Random Writing From An Overthinking Vet Dragon

e.g.: “Hey, remember when I asked you for advice on X? That was really helpful, I tried it and now (insert what has improved)”

“You kept gushing about (insert series/book/movie/recipe) and made it sound really appealing, so I checked it out and I really liked it!”

“Thank you for letting me vent recently, telling you what bothered me really helped me to work through it / helped me see it from another perspective / gave me the courage to address it with the person I was talking about.”

It helps people see their own strong points, it deepens your relationships, it makes the people in your life feel appreciated and special and it can give you warm fuzzy feelings!

An age difference in a relationship doesn’t automatically mean that the younger party has no autonomy in the relationship or was manipulated into entering the relationship. I know several couples irl with large age gaps that are absolutely thriving!

Here’s the way I see it, I think it’s definitely weird for someone 30+ to be with an 18-20 year old, because I kinda feel like those are transitional years where people are still finding their footing and growing into full fledged adults, but I feel like once someone’s 25, it’s a little condescending to tell them they can’t date another adult just because they’re older.

I also can’t ignore that it’s usually women who are lectured about this kinda stuff. I know it comes from a good place and people are just trying to help, but it really contributes to the whole “women have two brain cells and are stupidly easy to manipulate so they must be protected at all costs,” thing. Ya know, the same thing that makes people freak out and think they have to lecture women about how, “kidnapping is actually super bad and toxic btw,” when women say they enjoy Viking romance novels.

Women are completely capable of rational thought, we don’t need to be coddled like toddlers, let us make our own decisions.

Of course, relationships with large age gaps do have the potential to be very toxic. These are some of the red flags I recommend looking out for.

The older party exclusively pursues partners much younger than them 🚩

The older partner makes substantially more money/the younger party is financially dependent on the older party 🚩

I figured I’d write this as a little guide, because I see people every day who don’t know or understand these things that make my job really tough or frustrating. Maybe you already knew them, maybe you didn’t, either way I hope at least a few people will learn!

Fish: If someone is getting you fish, please stand off to the side (not behind them) and not in front of the tank your fish is in. I know you want to watch them catch the fish but employees need to stand right in front of the tank they’re getting into and probably need some big elbow room too. Stand back!

If you want a specific fish, absolutely say so . But! Remember that for some fish this will be impossible to do. Or, the fish are for all intents and purposes identical so don’t try to pick a specific one please. Or at least, don’t get mad or think the employee is incompetent because they tell you they can’t.

Do not ask for help with a fish problem, receive an answer, then tell the employee there is no problem and you did nothing wrong. Please, 99% of the time, you did something wrong. Just fix it.

Do NOT open lids or stick your hand into the tanks!! For any reason!

Birds: Do not put your hands near or into the cage. Just don’t! 90% of the time you are scaring the bird and giving them lifelong behavioral problems. Remember, they have had around a dozen people try to poke them, scare them, maybe even yell at them or hit their cage. The public is stupid, don’t be a part of that. Politely admire the birds from a distance unless the bird is asking for physical touch.

DO NOT TRY TO OPEN THE BIRD CAGES. I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO SAY THIS.

This includes going into any employees only areas related to cleaning cages.

Do NOT feed the birds ANYTHING!! PLEASE YOU COULD KILL THEM.

Mammals: Do NOT open the cages.

Understand that you might not be able to handle the animal. This is, honestly, for the animals protection more than anything. Many people, including those who genuinely think they can competently hold the animal, cannot, and will drop or injure them. I’ve been doing this for 8 years. Chances are, you will drop that hamster so no, you can’t hold it.

If there is an open top type of enclosure, ASK if you may touch the animals inside.

Reptiles: Same as with mammals, you probably won’t be allowed to hold the animal. It’s just a safety thing, nothing personal. Please respect it and the animal.

Do not crowd the employee as they get you an animal. Lots of reptiles are fast and flighty and having you breathing down their neck will do one of a few things; distract them, make them uncomfortable, or get in their way.

Do not scream or jump if a reptile jumps or runs. I know this might be difficult, but try to expect it so it doesn’t startle you. If you react this way you can startle the employee, which may make them make mistakes or become nervous, which leads to more dropping/failure to catch the animal. Especially if they are new.

General: Do not take things from the top shelf! It’s dangerous, let an employee help you.

