HOSP ?

[w.l.]

Icearstorm

Do you mean the likes of the Great tit, for example?

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

You mean the Jackass Penguin?

Or are there others?

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs w.l.
Yes. Also the boobies. "Booby" is supposed to mean stupid or something, but of course most people don't really get that. I still can't say it's a great name for a bird.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Yes, Booby is an older Brit expression for silly, and yes, on this side of the big pond it does have an entirely different meaning

You're going to love the "Satanic Leaf Gecko" lol, seeing as you like Geckos and such

I noticed that you have Mediterranean house Geckos.
I wonder if it's the same little guys that used to run up and down the walls, which I used to catch as a child....

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs

That gecko has some awesome camouflage! I wonder what it would be like to keep (and if it's legal). I'm more of an anole person myself, but I certainly enjoy seeing geckos in their cool camo.

Probably so; they are the little bumpy clearish ones that are invasive in North America. I don't think anyone has found evidence of them competing with native species, so I don't mind them too much. I rarely kept them for more than a few days, since they hid all the time... And then there was that one that got loose in the house; I found him a week later when he ran across the terrarium screen making clicking noises (geckos are surprisingly vocal) in the middle of the night. He didn't look emaciated or dehydrated, so I put him back on the outside wall where I caught him and and he went back to doing whatever geckos do. Now with birds I have nowhere to keep my terrarium, but I would like to get back into reptiles someday.

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

As kids, we used to watch them scampering about on the walls of the buildings, and sunning themselves like little statues. We would catch them, put them in boxes or jars for a while, then let them go.

We also had quite a collection of tortoises, who stayed around the house, becoming quite amazingly tame. One, Porthos, used to nip my Mom's toe , when he wished to be fed, and wore a groove in a stone step, to get from one room to another. He stayed with us for around five years, before the call of the wild became too strong. I cried for days, especially after my older brother, told me that the new neighbors up the hill probably made turtle soup (gotta love older brothers).

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs
If they were out during the day they were probably green or brown anoles. They are a lot tamer than the geckos and will change color (green to brown to almost black for green anoles, just brown to almost black for brown anoles) to fit their mood.
I've never had turtles or tortoises, but they seem fairly smart from what you said. "Turtle soup" reminded me of what happened to my mom when she was a kid. She had a pet bunny and it died. A little while later she asked what dinner was after she ate it and was told "rabbit."

[lovezebs]

Icearstorm

Oh good grief

Speaking of Bunnies....

I have always refused to eat bunnies, just didn't sit well with me .
My Mom was quite determined to get me to try, but it was no go.

Well one day, when I was around 14 or 15, I came home from school and was told that we were having chicken. I like chicken, so that was ok with me.

We sat down at the table, and started supper...
Well, the chicken tasted funny, and looked miss shapen.

Finally I looked up at Mom and Dad...

"Mom, where did you get this chicken? Was it like on sale or something?

"No, why?" Responded Mom, never batting an eye lash.

"Well, it tastes weird, and I think it was an abused crippled chicken, or something..."

Well at that point both of my parents just cracked up. Dad roared, Mom had to run crossed legged to the washroom.

I never lived down the abused, crippled chicken, and I've never touched Bunny again.

[Icearstorm]

lovezebs