MiniMonsters

 Creepy Crawly Roadshow

  Wildlife, Learning and Laughter!

 Phone: 07847 427004,  Email: minimonsters@hotmail.co.uk

MiniMonsters Blog!

07/04/08  Whoops, it's been a while since I've had time to write as I've had my busiest ever February and March.  Bob's back out of his brumation and paid a visit to Bungay Library last week (while we had nice weather in between the snowy weekends!).  I am now sending out information about my new climate change topics to schools and hope to have good uptake from Autumn 2008.  This is a topic that I have been wanting to tackle as a roadshow for schools for a number of years and am pleased to see that these important issues are now making their way into the National Curriculum.  Sustainable Bungay is also now starting to take shape and we're planning some exciting events for later in the year.

19/11/07  Yuck - it's really winter now and Bob the bearded dragon has quite sensibly gone into brumation (lizard hibernation) - not all pet lizards do this, but every year Bob watches the nights draw in through the window and loses all enthusiasm for a few months!  Sometimes, I think it would be nice to do the same, but the Climate Change Conference in Bungay got me all fired up and motivated again, so now I'm busy developing new sessions for 2008 and looking forward to the first meeting of our Carbon Footprint Bungay group.   Ooh, and I've got lots of baby Giant Thorny Stick Insects, which is excellent, but does make removing the old bramble a bit tricky!

25/09/07  Things have finally got a bit quieter for a few weeks after the summer holidays, but anyone who knows me will be aware that I like having lots to do - so I'm organising Thrill the World Bungay - check out the home page for more info.  It's a great chance to meet new people from the Bungay area, dress up like zombies and learn a dance that's been around for most of my life - Thriller!

24/08/07 Lizard questions: Sometimes I am asked a question that throws me - either it's something I've never thought about, or forgotten, or my mind is working at 'age 5' level.  I'll do my best to research any future questions and put an answer in my blog!  So: for the lady from today, a lizard's tail breaks at a 'weak point' that is actually within a vertebrae (not between), so some tail vertebrae are lost.  The muscles in that area are also arranged so that they will come apart neatly.  Hopefully Bob will never have to experience this personally!  A new tail regenerates, but does not have the same patterning of scales and colour as before.

Also, here is a photo of Bob pulling his 'I'm a big tough lizard, don't mess with me face' - if he wants to look really impressive, he opens his mouth too.  Next time we have a really hot day(!), I'll see if I can get a photo of him doing this in the garden - I supervise him in the rabbit run and he pulls defensive postures if any birds fly over.

10/08/07  Back in the winter, Taco the corn snake was donated to me as an unwanted pet, assumed to be male.  It takes a bit of an expert and a special tool to check, so I grabbed the opportunity at a reptile centre recently to have him examined and it turns out that he is a she!

In July, I took the MiniMonsters to a Fun Day at Waxham Barn.  At the end of the day, I left the animals warm and secure and went for a stroll on the beach.  On the beach we found two groups of seals enjoying the sunny weather.  We sat and watched them from a distance and were amused by the way they lifted their heads and tails when a wave came in so that they didn't get wet! 

02/07/07 What a spring/summer term and it hasn't finished yet!  I am off to a school in Twickenham tomorrow, so I'm definitely starting to push the 'Norfolk & Suffolk' boundaries somewhat!  Some very sad news in June - my beautiful, patient little rabbit Lily suddenly became ill and despite the vet's best efforts passed away.  If anyone has any nice photos of Lily, I would love a copy as she didn't go out very often, but when she did, she was always an absolute star.  I now have a new super-bunny in the making called Bertie, who is Bongo the cheeky rescue rabbit's new best friend and has already been to one school in Norwich to start his training.  The summer holidays are looking to be my busiest ever with some public events (see home page) and lots of playschemes, holiday clubs and birthday parties.

16/05/07 Due to outgoing mail problems with my previous Tiscali email address, I have now set up a Hotmail account as above.  Apologies to anyone who has emailed me in the past and not received my reply.  I always aim to reply to an email within at least 3 working days, so if you do not hear from me within this time, please phone on the number above.  My previous email account is still active and being forwarded on to the Hotmail account.

Older news:

February 20th Guest speaker at the University of Essex

February Half term Fully booked sessions at Ipswich Museum as well as a number of Out of School Clubs.

December 2006 Interviewed for Radio 4 Woman's Hour linked to WEETU & Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2006.

November 2006 National Enterprise Week - MiniMonsters booked by Enterprise Lowestoft to tour Lowestoft middle schools with a talk about the ups and downs of running a business.

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