Tales of Worms, Tadpoles, and a Rabbit

This is an extremely large post, and for that I apologize. I hope that the clean breaks help. I wrote two-thirds one day and then the remaining didn't get finished until six days later. I'm quickly (hopefully) relearning how to plan blogposts again. Of course, read any/all/none of wildlife stories as you wish, but my personal favorite is the bunny. I came across a cute overload today that makes me believe the bunny was much less than a week old.

Bucket of worms:

Among the crazy things that have happened over the last year, there have been a series of not-so-hidden attempts at keeping pets, starting with last year's tadpoles who had a happy ending. In August I decided to do more green things, so when I visited the Alworth family, they happily gave me a bucket of redworms for vermicomposting. I've grown up used to recycling and composting, but composting in a small apartment with no yard was a challenge I waited to tackle until I had some time to do research in the summer. I have always been amazed at how much "garbage" I manage to prevent from ending up in the trashcan. Still, I continue to be baffled at how to best take care of worms but since they've managed to live quite happily so far, I'm not too worried.

When I had to move out of my apartment, I tackled my worm bin, which had occupied space under the kitchen island for ten months. This turned out to be much harder and took longer than I'd anticipated, because it was more mud than dirt. I'd noticed the wet problem a couple weeks earlier but hadn't done anything with it (both because I was busy and didn't know quite what I was supposed to do). It was actually fun to spread it out on a plastic sheet on the kitchen floor and pick up clumps, finding a mass of squirming worms on the bottom (they get away from any light as fast as they can since it can kill them). These worms did just fine of a diet consisting mainly of eggshells (which you could still see chunks of) and coffee grounds. The mostly worm-free mud (it was impossible to get them all) I gave to Susan, who was happy to have it for her garden. The worms went north to Colin's new apartment in the bucket they came in many generations earlier.

Orphaned bunny:

Laura and Mom came to pick me up right after winter semester classes ended and we took a car trip to Georgia (this itself should be a separate post). They dropped me off in Bloomington the Sunday before my birthday. The next day, I decided to walk to campus. My internet wasn't working that day and I'd left my netbook cord in the last hotel we'd stayed at, so I was carrying my heavy laptop and it was hot. When I was almost to campus, I noticed something alive, pink, and squirming on the sidewalk. It took me awhile to figure out what it was; I realized it wouldn't survive if I left it, so I picked it up and a closer look at its ears confirmed that it was a very young bunny rabbit. It was less than a week old and I still can't fathom how it got where it was; there were no bushes or covering anywhere near it. Since I didn't have internet at home, I decided to try my luck at the library and pressed on, cupping the bunny in my hands to keep it as warm as I could. No one really seemed to have more than a passing interest in why I was holding my hands like that in front of me.

One of the benefits of being a library student, you get to know the people who work in the university libraries. So I walked up to the main desk and said to a classmate I'd had "Okay, don't freak out, but I have a baby bunny and I have no clue what to do with it." He and another guy cooed over it before suggesting I take it to the zoology department. I walked there but they weren't able to help at all (in fact, the guy who I ultimately talked to that was supposed to help said "oh we can't have those in here, get out" and wouldn't even give any suggestions).

Back at the main library, I looked online (while I hid the bunny in the roll of my shirt on my belly) and found out it's illegal to care for wild animals and very very hard to raise wild baby rabbits. There was an address and phone number for a wildlife rehabilitator so I went home and put the bunny in a box with a warm water bottle and a t-shirt, called the place, and then drove over to drop it off. They said it would have my name (they don't name their animals but distinguish them by the names of the people who bring them) yet it was too early to tell how it was doing. Online, I found out if it squirms, it is not too stressed but it is very easy for them to be stressed and they are very sensitive to it. Sometimes it just rested but many times it would wiggle to get closer to my hand for warmth or to just plain wiggle, especially when I had it in the box. I also know it wasn't severely dehydrated. So I was optimistic. However, I never did call to visit or find out about it; I want to think happy endings.

It was strange; I had very strong desire to protect it when I saw it. I vaguely thought about diseases and whatnot when I picked it up, but they were overwhelmed with what probably is a mothering instinct. And usually I don't find myself overly fond of rabbits. Young ones, like most furry babies, are really cute, but I never thought rabbits were nice and never wanted one as a pet. Also, I'm quite familiar with their notorious ability to breed plenty of offsprings. Even though not all of them make it to adulthood, they still manage to run rampant quite easily. So, while my reactions were not entirely surprising, their intensity was.

