Not too much has been happening lately. I have noticed that Philipa hasn't actually been spending all of her time out and about. She seems to have a pretty balanced schedule, between lounding in the fern fronds and sleeping in it's base. I've yet to actually see her hunt, but i'm sure she does, by the size of her belly. Either she has been secretly hunting while I'm not there, or she might be pregnant. If she is pregnant, then I have a whole new batch of issues to deal with with the tank. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
This morning I was finally able to get some shots of Mr. Bugg wandering around aimlessly. He seems to be doing pretty well for himself dispite all of the recent drama. Not surprisingly, I'm pretty sure he's noctournal, judging by the fact that I only ever observe him just before he dissapears into his log for the day.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Jan. 8/09 The Death of John...
Two days ago (Jan 6) John died...
Along with his death I noted the absence of almost all crickets in the system. I believe the cause for this, and the cause for John's death, is due to the rise and then rapid fall in the number of crickets.
Sometime in December, I noted that there were juvenile crickets in the tank, meaning that they were successful in breeding. That means that the number of crickets rose. The crickets seem to eat the plants. Both dead and alive, meaning that the more crickets there are, the less cover there is. Consequently, the lizards would be able to hunt them far more effectively and before the grass could regrow enough cover, the crickets were gone.
With not enough crickets to sustain both lizards, the bigger one, Philipa, took control of the fern (most likely the last good hiding place for the crickets and the lizards alike) and forced John to look elsewhere. This explains why John was always visible and why Philipa was almost never out.
Since John's death Philipa has been making herself far less scarce, which leads me to believe that the main reason for her hiding was to defend her territory. either that, or she is eating too many crickets, still, and soon the tank will be dead. However I will not let another lizard die. I'm going to intervene next time if this happens again, now that I know what to look for.
If her past hiding was to defend her territory, then that opens up a whole new set of questions and possibilities about the psychology and social behavior of these lizards.
If I have a repeat of what happened over the Christmas Break, instead of trying the same technique again, I'm going to rearrange the tank so that there are more ferns, since the fern seems to be the focal point of almost all the lizards' behaviors.
Along with his death I noted the absence of almost all crickets in the system. I believe the cause for this, and the cause for John's death, is due to the rise and then rapid fall in the number of crickets.
Sometime in December, I noted that there were juvenile crickets in the tank, meaning that they were successful in breeding. That means that the number of crickets rose. The crickets seem to eat the plants. Both dead and alive, meaning that the more crickets there are, the less cover there is. Consequently, the lizards would be able to hunt them far more effectively and before the grass could regrow enough cover, the crickets were gone.
With not enough crickets to sustain both lizards, the bigger one, Philipa, took control of the fern (most likely the last good hiding place for the crickets and the lizards alike) and forced John to look elsewhere. This explains why John was always visible and why Philipa was almost never out.
Since John's death Philipa has been making herself far less scarce, which leads me to believe that the main reason for her hiding was to defend her territory. either that, or she is eating too many crickets, still, and soon the tank will be dead. However I will not let another lizard die. I'm going to intervene next time if this happens again, now that I know what to look for.
If her past hiding was to defend her territory, then that opens up a whole new set of questions and possibilities about the psychology and social behavior of these lizards.
If I have a repeat of what happened over the Christmas Break, instead of trying the same technique again, I'm going to rearrange the tank so that there are more ferns, since the fern seems to be the focal point of almost all the lizards' behaviors.
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