Art. Frog Mansion. Future Pets.

What an exciting few weeks!

Art. I’ve continued to work on the three paintings. I’ve been able to sketch to help with anxiety and menopausal fueled rage. That’s been an issue for sure but I’m searching for ways to manage it.

The essential oil called Peace and Calming by Young Living has been instrumental in helping me not lose it when stupidity finds me. Stupidity always finds me. Menopausal rage and stupidity don’t mix well. I’m all but huffing Peace and Calming or their Lavender essential oil to remain calm …. and out of jail. I told my nurse practitioner that I’m going to end up in jail with how upset I can get over stupidity. I said, I can’t afford jail. She said, there’s always crowd funding. That is solid medical advice. Lol

One of the issues with painting is privacy. There is very little privacy in an efficiency apartment which means people can see artwork that’s drying. People can be so critical of my art and I’m very sensitive to such criticism. I want to give myself a little more privacy and shield myself from unwanted viewers by installing a curtain that completely sections off the bedroom area. I’m purchasing this on the 3rd so I don’t feel so exposed. I can put drying art in the bedroom area behind the curtain and feel a lot more private. Only having a nurse’s aide 3x a week has been helpful bc it provides more private time.

Frog Mansion is in the works. This project is huge! I’m waiting until I have more money and I’m a tad bit more organized to start making everything permanent in this set up.

It’s going to be insane keeping the glass clean. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by size of the tank and of the project itself. I think once I get the drainage layer in (which I have obsessed over) and lay down the substrate I’ll feel a lot better. Today I learned I should add active charcoal to the soil instead of putting it with the leca in my drainage layer. I’ll do that.

If you zoom in you can see my frog Lentil sitting on a tree branch, halfway down, to the left. Here’s a close up of my girl sleeping.

I have no idea why Joe is sitting this way. He’s an odd boy. LOL

I’ve been isolated with Joe since March 2020. He’s been here for 3 years now. Now when I leave he cries at the door. When I come back he’s clingy. Still, I’m enjoying our relationship. He’s such a good studio cat and wonderful, cuddly friend – even if he does love the wine colored blanket more than me. He traded me for a soft blanket so I call him trader Joe.

Possibilities. Last but not least, while my current CNA is frightened by flying bugs like gnats, she’s full on for me getting a tarantula. And yes, she absolutely can bring her snake to work, though I doubt she will. Just let me put my cat up first. Lol

There’s a strong possibility that I’ll get a spider but I doubt it’ll be a tarantula. There was some talk about another praying mantid or snails. Those are the pets we’re considering for the not so distant future. 🙂 We’ll see.

Any entries with snake or spider photos will have a clear title so as not to shock anybody.

Until soon,

Faith

On making a frog paradise

Today’s Blessing

About a year and a half ago, when the pandemic was raging, I set a goal for myself to give myself something to look forward to on the other side of the pandemic. The goal was to redue the home for my White’s Tree Frogs. I’m so happy to say that the goal will be realized.

Today I purchased a new home for my three frogs. 36 x 18 x 36 from Facebook Marketplace. It’s huge. I love it! My brother picked it up with a mutual friend. He’s a Schizophrenic young man who happens to be one of the sweetest, most spiritually faithful men I know. I think of him as a spiritual son. I was so happy to see him today.

This isn’t the final resting place for my frog paradise :-). It’s going to go where the other one is sitting. There’s lots of work to be done. I’m going to list what needs to be done and just go down the list. Fortunately I have a wonderful CNA (who shows up for work and doesn’t stress me). The CNA will assist with clean up, but I’ve got a few others helping with putting the door on and moving it to its new spot. Slow and steady is how I’m taking it. The CNA has been here for 3 months now and is quite helpful.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. Everyone from the seller to those who helped me move it, and those who made small donations. I very much appreciate it.

Until soon,

Faith

Needed – There are 3 items remaining that are needed. I’m willing to trade art from both Available Art galleries for each of the 3 pet items at the top of my Amazon list. Mesh screen, clay balls and reptile water bowl. Please use my email address to contact me to arrange a barter situation. Contact info is on the sidebar. UPDATE – there’s one item remaining. It’s at the top of the list. Some have requested my PayPal addy. It’s on the sidebar under contact information.

Pet Woes

Content: My frog died

Its been trying around here. First one of my frogs passed away then the tank itself got broken by a friend.

It feels silly to feel so sad over the death of a frog but this really hurt.

I especially liked Clyde because he was named after the dog I had before the hospitalization. Clyde the frog was a bit of a character. He made me laugh. If there was a bunch of commotion in the terrarium I knew he was in the middle of it. He was my ADHD frog.

