The Honolulu Zoo 2014

Richard volunteers at the Honolulu Zoo every Sunday in the reptile house.  So most of what I have picture wise are reptiles.  We walked to the zoo from our hotel in Waikiki (only about a 15 minute walk).  On our way we saw this genius idea:  rent space in an alleyway for your board for people who don't have cars with racks on them so your board is already at the beach when you want it!  Smart.

And more Banyan trees.  They are just so darn pretty.  I can't help myself. 

This guy was big, at least two feet across his shell.  

This guy down below is "Tank".  I can't remember what kind of lizard he is but if you don't believe that reptiles have personalities you should meet this guy.  He was a macho kind of guy, likes to strut his stuff and boss people around.  

As we left the reptile house I spotted Richard.....walking a lizard.  Not something you see everyday. 

This guy's name is Chopper and he is a Savanna monitor.  He was super cool as well.  Very sharp claws although you wouldn't know it looking at Richard.  I think he may be impervious to pain inflicted by animals, he is always too calm when being bitten/scratched/etc.  

Look at that huge tongue!

And here is Tank getting walked.  Apparently he likes to pick on Chopper (macho tough guy I tell you).  One of the great things about Richard volunteering and us visiting is that he can tell us about some of the animals and their habits/stories.  See the tortoise in the area on the left?  Well there are about 4 tortoises in there and one of them is George.  George is a big jerk and tries to flip the other tortoises.  When he fails he proceeds to hump them.  Eventually all the other tortoises get fed up and flip him over.  If he gets flipped 2 times in one day he gets put in time out.  It was 10:30 am and he was already in time out.  What a jerk. 

One thing I found surprising were all of the cacti growing in Hawaii.  They grow all over in the drier wild bits and the zoo had this beautiful display of them.  

Here is Richard looking so happy!  Is anyone else this happy to do work for free in the heat?

We were sure to not miss the feeding of Bounce, the Ball Python.  Richard feeds him every Sunday.  

After Bounce grabs the mouse, Richard gives it a little shake like it is alive and Bounce gets really excited.  Abby says that makes her so happy that Richard goes beyond just feeding the snake and enriches his life by giving him the thrill of the kill.  I happen to agree.

This is just a fun statue and I thought about how Josh would insist on having a picture with it.  I like it because it looks like it is half skeleton.  

This is the frog Richard found in the reptile house.  He FOUND it, then gently CAUGHT it to relocate it to a more appropriate location.  Found it. Some times I wonder how much more is around me and I don't notice it. I am telling you, he has super powers.