So back in 2009, after a lot of research and hanging out with reptile people, I decided that I wanted a bearded dragon. So at a reptile show in November, I bought a little tiny female bearded dragon for $20, along with two of my friends. The beardies were so tiny that one could fit entirely on my pointer finger.
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| Baby beardie! |
I named mine Annabelle, for no reason other than I really wanted a bearded dragon named Annabelle.
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| Annabelle getting into the season's spirit |
For a while, she went to work with me, she went on walks with me (and rode on my shoulder), she was just super chill and happy to go everywhere.
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| Photo taken by Larry Wadsworth for the CVM |
After about a year and a half, I moved to my current house, and between the dogs, horse, cat, two guinea pigs, and dragon, I did not have a lot of time to handle Annabelle. She got to where she would get angry when I handled her (which entails her puffing herself up and threatening to bite me), so I stopped holding her. This led to the issue only getting worse. As a couple of months went by, I started feeling pretty overwhelmed by her. So I decided to find a new home for her, with a person who had more time to mess with her and take care of her.
I found her a home with a girl named Markie, who I got to be friends with over the last couple of years. Markie took excellent care of her, even getting her a bigger aquarium to live in, more decorations, and letting her try new protein sources.
A couple of weeks ago, Markie texted me. She was moving somewhere that she couldn't take Annabelle with her, so she wanted to know if I wanted to take her back. Long story short, I said of course, and so now...
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| A little bigger than when I last saw her! |
It's really cool to have her back, although it significantly adds to my animal count (and work load). I am currently at 2 horses, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 mouse, 1 Betta fish (at work), and now 1 bearded dragon.
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| Enjoying her basking rock and veggies |
Annabelle eats a lot more more of a variety than the other animals. Whereas with everyone else I can just scoop food/feed and give that, Annabelle eats salads and pellets daily, and once a week she gets a meal of crickets. But thems the breaks with an exotic animal!
Unrelatedly, I worked a conference this weekend, and one of the vets brought this little one to the conference with him so that he could keep it fed and watch it all weekend:
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| Two weeks old! |
I took on the grand task of entertaining it whenever it started crying. It loved climbing up and sitting in the curve of my neck. It was so, so precious, such a tiny, wobbly little baby. I'm so thankful that someone cares enough to hand feed it and spend so much time taking care of it since its mother disappeared. And look at that precious little kitten face! Love.
Animals are great. But then, this is musings of an animal lover, so who's surprised?
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