Stomper 4x4s

I haven't written in a while because life has got in the way. But as we approach Christmas day it seems appropriate to provide a general update. The animals are all on their winter schedules at the moment - cooler temps and no more than nine hours of daylight. It will stay that way until the end of Jan when I will slowly start altering the split. 

The female New Caledonian Giant Gecko is growing but not very fast. I am beginning to wonder if her parents really were the giants I saw in the breeder's photos. They have a tendency to enter rapid growth spurts and I am hoping one is just around the corner for her. Having turned two only last month it is fair to say she is a very young NCGG and certainly not sexually mature, but this next year will be critical. She is likely to reach most of her size potential by the end of year three, so what happens in the next twelve months will prove very interesting. Anyway, she is a beautiful animal and has a lovely temperament - something that cannot be said of our male. Since her arrival he has become ultra territorial and suddenly is quite happy to bite. At night time it is best to just leave him alone. The Storr's Monitor lizards have slowed down significantly and are well aware that winter has arrived. Sometimes they don't come out at all and we must hope for more luck breeding them this year. I am sure mating took place last spring, but nothing came of it - not a single egg. 

So with the brief animal update covered, let us move to the Christmas toy bonanza for 2014. Anyone who has read my previous posts on toys will be aware that I am not a big fan of the current industry trend towards age compression. By that I mean the unwholesome way our kids are shuttled onto games consoles as soon as they can hold a controller. When I was a child, back in the 80s, it was not unusual to still be playing with trucks and the like aged eleven or twelve years old. We would get outside and build obstacle courses, just happy to flex our imaginations and marvel at what a basic motor could achieve. It was about connecting stuff, testing stuff and being hands on in the real world. Of course we played computer games but they were not the centre of everything and only started to become more important as we crossed the teenage divide. 

When I watch my youngest son setting up his matchbox cars and taking them off for adventures, I can almost hear his active, young imagination ticking over. He doesn't need to be stuck in front of a computer screen to indulge that side of his personality. 

So I decided to keep things real again this Christmas and managed to purchase a MIB Animal Xtendor. That is the final Galoob Power Machine, missing from our collection, and is an upgrade on the original claw bursting 4x4. This interesting creation has an extra axle, which springs backwards as an anti-flip mechanism, so it is able to overcome the original animals main flaw - namely that of pushing itself over when using auto-traction to climb a hill. It is fiendishly hard to find but I had to take out my trusty soldering iron to get it working. So by borrowing parts from our knackered old Animal Power Pickup I was able to breathe life into this tiger striped beauty. 

It is powered by the same six volt motor and the drive train is identical to the four wheeled version. This makes it a bit slower because the motor has to work that much harder - it must also power the rear extension mechanism - but it does greatly enhance the ascent angle. Galoob had some very clever engineers. 

So that is the main one, but I recently recalled a series of mini 4x4s that were perfect for racing in the garden and crossing scaled down obstacle courses. One type was manufactured by Matchbox and called Rough Riders (license absorbed by LJN, who then produced the TriEx Rough Riders). The other series was called Stompers. They were very similar and both had true 4x4 capability that allowed them to handle fairly hefty climbs. They added the one missing dimension to my youngest son's toy car universe - power! Ok, so it was only 1.5 volts of power, but those little trucks could handle quite a lot. 

Schaper (Stomper creators) also produced a series of plastic off road courses to test the cars and excite young minds. We had Wild Canyon, Badlands, Devil Mountain and others. They were superb creations but very rare here in the UK. Seemingly just never took off. 

Schaper even thought to include roundabouts, so the vehicle could switch direction unattended, but we must remember that these were basic trucks that only went forwards. As such the normal 'super grip' tyres would happily hit the sides and launch the vehicle over the top. To overcome this problem Schaper included special convex hub caps that allowed the vehicle to smoothly navigate the obstacle course. They only came on vehicles sold with these special action sets (to my knowledge). It is interesting to note that none of the box covers show these essential additions, but I can assure you that if you try to run a mini 4x4 along these courses without them, then you will soon be disappointed. 

