Just a pretty lizard

Critter and Emma and I were out in the back yard a couple days ago, playing with the macro lens for my phone.  Critter has some amazing textures.  I love his little scalloped eyelash scales.



This next picture is cool because you can see that he's about to shed the top of his head again.  The old scales are lifting up and about ready to pop off.

Head shed

Poor Critter.  He's so flakey.



"What dat? Why my eyes fall off? Why my chin so itchy?"



"Momma, I so uncomfortable."

Warning: Squirmy Bug Alert

Today we took delivery of 1,000 superworms, 300 phoenix worms, 250 waxworms, and 25 hornworms.  It's way cheaper to buy in bulk online than in the pet store, especially considering the closest pet store is an hour and a half away.  Even with shipping, it was significantly cheaper, like less than a quarter of what I would have paid in the store for this amount.  Plus, now there's no need to worry about running out any time soon...



The waxworms, phoenix worms, and hornworms (yes, the same hornworms that decimate tomato plants... ah, revenge...) came in tidy little tubs.  The superworms came in a bag, and we provide the container, which is just a shoebox-size plastic container with a couple inches of oatmeal in the bottom.

I've got to say, 1000 superworms is really a lot.



Really, really, a lot.  Good thing they keep a long time.



Yeah, I think we should be set for a while.

Dragon explosion

Yesterday, Critter shed his skin for the first time since coming to live with us.



It was hilarious.  I walked in and there were pieces of skin all over his tank, his  back was peeling off, he looked like he had a tutu, and he was rubbing his face on the bark of his half-log cave.

He looked ridiculous.



He just looked at me like "What? Why you laugh? I'm still cute!  Gimme bugs!"

Critter's first outing

It was a lovely sunny day today, and in between taking care of yard chores and laundry, Emma and I took Critter for his first outing to the back yard.

But first I had to mow the lawn so we wouldn't lose him, and Emma had to pick some dandelions before I mowed. There were plenty (ha!) for a crown and a bouquet.



After the grass was back to a manageable height, we brought Critter out.  So many new things to see!



Emma made him a dandelion chain too.



Surveying his domain...



Lots of new things to see, and he especially had to keep a close eye on all the birds flying overhead.



We had some quality Vitamin D time together.

Oh, and also there is this.

As part of having the new bearded dragon, we also need to make provisions for... provisions.

Beardies, especially young beardies, are insectivores.  As they get older, they switch to being primarily herbivores (75% veggies, 25% insects), but the young ones that are growing fast need mostly insects for the high protein content.

So I now have a bin of pet store crickets in my house, and a bin of cockroaches.  You read that right, I actually paid real money and bought roaches off of Ebay to feed to Critter and breed as a self-sustaining food source.  Roaches.  Off Ebay.



These are dubia roaches, not the horrible house-infesting kind that I lived with in my cheap apartment in grad school.  Gourmet roaches, as it were.  These can't fly, can't jump, can't climb smooth surfaces, don't smell or try to escape or make noise like the crickets do (yeah, ugh, we won't be maintaining those in the house after this lot is eaten), and live quite happily in a plastic tub.  They multiply easily but not too fast, and have minimal maintenance needs.  Or so the internet tells me.

They are basically mobile protein pellets.



These are just half-grown baby roaches, the size to feed to a baby bearded dragon.  When the roaches are full grown, they are about two inches long, and we'll see how I feel about holding them when that time comes.  Right now, they aren't too squicky.

According to Critter, they are absolutely the most delicious, greatest thing ever in the entire world.

Ever.



He froze at the end because my cat walked into the room.

The roaches seem pretty harmless so far. But still, the fact remains that I am now raising a colony of roaches.  Never thought I would say that.

Here there be dragons...

Meet Critter the bearded dragon, newest member of my household.



Emma saw bearded dragon babies when we were in Tricities in January, and fell in love.  They are pretty darn cute (especially the babies), but I nixed the idea of an impulse-buy pet. I told her that I wasn't saying no, but I wasn't saying yes either.

I thought about it for a while, and told her that she needed to research how to take care of a bearded dragon and keep it healthy, write a report about her research, and present it to me.  She also needed to earn half the required money herself, since these little suckers and all their paraphernalia are expensive. Dipping into her savings account was not allowed.  If she could earn $150+ and do the research, we would talk.



My secret expectation was that she would lose interest, or it would take her until next fall to earn the money and she would give up, or she would flit off onto another tangent, and I would not have to buy a lizard.

However.

She was very dedicated and motivated.  She finished her report in less than a month, having apparently pestered the school and town librarians mercilessly to get all available books on bearded dragons, as well as using the school library computers to do research during her free library time and extra lunch-period time (hello, Hermione...).  She wrote the report on her Google Docs at school, and actually got extra credit points in science for it.  She presented it to me in February, and I was impressed.



She earned the required money by the end of March, with even a little extra cushion so she can buy the food and pay someone to come take care of it if we go out of town.

All well and good, I said, but your room is a mess, you have no place to put this creature, and unless you clean it up completely, there will be no dragon.  Again, the expectation that this would not be done and I would not have to buy a bearded dragon.



Again, with the underestimation of her determination.  She wrote herself a schedule, commandeered the kitchen timer, and worked really hard for a whole week to get her room and other Emma-mess areas of the house taken care of.

Sigh.

All my stated criteria being met, I had no choice but to follow through.  Let this be a lesson to all parents out there.  DO NOT PAINT YOURSELF INTO A CORNER.



I complain, but it's mostly tongue-in-cheek.  This is a really cute little guy.  Or girl.  We're not sure which yet.