Saturday, September 26, 2009

the MATING chir

I've had a lot of unfortunate stories to tell regarding my pet companions. We began with Doj, Buddy, and Terd Ferguson. The latest round has been Blaine, Blaine, and Blaine. Only one of these aquatic friends has met the filter and made it out alive. I only have Blaine now to keep me company. He's had a miraculous recovery.
Late, late last night Blaine began to chirp like a cricket. It was very quiet. In my extensive (in time and attention) observations, Blaine has never done this before. He was standing on his back legs against the glass looking at my visiting teacher. For the first time I began to wonder if Blaine is a Blaine or a Blanch. I noticed a stripe on his underbelly and decided to do some research.

"Females have very wide bellies and are distinctively larger than males. Males have a pale lump on their body behind their forelimbs, presumably to aid in clamping around a female's body while amplexing (mating). Females tend to be the more active of the genders so during mating, it helps for him to have a very tight grip. To instigate mating, males will sing. This sound is very quiet and can best be described as an ascending chir."

My initial reaction to this is:
Amplexing?
and
YIKES!

My second thought was this:
Blaine needs a girl.

I now vow to halt my efforts to find my own mate until I find a girlfrog for Blaine. I wonder what he wants in a girlfrog.....

1 comments:

Katherine said...

I agree, YIKES!

I'm sure Blaine won't be picky. Good luck in your search. :)