The hub caps are an essential part of the design and it just won't work properly without them. They allow trucks to smoothly traverse the obstacle course without tyres snagging on the side. It is interesting to see that most sets for sale online (invariably on ebay) either don't have trucks at all or they are missing the hub caps. In spite of this people don't mention the problems their absence will cause when trying to run our little power houses along the artificial terrain. They probably are not aware, but believe me I have tested it! (read on for the story). It causes nothing but frustration. The caps easily detach and must be very easy to lose, that is no doubt why so many sets no longer include them. The pic below illustrates what I mean. 

Anyway I managed to locate a vintage Schaper Stomper Action Track on ebay. The seller found it at a car boot sale and had never seen one before. It included two trucks but the motors were dead. 

I couldn't find any Stompers in the UK and the ones in the US were used and silly money, so my plan was to run Rough Riders on this track.  The first vintage classics - mint in sealed box - I located were Rough Riders Omni Force. By this point, however, they had made a crucial modification - one that I overlooked and was to cause a lot of panic searching. 

The hub caps were conical, in order that the vehicles can do wheelies. This is pretty cool but it severely limits them on both Stomper tracks and the Power Scouts adventure systems. The latter is the latest powered offering from Matchbox and includes all sorts of cool obstacles. Anyway it was a disaster. 

I was back on the hunt and finally found a MISB Matchbox Fire bird Rough Rider. No conical wheels! It arrived and it worked, but it still couldn't navigate the roundabouts. 

It wasn't bad on the Power Scouts system, however, which was something. Then it struck me - what about the dead trucks in my Stomper Action Set? Maybe the tyres would fit the Fire bird. It transpired they were too tight but using my trusty soldering iron I was able to widen the space and allow the wheels to fit! The hub cabs were inserted and boom - it could navigate the roundabout and avoid getting snagged on the walls. Not a perfect fit but the connection seemed solid and did the job. 

I watched a video where one fellow suggested the foam tyres - a later option - are better at preventing side wall snags, but be that as it may they certainly would not allow the truck to navigate the roundabout. You need the hub caps - I can't say it enough. It was miraculous that my UK set had trucks that both still had their caps on. 

Anyway Christmas day the kids can race them outside in the fresh air, dig courses in the flower beds and generally extend their imaginations using toys that are appropriate for their age. This isn't about holding them back (they still have a games console) it is about resisting the industry's demands to push our kids away from building and interaction, to ensure their imaginations do the work and not a CPU inside a computer. Getting kids involved with nature is well aligned with these sorts of toys, we are encouraging the same sort of thinking and moving them aware from Xbox/IPad fixations. Merry Christmas everyone. 

The Island of Hille

Ordinarily we go somewhere warm for our summer holiday. Not so this year and we found ourselves sitting in our friends' boat zooming towards the tiny Norwegian island of Hille. We had strangely decent weather, however, and everybody caught a sun tan! The sea water was much colder than the Mediterranean, as you would expect, but some days it was as high as twenty degrees. That is quite acceptable and we regularly went for a swim. 

This holiday brought with it my first experience of sea fishing and I loved every minute. The boys were also very keen to throw lures into the ocean and marvel at what might bite. My eldest son particularly enjoyed fishing and hooked a couple of decent examples. We used bait lines with eight hooks and two lure rods to try and entice the tasty ocean wonders. Thomas, my friend, also owned a decent sized crab pot and this yielded about fifty crabs from two separate attempts. We boiled the latter by the boathouse and had a veritable crustacean feast up in the quaint, wooden summer house. 

