a dragon in our midst?

Bearded Dragons -- it's a reccurrant theme around here lately. None of these Dragons pictured are ours -- in fact, no Dragon is ours as of yet. That's something that will be changing shortly if Zoo Boy has his way.

A few months ago a nearby homeschooling family found a litter of kittens inside a hollow tree outside their home. They were working on taming down the kittens and finding homes for them. I tentatively reserved one for us, thinking that it was probably time to broach the topic of his own pet with Zoo Boy. Previous attempts had resulted in requests of Turkey Vultures, Casawaries, and Wombats, so we'd shelved the idea for a bit. J has his own cat, something that Zoo Boy has been making comments on, so we used the opportunity of available kittens to make the suggestion. At the time we got the pattented Zoo Boy answer of "No thank you, I already have a cat." In questioning him on that, he pointed to our ancient, sickly Dori. I gently reminded him that Dori is VERY old and not well and in all likelihood won't be around for much longer, and suggested perhaps he'd like to get a kitten so that he had another cat when she wasn't around anymore. Looking around he pointed at another cat, and said "That's OK, Kismet can be my cat!" And so he's claimed her to be ever since. The fact that Kismet won't even let him come near her seems to be entirely beside the point. But at least she's young and healthy and should be with us for a good many years to come, so problem solved as far as he was concerned. I metioned other sorts of typical pets -- rabbit, guinea pig, parakeet. He brushed them off with a "no thank you", and so we dropped the subject. Apparently, he didn't.

On our last visit to the children's museum, we happened to be present as one of the workers took a Dragon out of it's enclosure, so we got to pet it. I was pretty impressed with how gentle it was, and how it actually seemed to enjoy the handling -- even seemed friendly -- all fairly uncommon for the reptiles I've had previous contact with. The worker mentioned that they are pretty much all like that, and so they are actually highly reccommended as pets for young children. Zoo Boy didn't seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to the conversation, running back and forth between petting the Dragon and talking to his favorite Owl.

A little later that same day, as we were watching the parakeets for the umpteen-millionth time that day with Zoo Boy squealing with delight a their antics, I mentioned the pet thing again. I said "you know, Parakeets make good pets. Would you like to get a parakeet". His eyes sparkled as he turned to me, and he said "yes! I'd like to get a pet! A bird! I want a pigeon!"

A pigeon?? OK, that's not what I had in mind. At all. The thought of a pigeon in the house....well, um, no. I tried to talk him into a parakeet, he was having none of it. I scrambled. I remembered the last animal we saw that was said to be a good pet. "Oh, I thought maybe you'd like a Bearded Dragon, " I mumbled more to myself than to him.

The eyes sparkled again with delight. "Yes! A Bearded Dragon! And a pigeon." "Honey, I don't think a pigeon should live in our house with us." "That's OK, Mommy, the Bearded Dragon can live in the house. The pigeon can live in the barnyard." Ah, the barnyard, why didn't I think of that!!! "OK, well, we can see about setting up a coop in the barnyard for a pigeon." Admittedly, I was relieved at the thought of getting away with another barnyard animal instead of a house pet. "Don't forget about the Bearded Dragon!" Zoo Boy said as he went back to watching the parakeets.

I tried letting it drop. Truly I did. But he keeps bringing the topic back up again. And, to tell you the truth, I'm starting to get a bit intrigued at the idea myself. I don't know anyone with a Dragon as a pet. Seems sort of, I dunno, cool. A pet Dragon. How many kids can say that?

So I started researching how to find a Bearded Dragon (seems they're fairly easy and somewhat inexpensive to come by, as they are pretty popular, as reptiles go), and have discovered that they come in a handful of different colors/varieties. I've been reading about what they need -- a largish cage (a 45 gallon fish tank is reccommended, but I'm partial towards a specially made enclosure like at the museums, just seems more natural), some substrate that they can't swallow with their food, a rock or log to bask on, proper heating (they're a desert animal from Australia, so they need a very warm end of the cage and a warm but not too warm other end of the cage), full spectrum lighting, places to hide, and places to climb. I've read about what they eat -- they are omnivorous, eating primarily crickets and chopped greens, but also other bugs and veggies/fruits. Apparently you need to dust their prey items with a specially made reptile calcium supplement, and occassionally with a vitamin supplement. They certainly don't sound like the lowest maintenance pet on the market.

And they need to have a weekly bath, which helps keep them hydrated and helps them shed their skin. In fact, I've read that it's best to mist them with warm water twice a day. Handling them regularly keeps them tame and "snuggly" (if you can picture a reptile being snuggly).

So, we'll see. There may be a Dragon in our future.