Meet Esmerelda

Today the Coyne clan added a new member. Meet sweet Esmerelda, a 3-4 month old Bearded Dragon. She has a brand new habitat to herself, though we hope when she is fully grown, she and sister Amicus will be able to be tank mates... That will depend on their personalities, though. Amicus is a pretty laid back lizard, and Esme is a sweetie. But whether either might be territorial is something we won't test while the size differential exists. Amicus is full grown, and Esme is tiny. So it'll be a while... Strangely enough, both lizards have one Y shaped marking on their otherwise striped tails.

Here's Ms. Esme:





Can you tell Mikro is thrilled?



Here's big ole Ami:



And this gives a hint of the size difference, though Esme is closer to the camera and appears somewhat larger than she really is... Esme fits in my hand, while Amicus is as long as my arm.

Science at SMLI: Robotics

While the parents enjoyed a peaceful fall day, the kids made robots last week at SMLI. You know my little geeky boy loved that! He calls his bot Project Lunar Scorpio.





But maybe even more than robots, he loved acquiring two new lizards, given to him by a homeschooled friend.

Meet Galileo and Leonardo:

Galileo dropped her tail, but she has the more confident temperment. She is curious and extremely active.



Leonardo has an intact tail, but is shy and unsure. She hides the moment she sees us coming. She likes to burrow under the driftwood in her enclosure. When she doesn't know we are there, she is very active, too.



Both are doing well in their new home, and enjoying the steady supply of pin crickets. I think they may also be nibbling at the blackberries I gave them....

More New Family Members

Because I am a complete sucker for a certain little boy's love of animals, which is as huge as my own, and because creepy, crawly and odd has grown on me since becoming the mom of a little boy, I have some more introductions to make:

First, there are Raez and Kulmi, two garden snails we abducted from a stucco wall at a train station:



And then we have Coney (whose full name is Coney Island Mermaid Parade Mercrab... we have a contest going here to see who can hang the longest and silliest name on a pet...), who is a hermit crab:









And last, but not least, we have David, a Goliath Hornworm (Mikro named him), who was originally intended to be a snack for Amicus, but grew on the boy (and me) until the thought of him being crunched up was too much to bear, and he got his own little plastic condo at Coyne's Crazy Critter Camp...



And here is Mikro sweet talking Amicus while she bathes--- rest assured, he is not telling her about David...



Trust me, she won't wither away to nothing for missing a treat. She is a big lizard! And Mikro has no great remorse about keeping her alive and growing on a menu of crickets and greens and fruits and veggies...

Newest Member of the Family

Meet Olympia, Mikro's Chinese Water Dragon:



Doesn't big "sister" Amicus looked thrilled to welcome a new lizard into our home?



Actually, they are housed separately, on different floors. Amicus, a Bearded Dragon, is a desert creature, but Olympia is tropical. They would never have been able to be tankmates...

Friday Science at SMLI

Mikro's science class started up again. This semester is focused on flight and aerodynamics. They did an egg drop, and tried to construct an adequate parachute to allow the egg to land safely and uncracked. (Or they were supposed to... A little bird told me that he may not have done the very best possible job constructing his device because he wanted to see the cool mess of an egg exploding....)



Since Kev is home, he came along to see the museum for the first time. While Mikro was in class, we took a nature walk around Leed's Pond Preserve and the museum grounds.

City of Water Day, Part 3 -- Ashore on Governors Island

After our wonderful boat rides, we explored the many City of Water Day activities for kids on Governors Island. There were touch tanks with live aquatic animals (including sea stars, spider crabs, horseshoe crabs, mussels, barnacles, etc.), live reptiles, exhibits on oysters, whales, seals and sea turtles, a fishing game relating to local fish species, puppets, arts and crafts, and face painting. Mikro enjoyed it all!