New to the board but not to critters

[koffee]

Hi all. I’m a long time critter-person, though most of my life, it was cats (including one that finally wandered off 19 years after I got her), a few dogs, and some failed attempts at fish.

I had a lot of reptiles (bearded dragons, water dragons, chameleons, various geckos, a prehensile tail skink, and more) back when I lived in California. Unfortunately, we had to find homes for all of them when we escaped from the Dot Com crash.

For a few years after that, my wife had a 10 gallon fish tank and that was it. My schedule would not allow me to take on critters demanding as reptiles, and out apartment wouldn’t allow cats or dogs. We moved to a new place, which was critter friendly, and our house exploded into a zoo again.

Actually, more like Sea World initially. I got back into aquariums now that I finally moved up to a small tank - 29 gallon - and added plants to the mix. (10 gallon tanks are tiny, not small.) We currently have a 29 gallon heavily planted, a 29 gallon goldfish, my wife’s basic 10 gallon, two more planted tanks (20 and 5.5 gallons), and a 2.5 floating frog tank.

We also have two cats, a dog (thingyeroodle), a second dog we are fostering (basset), a thingyatiel, a rabbit, a guinea pig, three spiny mice, a hamster, two gerbils, two tarantulas, and a Honduran milk snake. We also have a bunch of white mice, which are basically feeder breeders, though we keep them in pet-quality cages with wheels and all that. And, last but not least, we adopted a female iguana (approx. 3 years, and 30 inches STL). I posted a long message about her in the iguana forum if you are interested.

The ig lives in a closet, which is cool because I can control her light better. Iguanas don’t like 19 hour days, you know. That’s right, I said 19. Actually, today will officially be 18:50 long, with over 22 hours of visible light, and we still have almost a month of the days getting longer. When we escaped Silicon Valley, we moved to my wife’s home state of Alaska.

[Marie]

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:)Welcome :(Koffee

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[shadow=red,left,300]Glad 8-)You've 8-)Joined[/shadow]

I just moved from San Diego in October. While living there I ended up having to rent a garage for my iguanas. Luckily I had insulated their enclosure. I had moved in to help a 90 year old friend of the family. So they could not be in the house. Then when she went to an assisted living community. The only apartment in the complex was a 8'x20' room so they continued to stay in the garage. Once the barpark was built housing went skyhigh even in National (Nasty) City. So I'm now in Cleveland. LOL. But I brought my two 13 year old female iguanas and my 3 year old male. Stephanie came out and we drove a 27' Budget moving truck here. Only stopped in Kansas to drop off furniture to my sister. Poor Huff was stuffed in a pillowcase because he wasn't/isn't tamed enough yet. Baby was the best. She found the heater vent and layed near it and slept. Dragon wandered everywhere. Kept going to driver's side. Dangerous situation. But with three there wasn't room for carriers.

My stepsister lived in Alaska. Her husband was in the military. She kept trying to get me up there a few years back. But she ended up hating living there and they asked to be stationed in New Mexico.

Well look around the forum. Hope you can join us for Chat Night some time. Also there is currently some picture contests. Maybe we can learn while having fun.

[Denise]

Hello Koffee

Welcome to the forum. We are sure glad you have joined.
Sounds like you and your wife have lots of critters there. I'm sure they keep you busy.
We love pictures so post away.plus maybe find your favorite photo for the contest.
Good luck and Thanks for joining.

[koffee]

Thanks for the welcome!

I forgot to mention my other reptile: a house gecko. He's a rescue too, and probably ferral, if they can be that.

I recently worked in a specialty aquarium/pond store, and it recently closed. (bummer) While tearing it down, I found the gecko. About a year earlier, the store had finished closing off their pet sections, including a large reptile selection.

For at least a year (and he could have escaped at any point during the earlier years of the store), this gecko was living in a vast warm and humid environment with plenty of dark areas. Crickets, mosquitoes, and other bugs were plentiful.

When I lived in California, we always had a few geckos free roaming in our home. Of course, we had warmth, bugs, loose crickets, etc.

Living in California also spoiled me, reptile-wise. We had a few decent mom-and-pop stores, including one that specialized. We also had the chains. Funny thing - one of them was one of the few chain stores in a very anti-chain-store Santa Cruz. It was also a reasonable drive, assuming one did not attempt it in the many rush hours, to East Bay Vivarium. Wow! What a heaven for herpers.

With the Internet and enough space and money, I could still get anything I wanted. I could still shop EBV on-line, but it isn't quite the same.

In Alaska, I can find herps at PetCo (1 store) or PetZoo (local chain, 2.5 stores). There is one mom-and-pop store left (and not a good one IMHO), and it is rumored to be closing this summer.
That's just in the Anchorage/MatSu area... all within a resonable driving distance of an hour or so at most. Of course, this is Alaska, so beyond the Anchorage/MatSu Valley area, the next stop is 8 hours away!

Anchorage, however, had a decent aquarium store, which closed but is reopening under new (former employee) ownership. And I think the local chain has some top-notch department managers.

California had even more aquarium stores, and better too. I didn't notice. Given the choice, I'll go with reptiles. Here, though, I figure I would give aquariums another shot. Fish never really did it for me in the past.