Clyde as a baby

I believe it was Wednesday just before talking to my therapist that Clyde’s issue went from bad to terminal. He went from a beautiful color of turquoise to dark emerald green with lime green spots all over. That’s a bad thing. Then he stopped eating or soaking. He started looking for places to hide under. He tucked his head and he sat there.

He ended up with a bacterial infection because the temperature and humidity went haywire. These frogs will be 5 in October. I did everything the same for close to 5 years but suddenly, out of nowhere, the temps wouldn’t stabilize. The temperature was too low and the humidity was way too high, which is what facilitated the infection.

I went to my frog group but they were so unfeeling that I left the group. However, several people messaged me to assist. Long story short, the tank stayed at low temp high humidity for 7 days before the fix came along. That was too much for Clyde and he passed away. His brother Sam is now struggling but the other two are just fine.

Just like I’d do with any other animal, I sat there with him for a minute. I went from shock and disbelief straight to guilt and sadness. I apologized to him. I wanted so much to provide a full, happy lifespan of about fifteen years. He was in my care. It was a hard day.

The tank was the next thing to manage. I ended up purchasing $70 worth of equipment for the tank to stabilize the environment, but I first had to tear down the entire terrarium, disinfect it and put it back together. Well, my friend and I decided to put it back vertically instead of horizontally. We completely rebuilt it and turned on the heat. Well, guess where the heat bulb was placed? On the top panel directly touching the glass.

It sound like a gunshot when it cracked. Honestly, I was in too much physical pain, too physically tired, too emotionally spent to invest any emotional energy in the situation. It was as if I saw a wall come up and place a boundary between me and anything emotional the situation might require.

As I sat there with little expression, she looked at like, “OMG I broke her tank. Should I run?” My calm response was, “Don’t worry about it.” I’m still not angry. I’m overwhelmed.

One of the small side panels now has a large crack / shattered area in the center. While that panel of glass was still too hot to the touch, I had her semi-seal the “crack”. She put clear 3M packing tape on the inside of the panel, with a spatula. It melted. I had her do the same thing on the outside. As it cooled we added more clear tape in rows- neatly! We then stood the tank up and kept going. I need a new tank ASAP.

While the tank was being handled by morons, the 3 remaining frogs were treated with a topical antibiotic and placed in a sterile environment. The recommended medication was $90 but I paid $0 because I already had some. Dodged an expensive bullet!

After the tank was functional and all the frogs were put in, I noticed Sam was more than stressed. He’s stressed when handled. He doesn’t like it at all. Then I put meds on him and crammed him in with the other two frogs. Hours later I put him in a completely different temperature and set up. He doesn’t look good and I’m really worried.

I hope with everything Sam pulls through

When I told Snow that the tank is broken she asked if the friend was going to pay for it. I said no. I told her that sadly, I was going to do the same stupid, ignorant, common sense defying thing she did. I was going to hook it up the exact way she did. So it was six of one, half dozen of another. Either way, that tank was getting broken by one of us lobotomy victims.

It was so dumb. When I sit and think of it now it’s so obvious. LOL I wonder how many people just lost respect for me now that you know I seriously was going to put a heat source directly on glass. LOL. I may need her to contribute to the cost of a suitable vertical terrarium.

Marketplace may be a good option for me at the beginning of August.

Betta Sorority Aquarium

My cat Joey suffers from dry skin and needed a humidifier to add moisture to the air. I decided to do an aquarium set up instead of an ugly humidifier.

My favorite spot is the apartment

In order to get the aquarium I sold off 4 of my small aquariums then snagged the 20 gallon long with heater, rocks and a filter on the side. I kept a three gallon aquarium gift given to me. 😁 That has a female Betta in it, too. I like the females a lot better because males seem to be drama queens.

The new aquarium isn’t finished. I need more submerged plants. I’m not sure when that will happen but for now it’s got Pothos and Bamboo stalks on top, as you can see. I’m just going to add some Crypts and Java Ferns then leave it alone. I’ll have 7 female Betta only.

Betta Sorority Aquarium

So, that is my newest muse, a Betta Sorority that acts as a humidifier for my fur baby Joe.

Faith

Helix Aspersa

Introducing my common garden snail pets aka Helix Aspersa.

Snails at home on spinach

I’m thrilled to death to have these snails and have set up a temporary home for them. Their new home should be here next week.

These adult snails are larger than a quarter and can live up to 5 years, however, one snail seems weak and isn’t expected to make it. This will leave me with just one, but I’m okay with that. These snails can impregnate themselves which means I won’t have one snail for long.

