Join us in welcoming our newest members to the Animal Ambassador crew, Ivy and Thorn! These Caiman Lizards are a wonderful, fun addition to our teachings. Did you know their skin is very similar to that of a crocodile? As time goes on, we’re thrilled to announce the arrival of Toby and Aurelius! Toby is an Ackie Monitor, and Aurelius is another Tiger Salamander we’ve adopted into our care and habitat to share with Marcus!
As we continue to have our Ambassadors find new homes and welcome new friends, we are eager to share their habits, location and personality! Three of our Ambassadors have graduated from our care: Bruce, our Crocodile Turtle; Georgia, our Garter Snake; and Blue, our Jeweled Lacerta. Along with our newest members, our lovely critters have received upgrades to their habitats! By adding live plants, fresh soil and realistic environments, our Ambassadors can feel more comfortable and healthy.
Like all life, we need not just any food, but nutrients to survive. Instead of buying crickets and roaches to feed our many Ambassadors, we’ve now set up our own breeding here at the Museum!
Our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches have a male and several females that breed within their habitat. We clean out these younger roaches regularly and place them into our feeding bin. We also have several other bins of Dubia roaches for our smaller animals. A distinctive difference from these two is is their size; one large Madagascar hissing cockroach is roughly equal to five - seven extra-large Dubia roaches! They both reproduce quickly and are full of nutrients and protein.
Though many are not fans of roaches, they are a great help to the environment - professional recyclers! They chow down on just about anything, including dead plants and animals, and animal waste. In the wild, the waste of roaches nourishes growing plants, continuing the cycle. Like all living things, cockroaches have amazing qualities. For example, they can live up to three months without food and a month without water. Tough guys!
Pictured below is a roach and it’s exoskeleton! Cockroaches shed in order to grow bigger. It is now a lighter color and soft till its skeleton comes back, leaving the roach vulnerable to attacks by predators. As we receive new ambassadors, we got a small group of guppies! As they also breed, we’ll see if they’re a good filling food source for other animals.
Come see our newest improvements and additions here at the Hutchings Museum Institute! Learn more about our animal friends at our Animal Show’s held every Wednesday at 4 PM!
