Opossum

It’s 12:45 am in Dallas, Texas right now…

I just took our kitchen garbage out to the trash can and noticed one of our neighborhood stray dogs laying in the middle of the street.

As I focused in and started approaching, I noticed that it was sitting next to another animal, also in the middle of the street…I thought it could have been a run over cat or something like that…

…As I came upon the dog, I took a look at what kind of animal was laying there and lo and behold, it was the opossum I’ve been noticing walking through the neighborhood some nights, playing dead – completely still, eyes open and all.

The dog, who’s usually quite skiddish when you come near him, wanted to hold his ground even though I was very close and clapping him away to go home.  He even growled at me.

I’m sure he was deciding whether he wanted to eat his catch or play with it for a while before eating it, but he finally took off down the way to his house – I don’t know what’s up with his owners.

Anyway, now I’m outside in my pajamas waiting on our street corner for this opossum to “wake” back up and get off the road to disappear into the night again.

I’m telling you, I had to wait 10 minutes. I didn’t want to leave for fear someone would run him over at our intersection…so, I waited to protect him.

Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, he cautiously got up and scurried off into the bushes of the nearest house.

I know it was “just a possum”, but did you know that the opossum is only modern marsupial of the “New World”, carrying it’s babies in a pouch? The rest of the infraclass, Marsupialia, are native to Australia.

The thing is, we’ve encroached on it’s habitat and now, we think they’re expendable. They’re not – they’re an important part of our world.

They may not be the “cutest” mammal of them all, but they deserve to be here too, nonetheless.

I just couldn’t fathom letting him be a chew toy for the stray dog or road kill…Plus, the stray dog is completely black in color and he wasn’t giving up his position laying in the middle of the road either – it was dangerous for all parties.

Yeah for playing opossum! They do this in order to disinterest their predator because they’re already dead. They virtually paralyze themselves and you would honestly think they’re dead. However, I knew better – it was just a clever trick! I’m glad he’ll live to see another night!

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Didelphidae

Opossums are nocturnal animals and omnivorous – they’ll eat plants and meat, and may even scavenge for food.

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I hope you enjoyed this Marsupial Info on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Check out this great story about Lucy, a Virginia Opossum:

Lucy: A Virginia Opossum

Lucy spends her first months in her mother’s pouch. Soon she is facing outside dangers–animals, cars, and humans

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Playing Opossum in Dallas: Saving Our Wildlife is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

Have you ever thought about how frightened your neighborhood birds are of you, a deer, a rabbit or virtually any other animal out there.

As soon as they see you, they dart for cover…

You may not have thought anything of it because we’re so used to it.

This wasn’t always the case, you know…

When Adam named the animals in the Garden of Eden, he could communicate and speak with them. Everyone got along together in perfect harmony. Imagine that…

Imagine a world where a wolf would just walk up to you as though you were it’s friend. How amazing would that be?

This issue struck me the other day when I read and wrote about the new discovery of a bunch of new species in Papua New Guinea – who may have never seen a human before.

The animals were coming down from the trees – one even sat on a researcher’s shoulder. A new species of woolly rat came right up to the humans with no fear at all.

Why do animals fear us? Well, why wouldn’t they – for the most part, we’re either hunting them, trying to get rid of them, capturing them to be in captivity or destroying their habitats.

No doubt, the animal parents teach their babies to fear us – we are killers, captors and destroyers.

The animal kingdom often sees us as bad creatures they would much rather steer clear of.

What a sad state of affairs. Let’s try to change that! We need to try to regain their trust on a whole…We are their keepers, in essence.

I wonder what goes through their minds when they see us…I’m sure it would be eye opening, heart wrenching and saddening for most of us here on the planet.

Treat the animals you see well…They were made by the same Amazing God we were. Treat them as such!

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I hope you enjoyed this Animal Behavior Info on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more information on the way God intended our world to be, check out the book of Genesis in the Bible:

The Bible: Genesis : King James Version

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Animals Are Scared of Us – Isn’t That Sad? is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

Catopoly Game

If you’re a cat owner, no doubt you are always on the lookout for great pet cat supplies. Right?

I know it – If you’re anything like me, I’m constantly checking to see if I can’t find a great deal on pet food, cute clothes, games that involve my pets or treats!

What I did find for you cat lovers out there is the neatest cat furniture at Outdora.com in their pet cat supplies section.

Cat Bed from Outdora

Check out one of their adorable beds (left)…too cute – and you could hide some of their toys in the drawer below or treats…

What I didn’t expect to find there, though, were cat safety kits for first aid. Great idea…We often don’t think about how important our pet’s safety is or if you’re prepared for an emergency or disaster with your pet.

Also, something unique I found in their pet cat supplies that I have never seen before were cat memorials. Our pets are so very important to us, don’t you want to make a statement about remembering them? I know our pets are very important members of our family and we honor them with dignity and love…

Cat House

We were at a friend’s house the other day and noticed a piece of furniture with a door in it that their cat kept going in and out of. It matched all of their furnishings in their home and we thought it was just the neatest thing! It is called a cat house.

