Tribal Art Tattoos- The Old Is New

The oldest known tattoo is that found on Oetzi, a Bronze Age warrior who lived some fifty-three centuries ago. Oetzis remains were founding 1991 preserved in the ice of the of an Alpone glacier on the border of Austria and Italy. Oetzi actually had fifty-seven separate tattoos, and although no one really knows their significance, it is possible that his intersecting and parallel lines are the earliest yet discovered example of tribal art tattoos. If so, Oetzi would be surprised to learn that he is quite the 21st century trend-setter.

In a world gone tattoo-mad, tribal art tattoos seem to have cause more than their fair share of the frenzy. They are the most requested, and most easily recognized, of all tattoos. With their startling black lines and sharply defined abstract shapes which somehow evoke animal, birds, and reptiles, tribal art tattoos remind us of a long-lost connection to an unspoiled world.

The term tribal art tattoos encompasses the tattoo styles developed by the by the African and Pacific Island tribal cultures, and of those the Maori people of New Zealand created the most distinctive tattoos. Their custom of identifying separate families within their tribes by cutting and coloring that familys history into the faces of its descendants is known as Moko, and has been the inspiration for many a modern facial tribal art tattoo.

Maori tribal tattoo art is recognizable for its two types of patterns. One was a pigmented line, and the other involved inking the background and allowing the untouched skin to form the pattern. Many of the Maori tattoos contain spirals similar to fern fronds.

The Native American also used tribal art tattoos as a means of tribal identification, and their warriors had battle tattoos believed to provide protection; the tribes of Samoa, on the other hand, would cover their young men entirely in tattoos as a rite of passage into adulthood. Tribal art tattoos have been used for a variety of reasons, and very few of them were simply ornamental.

Tribal art tattoos did not make their way to the civilized world until they were brought back by nineteenth century sailors who were willing tolerate the extremely painful inking techniques practiced by the tribal tattoo artists. But the tribal art tattoos which have currently taken the world by storm are not quite the same as the ones which decorated the torsos of many a sun-burned deck hand.

The mainstream tribal art tattoos with which we re all so familiar are really a hybrid form of tattoo, which combines features of the ancient tribal tattoos with design elements first introduced in the 1990s by master tattoo artist Leo Zulueta, himself a Filipino-American. Zulueta has made a point never to copy directly from the original tribal art tattoo designs, because he considers it disrespectful for those not directly related to the tribes to wear their symbols of family and empowerment.

The most sought-after tribal art tattoos today are armbands; chains of knots, barbed-wire, or flames are all popular. Stylized animal heads and sunbursts are great for the shoulder or chest area, and circular navel tribal art tattoos are also quite common. The tribal art tattoo, in fact, works very well in emphasizing bodily contours, and there are many designs ideal for the curvature if the lower back. There is, in fact, a tribal tattoo art design to enhance every part of

Author: Matt Garrett - 2007 http://www.TopTattooDesign.Com

Discover how to avoid being the one in four who Hate thier new Tattoo, including simple Tattoo safety tips, in our your free Tattoo Guide : -

Free Tattoo Guide

E2macpets
Ball Python Supplies
E2macpets
Tortoise Supplies
Pet Reptile Supplies
Best New Cell Phones
Bluetooth Accessories
Cell Phone And Pda Accessories
Cell Phones And Smartphones
Pdas And Pocket Pcs
Phone And Sim Cards

Media Madness

I am finally convinced that the media are great for giving us the story but there seems to be exaggerations. A car crash becomes the headlines for two days and the same images are shown over and over again. I end up feeling like the actor in Clockwork Orange, being forced to watch horror on TV by having my eyelids kept open. Every channel will show the same story over and over and over and over again. I am not disrespecting the media nor the news channels but would it not be as interesting to talk about greatness happening?

I would like to hear about what happened that was happy as well. It seems as if the media anticipates that the audience is thriving for horror and terror as a means of entertainment? I think about what one reporter said about Steve Irwin, the late Crocodile Hunter, who nearly escaped death every day with his daring contact with wild animals. I have great admiration for him because he help make us aware that animals and mammals and reptiles are not killing machines and we can communicate with them plus we must save them. He showed us that we need to respect nature and her inhabitants and for that I salute Steve. But, was the close to danger show he challenged, really not because the audiences wanted to experience the thrill of potential life threatening danger? Are we really attracted to gore?

