OMG, I am so sorry to hear about your infections! I will never feel sorry for myself again! My problems started with a root canal and now my maxillary, ethmoids and sigmoids have all been stripped and made into one giant sinus on each side. Similar x-rays? I have a resistant bacteria and my infectious disease doctors have warned me it could eat through the bones into my brain. You are proof that bacteria do eat bone! Yuk! So sorry. So, you can't taste either?
Back to the mantids. So, I've been thinking my female with her prolapsed anus and my male who is struggling to hang with his missing tibia would be on the short end of life. Okay, so I went to get a block of peatmoss---I laughed all the way home as it's as big as half a bale of hay! I got it anyway..now for the springtails and isopods that I need to order.
fftopic:I also got the shelf liner you mentioned in one of your topics and it's waiting for me to glue into the lids of the cages. My lids are totally vented with little slots. With screen being the next layer, then the shelf liner, I am a little worried about air circulation as the lids are the only openings (plastic cages are about 8 X 12 X 10.) Will this work? Thanks for your impression.
Ah it's no big deal, I've dealt with it most of my life. Thankfully it is internal damage so I don't have any facial deformities or anything that stands out, and it just seems to affect my smell. I just figured it was time to say something as I've been getting asked about smells more lately for some reason and my wife laughs and says, "why in the world are they asking you?".
Funny what is hidden away when talking in text, but would show itself one way or another in real life.
Indeed be careful with such a infection, it does take time but it can dissolve bone and other tissues. Sorry to hear yours is so severe, and even resistant. I imagine the surgery gets painful and tiresome, but be sure to do what you can.
Yeah the oral surgeon was surprised by the amount of damage and asked me lots of questions after the x-rays. He wanted me to see another specialist for it too, but heck I had to wait forever to afford to see him (some of my mom's semi-wreak settlement money, left her handicapped) and what would they say - that I can't smell. Smell and taste are a weird thing to explain, as it seems my brain has rewired itself to make use of what little bit I do have - one way to explain it would be I get the data almost in the form of colors or by the amount it burns my nose. Basically everything tends to have a stale smell with some having a almost wet odor (but there is nothing distinguishable about it), but if I concentrate on wet odors up close I can sometimes pick out things such some strong spices. Taste wise I tend to go by texture/warmth/firmness, if I don't see what I am eating I likely would guess very wrong. But as it is so close to my nose while eating I can usually detect some faint scents/tastes. A few common household smells that I can smell in a room are bleach, vinegar, cut hot peppers, and cooked cabbage - although they tend to make my eyes water and burn my nose, more than a true smell really.
There are some plus's to it all though, I can't smell a cat litter box unless the ammonia level is enough to choke a normal person, and I no longer smell skunks (or roadkill) or manure.
My wife has to yell at me to roll down all the windows if we pass by something on the road and she can't take the odor that built up in the car. Like a trash truck we got behind going to my sisters, my wife was short of getting sick and I had no idea what was wrong with her. All in all if I had to guess I would say I have maybe 5-10% capacity to smell left. I use to have a copy of the x-rays, but used it to freak people out for fun - but got tired of the sympathy and threw them away.
Manitds - yeah the bale of peat moss is hilariously funny prop sized and will last a lifetime.
The peat moss tends to have a a low organic "woodsie smell" so it alone should help in hiding any odors. If you want to cover shipping I'd be happy to send you more than enough isopods (Armadillidium nasatum) and springtails to fill as many habitats as you need - just shoot me a PM.
If your habitat is a Kritter Keeper type 9as it looks like) you will be fine. The shelf liner tends to block light more than it can block ventilation. I know habitats covered in coffee filters or paper towel get adequate air flow too, although misting/water typically doesn't have to be so much compared to one without it.
