Poisonous Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago

An interesting read at the Emperor Valley Zoo. We know how to identify the 2 poisonous Coral snakes in T&T but what about the Mapepire? These charts were rather helpful.

Trip to the Zoo #2: Reptiles #2 (Iguana)

This cool dude is a Rhinoceros Iguana. Here he is chomping down on some veggies and then scampering off to join his friend in the shade.

From the ZSTT website,

The species, also called the Mona Iguana, can be found in Hispaniola and Mona Island near Puerto Rico. It inhabits semi-deciduous and dry to subtropical, moist forests, scrub woodlands and dry, rocky forests in coastal areas. 

Rhinoceros iguanas are named after their several enlarged horn-like scales on its snout. These scales resemble the horns of a rhinoceros. This species can reach a length of 60 to 136 cm. Their skin color can range from grey to dark green and brown. 

Females dig burrows when they are about to lay eggs. An average clutch of eggs can range from 5 to 20 eggs. Hatchlings are approximately 18 cm in length. 

Rhinoceros iguanas feed mainly on flowers and fruit but can also consume insects and eggs.

Trip to the Zoo #2: Reptiles #1

Here are some more pics and vids from my trip to the Zoo featuring this time some of the reptiles.

Caiman

First up, the Caimans, which look like smaller crocodiles. They are found in Central and South America.
The Emperor Valley Zoo has the Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger) and the Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

Spot the 5 

My favourite shot of the trio

Turtles

This little fellow was quite hilarious in his antics. He is the Spot-legged Turtle or Common Galap. You can take a look and see for yourself as he paddles around in his 2cm of water.

These are the African Spurred Tortoise ( I believe). 

Check out his spurred shell. Better picture to see the shell of this magnificent creature here.

One year ago I took the above photos of the Tortoise feeding

Trip to the Zoo #1: New Lions

I went to the zoo today! Why am I excited even though I am no longer 5 years old like the kiddies that filled the many large maxi taxis today? Because the zoo is awesome! Need I say more? NO!

In case you are from Trinidad and missed this, or from another country, the Emperor Valley Zoo has three new additions: African Lions!

The three brother lions that have found their home in T&T are about 2 1/2 years old and are named after the lions from the Lion King.

Mufasa, Scar and Kovu

They are part of the zoo's initiative to add more animals to the zoo, and in the future when the zoo adds three more female lions, they would be part of a regional breeding programme to supply the Caribbean and Southern Hemisphere with lions.

The following playlist is comprised of some clips about the new lions.

So which one is which?

They do look very similar

I didn't take a photo of Scar's info, but his distinguishing feature was the scar above his left eye as well as one on the centre of his forehead.

These of course are not the first set of lions at the Emperor Valley Zoo. Special mention must be made to Simba.

Simba is the zoo's other lion who is 16 years old. (Remember when Lion King now came out? Fun fact- 1994!! :O! No wonder my bf was surprised at the little children who knew of the movie. I was their age when that movie was released!! I did not know that movie was so old! Not that I am really getting on with the age. lol! )

Anyway, Simba is currently housed in a separate enclosure next to the newbies.

Simba was born and bred at the Emperor Valley Zoo and in the past lived with a pride of lions in the enclosure that now acted as a quarantine for the three new lions.

We found Simba napping peacefully in the shade away from the heat of the midday sun.

Simba wakes up!

Then nestles down in a comfy spot and stares reflectively into the distance as he ponders life's mysteries. 

Sleepy time

What majestic creatures!

And very large!

Here is some video footage of what I recorded of the lions today:

Trying out the lion life :D After watching those lovely lions I decided I had to try it out myself. :D

For more info about the Emperor Valley Zoo and their animals, check out the Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago's website. The ZSTT is the organization that oversees the Zoo and manages it and all its policies.

Memory Jar (of Love)

I am back home in sweet T&T from the Dominican Republic! More about that another time because today is Valentine's Day! Here's another crafty idea.

In my previous post about Valentine's Day shopping, I mentioned buying a large glass jar. 

The original glass jar purchase. Oh the possibilities!

My original thought when I purchased it was to fill it with all sorts of Valentine's Day goodies. Turns out ALL my chocolate purchases were too large for the jar, so I enacted Plan B- The Memory Jar.

Traditionally, a memory jar is kept over a year and good memories/events are written on pieces of paper and kept inside of the jar. When the year is over, you can open up the jar and review all your happy moments.

For my version, I merged that idea with an old one from a house mate of mine and created The Memory Jar of Love. Sounds corny but hey it is Valentine's Day after all :D

My Memory Jar

For my jar of love, I filled it up with little notes of past memories/dates of importance to my boyfriend and I. Each with the full date of the event and some of my thoughts about it as well as my signature because it was from my point of view. The idea is that maybe the 2 of us will fill up the entire jar and have something to review on our next anniversary or on the next Valentine's Day. It is also much easier to maintain than a daily diary or a scrapbook and great when you are busy but would like to keep some record because you have a terrible memory (like mine!)

