SO, yesterday I decided it's been too long and I have to change out the sand in the cages. The sun's out, the day is starting to warm up, and being that the cages are in our large sun room, I've got no excuses for not doing it. So, Rocky's is the first to go. I pick him up (he doesn't try to get away) and put him in the styrofoam box he arrived in, lay down some towels (I didn't say I was clean about cleaning), and start to pull everything out of his cage. Scoop out the sand, adjust and secure the under tank heater, and shop vac out the rest of the sand.
Right about now, my wife comes back from BK Lounge (AKA, Burger King) so I go and sit down for lunch. Of coarse, the dogs are happily lying at our feet waiting, no hoping, for any "fall out." Ok, time to get back to work. I go from the dining room, across the living room, and into the sun room. As I approach the some-what impressive spread that I've created on the floor, something just didn't look right. I find myself at a dead stop, yelling for my wife to put the dogs in the bedroom and bring the mealworms (going straight for the big guns!). As she approaches I see Rocky standing amidst all his "furniture" and the electrical cords under his tank, being perfectly still, even as I approach him.
Well, needless to say, once the mealworm moved, that was it! Gimme, gimme, gimme. I picked him up and gave a sigh of relief, as this was the first time he'd escaped. After a minute, I started looking around at our sun room (we moved here about 6 months ago) and realized that there really isn't any place he can get where I couldn't get to him. So, I set him down and finished the job.
When it came time to put him back, I went over to the corner where he'd been "exploring" and found him within some leaves (Haha, "leaves", it's a fake plant) perched on the edge of the planter, just watching. I went to pick him up, and again, he was perfectly still. Does he think I can't see him? Does he think that his normally bright red/yellow colors blends in with the green leaves? He really doesn't have this camouflage thing down yet. Never the less, thought I'd snap a picture or two. I may let him out a bit more often now.
"Sit perfectly still....he can't see me..."
After a few moments...keep exploring
On another all-so-common subject, went to Home Depot to get the 50 lb bag of play sand (only $2.67 each) and to my dismay, all the bags were wet! Couldn't even pick one up without the bag coming apart. I was about to give up, when next to it was a pallet of 50 lb bags of washed, kiln dried graded sand. ($3.67 each). When comparing the two side by side, this sand is much better than the washed playsand. The granules are evenly sized, much finer, and little or no dust. Just thought I'd share.
Sorry for the long post.
New sand...
