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Post by ningishzida on Dec 13, 2008 3:18:30 GMT
I am really happy I discovered this great website. I have loved dinosaurs since the time Marx and Aurora dinosurs were "new" and over the years have expanded my interests to collecting fossils, and living 'relatives of dinosaurs, having raised a Nile crocdodile for ten years from a hatchling, and currently have a six foot long alligator. I plan on getting some emus soon, which remind me of dinosaurs, and keep non-archosaurs like big monitor lizards and tegus.
By best fossil is an enormous marine crocodile skull from North Africa, as long as an adult T-Rex skull, and probably from a ca. 40 foot long individual.
As far as dino toys, I collect nearly every species if they are nice models, though my favorite dinos are the spinosaurids. I also like to convert and modify models to make them more realistic, and to have a wider range of poses.
I am currently finishing a book about the 'dragons' of various human religions and beliefs, and how they may be connected to dinosaurs.
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Post by Tyrannax on Dec 13, 2008 3:23:01 GMT
Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you and crazycrowman have a lot in common, he keeps birds and such. He even owns an alligator as well. I own plenty of reptiles, amphibians and fish as well. Good to have you! (Wow, that sounds like a nice "archosaur nephew" fossil! ;D)
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Post by [][][]cordylus[][][] on Dec 13, 2008 3:35:54 GMT
welcome fellow spinosaurid lover! ;D
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Post by stoneage on Dec 13, 2008 3:35:55 GMT
So do you believe humans actually saw Dinosaurs sometime in the past?
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Post by [][][]cordylus[][][] on Dec 13, 2008 3:36:16 GMT
^ The fossils he means.
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Post by tomhet on Dec 13, 2008 4:08:10 GMT
Welcome! ;D
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Post by therizinosaurus on Dec 13, 2008 4:31:40 GMT
Welcome! Your book sounds cryptozoology-related (my other interest!). I'll surely be getting a copy when it comes out.
theri
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Post by crazycrowman on Dec 13, 2008 4:39:24 GMT
Welcome, and sounds like you have some neat stuff! (I bet you have a cool house too!)
Keeping a nile croc, that must have been something! I have passed a few through rescue, but the ultimate size of those animals would be way beyond my means to keep properly. Currently I keep a 7' Alligator and some smaller Spectacled Caimans as far as crocodilians go. You can see some photos of my gator and some of the other animals I keep here on the list (back in pictures of us, and stuff, I think)
What monitor and tegu species do you keep ? I would love to see photos of your animals and fossils!!!
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Post by bokisaurus on Dec 13, 2008 6:31:03 GMT
Welcome to the forum ningishzida!
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Post by Meso-Cenozoic on Dec 13, 2008 8:41:53 GMT
Yes, welcome, ningishzida!
And, my, my, my, where do you live or work to keep all these amazing animals?
I would also love to see some pics. Especially of that marine croc skull. Wow!
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Post by ningishzida on Dec 13, 2008 14:02:45 GMT
Welcome, and sounds like you have some neat stuff! (I bet you have a cool house too!) Keeping a Nile croc, that must have been something! I have passed a few through rescue, but the ultimate size of those animals would be way beyond my means to keep properly. Currently I keep a 7' Alligator and some smaller Spectacled Caimans as far as crocodilians go. You can see some photos of my gator and some of the other animals I keep here on the list (back in pictures of us, and stuff, I think) What monitor and tegu species do you keep ? I would love to see photos of your animals and fossils!!! Thanks for the kind welcomes all. To CrzyCrowMan, My gator is almost up to 6 feet, and the croc was about seven when I had to give him up. I found him as a newborn hatchling in a small fishbowl in a curio shop in Luxor egypt and knew he wouldn't live very long in that environment. I traded him for a swiss army knife, and brought him back to Germany, where I was stationed for many years with the U.S. Army, and my 'springboard' to many reptile and fossil adventures throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. "Sobek" (what else could I name a crocodile from Egypt), was as tame as a cat and could be picked up and petted with no danger. He had the free run of the house with a nice pool set up in one corner of the living room. In the summer he could go out on the balcony and sometimes caught pigeons. Because I didn't have official papers, he was eventually confiscated and now at a crocodile attraction in France. This was actually a big story all over the world, and was on CNN and most of the other news channels and all the big newspapers in 1991. I have two Argentine Tegus and a huge Black throat Monitor. While in Germany I had two enormous 6 ft. plus, male Asian Water monitors and a smaller female. The males would engage in spectacular mating 'battles" grappling each other on their high legs, like theropod dinos. I have caught even bigger ones in the swamps of Sri Lanka, and there is a picture of me holding a real record breaker with the girth the thickness of an adult person, in the old "Reptiles' magazine. I have had Spectacled Caimans after the Croc was taken. They were never as tame, and I lost a fingertip to one. Bit off nearly a half inch, fingernail and all neatly as if a hatchet did it. I found it and took it to get reattached, but the doctor couldn't do it. It actually healers up quite well, and is now only slightly shorter than before. My house back here in the States is pretty cool. Its an 1830's two story "Dog Trot", hand hewn, log cabin, and filled with interesting items from my travels. I even have a full set of reproduction 1470's gothic armor for man and horse, on a horse mannequinn in one room. and another filled with Roman Armor as Living History/Experimental Archaology of ancient and medieval military technology is another hobby of mine. I'd attach a picture of the croc skull and other things but haven't figured out how to post images here. On other forums there is a 'browse' feature where you can download them from your computer files.