In the photograph the snails are eating baby spinach and salad greens. There’s a tiny bit of apple as well as high calcium food for their shells. Unfortunately, the person who bred these snails didn’t do a great job of it because the shells of these snails are in terrible shape. Despite the condition of the shell, one of them seems strong and active. As a matter of fact, I caught ‘her’ attached to the glass with her foot in the shape of a heart.

I heart you snail

Then she did it again.

I heart you snail 1

This led me to wonder what name I could give her that meant love? I came up with Amoretta which is Latin for “little love.” There’s one more much smaller land snail in there of unknown specification who goes by the name Michelle. I don’t remember how she got that name but she got it before she became our Michelle’s pet.

Michelle land snail Sundrip

If you know what type of snail Michelle and her two babies are, please feel free to leave a comment.

Whites Tree Frog baby, 8 or 9 months old

Though frogs and snails share an environment, I won’t put these snails in my frog terrarium.  I believe a separate, closed ecosystem is best for them both.

The snails came through the mail from Greece, which I recently learned may have needed to be held by Customs. I didn’t realize this. I now know better for the next time I purchase snails.

Even though the Helix Aspersa can be found in the United States, these specific ones are not from here so I will take care not to introduce them into the environment.

So they’re here now and we intend to thoroughly enjoy them. I can tell you that my 12 year old is absolutely thrilled.

I wondered how long its been that I’ve had an interest in snails. It would appear it all started with a Japanese Trapdoor snail I got for free to put in my goldfish tank. This was 15 years ago and several aquatic snails later I’m still in love with them. Michelle the snail is one of my first land snails, so this is newer snail territory for me, but I will enjoy further learning about this wonderful creation.

Lastly, here’s an update shot of Isaiah the Dragonscale Betta with the marbling gene that is causing him to change colors. The photos are from November 8th to December 8th, 2018.

You know, one of the good things about photographs is you can see things you missed with the naked eye. I didn’t know Isaiah had a problem with his fins. Poor guy had fin rot which is being addressed. I don’t know if this was in progress when I got him or what, however, it’s being taken care of now and looks so much better.

Isaiah the dragon Betta fish sundrip-down3

Faith

Betta Fish Change Colors

Most of the time people assume the change of color in a Betta is negative, but in this case it’s a marbling gene that causes the fish to change colors. November 8th when I purchased Isaiah, he was primarily white. I posted a photo of him back then showing at much.

Nov 8th
Isaiah the dragon Betta fish

Here is Isaiah November 23rd with his changing genes. I think it’s cool.
Isaiah Betta Fish Changing Colors

While a change in color of your Betta may be an indication of ill health, older age or water difficulties, sometimes it’s simply genetics.
Isaiah Betta Fish Changing Colors 1

It’s also noteworthy that when the fish is in the store it’s a lot more stressed and not fed well and in a tiny bit of water. Once you bring home your Betta and give it proper care, the true colors will begin to shine.

Faith

A Frog named Lentil

This is Lentil, my Australian Tree Frog.

Australian Tree Frog. White's Tree Frog. Dumpy Frog. This morning I woke to find three beautiful mushrooms in Lentil’s terrarium. The mushrooms grew out of a patch of orange moss that grows along side driftwood stationed close to the watering hole.

Mushrooms in orange moss.Although these frogs will tolerate being held, it’s not suggested you do so. I hardly ever hold him unless needed. Today was deep cleaning day so I had to take him out which meant photo time. Continue reading “A Frog named Lentil”

Hummingbird Abstract. Rich. Watercolor.

IHummingbird - available‘m still working with different types of abstract. I did this while watching a video. I like the loose colors.

I’ve also been working with my palette knives but I thought it best to work in gesso for texture then add color over it later if desired. I’ve got a full gallon on gesso which I love working with.

Art Title: Abstract Hummingbird
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Media: Watercolor on 98lb artists paper
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Finish: unsealed, signed on the front and back, unmounted
Style: Abstract, Nature

I’ve got an art sale going on for the Fang Fund, for Mary Jane’s much needed dental work. Use the following code at check out. If you desire to use PayPal instead of Etsy please let me know and I’ll create an invoice with the discount. All contact information is on the sidebar.

*** SALE ——— FangFund16 coupon code 35% off ——— SALE ***

Funds needed for her dental work started off at $250. The need is now $159.00. Thank you for your donations and purchases that stay in PayPal until all is raised to meet her need, then I’ll stop begging. You can fully expect more intense begging as March draws near. I’m watching my baby in pain and it’s difficult. I swear that’s not a guilt trip, it’s just the truth, I’m watching this girl hurt and there’s not a darn thing I can do about it….other than paint and paint is what I’m doing. Continue reading “Hummingbird Abstract. Rich. Watercolor.”