The island takes no longer than forty mins to walk across and is beautifully green and picturesque. Unfortunately this part of the world brings with it a different hazard - ticks! We get these critters in the UK, sure, but they don't have the potential to infect hosts with encephalitis. That is a deal breaker when it comes to letting children explore the forests and long grass. These things were everywhere and we had to nightly check the kids to ensure they had not acquired an unwelcome visitor during the course of their daily explorations. Basically we avoided the undergrowth and stuck to the little beach. There was plenty of fun to be had with crab fishing in the shallows and water fights. 

A lot of our food came from the ocean. We snagged two fat cod and ate them with bacon and potatoes. This meat was so fresh it simply fell from the bone. Absolutely glorious and the best I have ever tasted. 

Both the boys had several attempts at piloting the boat and acquitted themselves admirably. My eldest was comfortably cruising the boat, shades in position, like he was straight out of St.Tropez!

All in all a fantastic adventure and something different to the norm. Of course Norway itself is not an unusual proposition because my wife is Norwegian and, you guessed it, my kids half Norwegian. Visiting a little island off the coast, however, well that is a new one for us. 

RIP Jack the French bulldog - 17/04/04 - 09/08/14

We returned from an amazing holiday on the Norwegian island of Hille (more on that soon) to find our trusty French bulldog Jack in very poor health. Aged nearly ten and a half he had reached a decent age for his breed but it never prepares you for the shock of sudden decline. 

We were notified while waiting for our return flight and the children were full of questions about whether he would be ok. The boys have grown up with Jack, he has always been there and remained completely loyal and dependable throughout. Whether enduring his ears being tugged or his skin being pulled, our flat faced friend never faltered. The most he ever did was get up and walk away. 

Jack (Jafrak Caramel Cream) aged 2 years with my eldest son

Jack wasn't a dog that enjoyed the company of other canines. In fact he genuinely disliked his own race, but that was in stark contrast to the love he showed to his family members. I remember well carrying an eight week old version into our old flat to meet my other half, he was so small and completely concealed under my jumper. That first night he screamed the place down and I woke to find he had been tucked up in a blanket and placed between the pillows.

Jack was a very robust dog in terms of infections, skin problems and the like. His one Achilles heel was a severe breathing problem, which manifested itself due to his excessively compressed muzzle and diminutive trachea. He had two operations to reduce the size of his soft palate and remove laryngeal saccules. This had a positive effect for a short time, but as the years progressed his fitness deteriorated. From the age of seven Jack could no longer head out for a walk, and in all honesty was only ever able to go about 1km when he was young and fit. He made the most terrible roaring noises after only a short amount of exercise but he bravely carried on as if nothing was amiss. This dog had the heart of a lion but could not overcome the handicap of his physique. 

His final act of defiance was hanging on desperately for our return. Of that I have no doubt. Once he had come and seen all of us, his breathing suddenly deteriorated. Jack had seen the people he loved and knew they were ok - it was time to let go.

Once he nearly died from heat stroke after sitting in a car with the windows down for only five mins! We saved him by dowsing his head and body with
 numerous pans of cold water. The last few years of his life were very easy - he spent his time indoors sleeping and relaxing, but always ready to object to strangers ringing our door bell. Aside from heavy snoring that was pretty much the only time he barked, although he did make strange squawking noises if nobody was downstairs with him. 

I will always fondly remember the way he followed me around, I will fondly remember the way he snored so loudly you couldn't hear the television and I will always consider it a privilege that we had the pleasure of his company. This was our children's first hard hitting experience of loss - they cared deeply for Jack and he for them. It is often the way that a pet leads young people down the hard path of reality. Things die but life goes on and Jack would want us to have another dog, he would want his boys to fill the gap and rejoice that death is always carefully balanced with life. 

A dog is so much part of the family that their departure leaves an enormous hole. Our canine friends are a definite tie and great responsibility, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The scene at the end of the movie Marley and Me reminds us that our dogs share a journey with us - they see children grow up, they stand by you in the good times and bad times - always with unquestioning loyalty and love. Mind you, Owen Wilson's comment re what made Marley such a great dog: 'you loved us each day no matter what', voiced as we view a montage of life over the previous decade or so, applies to all family dogs bar the most aggressive and incorrigible! 