Tadpoles, version 2009:

Colin was visiting me the weekend before I went to Georgia and we decided to try our luck at raising tadpoles again. We went back to the same puddle and collected about 12 small ones. It seems really strange that they would be planted there; it's a very barren mud puddle is in a "parking lot" that gets a lot of traffic. We didn't collect any big ones because last year the biggest died very quickly and we figured if we can catch them when they're little we can make sure they're better nourished. Again, we had no clue what species they were; they could have been salamanders, even (http://thelivingclassroom.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/tadpoles-salamanders-tomato-tamato/). Since we (or rather, I) had named most of the ones last year after the seven dwarfs, this year I named them after Disney princesses. It was a fun challenge trying to come up with a dozen princesses, including Mulan and Pocahontas.

Since I was heading on a road trip, Colin took them home for the first couple of weeks. And the results were making him believe he was a horrible tadparent; they kept dying. I still suspect that there was some disease or other uncontrollable factor in play. Colin said, "Maybe we weeded out all the good tadpoles last year." Some of them were still alive when I visited him and took them home, but by Memorial Day weekend, we had one. In fact, there were two when I started north to get Colin on our way to Michigan City but the smaller one died in transit. The last one was the biggest, bigger than any of last year's, earning her the title "Princess Fiona." Her size is the leading clue that they were probably toads instead of treefrogs. But we'll never know because she died while we were at the McBrides' beach condo. Although somewhat discouraged, the emotions weren't as bad as when they first started dying. The whole story and how much was our "fault" will never be known but I, at least, am not completely discouraged from trying it again. I say "fault" because, remember, they were in a very poor location and had an extremely low chance of making it to healthy adulthood in the first place.

Green is Good

I freed Tim, Tum, and One-Eyed Bill today. Now there is just Tom left. Tom was the last tadpole and was still water-bound when I went to bed last night. This morning, he wasn't in the water but I managed to find the froglet hiding under a crate but alive and happy to see me. I also finally found the remnants of the one that escaped a couple days ago ...

I've been writing responses and thoughts for the book I'm reading (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) as well as the exciting things I'm trying out such as homemade laundry detergent and composting. It is too much to put here - basically, my mind is continually exploding with Kingsolver's amazing writing ability and the knowledge I'm gaining. I'm not completely naive and ignorant of the harm caused by our society, I even knew that eating food grown closer to home was a good idea. Yet somehow knowing more of the details and the timing in my life of reading this book really makes it powerful.

While I had planned to work on my last assignment and get some important errands done, I ended up wandering in the ravine after freeing the frogs instead. It was very therapeutic is one way to put it. I emerged a couple hours later with feet still drying from wading, a potful of dirt and worms, spiderweb and mosquito bites in various places, mud on my knees and hands, and, most importantly, a huge grin on my face. I didn't realize how much I have been craving true greenery. I have not been sleeping well most of this week but I can't tell if it's just from my allergies and some strange stress or what.

Now, quite a bit rejuvenated in spirit and mind, I will tackle the homework and chores I should get done before Colin arrives in roughly six hours.

Hair and Hoppers

(Photos posted at LiveJournal this time.)

I figured it was about time to upload those highly demanded hair photos. It's been about a month so the obnoxiously too short hairs are much better and I've had to trim my bangs, faux side burns (not sure what else to call them), and the hair on my neck, which was starting to bother me in this heat. The one above, is the before picture, if you haven't figured it out already. The following are the after shot (oh so short! scandalous!), a shot inspired by Whitney, and the last is an unrelated picture of Happy and Grumpy, before they are set free in the ravine behind my building. I am raising treefrogs who climb anything as high as they can. Aren't they cute?! We set Doc free Friday and Dopey today. Hungry will be next. Nemo aka Bashful escaped in Colin's kitchen and successfully evaded recapture. The last dwarf, Sleepy aka One-Eyed Bill, may remain in captivity because of his impediments which make us suspicious of his ability to survive in the wild. Next up - the four Tiny T's (Tim, Tom, Tam, and Tum) which all have their backlegs now. My, how fast they grow up and hop away.