Is the media merely feeding us what we want to swallow? When driving on the highway, any car collision will slow up traffic and our curiosity to look, knowing we may be horrified or shocked, remains routine no matter where we drive in the world. Being sensationalized seems to be part of our makeup as humans and we somehow are all attracted to some form of horror. Movie industries make billions of dollars each year with horror we shriek and shiver at the sight of but nevertheless, this is entertainment for us.

The recent Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie break up and come back must have been a publicity stunt. The media will report this and we drool over this kind of reporting. However, knowing that more often than not, the reports can be very upsetting to the person being reported on and more often than not, the stories are blown out of proportion in order to get our reaction. I find myself looking through the National Inquirer at the grocery check out being fascinated by the headlines and photos. It gives me a sudden rush and I eagerly read the story. Afterwards I shrug this off as being nonsense but the initial excitement was there nevertheless.

Many will say that we are not forced to look at the news nor are we obliged to read the tabloids. So, why do we continue to buy the tabloids, knowing it probably is not true, and continue to look at the horrific accidents on the highway? Are we just curious? Are we devious creatures? I try to explore this further.

My grandmother had told my mother and my mother had told me once that life was one huge balance. The scales on both sides have to be even and on one side you have the negative and on the other side you have the positive. Perhaps there was something is what my grandmother said. We seem to need the good as much as the bad to find the perfect balance. Nature was the best example. Animals hunt each other to survive, if they did not do this, they would become extinct. There is a combination of good and bad. Animals fight to compete in strength and although this can seem brutal at times, it keeps the race going and surviving.

Would it be possible that since humans no longer physically compete with fighting nor hunt for food to survive, that killing in wars has replaced this otherwise necessary instinct? Is horror and terror part of our genetic makeup as part of the package to survive and reproduce? Is that why we are so interested and attracted to horror movies and real life horrors we repeatedly witness on television and via the media? Is this a normal and healthful human reaction?

I suppose without wrongs, one cannot have rights and vice versa. That could explain how perfect our genetic makeup really is. One emotional feeling gives evenness to the other. Which brings us back to the media. I do believe they are necessary for us to help create the balance of life. In the end we make the decision and hopefully the right decision. We need to trigger off our instinct to protect, survive and reproduce. Sensationalism helps us maintain the necessary balance to have a prosperous and happy life. The fact that more and more people are involved in charity and helping the world supports this idea. If I did not see the hungry children in Africa, I probably would have never given it a second thought. If I was not curious about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, I would have not been made so aware about some of the horrors going on around us. Curious how issues seems to mesh together at the most unlikely times and the outcome is positive. The scales become even and grandma, bless her soul, got it right!

E2macpets
Ball Python Supplies
E2macpets
Tortoise Supplies
Pet Reptile Supplies
Best New Cell Phones
Bluetooth Accessories
Cell Phone And Pda Accessories
Cell Phones And Smartphones
Pdas And Pocket Pcs
Phone And Sim Cards

Problematic Snake Feeding

Unfortunately, feeding any snake is not always as simple as putting a mouse in the tank to find it gone the next morning. Occasionally the snake will refuse to feed and it may be tricky to get going again. There are all sorts of feeding hints and tips; however there is always a reason why a snake is not eating. Below there is a checklist of reasons, and then solutions to the problems:

1) Unsuitable vivarium / box

2) Insufficient heat

3) No cover or hiding area

4) Unsuitable food item

5) Recently Wild Caught animal

6) Other

1) Unsuitable Vivarium / Box

Generally when a snake refuses to feed, the first thing you should consider, especially if it has been recently purchased is if the environment is correct. Is your vivarium too large? It is possible to have something too small but this is rarely the case, as snakes often prefer tighter surroundings. Many keepers are so eager to put their hatchling snake in a 3 or 4ft vivarium that they are shocked to hear that this sort of treatment can eventually lead to the death of the snake. The vivarium / box should gradually get larger as the snake grows. For a hatchling snake a tupperware box no larger than the length of the snake should be provided.