Have a safe journey old friend and thank you for everything. 

Jack (Jafrak Caramel Cream) aged 10 - taken just a week before he passed away

BBC - Springwatch 2014

Another year and another Springwatch. It has become a regular fixture on BBC2 now and the location tends to vary. Wherever they place the cabins, cameras and personnel, however, you will be guaranteed a veritable feast of British wildlife. In an age of increasingly graphic and unpleasant TV this show is a golden ray of sunshine. 

My eldest son is very into the show, but it starts late and that makes it difficult for kids to view. Our passion for the natural world allows relaxing the rules a little for a treat like Springwatch. And so it is - with his little sibling snoozing away in the bottom bunk - that big brother plugs in the headphones and switches attention to the iPod. He has never needed more than 9 - 10 hours sleep and I can't deny him the opportunity to bask in such educational loveliness. 

I remember Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, two of the current presenters, from my childhood. They were both hosts on The Really Wild Show, which also included the crazy-haired Terry Nutkins (may he rest in peace). 

Chris has always been incredibly knowledgeable and is clearly passionate about animals. Michaela seems a lovely lady, but I always get the feeling she doesn't actually know that much about nature! That is probably unfair, but the same goes for Martin Hugh Games (the latest addition to the crew). Basically Chris is your man if you are after raw, unchained knowledge about wildlife.

Having granted my son license to watch the show quietly, while drifting off to sleep, I will doubtless have to accept he will be glued for the full three week stint (depending on good behaviour). The blue moonlight from the gecko tanks will have to mingle with the flickering tones of the little iPod screen for a while yet.

The Flat Roof

Now on first glance this doesn't appear the most interesting of titles, but you would be amazed at the potential of a flat roof! We have one at the back of our house and I recently had to go up there and effect a repair on the tired felt. This basically consisted of applying bridging tape across any tears and then cleaning the surface before application of a rubber, weather proof paint.

Living in England means you cannot be sure the weather will hold out long enough for weather proof paint to dry - especially between September - May. Anyway it was a fine couple of days that saved my bacon before a deluge arrived and bounced off the newly protected surface :). I digress. 

The kids thought it was especially exciting seeing dad high up and exposed to the elements, I mean that is a ready made adventure right there! I never would have believed how excited the kids could get about an area about 6 metres square and 3 metres off the ground, but they did. I was implored to allow them out onto this amazing platform and, when a nice sunny day arrived, I finally gave in and accompanied them out the window and onto the roof. The spring sunshine had raised the dark felt temperature significantly and it felt absolutely lovely. We sat there - all three of us - watching the trees swaying in the wind and listening to bird songs. My eldest son fetched his large Cunningham's skink (Egernia cunninghami) out for the occasion and then we were four - all sat there bathed in warmth and feeling at one with nature.

There is a large amount of ivy and wisteria growing around this extension and I took the opportunity to cut back the extended growth. We discovered a bright green caterpillar amongst the leaves and marvelled at its beauty. There were ants clambering around up there and clear views of birds landing on the nearby church and pausing to reflect before heading off to find food or mates or build nests - it is spring time after all. 

Anyway, I thought it was worth posting this experience. It was simple, it lasted longer than I expected and the kids loved it. I had to watch them very carefully and I certainly would not recommend this for very young children (or older ones if they can't be trusted), but certainly my lads remained responsible and happy for the duration of our trip onto this new platform to the natural world. 