Well, I discovered that was because: A) I was using 10 gallon tanks; I haven't progressed beyond 29 yet, but that is much different. B) Typical newbie lack of research, and going with a mix of "safe starter" fish. C) I never used plants (or maybe just threw one thing in there). Plants rule!

Um, actually, I kill plants better than anyone. For some strange reason, my thumb seems to only turn green underwater.

[Marie]

Curious, are you in the military?

[koffee]

Is it something I said, or is it an Alaskan thing?

Nope... never have, never will be. I have nothing against those who serve, though I have a really hard time with some big picture issues. That's all I'll say along political lines.

I live in AK (which is Alaska, and not Arkansas) but:

- I'm not here because of the military or even the government (another big reason).
- Of the other reasons: I did not come here for the University, tourisim (quite seasonal), commercial fishing (also seasonal and downright nuts), or to get close to hunting and/or far away from everything else. Besides being Native or born here, there's one other reason, and that's why I came.*
- I do not live in an igloo (I'm not sure that anybody does), nor do I have to use an outhouse or come into town for a shower at the laundromat (I know many people that do).
- I don't hunt, fish, boat, fly, camp, own a 4-wheeler or snowmachine (commonly both), play hockey, eat whale, or any of that stuff.

I consider myself a confirmed cheechako. That's a bit like an Alaskan newbie. Of course, depending on who you talk to, you could be n-th generation Anchorage-ian and be a cheechako.

We have people in the boonies (and there are boonies many people in the states can't begin to imagine) who are descendants of gold rush folk, for example. And plenty of Native and mixed villages that are only accessible by plane, snowmachine, or whatever.

I used to fly into and out of work, but I had good accommodations and transporation. I worked in an office. I still had to deal with long, cold winters. I don't enjoy calm -50F days and blizzards with -90F wind chill is not something I can call fun, but it was a worthwhile experience I think. But I doubt that qualifies me as a sourdough.

I never lived off the land nor do I want to. I live in the burbs and can walk to Wendy's. Anchorage has a bit more to offer if I want and is just an hour away. When you consider all the people that have an easy hour or two drive into Anchorage, this area has nearly half the 650K (or so) population of AK.

Fairbanks, in the Interior, is about an 8-10 hour drive away. My wife lived a large portion of her life there. The Fairbanks area includes the city of Faribanks, complete with McDonald's, the northernmost Denny's, and all that. It also includes nearby cities and towns like North Pole. (No, not the North Pole.) My stepson walks to work. But outhouses and no running water are quite common, as well. Winter temps of 50 below (luckily dry and no wind) are quite common, while it can top 90 in the short, mosquito filled summers. Of course, there are no summers in Fairbanks. I believe there are only three seasons: Winter, Break-Up, and Construction.

Here's a picture (from the Fairbanks area) of a street-sign near a cabin my stepson used to live in.



I think around 90K live in that area. I don't. My wife would love it, but this is our compromise. And, for the record, she did live in a cabin with an outhouse. We have friends there that still do and commute to work in Fairbanks, where they usually shower at work.

Temperatures here are more like -10 to 80, but rarely at those extremes. We get more winter light, but less summer light. Technically less, that is. Officially we are at 24 hours of "visible" light each day until after the solstace. You have to head north of Fairbanks even to find a true 24 hours of sunlight.

Barrow is such a town. I read a quote from the (then) Mayor who describe the seasons in Barrow: "A long, dark winter and two months of bad mushing." (That's dog-sledding for those who don't know.) Barrow is the northnermost US town. It only has 4 or 5 thousand people, and is inaccessible by road. I don't think they have a McDonald's, but I hear they have an incredible authentic Mexican place.

The next biggest area in Alaska after the Fairbanks region is Juneau, the capital. The borough (we don't have counties) is around 30K. No roads lead to the capital either - ship or plane it is.

Btw, there are militarty bases all over Alaska, and additional places to be stationed. Anchorage and Fairbanks have the most bases and biggest military populations, of course. Kodiak island is the second biggest island in the USA, and has the largest Coast Guard base in the USA.

* Give up? The only other reason (IMO) to come to Alaska is OIL. I worked for the oil companies way up north near the start of the pipeline. I do not work on the pipeline. That was built a long time ago though, alas, I'm old enough that I could have done it.

[Marie]

You lived in two states known for military bases that is why I asked. I was a Navy officer's brat. But my father worked his way up from enlisted. He retired when I was a a young kid though so I didn't get to do all the traveling. I grew up in the San Diego area. My stepsister lived in Alaska but was there only because her husband was stationed there. So I wondered.

[koffee]

There a fair amount in New York, where I grew up. But not a lot, and it is practically swallowed by everything else!

California has a lot, but I was in an area better known for tech (including top secret military stuff).

As far as Alaska, the military is way up there for things it is known for and as a top employer, as is all of the other stuff I mentioned.

Didn't expect you to know all that, of course... just clarifying.

Btw, I heard a comedian say that he grew up thinking Alaska was an island because he always saw it in a box on the map somewhere in the Pacific near the box with Hawaii. Nope. You can drive here from the states. We're just on the other side of Canada.