Close up view of my labelling

To the right is a closer look at my labels. I wanted to keep with the same theme of my mini-envelopes.

To do this I used similar colours and patterns. The materials I used were: black cloth ribbon, red and black construction paper, black and white plaid patterned paper, embroidery thread, coloured transparent beads and some silver hardware

How I made my own label

First I figured out how large I wanted my label to be, and then used a compass to draw a circle of that size onto some black construction paper. This black circle would act as the base for the label for me to add more detail and also provide a nice clean surface for the back of my label.

I then drew another circle of the same size on some black & white plaid paper. I don't have a wide array of scrapbook paper so I simply printed out a design I liked and adjusted the size to suit on my computer. I really wanted plaid to match the mini-envelopes but other alternatives that I use in similar projects are patterned gift paper, kite paper or cloth.

On red construction paper, I drew a smaller circle about 1.5 cm smaller than the previous 2. I designed my label on my computer, then printed and cut all the pieces.

I simply glued all the pieces together with the black construction paper circle last to hide the excess edges of the black ribbon.

To attach the label to the jar, I at first cut out a long strip of black construction paper to wrap around it and planned to adhere the label to it, to mimic the labelling on bottles or jars of edible treats. However, I did not like the effect that it had on my jar. I thought it was very obtrusive and hid the jar and notes rather than enhance the clear glass.

I decided I wanted my label to hang instead from the jar. I used some tiny rings from some old earrings, a key ring and some extra black ribbon. I used an embroidery needle to make a hole through my label and attached one of the little metal rings. I tied the black ribbon around the jar and a key ring to it and attached the label to the ring. Just because I wanted some extra decorations on it, I used black embroidery thread and made 2 hanging strings of beads and attached it to the key ring with another of the tiny metal rings. Another alternative to the beads, would be to attach some small tassels which you can purchase at most fabric stores.

What to fill your jar with?

So if you decided to make your own as a gift for someone, you can:

• start filling it with past memories
• OR - include a small notepad and pen or a stack of some pretty paper so that the person has something to write their own memories on. 

You can start filling up your jar with memories from Valentine's Day and read them next year.

You can also add little charms, photos or greeting cards to your jar. (In my case, I have a few photo booth pictures to add, some ticket stubs from movie dates and some rocks from hiking trips.)

Some people like to keep bills from dinner restaurants so you can also write notes on the back of the bill and add to your jar. Basically fill it with whatever is meaningful to you. THERE ARE NO RULES!

Other alternatives:

• For Valentine's Day, fill up your jar with candy and chocolate, mixed in with romantic notes.
• Make your jar into a "Things I love about you" Jar. Write down those things in a little book as you remember and then fill your jar up when the time comes.
• If Valentine's Day isn't really your thing, make one for yourself! Use it as your own personal memory jar so that you remember all the little happy things that happened throughout the year. 

My Jar was a success with my Valentine! :D I think I'm going to try my hand at my own personal memory jar. I hope that you all felt a bit inspired as well.

Happy Valentine's Day all! I hope that you shared the love with friends and family and continue for the rest of the year :D

More Mini-envelopes!

This weekend I had my biggest order yet! 20 of my mini-envelopes! I don't think I quite understood how much time it took me to make them until I had a deadline (a self imposed one but one none-the less) and 10 more than I normally make at a time.

20 new Valentine's Day themed mini-envelopes
You can see the rest I made in my previous post called Valentines Day Crafts- Mini-envelopes

I am sure I could have saved time by sticking sequins instead of stitching each one by hand but I wanted to make sure that my creations were of a high quality and were very durable. Must keep the standards up!

It was a great experience working with a deadline. I'll be making about 15 more to fill up some other orders for some good friends and then I'll be closing up shop. No more new orders because I am going on vacation :D

But if you would still like to purchase some, they will be selling at Roses & More! A gift shop at Atlantic Plaza, Pt Lisas. They have all your Valentine's Day needs there and they do beautiful flower arrangements and deliver. Call them today at 679-4563! (and request one of my envelopes ;) )

I've never sold any of my work before and it certainly put a few things in perspective for me :) The biggest one is that I really enjoy making things for the people I love and you really can't put a price on those things. You don't really realize the amount of work that goes into making them because it really does not matter when its for someone you care about.

Thank you everyone for your support! For purchasing them, sharing them about, liking them and letting me know how you feel about them so I can improve. It really meant a lot to me. I took all your suggestions to heart. For those who purchased, I hope my envelopes help make your valentine's day an amazing one :) They really were stitched with love ;)