The New Caledonian Giant Gecko Project

Last year my eldest son received his dream pet - a New Caledonian Giant Gecko (Rhacodactylus leachianus). The example I purchased was a 2.5 year old adult male and this year he wanted to pair them up. Cue another search for a decent female, which meant newly hatched examples were out of the question. It is only possible to accurately sex this species when they are between six - twelve months old. Even then you often require the help of a magnification device, in order to accurately view the presence or absence of pre-anal pores. These normally appear as black dots sitting in rows. The pores become more noticeable as the animal grows larger. Our adult male sports large, waxy, onyx examples that require no magnification. Couple this with a distinct hemipenal bulge and there is no doubt. 

Females sometimes show pseudo pores, but often there is nothing at all. An example displaying no black markers removes uncertainty. Through persistent hunting and negotiating I was able to secure a sixteen month old sub-adult female (see pic above) at an excellent price. Definite females are scarce and command a premium, nonetheless private breeders occasionally have animals available.

The most frustrating part of purchasing a new Leachie is the time it takes them to acclimatise. New Caledonian Giant Geckos do not like being moved from their existing quarters and will normally hide away for days or weeks on end. Our female was no exception and it took the best part of three weeks before both our stress levels reduced and she ate a decent meal! The key is providing them with plenty of places to hide and cosy enclosures. In my experience this species does much better in smaller wooden vivariums that keep humidity high and reduce 360 degree visibility. People assume the world's largest extant gecko species must reside within large enclosures, but this is not the case. 

Additionally the tank should not be too cool. Many people are of the opinion that it is ok to keep these animals at room temperature with no additional heating. That might work in hot countries but for the UK I simply do not agree. New Caledonia is warm and humid, it is not normal for these animals to spend most of the year at 17 - 19 degrees. They don't need to bask, being nocturnal, but are reptiles and require warmth to fire their metabolism. My experience suggests that an additional 5 watt heat source increases the temperature to safe levels that improve activity and digestion. You don't want it much higher than 27 degrees centigrade (although a maximum of 29 -30 is safe for short periods, assuming the air is humid and plenty of water available). Average temperatures in our enclosures are between 24 - 27 degrees. At the height of summer their night lights are turned off completely. 

We constructed the tanks with our long term project in mind. NCGGs don't always pair successfully and it is not unusual for rejection to occur. 

Last summer our male liked calling into the night, hopeful that a female would reply. No such luck! It will be interesting to see how Flossy, as we have named her, responds in the face of his clucking. She is not mature enough to breed, nowhere near, so I am guessing silence may be the preferred option. We shall see. 

On a final note - previously satellite island examples were classified as R.l.henkeli. This distinction no longer exists and ALL examples are recognised as R. leachianus only. That is right, they are the same species. 

There are variations between different locales but these are equivalent to people with brown hair and blonde hair - still the same species! 

You will find examples marketed as Morro Island, Island E, Isle of Pines, Grand Terre etc... but there is absolutely no way you can be sure that these designations are correct. Most of the time people simply pass on what they were told at the time of sale. Some breeders were involved with collection of the original examples but even then can anyone be 100% certain that one of the grand parents or great grand parents were not from a different locale? It is simply a matter of trust. It is true that some locales are distinctive enough to suggest their original location, but what is to say that a cross wouldn't happen to show more of one ancestor's characteristics than another. This is basic genetics and it happens all the time. 

It is true that the Grand Terre animals generally have relatively longer tails and are an overall larger size, but that in itself hardly proves the origins. 

Many other species e.g. Green Tree pythons are in the same situation - examples being touted as originating from a variety of locales. Most sensible people now accept this as nonsense and a GTP is simply a GTP. 

The point I am making is that unless you visit the island and collect examples yourself, then it is highly unlikely you can ever be sure of the purity. Especially now that science recognises all NCGGs as a single species! Don't fall for ignorance or marketing ploys and pay a premium. 

Edit 30/03/16 - Success!! We now have four eggs in the incubator. The first clutch was laid 28/01/16 and the second around six weeks later. The female was starting to look thin, so we separated them again. Both continued to feed without issues as both sides are now considered common territory.  

