14.July.2016 (Day 39)

Tall drink of water

I have a riddle for you.

You have a room (four walls, a ceiling, and floor). There are windows, but they’re closed. There are no holes in any surface and no possible way in or out.

Riddle me this, riddle me that.

How does this happen? (windows were closed pre-picture)

If you’re staying the night, you should know I’m a cuddler

I’ve mentioned before the pros and cons of living at a field station (aka living with wildlife), but I am dumbfounded how this bird made it into my room. I talked to my housemates and they said my door was closed all day and no one went in to sabotage it with a wild bird. I really shouldn’t think about it too much or my head or explode. But seriously how did it get in there?

I don’t know who was more startled when I opened the door. I think we both saw each other at the same moment. I’m just glad there’s no recording of my hysteria. Bird flapping around the room wildly, me flailing my arms around madly try to…what? Catch it?

There’s more holes in window screen than the plot to Prometheus (too nerdy?), so after calming down I simply opened them up and away it went.

Whew. 

Crisis averted.

Ignoring mutant-ghost-birds that can fly through walls, the day was filled with water pythons.

Twenty-six snakes, of any variety, to bleed in a single day is a daunting task. I should also include that most of the snakes are over 1.5m (~5ft) and weigh around 2kg (4.5lbs).

Luckily I’ve learned that no amount of duct-tape will hold these beasts down and the best method to get a sample from them solo is to coax their head into a pvc pipe, sit on their midsection oh so gingerly, and restrain them long enough to get a few quick drops of blood.

That about sums up my day.

It was a biggie for my lab snakes though, after almost 5 weeks without it, the water pythons finally got access to their namesake.

Spa day

I hope I’m not giving the wrong impression, that I’m just depriving these poor animals of much needed water. Most of them could probably go another 3-4 weeks and still be okay!

So far in my dissertation I’ve examined how immune function in rattlesnakes and children’s pythons interacts with water-balance (FYI as they dehydrate they do better). But rattlesnakes live in a pretty hot and dry climate (it’s about 109F in Phoenix right now), and children’s pythons are normally found in the drier habitats around the top-end.

Using water pythons (an animal thought to spend a good portion of their lives in or immediately around water) to do a similar experiment will (hopefully) be able to tell me a lot about how far this dehydration = improved immune performance idea goes.

Fingers crossed.

There are many guardians of the night at my field site. Some are of the sluggishly slow I-refuse-to-move-no-matter-what-you-do variety.

You are the worst

And others are of the I’m-going-to-crawl-up-your-shirt-and-trick-you-into-thinking-I’m-a-giant-spider type.

Walking stick (Ctenomorpha chronus)

Even though I haven’t heard it yet, my favorite nighttime custodian has to be the barking boobook

Barking owl (Ninox connivens)

Their call has been described as a ‘shrill woman-like scream of great intensity’. The local people have a legend about a terrible swamp monster called the Bunyip that preys on women at night. The cries and shrieks coming from the swamps, rivers, and billabongs are said to be that of the fearsome Bunyip after it has captured a healthy meal…that or it’s just an adorable owl.