2) Insufficient Heat

All snakes should have a thermal gradient, meaning they can go to one end of the enclosure to warm up, and move to the opposite end to cool off again. If the snake is kept too warm, its metabolic rate will speed up which will generally not cause it to go off its food, but it will need more food to keep it going. If the snake is kept too cool, it may go off its food. Not only that, its metabolic rate will have slowed down causing the digestive system to function slower than usual, which may cause the snake to regurgitate any food which it may have swallowed.

3) No cover or hiding area

When keeping snakes in a tupperware box, a hiding place may not be totally necessary, especially if you have a deep layer of substrate for the snake to hide in. However, possibly the most crucial factor of keeping snakes is that they must feel secure. Whether you decide to use an ice cream tub, a cereal box or a naturalistic piece of cork bark, the snake must have an area to retreat where it feels safe.

The size of the hiding area is also important. It must be large enough to fit the snake in, with very little room for anything else. You may also use artificial plants and branches which cover a higher area in the vivarium. Some snakes may feel more secure among the leaves and branches.

If the snake refuses to feed with all these hiding places provided, it is worth placing the food in the hiding place itself, or in its entrance. The snake may feel secure, but not secure enough to venture out to feed. This technique often works with newly acquired specimens.

4) Unsuitable food item

There are many ways of offering your snake a food item. Firstly you need to figure out the size food item it needs. A rule of thumb is that the size of food offered should be no wider than the girth of the snake. If the snake refuses the food, try something smaller.

Below are some bullet points that explain different food items and your method of feeding them:

Try offering mice and rats of varying sizes. If these fail, try chicks, gerbils, hamsters or similar sized rodents or birds.

Many keepers believe certain snakes will only take particular coloured rodents. Try white, brown and black rodents or any other colours you can find.

Scenting the food item with a lizard, frog, chick, fish, canned fish oil or a live mouse may stimulate its feeding response.

Try using freshly killed mice, this will smell a lot more and should also still be warm. This method works in many cases and is worth considering.

Try cutting the tip of the nose off the rodent to expose the flesh slightly.

Braining is another method this works by using a pin or a sharp knife and slicing the top of the rodents head, exposing the brain. For some reason brain smells real good to snakes!

Do not touch the food item; occasionally if it smells the owner on the food, it will not go for it.

Try heating up the rodent; put it on a heat mat for a few minutes, or dipping the head in boiling water. Be careful not to overheat the food item, as it may be so hot it will literally split the stomach, which is not pretty!

Tease feeding is a method commonly used by many keepers; this involves a pair of long forceps or tweezers, and literally wriggling the food around in front of the snake, acting as if it was alive. If this fails, try lightly tapping the snake on the nose with the food, sometimes they appear to strike out of anger, then if it connects with the rodents head it will often coil round and constrict as a natural reaction.

Live feeding is a method which should be the last resort. There are many keepers which are capable of getting almost any snake feeding without resorting to feeding live. However the more novice keepers may not be capable of trying all the tricks of the trade. Before resorting to feeding live, phone around a few known herpetologists and ask for help. Any herpetologist who is a member of some type of club or organization is usually more than willing to lend a helping hand. Live feeding is not a bad thing in its own right, but often a snake will take to live food and begin to refuse anything else. Unless you have easy access to live mice, this should be avoided.

5) Recently Wild Caught Animal

This could possibly be the trickiest problem to solve in terms of feeding. A wild caught snake will have been feeding on live animals all of its life. So, to take it out of its natural environment into unfamiliar surroundings and offer it a dead mouse is often just asking too much! Not only will it have only fed on live, but it will have come across almost every animal which it naturally co-habitates with, such frogs, lizards, small rodents, birds and bird eggs, plus other smaller snakes and many more potential food sources. The snake could have been feeding on a dozen or so food items throughout its life, so be sure to try as much as possible.

6) Other

Breeding season is a common time when snakes will go off their food. Males very often refuse to feed because they are thinking more about mating than anything else. This is well known with many snakes and generally starts from February through to May depending on the breeding cycle of the snake in question. Females rarely go off their food when it comes to breeding, as they need all the fat reserves to produce the eggs. It is not uncommon however for the female to stop feeding about a month or so before she lays her eggs. The reason for this is not quite clear, it could be because the eggs take up so much room in the snakes body, it may become hard to digest and process the food. The only solution to this is to wait and keep trying, it should not last longer than 2-3 months and for a healthy snake, it will not be affected.

