Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula in Action!!!

Below you will see a video of my almost full grown Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula catching a cricket by doing a complete 180 degree turn when the cricket walks up behind her.  Then you can watch it again in slow motion followed by a quick peek of another cricket being grabbed before she turns around and smiles at you with a mouth full of approximately 10 crickets.  Enjoy!!!

And now for a few pics of my Tailless Whip Scorpions after just having caught their prey (baby crickets).  They perch on the side of their rock and wait for the crickets to walk underneath them...and then they pounce and grab the crickets with their claws.  These guys are very, very cool! 

New Critters for 2013 Summer Library Program!!!

Greetings Everyone!
The summer library season is only a few short months away and I have recently made a trip to Repticon (a national reptile covention) to pick up a few critters for the show.  Below are a few quick pics of some of my new pets, many of which will make a magical appearance during my "Dig Into Reading Safari" program.

1.  This first pic is of one of my new emperor scorpions.  This is when I tried holding it for the first time - my kids were very, very excited as you can see! 

2.  My favorite thing about emperor scorpions - they glow in the dark when put near a black light because they are flourescent!!!  This is the same scorpion from the previous photo!

3.  Here is my brand new, not quite full grown, Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula.  It's already as big as my hand - if not a little bigger! 

4. Here it has a mouthful of crickets - at least 10! 

5.  This cool guy is a tailless whip scorpion.  They don't have stingers like regular scorpions do - as a matter of fact, they don't even look like scorpions -  more like spiders.  They live about 2 years and grow as big as a person's hand. 

 6.  Here is one of the new stars of the show - an albino ball python.  I'm excited about this guy's routine in the new show! 

7.  And, last but certainly not least, here are a few new pics of our newest human addition - Toby!  He is just over 3 months old now and growing every day!

 

Read Across America 2013

Greetings Everyone!
I have once again had the pleasure of performing at Due West Elementary for Ms. Stigall and her students to celebrate Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday.  The shows all went great and there were lots of activities planned throughout the day, including eating some green eggs and ham, dressing as your favorite Dr. Seuss character, and of course, a magical reading program! 

Below are some pics from the event including lots and lots of Cat in the Hat helpers from the local middle school as well as The Cat in the Hat herself.  After five or so years of performing at this school, I have yet to actually see the media specialist in normal clothes and without Cat make up on.  I would not recognize her if I saw her on the street unless she introduced herself.  How strange and awesome is that!?!

Tales of Edgar Allan Poe at The Center for Puppetry Arts

Greetings Everyone,
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend "The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe" at The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta on Thursday evening after a full day of school programs in Forsyth County.  To say I was impressed would be an understatement.  The final day of this awesome play is Saturday, March 3rd.  If they ever put it on again, I would encourage you to run, not walk, to get a ticket and see it.  It is unlike any puppet show that I have ever seen as it uses both actors along with the puppets for a truly unique experience.  Not only that, but the set itself was hauntingly beautiful and as soon as you walked in the room, it felt like you were inside of a Poe story - great atmosphere!  Just as excellent as the play was the music and sound effects, which were performed live by a very talented musician who used a combination of electronic equipment and homemade instruments.

Add to all of this a freezing winter night with wind gusts of 20 mph and you had the perfect setting to hear and see a unique twist on some of Poe's most famous stories.  Two thumbs way up!

Enjoy a picture of the set below.