Things start moving and inching in Snail Town when the carrots come out. Quick Gloss snails, big and small, all appear when the juicy delicacies are placed around the terarrium.
Recently I spread out a slew of baby carrot slices along with mushrooms and within 15-30 minutes, ALL the inhabitants came out for a community feast. They will munch microscopically for a few hours and then start to disappear back into the moss, earth, and under the stones.
On food days, this little town is the place to be with gatherings around what must be the most tasty morsels.
I have not figured out why they congregate around certain pieces, unless that happens to be where more snails are snoozing just below. Perhaps there is just something more tasty about some slices versus others.
It’s such a fascinating and curious little place, this snailarium. Never the same sightings twice. Each shell is different and unique.
Sometimes they pick up dirt or calcium powder on their shells and it gives them a more matte looking finish.
Often I will see the tiniest of baby snails. Nearly impossible for my aging eyes to see, a powerful camera lens comes in handy to get to appreciate them.
Apparently they are unbothered to gather in groups on a single piece of food. Sliding around and over each other, the feast continues.
It’s a good time to slow down and look carefully in the smallest of places – I never fail to spot some resting or hiding away. This tiny snail with glass-like whorls found a good hammock in some dried out moss.
For the last 2-3 weeks, I’ve been the lucky winner of catching whatever this crud is that’s floating around. Fever, sore throat, chest congestion and a deep airway cough that could wake the dead, it has been awful.
One bright light through all of it has been the best little helper a sick person could wish for: Fury. This little girl has stuck with her human through it all. Even when I had to relocate downstairs in our basement guest room so that my husband could sleep while I coughed up a lung each night, my furry caretaker stayed glued to me, sleeping between my ankles.
I am so grateful to be doing better and back to work. The sooner my airways feel back to normal, the better. But it’s good to know my sweet girl is a constant companion, no matter how bad I get (or sound). We truly do not deserve our fur family members – what a sweet and loyal soul Fury is.
If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.
You simply can’t beat the curiosity of a cat. It’s in their very nature and no amount of domestication will take it out of them. Frankly, it would be a shame if we ever did. And nothing draws a cat’s eye like a perfectly-sized space they can fit in.
That said, letting flowers drain in my utility sink is turning out to be a reason for urgent feline inspection to commence. We simply must see for ourselves what is happening when the flowers get watered. And getting to hop into the “if we fits, we sits” shaped sink is a bonus.
Mum inspection successfully complete.
Once it is determined all is well, and there are no security risks, the world goes back to normal. Fury will give me the look that says, “Why do you still wonder why I do what I do anymore, hooman? This is who I am.”
Oh my sweet girl, I would never change a thing about you.
Being a lover of orchids it is not unusual at all for me to bring home a beautiful specimen from a nursery or garden center. On occasion I will come home with four or five of them at a time. More often, I will go for months without buying any. Wyoming climate is hard on any humidity-loving plant and thus the survival rate in our drafty home is not 100%.
A few months ago, I ran across a gorgeous Beallara Hawaiian Nights orchid that was nearing full bloom, I was powerless to pass it up. I have not been successful in keeping any oncidium type orchid alive to-date, but I’ve also learned a lot with prior purchases that I did not know before – so I was motivated to try again.
Truly, I was captivated by the dazzling blooms and their lovely fragrance. She was impossible to pass up. I was utterly powerless as she hopped into my garden cart.
Dazzling blooms with a heavenly fragrance
Fast forwarding here in this story through its blooming stages and to the point where I will remove an orchids post-bloom spike to help it re-direct energy and growth back into the leaves and roots.
It is at this point that I typically re-pot plants when they are in a better stage of growth for it. As I neared this point, I decided one day to take tweezers and remove some clover and moss that was starting to grow around the bulbs to see if I could get the moss to grow in another container dish. With the small bit of moss I pulled up came the tiniest gray snail I had ever seen. It was so small, it was a wonder I even noticed it.
Can you spot the snail munching on a carrot?
Never having ever had a snail before, I placed it in a critter terrarium I have and quickly searched online for how to keep a snail. Images of similar containers with soils, rocks, and mosses appeared so I went about using what I had at my disposal that day to care for it.
