Friday, November 20, 2009

Here Lizard Lizard

We've had a fish tank with goldfish for years.  But they weren't normal looking goldfish.  No.  They were the huge-eyed-freaky looking ones.  Normal wasn't novel enough, apparently.  Well, recently Shaggy grew weary of the goldfish.  I can't imagine why.  They were SUCH a pleasure to look at. 

But now the goldfish are gone.  Some died in recent months.  Some were given away.  All the water has been drained from the tank.  The gravel's been replaced with woodchips.  The fish food has been cleared out of the cupboards to make
room for . . . crickets.  Mmmmm!

We've added two little lizards to the family mix.  Merry and Pippen.  I'm sure you'll never guess where those names came from.  J had a delighful time at the pet store with Shaggy while they were buying the necessary equipment to set up the terrarium.  He tried his best to talk Shaggy into buying a turtle instead of lizards, but to no avail.  Shaggy's heart was set on lizards.

He couldn't buy just one, because he didn't want it to be lonely.  And what good is a Merry without a Pippen, anyway?

This is Merry.  She has turned out to be quite a fabulous hunter of crickets.  We're not sure Pippen will ever have the chance to eat any with her around.  But they're lizards, I'm sure they can work it out, right?  Like civilized creatures.


Pippen is a master of disguise. He changes color as easily as a dog barks. But he's always darker than Merry, and he's bigger, which is why we can tell them apart. The subtle differences in their countenances have thus far escaped us. Or me, anyway. Pippen also loves to bury himself in the woodchips during the day. And he clings to the glass, upside down in order to sleep. Doesn't look very comfortable.

They're crested geckos and they're nocturnal. So they're fairly boring during the day. They perk up in the evening and when we toss a few crickets their way. Little R gets quite excited about the whole cricket eating process.  Late at night, they're VERY active. Or so Shaggy says. I think he's turning into a nocturnal creature just so he can watch them. Not me. I like my sleep.

But the two features that made the kids instant fans (especially J) is that they like to eat rotten fruit (think fermented) and they lick their eyeballs.  Anytime anyone even mentions eyeball licking, J lets out his wonderfully infectious laugh.  He finds it hilarious that they lick their eyeballs.  And after having witnessed it myself, I have to agree with him.  It is pretty hilarious.  And a little creepy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not to mention they look like dragons in minature!