The Vine Snake

The kids and I took a trip to the local exotic animal store this weekend and were thrilled to find a vine snake on display. I have never encountered one in the flesh and apparently this example sold within a day of arrival. Good luck to the new owner - they are going to need it! This species is a notoriously difficult captive and normally refuses to eat anything but lizards. That is quite a problem in the UK where both native species are protected and it is illegal to sell live animals as food items. 

The vine snake is venomous and rear fanged. In other words delivery of its toxic payload comes via a less efficient chewing action. They have peculiar horizontal pupils, a feature shared only with twig snakes. 

The children were captivated by its stunning colour and design, which facilitates excellent camouflage amongst the greenery.

This species takes me back to my childhood where my brother and I would watch a National Geographic video on Reptiles and Amphibians. There was a scene where a vine snake stalked a flying lizard in the tree tops. At the crucial moment our intrepid victim flings itself from a branch and, spreading its 'wings' manages to glide towards safety. This video was dated even then and now looks like footage unearthed alongside cretaceous fossils! It was quite amusing reading reviews from Amazon, where seemingly the original VHS is still available. It was re-released in 1997 and one chap vented his fury at the original release date (1968) not being clear. 

Antiquated it was, but still one of the many essential cogs on our pathway to a lifelong fascination with the natural world. I love the way chance encounters evoke distant memories and remind me of the same childhood fascination that I now see blossoming in my own children. 

The Shortest Day

Another year has started and we have rolled past the shortest day. Little by little the northern hemisphere edges towards warmer and brighter times. I have come to appreciate that period of expectation more than balmy summers themselves. 

The slight changes in the ambient temperature, the steadily building sound of different bird species as they arrive back from their foreign excursions. It is only a matter of weeks before the snowdrops react to the subtle alteration in climate and erupt in ashen glory. They are nature's signal that spring has buttoned its jacket and is almost ready to leave the house -  steadily trudging back in our direction.

Snowdrops (genus Galanthus) can produce beautiful white carpets across forest floors and gardens. The effect is as magical as bluebells in full bloom and many people visit areas of high density for exactly that reason. There are even snowdrop festivals scattered around Great Britain and especially Scotland. 

At the moment all our pets are on their winter cycles - the Cunningham's skinks are from southern Australia and experience a typically temperate winter with low temperatures. The ambient day temperature in their vivarium varies between 16 - 18 degrees C with a drop down to 15 - 16 degrees C at night. 

The Storr's monitors are from northern Australia - here the temperature is warmer and it is more the shorter days and night time drops that synchronise the species with winter. They still have a basking spot of 35 - 40 degrees C and ambient temps no lower than 24 degrees in the day time, but at night they are down to 15 - 17 degrees C. 

The New Caledonian Giant Gecko lives pretty much at room temperature year round but we use a back up 15 watt night light in winter to protect against an unusual frosty drop. Certainly this species is far more active in cooler temps than the others and will happily move around in 18 degrees centigrade with no basking spot available. Evolution is an amazing thing. 

The children and I check their health on a regular basis and they are very much looking forward to the skinks becoming readily available again. The colder temps mean that they are largely inactive at all times and it is better to leave well alone. We will start warming the tank again at the end of January - steadily the amount of daylight will be increased all the way back up to 14 hours (from the existing 9) and a basking light will again be available. 

The monitors and gecko are still available for handling, which satisfies their interest :). We are planning on building summer pens in our little garden this year, which will allow our animals to experience wind, rain and sunshine in all their glory. I have yet to finalise the design but it is likely the enclosures will sit above the flower beds and across the wall. 

Other than that we are out and about as usual. Clear winter days are made for the park and we took pictures of a beautiful pair of cygnets last week. 

Then mum and dad made an appearance to check their offspring were safe. 

The Shortest day has been and gone - that is nice - but the darkest, coldest half of the year is not without beauty. The adult swans match snowdrops in pallid hue, but it is their sub-adult offspring that remind us of the vanishing winter. Adventures await.