Please give your kids ground rules BEFORE taking them into the store. So many kids, every single day, come in and wreck the place or hit things because they had no idea they weren’t supposed to. If your child is old enough, before going into the store give the following rules

1. Do not touch the cages or tanks. (Look but don’t touch)

2. Stay with me/don’t walk away.

3. No running.

4. Put things back.

Will they listen? Maybe not, but you can’t get mad at them for getting excited to see a hamster and hitting the cage to get it’s attention because hey, no one said anything about that and you’re a kid so why would you think twice before doing it?

This is more for you than anyone but if you are STARTING to run out of cat/dog food, write down the brand/type (Or take a picture) and get some before you’re totally out. Many, many people actually forget what brand of food they feed and get frustrated when they can’t remember or I can’t figure it out (It’s a YELLOW bag. It’s chicken? Maybe beef. Small breed.). Having that picture will help you a lot! And employees. Heck, to save you even more trouble, call first and ask if they carry it and if it’s in stock!

If your dog is aggressive with strangers, small animals, or other dogs… Please do not bring them into a pet store.

what a coincidence 

Anonymous said to @ask-drferoxask-drferox: When cows have a male/female set of twins, the heifer is almost always a freemartin. Why doesn’t this happen in species like sheep, or goats? If it does, it doesn’t seem to be in that noticable rates

It actually can occur in other ruminant species, like sheep and goats, though it’s not as commonly reported. This might be because cattle, and in particular dairy cattle, usually have a higher degree of individual animal tracking while sheep in particular are usually managed as a herd, so it might not be known if an individual that had a male twin is infertile, just that she’s not pregnant. But if they’re wool sheep, it’s quite possible that nobody’s particularly fussed by this.

Ruminants have a particularly funky looking placenta that has a series of nodular attachment sites called cotyledons, and I’ll let you google pictures of that in your own time. These placenta types allow fetuses sharing a uterus to mix blood, and that allows them to mix hormones and stem cells. The male twin of a freemartin can have reduced fertility, but the female twin (the actual freemartin) has a 90% chance of being infertile and often has a masculinised appearance.

This doesn’t happen so much in humans where our placenta is basically a disc on one part of our embryonic sacs (rodents too) so twins are unlikely to share fluid and cells unless their discs are touching. Dogs and cats have a band of attachment around the middle of their sacs, and since they’re kind of stacked end to end inside the sausage-like uterus their attachment sites are unlikely to meet each other.

Amazing Witcher portraits by Ástor Alexander - source: 

then we also need to honestly promote this as well

I mean, look at the love they put into the Egyptian culture and hieroglyphics: 

Everybody is actually a realistic color of where they live:

ThE MOTHERFUCKING ART THEY PUT INTO THIS MOVIE

The fucking music alone won a fucking oscar people:

The fucking cast like have you seen this line-up???:

Strong female characters:

And last but not least - THE. MOTHER. FUCKING. BEAUTIFUL. HAIR:

Hey! I do have some mounting resources saved. Dead bugs are an part of my job haha. 

Pinning Resources

How to Preserve Insects - Purdue University : a good overview of different methods. Includes videos of different insects being pinned. 

Pinning and Labeling Insects - Oregon State University: A shorter pdf that has diagrams of where the pin is inserted for different kinds of insects. 

How to Pin an Insect - The Brain Scoop: Real museum workers demonstrate how to pin. I love the Brain Scoop since the videos are fun and have some wonderfully bad puns. 

How to Spread A Butterfly Video - Binghampton University: Spreading butterflies is one of the most difficult parts of pinning insects. This video is a good demo of how to do it. If your first couple butterflies don’t turn out how you like, don’t worry! It just takes practice. 

Bug Camp by Tim Forrest is a book aimed at middle schoolers that I really like. It covers the kinds of insects, collecting, pinning, and behavior. I was really impressed with it and have used it as a resource for creating entomology related programs. Plus it’s written by professors who teach entomology classes. 

Stores that sell equipment/specimens

Bioquip- this is my one stop shop for entomology supplies. They also sell insect specimens for mounting. I have talked to the staff about how they procure their specimens for sale and it is done in a ethical and sustainable way. They do run specials each month. They do have an insect mounting kit. The price may seem high, but supplies can be expensive. It has pretty much the essentials. This is cheaper than Carolina Biological Supply’s insect mounting kit (153$). I also looked at home science tool’s mounting kits and honestly they are not worth it even if they’re cheaper. The equipment is not as nice or durable as Bioquip’s.

Bugs in Cyberspace has an section for dead insects for sale and pinning supplies. 

The Entomological Society of America has listings for different suppliers of equipment: https://www.entsoc.org/syseb/systematics-resources/equipment