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Post by ningishzida on Dec 13, 2008 14:41:45 GMT
So do you believe humans actually saw Dinosaurs sometime in the past? Virtually every human culture has accounts of seeing living, large reptilian creatures, which nowadays are lumped together under the term of 'dragons'. I am not satisfied with the explanation that they 'only saw bones', because the accounts deal with actual contact with living creatures. Also, why would people give these creatures reptilian characteristics based only on bones?. They would only know they were reptilian if they saw them with their skin on, save for extremely rare dino 'mummies'.. But these are not dinosaurs unless some kind of modified ones, because these creatures are often credited with great intelligence, educating early man in various technologies, and worshipped as gods. Even the God of the Bible was considered a 'dragon' by a large segment of early Christians, and all regard the highest 'assistants' of this God as winged, flying 'serpents', which is what the word Seraphim actually means. The only 'idol' this God ever approved of was a bronze, 'fiery flying serpent' on a pole which continued to be worshipped for many centuries. Later on, Christianity became uncomfortable with reptilan deities and turned them into 'beautiful human angels with swans wing stuck on their backs as we see on Christmas cards. In fact, the term "Pterodrakon" occurs in ancient Jewish scriptures of these creatures, that were written in the Greek which was commonly used for writing at the time, just the the New Testament was. People still see large, distinctly reptilian creatures today which may be the same 'dragons' of our ancestors. They are documented by sonor, filmed, and even their voices are recorded. But why can't we catch them then? Perhaps our ancestors were right, these are sentient creatures capable of avoiding human contact and hiding/eating the remains of those that have died . The billions of Christians today are largely unaware that the Old Testament god they believe is real was originally a giant flying reptile with wings, fiery breath, that ordered an idol of a winged reptile, demanded daily offerings of calves and lambs, first born male children, and on one ocassion was presented with 32 midianite virgins. But every culture had these 'dragon gods' as well, we see this in the orient and in the americas. It is only the Judao-Christian-Muslim world that 'assumes' their god is NOT a giant flyijng reptile, despite the overwhelming scriptural and archaeological evidence that proves this is so. But in fairness, in the original scriptures, there was one creator god, and then each human culture was assigned a 'tribal god' assigned to the different cultures. Later on, the Creator and Tribal God of the Hebrews were fused together into one, and the tribal deities of other cultures were regarded as 'demons'. Obviously this still does not mean the creatures are real, despite the universal belief in them for thousands of years. The reader will have to digest the information, and decide for themselves. It should be out in the next six months or so.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Dec 13, 2008 15:42:31 GMT
Welcome to the forum Ning!
