At the Vet's office

Yesterday, we took Richard to see the vet. He's the only vet in St. Louis with a lot of reptile experience, according to herpetology enthusiasts.

The tip of Richard's rostrum looked sore over the weekend. I noticed what appeared to be whitish goo between his front teeth and the front of his face. We treated him with betadine and Neosporin, which I had previously read about for use on lizards.

By Tuesday, Richard's snout was looking back to normal, but since the appointment had already been made, we figured it would be a good time for Richard to have a check-up. We needed to be absolutely sure that Richard was in good health. For lizards, it's often too late to help them if they really start to LOOK sick. We didn't want to take that chance.

When the doc entered the examination room, Richard shuffled away from him at first. He gently picked Richard up, had a look at him, and then proclaimed that Richard looked great. He used a stick to keep Richard's mouth open, and said we had nothing to worry about.

What was remarkable was the way the vet held our lizard. He had Richard in one hand, upright, and Richard merely dangled there with his hands on the vet's thumb. I couldn't tell if Richard was totally relaxed or too petrified to retaliate.

Our vet anwered my questions and sent Richard off free of charge. Of course, I am hesitant to say that because I don't want people to think that they can have their lizard looked at for free if they see this vet. It's just how our visit turned out that day. And that's why I am not posting the veterinarian's name on the blog. :-)

I'm really grateful to him for easing my fears, and I think it was very generous of him to not charge us. Richard doesn't know what's going on, naturally. As far as he's concerned, we took him to a strange place and subjected him to examination by a random human.

Hahaha. :-)

I also forgot to bring my camera so we could capture Richard's helpless dangling for all eternity. It was priceless!

The usual antics

"Oh, this thing looks like a tree! Never mind that it's short. I'll climb it, anyway!"

"Do I look like I'm ready to have my photo taken? Can't you see I'm trying to shed?"

"This could be delicious even though it's just the floor."

Close-up of Richard shedding his back:


A Dubia cockroach (not the same species as the one I featured before). This one just molted. Their exoskeletons harden and become darker after a while. I purchased a bunch of these from a breeder and am trying to grow my own colony.

Superworm pupa

Here's a photo of one of our largest pupae. Superworms (Zophobas morio) are similar in appearance to mealworms. They are larger, faster, prefer warmer temperatures... and according to Richard, more delicious than mealworms.

Breeding superworms was an interesting adventure for us. Unlike mealworms, they must be separated from each other and left without food or water. Before this can be done, the superworms worms must achieve a large size.

Pupae are somewhat freaky. If you harass them, they try to wiggle away!

The most striking difference between a mealworm pupa and a superworm pupa-- other than size-- is the fact that mealworm pupae "hold" their arms closer to their body.

Our insect menagerie has increased to three species! We now have dubia roaches, discoid roaches, and superworms. Richard doesn't seem to care of acknowledge this effort. :-)

We're moving!

Hello, everyone!

Before I talk about moving, let me share a cool link with you.

The author (Jamie Derkenne) shares his or her experiences with the wild Eastern (from Australia) Water Dragons in their backyard.

On to moving...

Richard's dad and I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. We're moving to a new place. :-) As a matter of fact, there are movers struggling to get Richard's house out of the apartment as I type this. It's a real ordeal-- something anyone with a giant reptile enclosure must one day cope with.

Other news: We have a breeding colony of about 20 Zophobas morio ("superworm") beetles right now. We have no choice but to breed. Richard goes through about $12 in superworms every week. That doesn't include his red wigglers.

He'll also have his first nightcrawler tonight. He's finally big enough to tackle them. :-)

Yesterday, we saw a baby water dragon at Petsmart-- the smallest I have ever seen in person! The little guy's body wasn't even as long as Richard's head. And its head was only slightly bigger than one of Richard's eyeballs. He was a real shrimp and seriously cute. Just imagine: Richard was that small at one point in his life. Unreal.

I can only imagine a parent giving their "okay" for a water dragon that small, only to find out-- the hard way-- that they get pretty large... :-P

Let's play catch-up!

"How you doin'? Where have I been all your life?"


Don't be shy, baby. Your Prince Charming is finally here. I know-- you can't handle this feeling... But it's okay because Richard is here to sweep you away.

(What a charmer.)
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I'm mellltinggggg!!!!

Richard will appear in the Cute Overload calendar!

I was just notified by Theo of Cute Overload that Richard will appear in their 2010 page-a-day calendar! The very thought of many people flipping their calendars and coming across Richard's surly face... makes me smile. :-)

I never thought that would happen. It' a big source of pride for me and Richard's dad. The funny thing is that Richard is a lizard and therefore has no grasp on the gravity of this news.

I have to say that I am truly honored, especially since most people do not find lizards "cute". It's understandable. But since you check out Richard's blog every once in a while, you know that there is at least one funny lizard around, and his name is Richie!

I wish Richard had not been shedding when the photo was taken. It doesn't do him justice. But he looks great anyway, and why? Because he's a handsome guy and his mom and dad love him. We really do.

The latest: Richard has chosen a new sleeping place, and he prefers to have his head buried in the leaves. Before I go to work in the morning, I leave him breakfast. He awakes, sleepily, spots his morning meal, and groggily climbs down to have it.

We're also making him chase down his food a little. We do this buy throwing a superworm a few feet away, letting him run after it, and then tossing another worm in the opposite direction. We will try to get some footage of this, since it's downright hilarious.

Also hilarious is Richard dragging himself across the crown molding above our window to get to the best spot on the curtains. We will have footage of that, too.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful news with us.

Sorry for the absence!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Richard's dad and I were out of town, and I got a new job. I apologize for not uploading photos.

Two of our friends bought Richard a little sofa/armchair. I'm thinking about re-upholstering it to match the color scheme of our house. This is how it looks right now. By the way, it sits on the floor of our dining room. Sometimes, during his house adventures, Richard climbs onto it and relaxes for a spell.

Charming, huh? It was really nice of our friends to get it. Better photos of the sofa/armchair thing in the future. I promise!

Here we have a shot of Richard in our little dvd shelf. If you ever wondered what kind of animal would hang out on dvd's and camcorders, now you know.

Richard has chosen a "bed." Actually, it's just a twisted vine that I installed in his enclosure. It was originally just for decoration (to fill empty space), but Richard actually prefers to sleep on it. Around 9:30, he climbs onto it. When the lights go out, Richie goes to sleep. The funny thing is that he doesn't hang out on that vine unless it's right before bedtime. He does not frequent it during the day! Silly lizard.


Once Richard actually tried eating a discoid roach, he developed an appetite for them. Here he is, mid-munch.


Oh! I should also mention that one of my roaches laid an egg pouch! We're looking forward to having baby roaches to give to Richard soon. (Don't say it out loud. Richard might hear. It's supposed to be a surprise)

More to come soon, I hope. :-) Thanks for reading.