Although my life has been made somewhat easier by the departure of our guest (aka Bearded Dragon aka Copper,) in that I do not have to chop veggies twice a day, or sacrifice crickets to the cause, or fight the Abys over their incessant need to enter that room - I miss it.
A lizard is not exactly a warm and fuzzy pet. There are some who say a reptilian brain cannot connect with another creature. All I know is, it willingly curled up on my chest and obliged my attention. And, on Christmas morning, when my granddaughter (it's new caretaker) put me on speaker phone and I "talked" to Copper, it perked up and turned its head from side to side as if it recognized my voice. (heavy sigh)
There is, however, plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied. Boo! is constantly into some sort of mischief. Jack and Rooney are - complex. When Fancy talks, I listen. Eli has his moods and Chance keeps me guessing. Finn and Dash are fairly equal in their status as mellow cats. Oh, dear. Somebody is howling as I type and I should probably go investigate.
Good thing I checked. Dash had a toad. He was "playing" with it. Each time I scooped it up, it would jump out of my hands until I said out loud, "I'm trying to save your life, dude." As if it understood, it let me catch it and sat cupped in my hand calmly until I could release it to safer territory. And miracle of miracles, it did not pee on me. Don't anybody try to tell me animals don't understand when someone is trying to help them.
There are those who believe people who prefer animals to other people are in some way socially inept. Years ago, I actually had someone say to me, "People who prefer dogs to people simply can't get along with them (people.)"
Then there are those who believe animal lovers and rescuers need to be needed. After all, captive animals rely on humans for everything. Copper, for example, is completely reliant on the attention of humans for food and water and the life giving heat we must artificially reproduce. I'm not fond of keeping things "boxed up." I want to open every bird cage I see. But I do love to have animals around me.
So, call me socially inept. I don't care. I am long past caring what others think of me. I am happy in my world of creatures who love unconditionally; amuse me with their antics and make my life richer because they exist. I am a willing "servant to the slave."
Funny story: Our six year old grandson asked for a science kit for Christmas. Gigi and Pap bought him two - Weird Science and Gross Science. Now, our grandson is known to fly under the radar, so to speak. While the rest of the responsible adults here were preoccupied with other things, he got busy mixing random chemicals together on the kitchen table. When somebody finally noticed, he looked like a mad scientist pouring various things into beakers - some of which caused interesting reactions. Of course, everything was non-toxic, but that didn't stop it from being volatile. Apparently mixing baking soda with other things causes quite an eruption. He literally had a "blast."
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