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Post by richard on Dec 13, 2008 16:07:51 GMT
welcome
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Post by crazycrowman on Dec 14, 2008 2:58:58 GMT
Thanks for the kind welcomes all. To CrzyCrowMan, My gator is almost up to 6 feet, and the croc was about seven when I had to give him up. I found him as a newborn hatchling in a small fishbowl in a curio shop in Luxor egypt and knew he wouldn't live very long in that environment. I traded him for a swiss army knife, and brought him back to Germany, where I was stationed for many years with the U.S. Army, and my 'springboard' to many reptile and fossil adventures throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. "Sobek" (what else could I name a crocodile from Egypt), was as tame as a cat and could be picked up and petted with no danger. He had the free run of the house with a nice pool set up in one corner of the living room. In the summer he could go out on the balcony and sometimes caught pigeons. Because I didn't have official papers, he was eventually confiscated and now at a crocodile attraction in France. This was actually a big story all over the world, and was on CNN and most of the other news channels and all the big newspapers in 1991. I have two Argentine Tegus and a huge Black throat Monitor. While in Germany I had two enormous 6 ft. plus, male Asian Water monitors and a smaller female. The males would engage in spectacular mating 'battles" grappling each other on their high legs, like theropod dinos. I have caught even bigger ones in the swamps of Sri Lanka, and there is a picture of me holding a real record breaker with the girth the thickness of an adult person, in the old "Reptiles' magazine. I have had Spectacled Caimans after the Croc was taken. They were never as tame, and I lost a fingertip to one. Bit off nearly a half inch, fingernail and all neatly as if a hatchet did it. I found it and took it to get reattached, but the doctor couldn't do it. It actually healers up quite well, and is now only slightly shorter than before. My house back here in the States is pretty cool. Its an 1830's two story "Dog Trot", hand hewn, log cabin, and filled with interesting items from my travels. I even have a full set of reproduction 1470's gothic armor for man and horse, on a horse mannequinn in one room. and another filled with Roman Armor as Living History/Experimental Archaology of ancient and medieval military technology is another hobby of mine. I'd attach a picture of the croc skull and other things but haven't figured out how to post images here. On other forums there is a 'browse' feature where you can download them from your computer files. Sounds like you are living an absolutely fascinating life! How is your Alligators temperament ? Osceola, my alligator is very docile, and I can walk her around on a lead, hold her, (though lifting her anymore can be some serious work!) and get her to back up or move forward on cue. She also opens and closes her mouth on cue. Having a Nile that was docile must have been fascinating. Real bummer they took him from you I used to have a large male Spectacled caiman who was near 7', named Gomeck, and he was pretty easy to manage. Fortunately I have not ended up with very aggressive caimans. (I have experienced some though, the sort that want to be doctors, and help you drop some extra weight...like digits and limbs!) Monster (who is actually a Yacare Caiman) and Anubis, the two I have now are both pretty easy to handle, and Anubis is almost "tame" about the whole thing. Tegus are awesome lizards. Do you have Reds or Black and Whites ? I have a pair of Argentine Reds, Tlaloc and Izel. They are both pretty old, as I have had the pair for around 9 years now, and they were both adults when I received them. Sounds like you have done alot with monitors. I kept a water for a short time, but have no long term experience with the species. I have seen video footage of them "wrestling" though! I have 3 monitors in my care right now, a 7 month old Boscs, a 2 year old Dumerils, and a Black throat that is almost a year old. How big is your Black throat ? My Black throats name is Dumptruck, and he has grown like a weed, and is at 5' already. (Makes me wonder how big he is going to be when he hits 3 years!) He has a great temperament too. Posting images here is not too hard, I use photobucket myself, and then just copy the IMG code and paste it in my messages next to the text - Here is Scorch, my 2 year old Dumerils Monitor. I would love to see your animals and enclosures (I am always looking for ideas on new and exciting ways to do up enclosures that add space/areas of interest for the animals inside!) and your stuff. 1470's gothic armor for man and horse ? - Just Wow!
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Post by ningishzida on Dec 15, 2008 20:21:13 GMT
Hey Crazycrowman, thanks for sending the photos of your herps. I had replied with photos of the fossils and other things, and during the time I was putting the message together, my login expired and I lost everything. Then I tried to start all over again and can't get back into my photobucket account. I have asked for the password reset several times in the past two days and received nothing. In another day, I guess I wil just have to start up a new photobucket account. Don't know why this site won't just let you downlodad photos from your own computer. Sorry about that.
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Post by tetonbabydoll on Dec 15, 2008 21:12:16 GMT
Probably because it would use up too much space. Some of us REALLY like to post pics.....
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Post by crazycrowman on Dec 15, 2008 22:30:54 GMT
"Probably because it would use up too much space. Some of us REALLY like to post pics....." Gee, and who are the people who may be guilty of this ? *nudge nudge* (hides old picture laden posts) Ning, certianly not a problem, (though it sounds as though photobucket is being one for you as soon as you get to it, I am sure everyone would love pictures Dumptruck, chilling ontop some turtle enclosures. Basking in his enclosure. And, Calipso, one of the Iguanas we have in rescue currently. She is coming around, and seems to be improving well.
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Post by crazycrowman on Dec 17, 2008 3:20:34 GMT
I'll add a few more photos in hopes that it will spur some photos of your animals and home Chance...one of our oldest animals, she is a rescue Green Iguana and is now over 30 years old. She was named "No chance" back when she first came to me because I didn't think there was any chance she would live. She came to me with MBD and serious renal issues, that...well, with proper diet she has overcome. I can't believe she is still with us. (her age is showing, but she never misses a meal Earl the Boscs Monitor as post hatchling in June. (sadly, these lizards are often sold cheaply and cared for very poorly, and they tend to have short pitiful lives because of this. Earl in August - growing and eating like a champ. These are a "smaller" monitor species, and while he is larger now, full grown he will only be somewhere between 36" and 48" long. Brahm the Raven, while he was out being flown. (he is, as ravens in captivity should be, trained for free flight and recall) *waiting anxiously for your photos* ;D
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