My Fourth of July

I got my haircut last Wednesday. Super short too! Possibly Lenya short, or, if you don't know Lenya, it's the same length as a many boy haircuts. I sent pictures to Becca and Colin's sisters that night. All, including Colin's mom, thought it was cute. My new friends down here didn't think I was ugly; "ooo look at you!" Then Colin came to visit Thursday night. I was excited and really missed him, so much that I had to run out to the road a couple of times. Then I saw his car turn all the way down at the intersection and just watched as I could tell he tried to figure out if it was me or not. "Who are you?" I asked if he liked it and he said something about it being different. Still shocked, I guess. But not terribly, since we'd decided not to tell the other when we were getting our haircuts and just surprise each other whenever it might be. I'm pretty sure he likes it now; he can actually play with it and play with it he does. Plus, more kissing spots available. I kind of miss my long hair but I sure love how easy it is to wash now.

Friday (the fourth) we went hiking. It rained some but it was a nice place. There were a
gazillion sinkholes in the park and we went into a cave too. I didn't want to go very far in, but Colin managed to coax me quite a ways before I scurried back to the safely daylighted opening. We hiked more than the listed miles because the trails all loop into one another and run into roads and stuff. We saw a lot of cute little toads and a couple of this weird insect that closely resembled a rose chafer but bigger with a fatter butt.

Friday night we stopped at a movie theatre that I'd spotted on the way to the trail. If it was less than $8 (roughly the price of the theatre in Lisle), we were going to see Wall-E. Well, it was and the movie is AWESOME. Hands down one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. And, with me getting like 3 or 4 movies a week, watching something about 2 out of 3 nights, I've been watching quite a lot. I don't think I have anything to complain about when it comes to Wall-E.

Saturday we went hiking in another park nearby (Yellowwood Lake). We were going to do a trail but the actual parking area was on a road that was blocked off. At the ranger station, they told us the trail was do-able; the road was closed because they did construction on the dam during the week but it was fine to go back there on the weekend. We went back and attempted to hike but found it too overgrown and watching our every step for poison ivy for over six miles didn't appeal to us. It was well-traveled, but we were wearing shorts. We did do some hiking on the "shore" of the lake (the water level was really low, the opposite of most Hoosier lakes right now) near the campground where people were continuing or wrapping up their holiday festivities.

Day-hiking was a Plan C for us; we were going to backpack, but it takes more prepping and equipment than we had and we were both pretty busy (yes, I was, for once - I had a fairly large assignment, reading, and a presentation to put together that week). So I was like "Let's just try to focus on having a good weekend and not make it stressful." Plan B was car-camping. That fell through mainly because of the quick switching of gears and the impossibility of finding a site even less than an hour of check-in at one of like two campgrounds that supposedly had spots that weekend. It was first-come-first-serve. Then it was Colin's time to say "Let's make it simpler." Anyway, just walking near the campground on Saturday made us thankful we dumped Plan B; people were cranky and noisy and, well, just plain annoying.

When we got back to the car, we decided to catch tadpoles and put them in an empty tupperware. We caught fifteen, four which already had back legs, and then researched online how to keep them alive while we kept squealing about how cute they were. The two most advanced died within 24 hours but the others have been wiggling happily around. One sprouted its front legs today so it got to go to the teenager tadpole pool and have it all to itself. I can see where its lungs are developing. Even if most, or any, don't make it, I won't be too sad; I know there's a high mortality rate for tadpoles in the wild. That's why there's so many that grow at the same time. It would be great to help the amphibious population though (they're probably toads, but they could be any kind of frog, newt, salamander, who-knows-what).

Sunday we just bummed out around my apartment. There were many reasons, such as me not feeling so great, it be really hot, and we being tired of chasing stupid trails.

Sunday night we hung out with Matt Vazquez and his brother Tim. Matt, or Skez as he is usually known, is helping with some research project at IU for his SIP a few weeks this summer. Something to do with verbs, children's lit, and psychology. It's neat that he's in town. We watched "Nosferatu" which is a German silent movie about Dracula. The boys kept adding their own subtitles. I enjoyed it, even if I can't tell where the historical intrigue ended and simple fun (if any) began.

Monday (yesterday) I was still not feeling great when I woke up. Mostly fatigue and some dizziness, and I suspect it's probably allergies. Then Colin left. Then I watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and did some homework. Today was hot. I had class. The guest speaker was boring. I doodled a LOT. Then I did some homework in the library. It was still hot when I walked home. I changed the tadpoles' water again and ate dinner while watching "Hang Up." Now I'm tired of typing. I hope you all enjoyed this update.