Meet the Non-Human Classmates!

Amazing Larry

Amazing Larry is a Northern Blue Tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia). He was hatched on March 31st, 2025. He's just a baby now, but he will grow to be about two feet long and could live for more than 20 years! His species is native to Northern Australia. He likes to eat roaches and crickets, as well as veggies and fruit. His stubby little legs are excellent for burrowing, which he loves to do to find worms and bugs to eat, and to make a nice dark place to sleep.

Laverne

Cagney

Lacey

These ladies are Blue Poison Dart Frogs (Dendrobates tinctorius azureus). They are native to the rainforests of Suriname and Northern Brazil. They love eating fruit flies, hopping around, and being downright adorable. They create the toxin on their skin from the insects they eat in the wild, but they only eat fruit flies and springtails in captivity, so they are harmless (unless you consider how devastatingly CUTE they are!)

Agatha

Hazel

These sisters (they came from the same egg sack!) are Chaco Golden Knee tarantulas (Grammostola pulchripes). They were tiny little babies when I got them; so small that they both fit on my thumbnail! They are native to the grasslands of Argentina and Paraguay, where they feed on insects, other spiders, and pretty much anything smaller than them that moves! In the Lynx Lab, they mainly just eat crickets. Their species are very docile, so much so that animal wranglers for movies and TV shows use them whenever they need a live tarantula.

The each have very distinct personalities. Agatha is super chill, and normally doesn't mind being handled. Unless, of course, you are a cricket! Then your days are numbered! Hazel is more active, and can often be seen strolling around her habitat. At times, she has been unhappy about being handled, and has flicked hairs on me! This species has what are known as urticating hairs on their abdomen that they "flick" at perceived threats. They're tiny barbed hairs that can get stuck in your skin, and can be very irritating.

Melvis, Yasha, Q-bert, Whitney, Birthday, Dubya, rest Stop, Tripod, Dara, Fontanelle, pediculous, and Normal Head Joe

This gang of fun-loving insects are Blue Death-feigning Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus). They are native to the Sonora and Mojave deserts in the southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. They will eat just about anything, from dead insects to fruit and lichen.

They get their spooky-sounding name from their defense mechanism of playing dead when threatened (see photo on the right). Just look at those fakers! I'm not buying it.

Malkovich

Really more work crew than pets, Malkovich (they are individually and collectively known as Malkovich) are Red Wiggler Worms (Eisenia fetida). They eat table scraps and shredded homework that they turn into a compost that I put in the plants in the classroom!

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