Happy April Fools' Day! To celebrate this holiday I have decided to post pictures of my animals "fooling" or "bluffing" as a means of defense. They are completely natural behaviors that my animals exhibit while seeing new sites, hearing new sounds, or exploring a new area.
You wouldn't even recognize that this puffed up animals is actually "Spike" our adult Bearded Dragon. Dragons "puff" up when they feel threatened to make themselves appear larger than they actually are. "Spike" happens to puff up every time he sees a bird flying over his large, naturalistic, outdoor habitat. What a perfect shot!
As you probably guessed, this is "Hydro" our Honduran Milk Snake. He uses his bright colors to "trick" predators into thinking he is a venomous Coral Snake (bellow). Here's how you tell the difference between a harmless milk snake and a deadly Coral Snake: Red touches black, friendly jack (Non-venomous), Red touches Yellow, deadly fellow (Venomous).
Here is a picture of "Scooter" with his dewlap fully extended! Look how much bigger he appears? What predator would want to swallow that? These lizards also extend their dewlap while basking in the sun for ultimate exposure!
"Humphrey" our Snapping Turtle will actually bluff by pretending to snap! He jolts his long neck up in the air in a spilt second, giving the impression he just snapped! Don't get me wrong...He still snaps and doesn't bluff all the time!
