Der-shing 德馨 Helmer
@shingworks
Award-winning science-fantasy & edu comic creator | www.shingworks.com Dorstenia & Aristolochia enthusiast | VP of Crowdfunding at Vault Comics Gently re-seeds under ideal conditions
😭 It finally happened, I germinated an Aristolochia watsonii. The grower who gave me these seeds, the incredible Gene Joseph, said that even he doesnt get more than one or two out of a hundred seeds and he doesn’t know how to improve the germ rate. Grateful I got this one after months of trying!
I’ve been sleeping on my room couch cuz of deadlining the past week and if he drops on it and disappears my life WILL be over. He is walking with motivation and expediency so I hope he clears the sleeping zone soon ;__; On the plus side I am suddenly extremely awake again
*sobbing* p-please i just need to get through this deadline, don’t drop on me
Are u fucking kidding me rn (not staged, just happened to be looking at bsky and had an out of body experience when he rocked up)
it's very important to study scamps in the wild so you can come up with your own original scamps
tbqh I did not know this word had a meaning in the art application, lol
Saw this in person at the deYoung ~2 decades ago, I still think about it all the time
Additional dumdums, including Raggedy Andi who is brooding like 2 dozen eggs very badly at the moment. I respect her for trying so its fine, get it gurl. Irish crème cold brew, the pale quail in the back corner, is 5.5 years old! and still hungry for worms
This is the guy, Tripod (he only has 3 full arms). We’ve had a new mockingbird investigating all the rocks recently and I feared the worst, since he isn’t the fastest runner, but he popped up in a new part of the yard this morning and ate some crickets I gave him. I’m so happy!
One of my favorite backyard lizards, who I hadn’t seen three days and thought was dead, is ALIVE. I was so happy I thought of this ode to my favorite species while taking a shower, lol. With apologies to Gwendolyn Brooks.
periodic reminder that i'm a gold crab. i live on the beach and pick garbage out of the sand and eat it. i don't know what work or stress is. my life is perfect and i love it
Kitty is off to the emergency vet now... Fun fact 2: 1/2 of Kitty is the inspiration behind Legschilla (we don't talk about the other 1/2).
My brother's chinchilla is not feeling well :[ He's a month shy of his 20th bday and I'm a little worried for him. I know he's had a good long life but still... pls give some posivibes to Kitty
The San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society's biggest event of the year is this weekend! Lots of cool plants to look at, it will be an excellent time. www.sdcss.net/2026-summer-... (The info on these flyers is the exact same but I like both colorways so now you have to look at both as well.)
sorry this shit is extremely funny. he does not have my vote, but I respect him for adding an element of boomer chaos to an otherwise boring candidate research session
Okay I stg I’ll stop mealyposting after this but you can literally see this one dude find the nest and eat the pink mealy! get wrecked, dipshit!!!
I’m literally so grateful, they’re doing such an amazing job already? They’re going right to all the tiny spots, like the chewed up apices and flaky epidermis and leaf scars I can’t clean without ripping pieces off, and just totally focusing their efforts there. thank u slayer beetles 🙏🐞
In other news, a cool Dorstenia in my collection that doesn’t have any mealies. Some of the longest and coolest appendages I’ve seen so far.
This catalog that came with the beetles is great. In case you were ever in need of 25 million nematodes or whatever
Modern problems require modern solutions (mealy infestation on my D. horwoodii and D. lavrani vs 25 hungry Cryptolaemus montrouzieri “mealy slayer” beetles)
here is a photo of my kingsnake doing her normal thing, sitting in the water dish and wearing a little tank top
Congrats on all the noms, btw! I hope you win everything. In a perfect world I would send you a weird fruit to celebrate, but you can ponder Syzygium in the meantime
I learned about the Hawaiian "Solo" Papaya type, apparently they don't have that fishy smell flavor... this dwarf variety is super cute