The boy went to college. And it turns out that college dorms have rules about all sorts of things…including pets. It was a can of worms that BYU decided to not open and so we became the adoptive owners of one bearded dragon. We always knew we’d take over beardy care because they can live 15-20 years. Garyn got Sir Spikes as a very young dragon about 5 years ago…so we’ve got some time. The thing is, Spikes lived in Garyn’s room. Naomi, oddly enough, wasn’t as keen to share her space with an adorable reptile. We happily took over guardianship. Neil adopted Corra’s ball python years ago. They also are surprisingly long lived so we decided we needed a more long term living arrangement for our scaled buddies. Some research and an entire house re-shuffling saw them with a new herpetological condominium located in the schoolroomoffice.

We went down a few internet rabbit holes (people take their reptiles very seriously) and decided we really liked the idea of a more alive habitat. There are lots of reasons, not the least of which, they can be so pretty. In order to kill any junk that might make our reptiles sick, we had to bake them for a while. We got plants for the tanks and for the bearded dragon to snack on. He loved the mint! See? Look at that smile!

He’s settled in nicely.

Sooooo. A funny thing happened on the way to the snake tank. Real quick: Ball pythons need lots of humidity and heat, a bearded dragon likes it dry. That meant a different set up for the snake and mostly a lot more water in the substrate. We water proofed her tank, put in dirt and lots of water and then the leaks started. It was a 2 hour emergency damage control session (hence the reason there is only one picture of the disaster) but we got the water out enough that Neil could scoop out the dirt and rock. We moved the tank outside to empty and clean it so we could start with a clean state. 3-4 attempts at waterproofing later, we finally had a tank that could hold water. Two weeks after we had planned to move the snake, Neil put everything back together and she was put in her new home.

She’s a happy baby.

Here is the current state of things. Funny story: We meant to glue the white shelf in the corner of the snake tank. The snake has so much fun moving it around and hanging out underneath it, so we’ll be leaving it for a while. What are those white bins on the floor? So glad you asked!

Bearded dragons eat insects. He also likes greens and grapes. Especially the grapes! The best insects are live insects and one of the afore mentioned rabbit holes was all about bugs for beardies. Bearded dragons are voracious eaters as younglings and only slightly less voracious as adults. You can shell out $$$ and buy live bugs at a pet store. Or you can shell out $$ and order bugs online. Or you can spend $$$$ once and start your own colonies of dubia roaches, super worms, and meal worms and only spend half a $ every now and then on baby carrots (all the food and water the bugs need. Crazy huh?). Guess which option Neil went with? Door #3? Got it in one, good job! Corra didn’t know how much she loves bugs until she became an apprentice bug wrangler. She even monetized it by managing all things bug while Neil was in San Francisco (I paid her for the week). I’m not going to write too much about the 7 different species of rolly pollies and spring tails we have in the closet to eventually become the tanks’ cleaning crews. But did you know that you can buy clear rolly pollies with yellow and black spots??? They are called magic potion isopods and they helped me start to understand weird reptile/bug people a little bit better. They are useful, adorable, and so cool!

We’ve worked out most of the kinks and all the denizens of the office seem happy with the new arrangement.