Now, I’ve seen these before, but they were all “open air”. This one was perfect for their cat that thinks it’s royalty to go into privately and have a siesta or get some “quiet time”! LOL   This site has these sorts of cat houses too.

Cat Tunnel

Whether you’re looking for cat furniture, cat toys, or anything else “cat”, Outdora is a great place to check out that you may not have even thought of.

Plus, ground shipping is free with every order from their website! That’s awesome!

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I hope you enjoyed this Pet Cat post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Exotic Animal Lover Updates are 1 click away!

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Looking for Pet Cat Supplies? is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

American Cockroach

They’re called water bugs or Palmetto bugs, but they’re actually American cockroaches and they’re huge.

They can fly, they run fast and will even come back to life on you after they’ve been smashed.

When we lived in Louisiana, they were a real problem especially when it rained or got cold as they’d find any tiny hole to get into your home. We actually set mouse traps for them and they worked!

They’re so large, you can hear them shuffling around in cupboards and on tile floors, even though we keep everything really spic and span.

Tonight, we just got rid of our 4th one this week that somehow found a way into our home here in Dallas.

Tough to catch, really smart and super fast, it’s not easy to pick one up to put back outside. They have been clocked at 3.4 mph – that’s equivalent to a human running 205 mpg (50 body lengths per second)!

My husband tried to corale #4 into a brown shopping bag, but it was too smart for all of that…It took a good 3-4 minutes trying to convince it to even step foot on the bag. Then, there was a mad dash to the door because it crawled out of the bag and almost up his arm!

Creepy crawlers that are so big, you can’t help but see them run across the floor or on the wall out of the corner of your eye.

Instead of being the typical roach black, they’re rusty in color! Yikes!

Here’s a photo I found of a bunch of them, except the ones we get down South are much bigger!

I guess I’m just not much of a bug person!

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattaria
Family: Blattidae
Genus: Periplaneta
Species: P. americana

Conservation Status: This is not a threatened animal species. In fact, it is joked about that they’d be the only animal to survive a nuclear bomb.

American cockroaches are actually found all over the world due to global shipping and travel.

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I hope you enjoyed this Insect Information on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more information on the American Cockroach, check out this really informative book:

American Cockroach

Catherine Chalmers’s second Aperture monograph invites us to meditate on the pleasures and terrors of the common domestic pest, Periplaneta americana, also known as the American cockroach. In three different series of photographs, “Infestations,” “Imposters,” and “Executions,” Chalmers challenges us to reconsider how we distinguish between creepy infestation and acceptable nature. With a slight B-movie quality, the images push us to think carefully about the ways in which we determine some creatures to be lovable and others best squashed under a shoe.

Technorati Tags: water bugs, cockroaches, Texas bugs, Texas insects, Texas cockroaches, roaches, big roaches, Palmetto bugs, American cockroach

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Cockroaches 5 Inches Long in Texas is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

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A Kentucky man, Kenny Mahoney, has a motion sensor hunting camera in his backyard, which often picks up images of rabbits, turkeys and deer.

What he found was an unidentified mysterious animal (UMA) on the photo raiding his garden. Check out this video:

Skeptical that it could be bigfoot, but unable to rule it out completely, the investigation moves on in the woods of Kentucky for bigfoot.

They say the figure looked to be six feet tall and had black fur, but they can’t be certain it wasn’t a bear, although it didn’t appear to be one. The form looks like it has a gorilla like head and shoulders with it’s arms crossed.

What do you think it was mulling around his back garden? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

* For more information, check out: Kentucky man says photo might show Bigfoot raiding his garden

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I hope you enjoyed this Unidentified Mysterious Animal Sighting on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more information on the history of Bigfoot, check out this really great DVD:

History’s Mysteries Bigfoot And Others Monsters

Rated: NA Synopsis: The mermaid, Abominable Snowman, giant squid, and dragons are all parts of myths and mysteries. But are some real? The Komodo Dragon was merely the stuff of local legend–until the dinosaur-like, very real giant reptile with an orange

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Bigfoot Sighting in Kentucky on Film is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

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Flag of Papua New Guinea

Scientists from the United States, Great Britain and Papua New Guinea stumbled upon one of the greatest wildlife discoveries ever.

They identified 40 new species of animal never before scientifically recorded in a 1 km deep volcanic crater on Mt. Bosavi in Papua New Guinea.

Among these amazing finds were a species of fanged frog, possibly the largest rat species in the world (Bosavi woolly rat) that had absolutely no fear of humans, the Henamo grunter (a grunting fish that makes noises from it’s swim bladder), a new bat, 2 other fish species, and 15 other frog species.

Animals of the world’s rain forests are proving to be extremely diverse and unique, especially ones that have been in any type of isolation. In this particular area, this crater is 4 km wide and 1 km deep with a volcano that hasn’t erupted 200,000 years ago.

In this “Lost World” there are no big cats or monkeys as the top predators. Instead, at the top of the food chain are giant monitor lizards.

Kangaroos have adapted to living in the trees. Another new species, the Bosavi silky cuscus is a marsupial creature that lives up trees and eats fruits and leaves, had no fear of humans either and came right down to sit on one of the scientists shoulders.

