy! I am so in love with his coloring/patterning!

( Lots of gecko adorableness behind the cut!!! )

I am so excited! This is the start of a major addiction, I can feel it already lol!
I went to the White Plains reptile expo with my dad today to pick up the gorgeous baby crested gecko that was on hold for me. He is just stunning! Even more adorable than pictures can show. The marbled golden coloring throughout him is really beautiful, and the the little black spots (which he'll get some more of) add such a nice contrast to accent the pattern.
I got him from a wonderful breeder, Mike of Dragontown Reptiles. He was so helpful with getting me started in cresties, and really cares about his animals and what kind of homes they go to.

I don't have too many pictures today since at first I need to let my crestie settle into his new home and not annoy him with handling and snapping cameras in his face all day hehe.
But here are a few I took after I put him in his tank (well its a temporary small enclosure until he is big enough for a regular tank)



Lookit his little tongue coming out. I need to try and catch an eye-cleaning shot:







He still doesn't have a name yet. At first I was thinking of going with coffee names for the geckos, but I can't help but wanna name them video game characters (like I tend to do with my pets...) So was thinking maybe either Koopa or Kuribo (the Japanese name for Goombas from Mario).
He's a little boy, btw :)

Took this from foxx278 :)

Ten things about you.
1. are you single: Nope
2. are you happy: generally
4. are you sad: when i think about my mom, or i am at my weekend job
5. are you Italian: nope
6. are you expensive: nope
8. are you blond: naturally dark blond. i keep it dyed red
9. are you Irish: part
10. are your parents still married: yes, though my mom is passed away

ten facts
1. name: Tara
2. birthplace: paterson
3. hair color: dyed red
6. birthday: May 19, 1979
7. mood: ok i guess. just tired
8. favorite color: dark reds (crimson, garnet, ruby, etc), green, and orange.
9. where do you live: nj
10. left or right handed: right

ten things about your love life
1. do you love someone: yes
2. do you believe in love at first sight: not really
3. who ended your last relationship: it was mutual
4. have you ever hurt anyone emotionally: not that i am aware
5. have you ever broken someone's heart: no
7. have you ever liked someone but never told them: many times
8. are you afraid of commitment: nope
9. have you hugged someone within the last week: yes
10. have you ever had a "secret" admirer: nope

ten this or that
1. love or lust: love
3. cats or dogs: depends on the breeds. I like most cats, and some dogs.
4. a few best friends or many regular friends: a few best
6. Pepsi or coke: pepsi i guess, but doesn't matter
7. wild night out or romantic night in: romantic night in
8. money or happiness: happiness.
9. night or day: night
10. AIM or phone: AIM

ten have you ever's
1. been caught sneaking out: no. never snook out
2. been skinny-dipping?: nope
3. done something you regret: not really. i dunno
4. bungee jumped: agh no
5. lied to someone you love: nope
6. finished an entire jawbreaker: i don't think so
8. wanted an ex boyfriend/girlfriend back: no way
9. cried because you lost a pet: yes
10. wanted to disappear: meh, i guess there's been a few times

ten preferences
1. smile or eyes: either
2. light hair or dark hair: don't care
3. hugs or kisses: a little of each
4. shorter or taller: taller
5. intelligence or attraction: intelligence
8. hook-up or relationship: relationships
9. do you want a girlfriend/boyfriend: have one now
10. sun or moon: moon

ten lasts
1. last phone call you made: dad
2. last phone call you received: sister
3. last person you hung out with: dad
4. last place you went: pet store
6. last person you IM'd: i think matt
7. last text message you got: matt
9. last person/thing you missed: my mom :(
10. last person you would wanna be with right now: there's quite a few i don't want near me haha

My new job is going wonderfully, so I actually have some actual money to spend on things I want haha. So, of course as many of you know, my main goal was to be able to start a colony of crested geckos.

I went to the reptile show a few weeks back (the one I posted about with pics) and the next one is coming up on January 5th. So I have been talking online with the crestie community, and decided that at this next show I won't be leaving empty-handed. I will be buying my first crested gecko that day :)

One of the really good breeders has one available that really caught my eye. I was specifically wanting a nice golden color with some kinda pattern and a few black spots. And he has quite a few nice cresties, and one particular I am in love with.
The breeder is 'Dragontown Reptiles', so anyone here with cresties may be familiar with the name.

He will be at the next show with the crestie I hope to get, as well as many others. And I should hopefully be buying her that day :)

I wasn't going to go to the show at first b/c that is my mom's birthday so it will be depressing. But gonna go and keep my mind off of it and get my first gecko in memory of her :)

Here is the photo of her the breeder sent me. Of course I will be taking piles of my own pics of her when I get her home ^_^
But isn't she a lovely mix of golden colors? And she has a few nice chunky black spots coming out :)

Maybe next year I will have my first eggs.
B/C yes, this is only my *FIRST* crestie hehe. I do plan to have more :) :) :)

Today I went with my dad to my very first Reptile Expo! It was so awesome seeing all the reptiles & amphibians (and even tarantulas, walking sticks, etc.) displayed on rows of tables.
My camera sucks and not nearly as many pics came out as I hoped >:-(
I think I should just save up for a real nice camera instead of one that works once in awhile...

But anyway, I had a really wonderful day there getting to see (and hold!) lots of different lizards and snakes. They were all so beautiful!
I just hated having to leave empty handed. If I had a set-up all ready for a crestie, I would have bought one there.
But I'll hopefully get to pick one up at the next show I go to!

( Lotsa pictures through here! Sorry for the poor quality of most )

I got a slightly better picture of my Lobster buddy: