Yup... the tree rats hit me too :-( If you happen to see any hot pink tree rats running around... that would be me... I hit a few dozen with pink paintballs :-) seems to keep them off the property... cause I only see grey... non have returned with pink, so they either take a bath (doubtful..lol) or they stay away and let their buddys take a try! Tippman custom .98 with scope... hehee maybe I should freeze a few balls... naaa... too cruel CJ

Linda, No, but I bet if you Google 'Aporocactus flagelliformis' you'll find what you're looking for.

catniplemon, thank you for the picture. I have seen it before. Yes it is similar but not exact. Because in this picture some are a bit bent and the things I saw were all straight. But yes it is close. And I could never determine the leg situation. The legs in the picture are very small and would be hard to see. But I also would not cross out the possibility it might be them. I have never seen then again since. Some people do not like their spring tails. And I thought if these things were spring tails these skiny black flys that do not bother me at all could be put in their bin it might help. My black flys do not ever fly. They also seem shiny maybe like a beatle shell. But with wings. I do not think they are fungus flys. I do not like fungus flys since the place I saw then was at a public bathroom floor drain. But I sort of like these shiny black no fly things walking around tail to tail. I might have to break down and do the whole camera post a picture thing.

Yan, Glad to hear aloe is ok being a little wet...I've got an aloe x spinosissima that was nearly dead after being neglected for a year outside. I repotted it in some Miracle Gro C&S (before I knew to mix it) in a glazed pot. I want to repot it now that I'm slightly wiser about best soil substrates because I'm worried about the soil being too wet, but it has pups coming off of it every which way and seems to be doing just excellent, so I'm reluctant to uproot it before this winter. I'm really glad to hear you think pumice will be ok with turface and that pumice is great -- I had it in my head that it doesn't hold any water at all, so I was a little concerned since my climate has very low humidity in the summer. But sounds like I can adapt by maybe a twice a week watering schedule or something. Thanks! Rina, Right -- if I switch to a gritty mix, I'll abandon the C&S soil altogether. For now, I'm doing a mix, but ideally I'd like to use no soil at all. I just don't really want to buy a huge thing of turface (plus having to drive a bit to do it). I called a few farm supply stores about Dry Stall -- no luck, but one did have Stall Dry, which I was about to purchase before finding a comment (in these forums I think?) that it's actually not the same as Dry Stall, so I'm not sure now. I checked a couple of oil absorbents at Ace Hardware, but the ingredients just said "clay" and I wasn't sure if that was ok. I will try to go to Napa today or tomorrow and check for 8822 -- thanks! I won't repot it right away, so I have some time to seek out ingredients. I didn't think about grit making the hanging basket too heavy -- makes sense! I have 3 small pieces of the burrito's tail now -- 2 are in 1 container and the other is alone. I guess they are probably acclimatized to the sun by now since the sunburns don't seem to be getting worse. The only chicken grit I could find at my local store was in a small bag (3 or 5 pounds?) and was nearly $10. :-) I passed, and will have to check stores in other towns for this super cheap grit I keep reading about! Crenda, Looks like there's one of those about a 30 minute drive from me -- so thanks for the advice, I will DEFINITELY call before driving out there to check! :-)