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.

What is the Pee-pee dance?

Unfortunately, I do not have a video of Richard doing the pee-pee dance. It happens too suddenly for me to capture it. :-(

Occasionally, Richard is let out of his enclosure before he has made his daily poop. (It happens, folks) When this happens, he sometimes has no choice but to take care of business wherever he may be. Usually, Richard goes to the bathroom in his swimming pool.

Here's how the pee-pee dance works: Richard shuffles his rear end back and forth, frantically, in a shuffling, dance-like fashion. Since water dragons are arboreal, this shuffling usually positions them so that their hind end is hanging over the edge of a tree branch. This allows them to defecate onto the ground.

This behavior is useless on a wooden floor. :-)

When Richard begins to perform his pee-pee dance, we sometimes have the time to take him away. And other times, we don't. Bummer!

And that is the pee-pee dance.

You can't turn your back for a second!

I left Richard on his tower for about ten minutes and returned to find the tower... vacant!

After a brief search of the living room, this is what we discovered. A very smart idea, indeed!


Let's take another look at his antics:


As long as Richard is sleeping, he is still an angel. Too bad he's not always asleep. :-P


Another look at the harness and leash:


Life is great. Of course, Richard seems to hate us more and more each day, but at least the hatred is amusing. For now. I told Richard that if he keeps it up, this will be his fate. (Click on link to view photo)

Richard's cage. The video!