Hello everyone. This is Artemis the Hermann's Tortoise.
Today is a very special day, because we have three things happening for the first time on this blog today. The first is that this is the very first post with the new "PetKid Pals" title, since our recent rebranding of the feature. The second is that this is the first time that I, Artemis, have interviewed anyone. The third is that this is the first time we have a fish for a guest. Isn't that exciting?
So, let's meet our PetKid Pal, shall we?
Hello, fishy friend, what’s your name? If you have an unusual name, or there’s an interesting story behind it, I’d love to hear about what your name means, or the story behind it, so please share if applicable.
PUFFER is my name. I am called this because I have a tendency to puff up and out if frightened or startled.
That makes sense. So, I know you're a fish, but what species and breed are you?
A saltwater fish -spiny Boxfish Chilomycterus schoepfii. I can’t even pronounce it! Can you?
Um... I'm not even going to try. OK, Puffer, for those who don't know what one of those looks like, do us a favour and describe your appearance. Your human has provided us with a photo I'll be showing everyone in a moment, but please describe yourself too, for the benefit of those who can’t see the photo.
I am a boxfish who is covered with spines and black stripes. I have beautiful dreamy blue eyes and a large mouth than can swallow whole cubes of food that my owners give me.
You're certainly quite an impressive and handsome fish. So, tell us, what sort of place do you live in? Who do you share it with?
I live in a 95 gallon saltwater tank with other fish. There are at least 12 other fish plus 2 red starfish and two anemones.
Sounds like you have quite a few roomates. I hope you also have some time for yourself. Speaking of which, what’s your favourite thing to do?
I love to swim swiftly back and forth at the top of the tank always on the lookout for more food. Staying at the top I will be the first one to eat!
You sound like a smart fish! Do fish play? If so, do you have a favourite toy? If yes, what is it?
I don’t have any toys in my tank but I do like to chase other fish away from my coveted spot at the top of the tank.
Well, if that's the best food spot, I don't blame you. I'm a big fan of food too. Hey, speaking of food, what’s your favourite food?
I love to eat cubes of fish, shrimp, bloodworms, clams and whatever my owners throw into the tank. I’m not picky! That may explain my large girth around the middle.
Possibly. But I'm a big fan of food myself, so I'm not going to judge you for it, even if your menu isn't to my tastes. Mummy provides me with the kinds of things I do enjoy though, like romain lettuce, kale, and things like that. I'm glad your human does that for you. Speaking of your human, what’s the one thing your human does that you love most?
My owners are generous with the fish cubes because they know how much I love to eat. I gobble all the food before any other fish can eat. They usually get my castoffs or whatever comes back out of my mouth. You may say yuck, but they love it!
Hey, as long as everyone's happy. I bet there's some things the humans do that you don't like though, so what’s the one thing your human does that you hate most?
What I dislike the most is that my humans do not feed me more than twice a day! Honestly, don’t they know that I need to eat 24-7? Of course, if I did they would have to purchase a larger tank.
I hear you loud and clear on that one! I hate when the food runs out and the humans won't hand over more. Anyway, changing the subject slightly, but still sticking on the topic of your human: I know your human is a writer. Has she written anything about you? If yes, can you tell us about it? If no, do you think she will in the future?
Sadly she hasn’t written a single thing about me. I don’t know why she doesn’t appear to be interested enough to do that. After all, she has written about a crayfish, hermit crab, dog and a cat that were her pets before me. I should be given my due. I am beautiful, don’t you think?
Absolutely! I hope she comes to her senses and writes something about you soon. In the meantime, what do you do while your human writes?
I swim back and forth tirelessly while my human types away on her machine. I can’t see her do it but I can hear her read aloud her work. I think she would become famous if she wrote about handsome me!
Hopefully she can see you, even if you can't see her, and seeing you swimming around will inspire her to write about you soon. Anyway, Puffer, we should probably end this. Before we do though, is there anything else you’d like people to know about you?
I am a sweet fish with a lovely personality. If you want to survive in my environment you must give up most of the food in the tank. Don’t you want to keep your figure? Me? I really don’t care, the bigger I get the better! That way I can control the food in the tank. Ha!
I hope all your roomates are willing to play by your rules, and give up most of the food. Though do let them keep enough to survive, there's a good chap.
Oh, before I end this, it looks like Puffer's human has a few words to say. So, what did you want to say, Janice?
It was a fun experience being here on your blog, Tori and Artemis. Thank you so much for inviting me and Puffer today.
Maybe one day I will write a book about Puffer. That will surely make him happy.
You're very welcome, Janice. We're glad you and Puffer could visit. Also, it's great to see you're at least thinking about having him star in a book some day. Yes, it would make him very happy; he'd love having a book out there about him.
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About the human
Janice is an award-winning author with 12 children's books for PS-Gr 4, 9 middle-grade/preteen/young adult books, written under Janice Spina, and 3 novels, and a short story collection written under J.E. Spina. She is also a writer of poetry, blogger, avid reader, reviewer and a copy editor. Janice has always loved writing and started very young writing poetry, then stories. All Janice's books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, BN and other online book sites. One of her sports' poems was published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune in October of 2008. She is currently working on Book 4 of Abby & Holly series for girls and a Dragon series for young children. A YA fantasy series will be coming in 2020 and beyond along with more children's books. Her hobbies are crocheting, walking to keep fit, hula hooping, going to the movies with her husband, and spending time with her five grandchildren. Janice loves to hear from readers and appreciates reviews.
Links
Website:
https://Jemsbooks.com
Blog:
https://Jemsbooks.blog
Goodreads:
http://goodreads.com/user/show/17094469-Janice-spina
LinkedIn:
http://LinkedIn.com/com/pub/Janice-spina and
http://linkedin.com/in/janice-spina-a0132159
Pinterest:
http://Pinterest.com/janicespina
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/janice_spina
Facebook:
http://Facebook.com/Janice.spina.9,
http://Facebook.com/janicespina7, and
http://Facebook.com/jespina77
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Drystan the Dragon and Friends Series, Book 1 Drystan and Durward Save the Day
This is a magical series about Drystan the dragon and his friends. These dragons are colorful, engaging and fun to read about. They teach children the importance of friendship, caring for one another, being kind to others, and it’s okay to be different. All dragons are of different colors and their names begin with the letter ‘D’ – a fun way for young children to learn the letter ‘D’ and colors.
In Book 1 Drystan makes a new friend, Durward who invites him to visit the Land of the Rainbows. While they are there they have an adventure. Find out what the dragons do to save the day.
Grab your copy today from
Amazon.Com or
Amazon UK.
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I hope you enjoyed getting to meet Puffer today, and learning about him and his human, Janice. Why not leave them a comment, or share this post around, to show them how much you enjoyed it. Better yet, do both, which will make them extremely happy, and make me and Mummy happy too.
By the way, we're always eager to make new friends, and looking for guests. It doesn't matter to us if you're furry, feathered, scaled, or whatever, we want to hear from you. So, if you're a bird, cat, chinchilla, degu, dog, fish, gerbil, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, rat, tortoise, or other non-human creature, you share your home with a human calling themselves a writer - yes, blogging counts - and you'd like to be our guest, please get in touch. To find out how, go to
the "PetKid Pals" page (which used to be the "Friends Of Furkid Friday" page, but we recently changed it) where you can not only find out how to get your turn in the spotlight, but can also meet all the PetKid Pals we've had as guests in the past. Don't forget to tell your friends to get in touch so we can get to know them too!
In the meantime, thanks for visiting.
Artemis the tortoise
Cover Art by Alison Hunt[/caption]
