You know there are a couple newts in the house when...

[clarence]

74. The house may be in shambles, but the vivaria are in immaculate conditions.

75. Your newts get better medical than you do

76. You schedule you day based around "feeding time"

 

[peter]

77. You've had dreams that you were flipping over logs.

78. You've been greatly annoyed by depictions of "salamanders" in fantasy video games.

 

[jesse]

you sell youre bed to have more room and money for aquariums

 

[paris]

80. you DO have caudata.org set as your home page-even at your work computer

81. you buy kids clothing items off of ebay-even though you dont have kids-just because they have images of true salamanders and not lizards (will post these one day with the rest of my collectables)

82. your idea of a hike in the woods is VERY off trail

83. you admit newt tanks are very hypnotic and consume alot of your time-yet are unwilling to seek help

84. you are considering writing a book 'zen an the art of newts'on newt therapy for stress

85. you will not talk baby talk a human baby because you think its degrading - but automatically do it to all of your newts (and even an andrias japonicus at the detroit zoo)

86. you can see a salamander walking across wet tarmac at 25 mph.

87. you think herping for sals is an ideal interactive date

88. your coworkers grudgingly accept the fact that there may occasionally be a newt in the staff fridge

89. you call off work cause your newt is sick

90. you have a 2 hour layover in st. paul (MN) and wonder if there is somewhere near by to look for sals.

91. your christmas wish list is the caudate section of your field guide

92. you can say things like 'ripairian systems' and 'sexual dimorphism' with out sounding pretensious (sp?)

93. you lament the fact that it doesnt rain MORE

94. camping spots are chosen not by scenic locations but by distribution maps and collection locals

95. you are willing to share a room with some stranger you met over the internet just because you all like newts (

pin pin/jenni

)


96. you dont stop to wonder if all of this is just a little weird

97. you correct the local zoo on its species mixing and mislabled display

98. you have a tank as a night light

99. you are willing to write a 'hot' check for some unusual newts the local shop just got in

100. YOUR LANDLORD THREATENS TO THROW YOU OUT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TOO MANY TANKS!!! (true!)


kaysie-it was because i had posted then decided to edit my post and colin posted after my first draft

 

[mark]

Good call with wanting it to rain. Everyone always makes fun of me getting angry at the sun in the spring.

I dont know if we're allowed to go over 100, but...

101. All your friends/significant others know that they will not see much of you during the breeding season.

102. You have made your own distribution maps of local species and wonder whether the official field guides need some corrections.

 

[chris]

We also have two 24's and two 40's, so if I'm correct 102 should be 111.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

(Message edited by salamander_man on June 04, 2004)

 

[paris]

103. your friends who come over are actually amazed you own a cat

104. your cat/spouse/sig other get increasingly jealous of all the time and attention you spend on your newts (pin pin i am amazed YOU didnt post this one!)

105. the cat gets VERY excited when you open a can of friskies (since she usually eats dry kibble)-and then very upset when she gets none of it (i KEEP explaining to her the can reads 'newt food' but she doesnt believe me...)

106. your toilet has thriving colonies of both brown and green algae from all the tank water you constantly dump down it (who wants pics?

)

107. you see the postal van and beat the nieghborhood dogs at chasing it down

108. the postman already has your package ready and hands it out the door to you to placate you

109. a good portion of your social life revolves around strangers from all over the globe who have an unusual hobby that borders(in many)on obsession so much that they not only have a web page/forum...but also a chat room!

(Message edited by paris on June 04, 2004)

 

[colin]

117. You get annoyed when the lighthearted list of silly newt things gets numbered wrong by accident

111. Your three year old kid corrects people who say, 'look at the newts' by using the proper binomial nomenclature

(Message edited by colin on June 04, 2004)

 

[kaysie]

I wasnt annoyed, just pointing out that at that time we were much closer to 100 than as numbered.

calculating...

119. You push little kids out of the way to get pics of the Andrias japonicus at the detroit zoo.

120. Even though the exhibit is marked "Children only", you get on your hands and knees to crawl through a little cave to get a glimpse of some texas cave salamanders.

 

[kaysie]

121. "I raised him from larva" doesn't sound unusual in the least.

 

[leanne]

122. You get very perturbed when someone refers to your newts as "LIZARDS"---grrrrrr....

123. You start looking at human babies as actually large human larvae

124. You pull legs, wings, whatever it takes, off of poor, cute, innocent insects so it will maim them enough for your salamander to catch them

 

[kaysie]

125. there's nothing better to do at work than check the forum, even though you checked it 10 minutes ago.

 

[mark]

Good call on that. Same here.

 

[clarence]

126. The scent of decaying wood, moist, boggy soil, and lush green moss reminds you of your bedroom or livingroom.

 

[paris]

127. your sunburnt, bee stung, covered in smelly mud, soaking wet and scratched up - and you had a GOOD day!

 

[jessica]

This list has been very enjoyable-thanks all for sharing

.128 You notice the fridge is getting stuffed with people food and you ask your spouse "How/Where are the worms?"

 

[jessica]

.129 You spend more time online reading/chatting/posting about newts/amphibians than you probably do looking at your own newt/ampibians.

 

[joeri]

.130 In the middle of exams, you delay your studies coz this tank needs cleaning and those newts need food

 

[leanne]

131. You refuse to wash your hands unless absolutely necessary (don't want to risk getting soap residue in the newt water when feeding them).

132. You stop wearing perfume, burning incense, and using sprays of any kind so as not to pollute the air that the newts breathe.

 

[peter]

133. You've just spent in more money on your newts in one day than you've spent on yourself in the past month.