Bluey ate Gippy, booful horsies, slugs, snails, puppydog tails

There has been a death in the family. Our Gippsland Water Dragon, the skin-breathing, 20-million year ancestry, super-cool new pet was eaten - by our Blue Tongue. Yes, in the photo below, that is the dragon's tail sticking out of Bluey's mouth. The book in the pet shop said that Blue Tongues get along well with other species of lizard, but the book was wrong.

But life goes on. Bluey is noticeably longer and bigger now. And our guineapig Milo is getting fatter, so it seems she might be pregnant after all. At times, we can feel little kicks on her sides. We are careful not to pick her up by the belly. We pick her dandelion greens, which are supposed to be good for pregnant guineas.

Last weekend we went to Kate's place. Always a thrill for the kids to have contact with the horses, with Kate's confident guidance. Max rode Coolie.

George wanted a go of all the horses. He rode Coolie, Jazzy, and even Bonny the Clydesdale. But not Alex. Nobody has ever gotten on Alex - he's just a baby. We don't know what he might do. That's him below.

Max was slave to Zoey the dog and played fetch with her until it was feared that Zoey might drown from exhaustion fetching the stick from the dam repeatedly.

A good time was had by all.

 

And then they found slugs and snails. 

It was a hot day when we drove back from Kate's. We had to stop for a quick dip in the river. It has rained since the last time we were there, and the Mitchell was noticeably wider and swifter and deeper. We were careful not to venture into the strong current. Max and George just jumped in wearing their clothes, and got back in the car dripping wet.They sat on their new beach towels from Nanny and Gramps.

More reptiles, rodents and children

Although it was almost a month ago George still enjoys this birthday card. "To My Special Cousin George, I hope you have a wonderful Birthday and Best Wishes love from your special cousin Holly Pendergast xoxoxo"

 

Every morning we have to warm up the Blue Tongue and then he gets his breakfast. If it's sunny we sit outside and feed him so he gets his UV rays. Here he is having lamb chop, cooked broccoli and grape.

Max took the lizard to school for show and tell, and Bluey ate his breakfast in the Grade 2 classroom.

Holly and Pia's place is just a lizard wonderland. Last weekend they had a sleepover and Max caught an adult Drop Tail lizard and 4 babies, one of which dropped it's little tail. The babies were about 5cm long, the adult about 9cm long. Here is Max with a baby Drop Tail, this is one he found at a playdate at his friend Jack's house in Flaggy Creek (on the other side of the river from where we live). Not to be outdone, George goes and finds slugs and beetles while Max catches the faster-moving critters.

 

Whatever big brother does...

 

Little brother does too.

Watching a bit of the Olympics with Milo, Choo Choo and Bluey.

Max was in the  Bairnsdale Advertiser this week.

Zak at school found this lizard on his farm. We don't even know what it is. Some kind of "dragon". It's ours now. Max is supposed to catch a Drop Tail for Zak in return.

It is probably a Gippsland Water Dragon. When it is an adult it could be 1m long. They can run on 2 legs like a dinosaur, they belong to an ancient line of lizards as old as the crocodiles (20 million years), they can stay under water for up to 90 minutes because they can breathe through their skin underwater!

 

It plays dead when stressed, quite realistically.

Max is enjoying the emails he gets from family and friends. 

 

Bluey the blue-tongue lizard, Choo-Choo the guinea pig, time with family

Sometimes when it rains after a long hot day you just have to put on your superhero suit and run around in the rain.

 

Taylor Park friends will be interested to know that after a rainy day there were only 20 cars outside the school and room for plenty more - but approximately 60 cockatoos in the tree. Click to enlarge if you want to count them.

 

Dave kindly invited us to a private fireworks show out at his sheep farm. George was jamming on the harmonica with the guitarists.

 

Nanny and Gramps came to town, and we all got together at Aunty Shani's for a big party. To us, it was Christmas and George's birthday all rolled into one.

And best of all, in the garden at Aunty Shani's house, Max spotted and managed to catch a blue-tongued lizard!

It was hissing, puffing up its body, and trying to bite everyone. But in 15 minutes it was tame and happy to be held.Cousin Piama plays with a kid whose family has a pet blue tongue. They play dress ups with it. We have learnt that blue tongue babies are born in late January, so this one is probably less than 2 weeks old. They are born live, not from eggs. It probably had 20 siblings, many of whom will be eaten by currawongs and kookaburras.Their tongue is really blue. They are harmless. They grow really big. In 2 years this one will be 50cm.

 

Holly and Pia have lots of blue tongue lizards in their back yard. Gerry had eaten one recently.

We got together with Nanny and Gramps again over the next couple of days. One day they brought Holly and Pia and visited us in Lindenow. We visited Max's school and George's school, and had a play at the park.

One night the baby lizard fell asleep on Max as he watched TV. When I turned the light on to take this photo it woke up. It was so cute to see it lying on its side with its eyes closed.

 

With Bluey stealing all the limelight, Milo the guinea pig was seeming mopey and lonely. The Bairnsdale Pet Shop had this little black and tan guinea. She is 5 months old and we have called her Choo-Choo after the famous Choo Choo Bar, a liquorice flavoured toffee that has helped many Australian children lose their baby teeth. Max and George have eaten a bit of one, didn't like it. Little Choo Choo has a friendly personality. Milo attacked her at first, but now they are good friends. The kids love having pets.