Stress is a big killer in snakes, and it can be bought on by many reasons. One major factor is over handling. Many owners buy a pet snake and all they want to do is play with it. This is commonplace, but the snake needs its own time just like anyone else. I suggest for a newly acquired hatchling snake it should be handled for no more than 20 minutes per day. This can be spread out into 10 minute intervals if you wish, but the less you handle it the better. As it grows older and becomes more accustomed to you; you can gradually handle it more and more. If the snake refuses to feed, the first thing you should do is to stop handling it as it just adds more stress.

Other methods for non - feeders

1) Drying the snake out This method stimulates the snake to look for moisture which can be in a food item. Take the water bowl out for about a week and move the temperature up just a couple of degrees. After a week, soak an appropriate sized rodent in water to defrost, and offer it to the snake dripping wet. Make sure the snake is not offered the food item on a substrate such as wood chips or aspen. You should keep your snake on newspaper for this whole process. If the snake begins to look at all emaciated, place the water back in immediately. This whole process should be monitored extremely carefully.

2) If the snake is very young or small, try offering the tails of rodents, or chick legs. These are easier to swallow and may stimulate them to feed. If it will only eat these food items instead of pinky mice, you must coat them in a vitamin and calcium supplement. A good balanced vitamin supplement is Repton.

3) Try offering the food at different times of the day. Most snakes are primarily nocturnal; however they may prefer to take the food in the early hours of the morning rather than evening.

4) Place the food in different areas of the vivarium. Try up higher in a branch or underneath the hiding area. Many keepers have had success by placing a rodent in the middle of a toilet roll. The snake will feel secure in this and is a perfect hide area to safely eat its prey.

5) The temperature of the food is sometimes a stimulant. Keep the food at normal room temperature to begin with, but if this fails, place it on a radiator or something similar until the food item is hot.

6) If your snake is a hatchling, try and find a small, dark pot with a secure lid. The tubs which wax moth larvae are offered in are perfect. Place a pinkie and the snake in this tub together and then place in a warm area; but not directly on a heat source. Leave it over night and with any luck the food will have disappeared. Try also to use the braining method and placing it in the tub.

By Chris Jones
Director of Pet Club UK Ltd.
http://www.petclubuk.com

E2macpets
Ball Python Supplies
E2macpets
Tortoise Supplies
Pet Reptile Supplies
Best New Cell Phones
Bluetooth Accessories
Cell Phone And Pda Accessories
Cell Phones And Smartphones
Pdas And Pocket Pcs
Phone And Sim Cards

Freshwater Crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni)

These small, rather harmless crocodiles are found in Northern Australia, from Western Australia, through the Northern Territory and into Queensland. Adult size is approximately 2.5 metres, males being larger than the females. Their primary habitat consists of marshlands, billabongs, rivers and creeks. They are more secretive than the big salties, and are more likely found in marshland where there is plenty of cover, unlike the salties which will regularly be seen swimming down the open river. Although they predominantly live within fresh water, as their name suggests, they do also venture into saltwater and can tolerate it well.

These crocodiles are mainly fish feeders, also taking amphibians, birds, rats and other small mammals and other reptiles. They do not have the power or size which the large saltwater crocodiles have, and therefore would have little chance, nor the will to attack or kill a human. Many tourists and Australian locals regularly swim with these freshwater crocodiles.

Breeding occurs around May, which is the very early stage of the dry season. Approximately 6 weeks later up to 20 eggs are laid in a nest dug out by the female. This nest is generally quite high upon the river embankment. Over the next 3 months these eggs will have to survive the feral pigs and monitor lizards before they hatch. Once they hatch, they are still at great risk from predatory birds, snakes and other crocodiles. It is estimated that only 1% of these hatchlings will actually survive to reach maturity and breed.

Luckily for the freshwater crocodiles, hunting has been kept to a minimum. They are a small species and almost harmless to humans, so there has been little desire to kill them. Their population is fairly stable and has been for many years.

By Chris Jones
Director of Pet Club UK Ltd.
http://www.petclubuk.com

E2macpets
Ball Python Supplies
E2macpets
Tortoise Supplies
Pet Reptile Supplies
Best New Cell Phones
Bluetooth Accessories
Cell Phone And Pda Accessories
Cell Phones And Smartphones
Pdas And Pocket Pcs
Phone And Sim Cards