Currently, the rainforest of Papua New Guinea is being destroyed at an alarming rate of 3.5% per year! It’s truly time to stop this destruction to save such endangered species that are not found anywhere else on Earth.

* For more information on this scientific discovery, check out: Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea

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I hope you enjoyed this Indonesian Animal post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more information on the amazing scenery and wildlife of Papua New Guinea, check this out:

Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea)

Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea)

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Technorati Tags: fanged frog, Papua New Guinea, bushwalking, Mt. Bosavi, Bosavi Crater, woolly rat, grunting fish, Henamo grunter, rainforest, rainforest animals, new species, scientific discovery

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News of a Fanged Frog and Other New Species in Papua New Guinea is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

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Ladder-Backed (above) & Nuttall's (below) Woodpeckers

Out of all the exotic animals I’ve ever seen, for the first time in my life, I saw a woodpecker in person.

I’ve seen photos, heard them pecking, videos and know a bit about them, but have never seen one before.

I’m from Canada, so I’m sure there are more varieties there, but here in Dallas, there was a tiny, black with white speckled woodpecker with a touch of red on it’s head.

I’ve done my research online and found out that it’s a Ladder-Backed Woodpecker!

I knew it was a woodpecker from it’s tuft of hair on the back of it’s head, it’s pointy beak and how he was pecking the bark on the tree outside our window.

He didn’t just haul off and peck the tree to death…He hopped up the branches, pecked a few times, hopped some more and so on…

He was such a cute, little bird and I knew right away what I was looking at. They’re so quick in flight and flit around on the tree.

So neat! So exciting to me!

Woodpeckers are known to eat insects and their larva, as well as caterpillars, cockroaches, beetles, ants and sometimes berries and fruit from cacti.

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Picoides
Species: P. scalaris

Conservation Status: This species of woodpecker is not threatened.

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I hope you enjoyed this Bird Watching post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Grab this book for information on all North American Woodpeckers:

Woodpeckers Of North America

Book: Woodpeckers Of North America

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Ladder-Backed Woodpecker Sighting in Dallas is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

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What’s better than a commercial with gorillas in it?

Not much…LOL…

Check this one out:

I know…maybe it’s not real gorillas, but they did a great job and it’s funny!

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I hope you enjoyed this Primates post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more inforamtion on Gorillas, check out this amazing DVD from National Geographic:

Africa’s Wildlife Collection Gorillas and Great Apes DVD

Witness birth, death, and the fight for survival in Africa’s heartlands.

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Technorati Tags: gorilla, gorillas, cricket, gorilla commercial, funny commercial, awesome video, mammals, apes

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Awesome Gorilla Commercial is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover

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If you’re looking for a more unusual common pet, then you’ll want to look for more “exotic” breeds of dogs, cats, birds or fish.

The Pharaoh Hound is a great example of an exotic breed of dog that is domesticated and a fabulous pet and part of the family.

Pharaoh Hound Puppies

Pharaoh Hound

History and origin: The Pharaoh Hound is an ancient breed of hound, going back to the Phoenician empire. They took these hounds with them when they set up residence at Malta and Gozo. They are medium sized and generally used for hunting by Egyptian nobility, they hunted everything from rabbits to gazelles.

Description: The Pharaoh Hound can weigh anywhere from 45-60 pounds and will stand about 21-25 inches in length. They have a beautiful coat, either red or tan that requires very little maintenance. Their eyes are amber and they are known to be very athletic and are able to move extremely gracefully.

About the breed: Documents show that the Pharaoh Hound is the oldest domesticated hound in recorded history. They were very important in Ancient Egypt and played a prominent role in the lives of kings and nobles. Their elegance, intelligence, and power made them very popular among different hounds. They are very affectionate, but cautious, they do not appreciate chaos of any kind around them. They have a high prey drive and you have to watch them around smaller animals because they will attack them. Therefore, they are terrible watch dogs. Pharaoh Hounds are site hounds and need to have constant exercise to remain happy and content. They tend to take a long time to train and you should never rush or force them to do anything. You need to have a high level of patience because if you push them they will become passive-resistant and panic. Pharaoh Hounds have a difficult time learning to “Sit” and “Come.” They tend to be very timid and to avoid this they need to socialize from a young age.

Feeding: The Pharaoh Hounds needs 1-1 ½ cans of branded meats (13.3oz) and it is important to give them biscuits or 3 cupfuls of dry food for an all around diet.

Ideal Home: As long as the Pharaoh Hound is getting enough exercise, they can handle living in an apartment. They thrive in a peaceful environment, and will not do very well with any sort of chaos around them. They are prone to snapping if roughhousing is going on around them.

Owners need to give Pharaoh’s Hound their own area in the home and need to be respectful of their space. Potential dog owners want to avoid the Pharaoh Hound if they are loud and overbearing or have other small pets around the house.Content written by Calvin Witherspoon of ohmydogsupplies.com, check out our complete assortment of car seat covers for dogs online.

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I hope you enjoyed this Dog Breed post on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. For more great information on Pharaoh Hounds, you can check out this really helpful book:

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Adopting a Pharaoh Hound: An Exotic Dog is a post from: Exotic Animal Lover