Snails like carrot slivers (or at least this one does) – who knew?
After a fashion, I realized by further reading, it appeared that I had a quick gloss snail (zonitoides arboreus). I had never heard of such a thing. I noticed right away why it was named as such.
These little creatures have beautifully shiny shells and boy they can motor! If you look away from just a few seconds and then look back, they can be well on their way to gone. Well, for a snail.
Scooter the Snail
With this new knowledge in mind, I came up with a name for this little critter: Scooter.
Since this day a few months ago, Scooter has provided curious fun and knowledge. I bought a few different types of moss and added some rocks to the little set up I had going, ensuring I was misting at least two or three times a day to keep things moist.
I admit, I am on the outer fringes of what to do for snails here, but we will see where this mini adventure ends up!
In December 2017, an early Christmas gift to me was the opportunity to adopt a cat from a local shelter. Being an animal lover, I’d missed having a furry companion and was looking forward to it.
The original agreement was to select a cat after family vacations at Christmas. About a week later after this announcement it seemed only prudent to go ahead to the local pet store to purchase some basic elements (food, food / water dispenser, litter, litter box). You know, just on the off-chance I found our new family member early one didn’t want to be caught unprepared.
I’m pretty sure my rationale was completely transparent. On arriving at the pet store that also just happened to showcase local shelter animals up for adoption, I zeroed in on a kitten. It was a cute-as-pie little mass of beautiful gray fluff, huge paws, and large ears. I could have disappeared into the fur tufts between his tow beans.
My pleas seemed to be getting me nowhere. After many walks through the aisles cajoling my spouse, I was told I could choose a cat early but only if I went to the local shelter to see all the possible cats, first.
Once there, we looked at every cat. I focused on the least adoptable choices: The elderly, the blind or those with less than four legs. I asked my husband, “See any that really speak to you or you like?”. I was met with, “Eh, maybe.”
We made a second circle of the circuit of the walls of crates. When I asked again, he nodded to a crate where a tiny black kitten with startling gold eyes was snuggled next to a sibling kitten who was creamy buff in color. When I prodded further if this was one he wanted to see, I got a shrug and a “We can.”
We were ushered to the meet and greet room. I was conflicted at considering what appeared to be an otherwise healthy and normal cat vs. other cats who would need tremendous care (that I being a home-based worker could provide). I got settled on the concrete floor to ensure it saw me first and felt comfortable approaching me.
As you might have guessed, when the volunteer arrived with the little dollop of fur, we waited quietly for her to get comfortable figuring it would take some warming up.
Fury meeting her humans for the first time – December 2017
And totally ignoring me on the floor, my Christmas present eyed my other half who was sitting in a chair in the corner with arms crossed looking stoic. Smart little thing, she read the room and knew who had to be convinced.
This miniature panther made a beeline to him with all of her tail straight up in the air, and jumped directly into his lap where she turned 2 times, sat down and purred. I was in shock. This had never happened before with any animal in my presence. I was not even looked at. But I took it on the chin and went with it. We had been chosen, not the other way around.
Fury claiming her family – December 2017
And so, we drove home with a 4-month-old kitten.
The charade went on once we got home. She wouldn’t let me pick her up and was not interested in snuggles or cuddles. I was heartbroken thinking how could this be? And how would this cat-relationship work now? My husband assured me over and over it would all be fine.
Fury exploring her first toys – December 2017
We struggled for days as to what to name her. She reminded us of most was the DreamWorks movie, “How to Train Your Dragon” where one of the main characters is an animated black dragon named Toothless. This was a rare dragon called a Night Fury who came into his own special powers through overcoming obstacles. Fury the cat she became. There was something endearing that such a contrast in a ferocious name fitting such a lovable personality.
Fury loafing on my range bag – December 2017
Within a few days, thankfully, roles had totally reversed. I’m not sure if my husband sat her down and had a special kitty conversation, but I finally became her person and we have remained a pair ever since.
Fury continues to be a furry force of love and fun and I’ll share those adventures with pictures as we go along.
Fury with her favorite felt ribbon in the sun – December 2017
