Hello :D

Hey! My name is Kat and I'm a 24yo college student from Oregon. I've been into animals of all shapes and sizes for as long as I can remember, and I got into reptiles not long ago. I have 2013 female normal ball python who I STILL haven't named yet, but it will come at some point haha, and a 11yo Jack Russell Terror named Keiko who currently lives with my parents, but visits me on occasion when I can have him for a few days. I volunteer with a local dog rescue and try to help out with some of the others (our shelter deals with other rescues, so I know various people at various rescues, so I help when and where I'm needed) and play Polo. Well, try to play polo :) I'm not very good yet, and it's been mostly staying on the horse and not dying, rather then hitting the ball. I'm also taking care of an arthropod collection this summer that's comprised of about 100+ critters, so that's a pretty cool volunteer job :D
Aside from the animal things, I'm a pretty normal college student. I'm studying Psych with an emphasis on behavior (I want to go into animal training, and a lot of training has roots in psych), and I'm aiming to have minors in Photography and Fish&Wildlife. I'm a little weird, I'm a very logical person who likes facts and knowing how things work, but I'm terrible at math and science. I'm much better in in Liberal arts and stuff like psych, history and visual arts. So I guess I'm left and right brained? :) I like video games- I'm working on a re-play of Mass Effect (I'm thinking of naming the BP something from ME, but I dunno what. Tali or Bakara maybe? D:), and playthroughs of Pokemon Black, Red Dead, Dragon Age and Fable 3. I also read when I can, right now its Dance of Dragons and it's going slowwwwwwwwwww haha.

Pictures!!
BP (yes this was posted in pictures- I haven't had her out since then to take more, next time I handle her, I'll take some :))
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Keiko! This is one of his OMG SCRATCHIES faces
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Two of my Bug Zoo critters- our female African Giant Millipede 'Meera' and our juvie Oklahoma Brown Tarantula 'Charlotte'. Charlotte is probably one of my favorites in the entire collection, she's tiny and adorable and so stinking cute. I fed her crickets for the first time last week and she ate them right next to the glass, and I got happy tarantula face.

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And me! :D The pony is not mine- she's one of our polo ponies, and she's my favorite of the crew. She's old, cantankerous, and has sympathy hysteria if another horse is having an issue, but she's also a hoot and fun to work with. And the alligator is also not mine, but a gator I got to handle while volunteering with a reptile education group. I grew up in the south and I used to be terrified these as a child, so it was a neat experience to be that close to one and just hang out with him. I don't think gators are animals I'd want to own personally, but it definitely helped changed perception of them.

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Welcome!! Very kind of you to start out with pics :D

Lol horses frighten me, that pic of you with one is like giving me anxiety... shifty beasts.

Cool tarantula!

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Welcome! Great pictures. I don't think I've ever seen a millipede that big lol.

:-) welcome to the forum!! Love all your critters. Too cool.

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Originally Posted by Coleslaw007

Welcome!! Very kind of you to start out with pics :D

Lol horses frighten me, that pic of you with one is like giving me anxiety... shifty beasts.

Cool tarantula!

Sent from microwave via Tapatalk ll

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Haha, I can see that :) I know a few people who aren't huge fans of horses, and they ARE really big animals whose major defense is too run like a bat out of hell when something goes wrong and OMG SCARY HORSE EATING BAG RUNNN. But I just love 'em haha
And thanks! When I first joined I was ambivalent at best, but seeing her and handling her has really changed my mind. She's just a sweet thing hah. She's not really mine, but I call her mine. I want to add a Mexican Red Leg to our collection next fall as well :)

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Originally Posted by CrystalRose

Welcome! Great pictures. I don't think I've ever seen a millipede that big lol.

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Thanks :) African Giants are the largest millipedes, and they are pretty hard to find in the US. I know there are captive breeders (we got ours from a captive breeder), but there just aren't a ton of them. I don't know why- they might be protected? IDK D: I know we have permits for some of our animals, but I don't know if the millipedes are on it. But yeah. They are pretty big, and she's not quite full grown yet- she's about 10-11 inches, and they can get up to 15inches, and she should get a little bulkier as she gets older. She's a super neat animal and I like working with her :D

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Originally Posted by Anya

:-) welcome to the forum!! Love all your critters. Too cool.

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Haha, thanks! :D

Welcome!
Enjoy all the info that you can gain here! :P

Welcome and enjoy your stay:cool:

thanks :D

Welcome to the forum, fellow Oregonian! Nice critters! :)

The dogs pic is priceless. You definitely work with a unique variety of animals. Thanks for sharing. :)